Cookie Crisis Contest!
I’m having a cookie crisis.
Next week is, of course, the week when every Christmas-oriented cook in America will bake cookies like a madman.
I was invited to a cookie exchange party, a luncheon to which you bring home-baked holiday cookies, and then everyone gets to take home some of the other guests’ goods. I love this idea, so festive and holiday-ish, so I signed right up. It’s just dawned on me that now I have to bake cookies, which is something I never do except when my children are having a chocolate chip emergency.
I need to find a recipe, fast, that is easy enough for a lame-o like me and significant enough to be a worthy entry at the luncheon.
In my mind I see these ladies showing up with perfect squads of gingerbread men decorated in ways that require two years of training at a culinary academy, while I am skulking in the corner trying to pretend I did not bring the sad platter of scrappy, M&M-dotted, Big Fat Loser cookies that everyone knows I brought.
In my efforts to revise this dreary picture, I’m doing a recipe slam. If anybody has any ideas, please send them my way. I am offering a prize to the person who sends me a recipe that solves this crisis. (Don’t worry, the prize will NOT be something I baked.)
Please hurry or I will have to call my therapist.
Tags: baking, Christmas cookie, cookies
December 12th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I just made a batch of these for my Dad and sent them to him for his birthday, if I hadn’t sent them we would have eaten them up. They are really EASY to make. If this recipe isn’t to your liking there is always Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies website which is full of good ideas. Also try http://www.recipesource.com the Searchable Online Archive of Recipes. Okay here we go.
HOLIDAY SPICE COOKIES
1/2 c Butter
1 c Light brown sugar/firmly packed
2 Eggs
1 ts Vanilla
1/2 ts Lemon extract
1/2 ts Anise extract
2 3/4 c Sifted flour
1 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Black pepper
1/4 ts Nutmeg
1/4 ts Cloves
1/8 ts Mace
Confectioners sugar
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with brown
sugar. Beat eggs and extracts. In another bowl, add
sifted flour and mix baking powder, salt, pepper and
spices. Gradually add flour butter mixture, mixing
well after each addition. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375. Shape dough with two teaspoons
into ovals and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake
8-10 minutes. Carefully remove cookies from baking
sheets to wire racks and sprinkle with confectioners
sugar. Cool and store in airtight containers. These
cookies keep well and mellow with age. They’re best
about 5-8 days after baking.
Yield: 5 dozen
December 14th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Okay, so I made a quick call to mom to ask, “What is a favorite holiday cookie that you make that is virtually fool-proof and requires no decoration?†She didn’t hesitate a second, coming up with Refrigerator Cookies. She added, “If you want to get fancy, make the checkerboard ones.†So, if an effort to help you avoid the pangs of BFLC (Big Fat Loser Cookie) syndrome, I humbly submit the recipe for Becky’s Refrigerator Cookies.
Blend:
1 cup butter (room temp)
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
Add 2 eggs, one at a time
Add and mix in:
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
2 ¾ cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Mix well. For white cookies, add 2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg to dough, whichever you prefer. For chocolate cookies, add 4 sq melted unsweetened chocolate.
Divide in half. Roll into a tube shape about 2-2 ½†round. Wrap in wax paper and chill for 2 hrs in fridge (or overnight.)
To get really fancy, you can cut each chilled roll in 4 lengthwise slices, and put 2 white and 2 chocolate together like a checkerboard, then re-roll and chill.
When chilled, cut in ¼ “slices (slightly thicker if you like softer cookies) and bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.
December 14th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Jessica – try the Betty Crocker recipe I’ve linked to. I’ve made it twice now and not only is it incredibly easy, everyone who’s tried a bar loves them and has at least 2 more!
December 16th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I have two suggestions:
(1) make a savory cookie, which no one else will think of. how bout the stilton & walnut slice and bake ones i gave ya last night??
(2) buy a roll of pillsbury sugar cookie dough. cut it into very thin slices. sandwich an andres chocolate mint (the ones wrapped in green foil) between two slices and bake according to directions on dough wrapper. delish and no one will know you used store-bought dough!
December 16th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Peanut Butter Blossoms–make peanut butter cookies, scoop onto trays and press a chocolate kiss (without the tinfoil wrapper, of course) into the middle and bake. No wait, you put the kiss on/in when you take them out. I think. :-0 I live too far away to get the prize anyway. xo, S
December 16th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies
Made without butter or flour, these dense, chewy cookies will satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving.
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (about 9 ounces), divided
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring twice, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly.
Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow creme. Whisk 1 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. On low speed, beat dry ingredients into meringue. Stir in lukewarm chocolate and 1/2 cup chocolate chips (dough will become very stiff).
Place 1/2 cup sugar in bowl. Roll 1 rounded tablespoon dough into ball; roll in sugar, coating thickly. Place on prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and tops crack, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheets on rack 10 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Okay, I can’t wait to try all of these! Keep ‘em coming!
December 17th, 2008 at 9:44 am
My neighbor in Florida, Mary Ann says go to any supermarket (on shelf where they sell raisins) and buy NONE SUCH MINCEMEAT. It comes in a box. Follow the recipe. Very very simple.
Even if you never eat the cookies, the house will smell fantastic and oh so Christmasy!
April 6th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Haha, I could have asked my friend Elena. She started a Cookie Club on my suggestion (I am member 001) for friends and cookie lovers here in Madrid. She makes a terrific lemon cake too. Sadly she went to Asturias in the Norht of Spain this winter, so we never had that cookie exchange party we thougt of as well. Hopefully she´ll be back soon, picnic season has officially started.