Chocolate Log Cookies

Makes about 60 cookies. In a 5-inch bowl add hot water slowly to cocoa (unless using chocolate), mix well and let cool. Cream butter thoroughly about 1 minute; add sugar gradually and beat well. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and continue beating until light, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and cool cocoa mixture (or chocolate). Add combined baking soda and flour, a little at a time, to form dough that will go through plastic bag and No. 7 cookie star tube. After adding about 2 1/2 cups sifted flour, test dough in bag, and if it is too soft, add more flour gradually. As much as 3 1/4 cups of flour may be used. Always have bag less than half filled. Dough must be pressed out at once onto inverted side of slightly greased pans or it will toughen and be difficult to press out through bag. If dough is too stiff to squeeze through bag, add about a teaspoon or two of water or milk. Leave about 1 1/2 inch space between each cookie and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Place on upper rack of oven last 5 minutes. When done, remove or loosen at once from pans, and place on cake racks. When cold, brush top only with warm corn syrup to impart glaze during cool dry weather. Let stand on cake coolers until glaze sets, then cover both ends of cookies with Chocolate Frosting and finely chopped green or plain nutmeats. Chocolate Frosting for Log Cookies Add 3 tablespoons hot water to 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa. Mix until smooth; add 2 tablespoons of very soft butter, 1 tablespoon milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir until smooth. Add sifted confectioners' sugar (about 2 1/2 to 3 cups) gradually to form a medium-soft frosting that will not run. Rather than piping individual cookies, we pipe them in a continuous length on a clean tabletop or kitchen counter then use a small bent metal spatula dipped in a container of flour to cut them (on an angle) and transfer them to the cookie sheet. And, over the years we decided to slightly modify the original recipe. We always hated that the corn syrup glaze got sooooo hard that we'd almost break our teeth on it. So now, rather than glazing the cookies with corn syrup, we heat the chocolate frosting and use that as the glaze. My mom still likes to dip each end in chocolate frosting and then the green nuts (usually Brazil nuts or pecans), whereas I prefer to dip one long side of the cookie in finely ground green nuts to give the cookies the effect of green moss. (This is done while the chocolate glaze is still wet.) To make green-colored nuts, grind (chop) them then use a green paste food coloring. Add some paste to the container of nuts, then start to mix with a fork or the back of a large spoon (or rubber spatula). To get the most consistent color, rub the nuts in between the palms of your hands until all nuts are evenly colored. For best results, dry the nuts in a warm oven (spread out on a cookie pan) before using. Store the cookies in an air-tight container once the glaze is dry, or wrap tightly and freeze. A little bit of Bailey's Irish Cream added to the chocolate glaze gives it a nice flavor, too! ;)