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Recipes

Christmas Cookie Day 2015

Cookie Day is certainly up there as one of my favorite food days of the year. An epic day of baking, decorating and mimosa-drinking, hundreds of cookies are made and slightly fewer are consumed. The apartment gets covered in flour and we find sprinkles scattered on the floor for days afterward.

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This year featured some old favorites and a few new recipes too. Most are detailed or linked to below. I’m hoping to check back in here before the holidays with some photos from Japan, but just in case I don’t make it, Jordan and I wish you a peaceful and joyful holiday.

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Granny’s Sugar Cookies, from Nonnie
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

Beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and sugar and cream together for a few more minutes. Add the egg. In another bowl, sift together the salt, baking powder and flour. Add flour mixture into the butter mixture and stir until combined. Divide into two balls, flatten into discs and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Roll out into 1/4″ thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 400° for 6 – 8 minutes. These babies cook fast so set a timer!

For the icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted (trust me, it will save you time in the end)
a few tablespoons of milk
food coloring

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl. Start with 3 tablespoons of milk and whisk together. It will be a big sugary clump. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time, until you get a smooth icing. Careful though, you don’t want it to be so runny or it will run off the cookie.  Divide into as many small bowls or cups as colors you’d like to make and add the food coloring. This year’s innovation was using an ice cube tray so we could have lots of colors! I’d recommend getting a pack of cheap paint brushes so you can get real precise with your icing.

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Our friend Kelly, a true cookie artisan, and her husband Russ have relocated to New Zealand, but they joined in on the fun from afar, contributing these kiwi masterpieces! We miss them everyday, but especially on Cookie Day. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, things got a little crazy towards the end of the day and we decided to take a page from Jackson Pollock’s book.

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Biscotti with Fennel Seed and Orange, adapted from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook
3/4 cup almonds
4 tablespoons butter, cold
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large cold egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons fine cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, chopped finely

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Roast the almonds on a baking sheet until light brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Finely chop 1/4 cup of the nuts, and coarsely chop the remainder. Pour into a medium bowl. Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and fennel seeds and mix to combine.

In a medium bowl, barely beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat to combine. Add the flour mixure to the butter mixture and mix until combined.

On two piece of plastic wrap, divide the dough in two and shape into a long, about 2 inches wide by 3/4 inch tall by 8 inches long. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat your oven 325 degrees F. Place the logs a few inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the log is lightly browned and puffing up a bit. Remove from the oven and with a very sharp knife, slice the biscotti into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick. Return to the baking sheet, turn them onto their sides and bake an additional 5 minutes more.

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Mexican Wedding Cookies, our friend Jessi’s family recipe
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup freshly ground almond flour
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. In a food processor, grind 1 cup of fresh, raw almonds until they are very finely chopped, a coarse flour-like consistency.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix a bit more. Add the flour and almond flour. Roll into 1 inch balls.

Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Roll in powdered sugar.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, our friend Robin’s family recipe
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or lightly spray with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, apple sauce, sugars, egg, and vanilla until the butter breaks down into pea-sized pieces. Add flour mixture to apple sauce mixture. Mix well. Fold in oats and then raisins. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 min. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 5 min. Remove and place on cooling rack.

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Mom’s Chocolate Chip Meringues, from Smitten Kitchen
Using just two egg whites, some sugar and some chocolate, these cookies are pretty amazing! Crunchy on the outside, super chewy on the inside with just a hint of chocolate,  they look like cookies and cream ice cream and are nearly as good.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Sandwiches, from Spoon Fork Bacon
We swapped the milk chocolate for dark. Make sure to pop these babies back in the freezer after dunking in chocolate, especially if you’ve got a tiny kitchen and hot oven on for hours.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

christmas cookie day

Every year, I host a Christmas cookie party. We bake and decorate, drink mimosas, eat take out tacos from spot next door. The tradition actually goes back further to when I was living in D.C. during college. My Maryland family, the Adinehs, would host a Christmas cookie party of impressive proportions. If there were not at least 12 types of cookies baked and two card tables piled high with delicious treats by the end of it, we had not done our job. I learned from the best, and try to recreate it every year in considerably less kitchen real estate.

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This year, our friend Kelly brought a new technique to the table. She made her own cookie cutters! Using this tutorial, she made a cookie cutter based on her Boston terrier puppy Nibbler and another based on the artist Keith Haring’s work.  Serious cookie dedication. We were all impressed. Go Kelly!

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There were also Laura Bush’s famous cowboy cookies, whole wheat chocolate chip sablés, peanut butter and jelly sandwich cookies, pecan sandies, and double chocolate biscotti for my Food Blogger Cookie Swap friends. We baked from 11 am to 8 pm, which is precisely why Cookie Day is one of my favorite holiday traditions—pure dedication to the art of cookie making combined with very little restraint. I cannot wait for next year.

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Granny’s Sugar Cookies, from Nonnie
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour

Beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and sugar and cream together for a few more minutes. Add the egg. In another bowl, sift together the salt, baking powder and flour. Add flour mixture into the butter mixture and stir until combined. Divide into two balls, flatten into discs and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Roll out into 1/4″ thickness and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 400° for 6 – 8 minutes. These babies cook fast so set a timer!

For the icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted (trust me, it will save you time in the end)
a few tablespoons of milk
food coloring

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl. Start with 3 tablespoons of milk and whisk together. It will be a big sugary clump. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time, until you get a smooth icing. Careful though, you don’t want it to be so runny it runs of the cookie. Divide into as many small bowls or cups as colors you’d like to make and add the food coloring. I’d recommend getting a pack of cheap paint brushes so you can get real precise with your icing.

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Double Chocolate Biscotti, adapted from my Nonnie’s recipe
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup neutral oil, like canola
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flaked coconut
1 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Guittard)
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs, egg whites and oil. Add in the sugar, vanilla, salt, and flaked coconut, and mix to combine.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and baking power.  In a sauté pan, brown the nuts over medium heat. Pour the nuts into a food processor and pulse a few times, add the chocolate chips and pulse a few more times. This will chop both up a bit, and also start to melt the chocolate. Add the nut and chocolate mixture to the stand mixer, and mix to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture on low speed, and mix until all of the flour is incorporated.

Divide the dough into four parts. Scoop the dough onto four pieces of plastic wrap. Wrap in plastic and shape into a flat log shape. This takes a little maneuvering, but you can make it happen. Let the dough chill overnight.

Preheat your oven to 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and place two biscotti logs on each baking sheet whole. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and using a sharp knife, cut the logs into strips. Spread the strips apart and turn them onto their sides. Return to the oven and cook for about 20 more minutes. You want the cookies to be dry and crunchy. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Once cooled, melt about 12 oz of chocolate in a double boiler. Dip the bottom of each biscotti into the chocolate and then let them rest on their sides for the chocolate to harden, depending on the temperature and humidity, this can take an hour or so. You can also put them in the fridge to quicken the hardening process. Store in an airtight container.

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Cowboy Cookies, by Laura Bush
These are Hilary’s go to cookie. They are huge, chewy and delicious. She says she likes to keep a roll of dough in her freezer and slice of a cookie or two when she needs a pick me up. I’m digging that idea.

Pecan Sandies, by Thomas Keller
Like all things Thomas Keller, these are lovely and refined. Kelly says that the batch is on the small side, and you should double it if you’re not making other types of cookies.

Whole Wheat Sablés with Chocolate Chips, adapted from Orangette
I follow this recipe, but swapped 2/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips for the cocoa nibs. I’d love to try them with nibs, I’m sure they’d be lovely. I also may have let mine cook a few minutes long, but that added a pleasant browned butter flavor, so no harm done.

Peanut Butter Cookies, from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Robin made a double batch and then sandwiched some jelly between two cookies. I’m working with a creative bunch here.

Almond Spice Cookies, from Epicurious
These were a bit of a challenge. We used them as roll out cookies for decorating, but they required quite of bit of persistence and wrangling on the behalf of Kelly to be shaped into submission. They’re tasty, but I think we’ll try something else next year.

-Emily

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Recipes

nonnie’s russian teacakes

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These are probably my favorite cookie. They are buttery, just the right amount of sweet, as perfect with coffee as they are with a glass of milk. The recipe is my Nonnie’s, and she always makes sure to have a tin of them ready when I go over to visit.  Food just tastes better when someone makes it for you, especially if that person knows their way around a stick of butter like my Nonnie.

I usually have an acceptable level of self-control in regards to the desserts I make, but restraint is nearly impossible with these cookies. These cookies are are my kryptonite. Whenever I make them, or am lucky enough to snag a tin from the master herself, I force myself to ration them to make them last as long as possible. One for breakfast with coffee, two for dessert. Tin kept under lock and key. Trust me, it’s tough to not plow through the entire batch in a day or two. I ate the last one out from under Jordan’s nose and didn’t feel even the slightest tinge of remorse. That is how much I love these cookies.

Because they are a family specialty and because they are my favorites, I thought it only fitting to go all out for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and send these to three lucky ladies, Rebecca, Laura and Willow.

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Nonnie’s Russian Teacakes
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
powdered sugar, for rolling in after baking

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Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sifted powdered sugar and vanilla until well combined. Sift in flour and salt. Add pecans. Mix until a crumbly dough forms. Refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight.

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Preheat your oven to 400° F. Roll dough into 1″ balls. Bake 12 – 14 minutes, until they are just starting to be a bit golden around the bottom. Roll in powdered sugar while hot. Let cool completely and roll again in powdered sugar.

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My Nonnie is an amazing cook. She rocks pot roast, turkey stuffing, crab cakes, berry pie, biscotti, not to mention her famous cheesecake, like nobody’s business. My russian teacakes couldn’t hold a candle to Nonnie’s until very recently, but my dedication to the art has paid off.  My secrets are revealed in this little puppet below. Watch it and learn how to make your cookies *almost* as good as Nonnie’s!

Packing cookies for transport is a serious thing. And serious things usually require a trip to Daiso, the Japanese version of the dollar store and one of my favorite places in San Francisco. There I picked up some adorable tins, mini cupcake papers and gingham wrapping paper—all in the interest of making sure my cookies arrived unharmed and as adorable as they are delicious. Once cooled, cookies were placed in tins, recipes were written up, and I packed the mailing boxes chock full with crumpled pages of an unread Vogue magazine to ensure my cookies didn’t get to jostled on their journey. Priorities.

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And now that I’ve exhausted you with all kinds of adorable, you really should make these cookies this holiday season.

-Emily
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Categories
Randomness

christmas cookie time!

Last Sunday I had some lovely ladies over to bake Christmas cookies. And boy did we do it up … sugar cookies, chocolate cookies, chocolate and vanilla pinwheels, lemon-ricotta cookies, biscotti, two types of mexican wedding cookies, black and whites, plus peppermint bark and chocolate-pumpkin truffles. It was six hours of baking awesomeness. Here are some photos from the day. Recipes might come if I’m feeling frisky over Christmas.

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Hope you’re enjoying your holidays so far!

-Emily