Russian tea cakes part of Fields UMC Cookie Walk

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to make Christmas cookies. But it couldn’t hurt.

Annette Wood, North Ridgeville, is a retiree of the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, where she worked as a configuration management specialist.

“We tracked all the different pieces and parts that go up to the space station, down to the last nail. If something goes wrong, then we have to take the pieces and parts and we reconstruct the failure on the space station, then work with the part they’re working on, while they’re working with the part on the space station,” Wood said.

Her Russian Tea Cakes (or Butterballs) and Seven Layer Cookies are, obviously, out of this world and will be among hundreds of Christmas cookies on sale Saturday, Dec. 13 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the sixth annual Cookie Walk at Fields United Methodist Church, 34077 Lorain Road, North Ridgeville. She shared both recipes.

Wood said she got the recipe for Seven Layer Cookies from a friend. She got the Czechoslovakian Russian Tea Cakes recipe from her mother, Stella Ogle, who got it from her mother, Theresa Mach.

“It’s an old-fashioned recipe, one that takes forever to make. The dough has to rise. You need a lot of patience,” Wood said.

Wood is a member of Simple Abundance, a woman’s group at the church that raises money for different projects, from outreach programs to summer camp for children.

Wood said there are about 40 or 50 women in the group.

“Every year, we make quite a few cookies, hundreds of cookies, and we sell them by the pound, at $8.50 per pound,” Wood said.

“They’re homemade and very good. The supermarket cookies cost more,” Wood said.

“Our cookie walk is more personal. And it’s a way to help support the church. A nice, happy way,” Wood said.

Homemade candy will also be available for purchase at the cookie walk.

From 5 to 9 p.m. on both Dec. 6 and 7, the church’s annual Search for the Christ Child will take place.

It is a live scenario of that special night in Bethlehem, complete with live animals and key locations for the Christmas story to unfold, ending at a manger scene inside the church. Wood plays a merchant in the marketplace.

Bottom line: What is it about Christmas and cookies that make the two go together?

“Everybody knows you put out cookies for Santa,” Wood said. “Then, there are get-togethers where people stop by. Part of Christmas is eating cookies,” Wood said.

Also on Dec. 13 at Fields UMC, the annual Breakfast with Santa will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For further information on any of the events at Fields UMC, call 440-327-8753 or go to

https://www.facebook.com/ FieldsUnitedMethodistChurch

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

(BUTTERBALLS) Ingredients

Mix together thoroughly: 1 cup soft butter 1/2 cup sifted flour 1 tsp. vanilla Sift together and stir in: 2 1/4 cups of sifted flour 1/4 tsp. salt Mix in: 3/4 cup finely chopped nuts

Preparation

Chill dough, roll into one inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet

(cookies do not spread). Bake until set but not brown. While still warm roll in powdered sugar twice. Cool.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Makes 4 dozen 1 1/3 inch cookies

SEVEN LAYER COOKIES Ingredients

1 stick butter 1 (6 oz.) pkg, butterscotch bits

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup chopped walnuts

Eric Bonzar/EBonzar@morningjournal.com Annette Wood, a retired NASA contractor and science fiction fanatic, shared her mother’s Russian tea cake, left, and friend’s seven-layer cookie recipies. Wood, who started with NASA in the 1980s, said she knew she wanted to work for the company when...