Gigi wrote:
> I'm planning to prepare a Christmas gift box to send to our nephew who is an
> Army helicopter pilot stationed in Korea. Does anybody have any good
> suggestions for cookies that would ship well and stay reasonably fresh? Crisp
> cookies end up in crumbs, chocolate chip cookies get stale so fast, and he
> doesn't like biscotti. I would really appreciate suggestions and recipes if you
> have any special ones.
>

I've made these before. They are very good, and nearly bullet proof.
The web page is amusing and has pictures that might be helpful.

Grandma Rosenwald's Pfefferneusse
(From Brad Sondahl's "Cooking by Dead Reckoning"
http://sondahl.com/cooking.html )

These cookies are a whole different world from all those other cookies.
First, they're hard as little rocks, so if you have dentures or loose
fillings, beware. (Suck on them to soften them up. Second, who ever
heard of cooking cookie dough on the stove? (Besides oatmeal nobakes,
which also deserve mention) Third, this recipe is the original, and
makes 500 cookies per batch. We usually eat two batches over the
holiday season. I only make them at Christmas because that's when
Grandma Rosenwald would send me a coffee can full. There are a lot of
pfefferneusse recipes in the world, and some of them taste really bad.
This is the best... If you're a sissy, try making a small batch by
cutting the portions back by a factor of 3.

Cook to boiling in a 2 quart sauce pan :
1 1/3 cup corn syrup, plus 1 1/3 cup honey*
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon

In a really big bowl, put in 11 cups of flour, 1 tsp soda, and 3 tsp
cream of tartar. Pour in the hot liquid, and stir with a big wooden
spoon until it starts forming a stiff dough. Work it with your hands
until you can form coils about the diameter of a quarter. Add more
flour if it isn't stiff enough to do this. Form all the coils before
the dough cools. Set about six of the coils on a bread board, and slice
across them, each about 1/4 inch thick. Separate the little coins and
set them close together on cookie sheets (they don't swell too much).
Bake them about 12 minutes at 350 degrees--they should turn slightly
brown when done, particularly on the bottom. I bake them production
style--putting in a batch every six minutes, moving them up to the top
shelf for six more as the top shelf gets done. Scrape them off the pan
onto the table or somewhere, and let them cool. They are delightful
when still warm, and not too hard at all. They take on their hard
persona in about a half hour. These cookies could be hard tack for
arctic expeditions--they won't crumble even if you wad them in your
pocket with your keys and Swiss army knife.

*Can be all white or dark syrup or all honey, depending on what you've
got. Honey makes it tangier though.