Cookie (recipe) Exchange!!
I have the urge to start baking for Christmas. I have been compiling my grocery list of goodies and getting my recipes together. Want to have a cookie exchange?! I know it sounds corny, but I'd love to swap recipes for Christmas baking with all of my serious eats friends! Here's mine...
IRISH LACE COOKIES
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
In a bowl cream the butter with the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy and beat in the flour, the milk, and the vanilla. Stir in the oats, drop rounded teaspoons of the dough about 3 inches apart onto un greased baking sheets, and bake the cookies in batches in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are golden. Let the cookies stand on the sheets for 1 minute, or until they are just firm enough to be moved with a metal spatula. (If desired, turn the cookies upside down on the sheets and, working quickly, roll them into cylinders on the sheets. If the cookies become too hard to roll, return them to the oven for a few seconds and let them soften.) Transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool completely.
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6 Comments:
This is my favorite Gingerbread Cooky Recipe. It’s by Nick Malgeri and appears in the book How To Bake. The tip is to roll the dough evenly, not to roll the cookies too thin and not to overbake them. That's when the extremities get burnt and bitter tasting. If they are rolled a little bit thickly, they retain some moisture and become more chewy. I use a meringue powder royal icing to avoid any raw egg issues. (Recipe follows.) I recommend the use of half sheet pans lined with parchment.
Decorated Gingerbread Cookies
Dough
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound unsalted butter
2/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
Icing Recipe Follows
For the dough, add the dry ingredients (except sugar) to a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Beat the butter and sugar by machine and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Beat in half the flour mixture, then stop and scrape down the bowl and beaters. Beat in the molasses, scrape again, and beat in the remaining flour mixture, just until combined.
Divide the dough into several pieces and press each piece into a rectangle about 1/4" thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour or until firm. (I usually mix this dough around T-Giving and freeze in logs for quick baking at Christmas.)
Set racks in the middle and upper thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
Roll the dough, one piece at a time, on a floured surface just to make the dough flat and even but not much thinner. Cut with floured cutters and arrange on the pans at an inch or two apart, to make room for expansion during baking. Repeat with remaining dough. Reroll the scraps immediately or press together, chill and reroll later.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until firm when pressed with a fingertip. (They won't have much extra color and if a cooky dents slightly when touched, it's OK to pull them out.)
Cool the cookies on pans a minute or two, then transfer to racks.
To decorate, make the following icing:
Add these ingredients in the order given into a Kitchenaid mixer bowl:
6 tbsp. warm water
3 tbsp. Meringue powder
1/4 teas CLEAR Almond extract
ADD GRADUALLY:
1 lb Confectioners' sugar
Combine warm water, meringue powder and almond extract. Beat on medium speed until the meringue powder/ water mixture resembles frothy egg whites and meringue powder is all dissolved. Add confectioners' sugar gradually, beating on low-medium speed until icing is light, fluffy and holds its shape. It should stand in peaks and have a dull appearance. This can take up to 15 minutes.
Pipe decorations onto cookies with a piping bag. Let cookies dry in a single layer and wait 24 hours before packing cookies to ship or transport.
I have tried tinting this royal icing with disastrous results. I only make the royal icing in white because I'm chicken to try colors again. In any case, even gingerbread haters love these cookies.
chiff0nade at 10:50AM on 11/19/07
Oatmeal Raisin
These cookies are my husband's favorite cookies ever. I found the recipe online about 7 years ago, but don't remember from where or i'd give it credit. If you think you don’t like oatmeal raisin cookies, i urge you to try these. They are simply fantastic.
2 ¼ cups old fashioned oats. Absolutely do not use quick-cook oats.
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground allspice
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. I use two baking sheets and cook one at a time, only because when i first started making these years ago i had an oven which had uneven temperatures, and now i’ve developed the habit of baking one sheet at a time (old habits die hard). You could put two in there at a time if you’re feeling adventurous. this batch makes approximately 18 cookies, so you'll be using the cookie sheets more than once anyway.
Mix first 6 ingredients together in a big bowl. Using electric handheld mixer or stand-up mixer with paddle attachment, beat the room-temperature butter with both sugars until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until well blended. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients until JUST blended. Stir in raisins.
Put this mixture in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Using an ice cream scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup, scoop batter onto parchment lined sheet (6 scoops per sheet, evenly spaced) and just barely smoosh the rounds down a bit with your index and middle finger. Bake for exactly 15 minutes, then remove sheet from oven and let stand for exactly 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack (they won’t look like they’re done, but trust me), and let cool completely.
french tart at 11:11AM on 11/19/07
by the way, Lilartist, good idea on the recipe swap!
french tart at 11:17AM on 11/19/07
I made homemade teddy grahams. The recipe's on my blog:
http://threepotato.blogspot.com/2007/11/homemade-teddy-grahams.html
KarynMC at 12:04PM on 11/19/07
I always make a cornmeal cookie for the holidays. It is so simple yet so delicious. Ivonne over at Cream Puffs In Venice has a great blog and she posted a recipe that is very close to my own. Called Crumiri these cookies are simple and keep well.
http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/2007/10/25/the-memory-of-food/
I make them in 3 inch piped lines and serve them with coffee for breakfast for my guests then after dinner with coffee.
JerzeeTomato at 12:32PM on 11/19/07
Recipes swaps aren't corny, they make the world go 'round (haha, talk about corny).
So here's one I'd like to add: The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies. Enjoy!
Also, there's going to be an awesome holiday cookie contestyou guys should submit your recipes to!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 5:00PM on 11/19/07