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i’m bringing these to a cookie swap, the cookies i make every year–the ones that make our holiday festivities feel complete.
this month the founders of the fun blogging event Sugar High Fridays and Is my blog burning? have joined together to invite us to a major cookie swap, with a prize cookbook too! well…it’s an “for adults only” cookbook (go check it out). i was hoping to add two new Christmassy cookies to this stash but unfortunately my supplies are running low and i had no chance to restock at my bargain nuts and chocolates place….i will add them on i hope sometime this week.
do i still qualify for the Cookie Sutra cookbook???
from the back of the “Land O’ Lakes” butter box…
gingerbread babies (originally twinkling ginger stars)
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 egg
* 3 tablespoons dark corn syrup or molasses
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* Powdered sugar
Instructions:
Combine sugar and butter in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy (1 to 2 minutes). Add egg, corn syrup and vanilla; continue beating until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Reduce speed to low; add all remaining ingredients except powdered sugar. Beat until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).
Divide dough into thirds. Shape each third into round ball; flatten to 1/2-inch thickness. Wrap in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (1 to 2 hours) or up to 3 days.
Heat oven to 375°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-third at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2 to 3-inch star cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until set. Let stand 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over cooled cookies.
TIP: Store cookies in a loosely covered container at room temperature up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months in an airtight container.
TIP: If dough is too firm for rolling, let stand at room temperature until just soft enough to roll.
the cookies that say merry christmas for you…spumoni cookies
(from “Betty Crocker’s Cookbook“, 1986)
1 cup butter, room temp.
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped pistachio nuts (or toasted almonds)
6 drops green food color
1 sq. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled, or 3 tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa + 1 tbsp. melted cooled butter
2 tbsps. chopped drained maraschino cherries (chop and then squeeze dry with a paper towel over a strainer)
cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, add sugar, vanilla and egg. stir in flour and salt. divide dough into 3 equal parts. Mix pistachio nuts and food color into 1 part, chocolate into second, andmix cherries into remaining part. Chill dough slightly. Line bottom and ends of loaf pan with aluminum foil, allowing ends to extend over edges to half way top of pan (for easier lifting out and slicing).
Press nut dough evenly in bottom of pan. Press chocolate dough over nut dough, cherry dough over chocolate. Cover dough with extended ends of foil. Refrigerate at least 2 hours but not longer than 6 weeks.
Heat oven to 375F. Remove foil and dough from pan. Cut dough crosswise into 1/4 inch slices, cut each slice cross wise into halves. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies until set, about 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet using thin spatula and let cool in racks.
Cashew Petites? based on a recipe from Gourmet magazine, Dec. 1993, Walnut Petites
1 stick (1/2 cup)unsalted butter, room temperature
3 ozs. cream cheese, room temp.
1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1 tbsp. melted & cooled butter
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped cashews, roasted unsalted
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream 1 stick of butter with the cream cheese until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the flour and the salt, and beat the mixture until it forms a dough. Form the dough into 2 logs and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 30 minutes. Slice into disks and press into 36 1/8 cup muffin tins and work the dough evenly onto the bottoms and up the sides of the tins to form 1/8-in. shells.
Preheat the oven to 375F. In a bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla until the mixture is combined well. Divide the filling among the shells, sprinkle it with the cashews, and bake the cashew cups in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crusts are golden. Let the cookies cool in the tins on racks for 10 minutes, remove them from the tins carefully (using the sharp tip of a knife), and let them cool completely in the racks. The cashew cups may be made 2 months in advance and kept frozen in airtight containers.
Makes 36 cookies. Easily doubled.
an unfamiliar vegetable, very fragrant and tasty
