Magnolia Lace Trumpets.... The "Grown-Up" Cookie

This weekend was busy, busy, busy.
Our usual ministry work Saturday morning and worship on Sunday afternoon always keep us busy on the weekend but this weekend we had dinner with Brian's parents and brother and his wife on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday we had Hospitality and then watched the Super Bowl with some friends.
For those who don't know, Hospitality is when we feed the speaker for our Sunday worship. This week the speaker was a dear friend from our own congregation, so we held Hospitality at our home. I always enjoy Hospitality because it gives us an opportunity to really get to know new people when the speaker is a guest from another congregation. And when the speaker is from our own congregation it makes it easier to get to know them better since our congregation is a larger one.
So... Another sister and I decided she would make a salad and I would make my taco soup (always a hit and SUPER easy).
But could I just make the easy soup?
Nope. I just HAD to use guests as "guinea pigs" for a new recipe... Magnolia Lace Trumpets.
I have no idea where I found this recipe. It's probably been in my recipe files for years. But recently I was going through my files deciding which recipes I really wanted to keep and try and getting rid of the ones I knew I would never try (because I've figured out that if a recipe is too complicated and fussy, I will not cook it). Anyway, I came across this cookie recipe and it looked easy enough and oh-so-pretty.
My cookies, of course, didn't turn out as pretty as the picture, but they weren't horrible and they tasted great!
One word of caution though. These do entail a lot of time because of how you have to bake the cookies, so be prepared to spend a two or three hours in the kitchen. 

 Magnolia Lace Trumpets 

Cookies

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1/3 cup corn syrup (the recipe called for dark but I only had light and they turned out beautiful)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon Irish cream liqueur (optional but it adds a lovely flavor)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Get a cookie sheet and grease it VERY well. (Make sure your cookie sheet is a metal sheet. I tried baking a couple cookies on a stoneware cookie sheet and they didn't turn out well.)

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup. Cook over low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat.

Mix flour and ginger in a bowl. 

Add to the butter mixture and stir in liqueur, if desired. (As I was adding the liqueur, Hannah said, "I can't eat those now. They're definitely grown-up cookies." I had to assure her she could eat them because the alcohol cooks out and only leaves the flavor.)
 Drop batter by rounded teaspoonful, (I forgot to take a photo of this step) 3 to 4 inches apart, onto cookie sheet. (Make sure they are at least that far apart because the cookies spread).

 Bake only 2 or 3 cookies at a time because you have to form them into cones before they cool and become brittle. If they become brittle before you get to work with them, simply put them back in the oven for about a minute to soften them.
Bake cookies 9 to 10 minutes, until the cookies spread and are bubble and golden brown.

Work VERY quickly and gently lift each cookie off the sheet with a spatula and form into a cone.
Cool on a wire rack.

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk, heated.

 Directions

Using a mixer, cream the shortening and butter in a bowl.

 Add sugar and beat well.

Add egg white and vanilla and beat thoroughly.

Add the hot milk 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture is creamy.

Scrape filling into a pastry bag with a star tip and fill the cookies.

Hannah really wanted to eat one before our guests came. :)

These cookies were a big hit not only at our house but we took the rest of them to our friends' house for the Super Bowl. They were a hit there, too. :)