Celebrate supper club Brandy Old Fashioned Cocktails with Cookies of the same name!
Fish Fry Fridays are very popular at supper clubs and bars in Wisconsin, and what better way to celebrate the famous cocktail than by making Brandy Old Fashioned Cookies any time of the year! Marrying the sweet flavor of red cherries with bitters and your favorite brandy into cookies will make any Old Fashioned Cocktail connoisseur and Supper Club fan ecstatic with this boozy dessert. Garnish the cookies with a delicious brandy frosting, top it with an orange slice and cherry and enjoy it right along with the cocktail. Combine the cookie dessert with deep fried fish with fries, and you have the perfect makings for a favorite Friday Night Supper Club Fish Fry in Wisconsin.
You can easily make both the cookies and cocktails at home by sharing some of the same ingredients. This favorite Wisconsin supper club cocktail is started by muddling sugar with bitters and a little water. Add your preferred brandy and don’t skimp on quality. Then garnish it with an orange slice tooth-picked together with your cocktail cherry. Serve it on ice in an old fashioned (small barrel type) glass and enjoy.
The Old Fashioned Cookies are as easy as making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. In fact, I’ve taken Gram’s Oatmeal Cookie recipe and made some adjustments to make them taste even better. Gram H would probably be a little indignant to hear that I had maligned her oatmeal cookie “receipt” (as she called her recipes) in favor of a boozy version. My other Gram W would probably enjoy one and then get the giggles about being caught eating something she considered just a little racy. Then she might have another and giggle some more. (She was so cute – she always got the giggles if she was caught doing something just a little risqué.)
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Prepare your cookie sheets:
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. This eliminates any tough cleanup. Usually the parchment paper can be used 2-3 times before tossing them. I just depends on how much fat they absorb from the cookies.
Brandy Old Fashioned Cookies -
Cookie Dough ingredients:
½ C Butter, room temperature
½ C Shortening (I use Crisco)
1 C Brown sugar (I use dark)
½ C Sugar
2 Eggs, room temperature
1 t Vanilla extract
1 t Brandy extract, or 2 t good quality Brandy
1 ½ C flour
1 t Baking soda
1/2 t Cinnamon (optional)
1/2 t Bitters
½ t Ground nutmeg (optional)
½ t Salt
3 C Old Fashioned Oats
1T Orange zest
½ C Chopped pecans (optional)
Make the cookie dough:
- Cream butter, shortening and both sugars in electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Stir in vanilla and brandy extracts
- Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and add to wet mixture. Stir or mix on low until well combined.
- Drain chopped maraschino cherries and stir in the dough along with orange zest and optional pecans. Save drained liquid for cocktails if you like.
- Chill the dough overnight or at least for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Drop round balls of chilled dough on your baking pan, about 2 inches apart. I use a 2-teaspoon round dough scoop. Don’t roll them with your hands, just drop them onto the pan. You don’t want to heat the butter dough with your warm hands. Some will be a little irregular, but that’s what adds to the character of the cookies. I put the unused dough back in the refrigerator between baking the pans of cookies.
- Bake cookies at 350F degrees for 8-10 minutes depending on how your oven bakes. (At some point you should take your oven’s temperature with a purchased oven thermometer so you know if your oven bakes too hot or too cool. Then adjust the temperature for your cookie baking. I know my upper small oven bakes a little lower than the desired temp, so I adjust it by raising the temperature 5 degrees. My lower larger oven bakes right at the temperature I set it for, so there’s no need for me to adjust that oven. It's important to know how your oven temperature works so you don’t get disappointed when something does not bake properly. There’s nothing worse than baking something for a meal or special event and the cookies or cake or cheesecake not coming out right.)
- When cooled your cookies should be chewy inside and crunchy on the outside.
Marinate the Cherries for the cookie dough:
¾ C Quality Brandy
1 C Maraschino cherries, chopped (1/2 of juice drained)
- This is a quick way to marinate cherries. You can always use my Brandied Cherries for Cookies and Cocktails recipe, also on this website.
- Marinate the chopped cherries in the Brandy overnight or for at least 1 hour or overnight. Drain the cherries and save the juice to use in your cocktail – just don’t throw it away.
- Pat the chopped cherries so they are not too wet for the cookie dough. Set aside for the cookie dough.
Frosting for cookies:
8 oz Cream cheese, at room temperature
½ C butter, softened but not melted
4 C powdered sugar
1 t Vanilla extract
1 t Brandy extract
Make the Frosting while the cookies are baking:
- Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in powdered sugar and beat until creamy.
- Stir in flavorings and beat until creamy.
Frost the cooled cookies:
- Frost the cooled cookies with a small offset spatula or table knife. Or, fill piping bag and insert a frosting tip, then frost with a pretty swirl.
Garnish for frosted cookies:
40 Maraschino cherries – whole (Marinate them whole in a bowl with about 1 C or quality Brandy for an hour or so.
1 T Orange zest
Garnish the cookies:
- Garnish each cookie with a little orange zest.
- Use one toothpick to insert a whole marinated maraschino cherry between curled orange slice and place on top or the frosted cookie. Or, just place one marinated cherry on top of each frosted cookie, like I did. That's your choice.
Substitutions are okay:
- If you prefer whiskey to brandy, go ahead and make the substitution.
- If you prefer no booze at all, that's just fine. Just substitute 1/2 teaspoon brandy or whiskey extract. Baking is all about creating a tasty treat and conforming it to your own tastes.
There, you have it! A delicious and colorful Brandy Old Fashioned Cookie. Enjoy these boozy cookies with your friends all year round, or at least during September, Brandy Old Fashioned Month.
