2012 Cookie Tins

You get a double dose of recipes today--cookie recipes, to be specific.  And you thought today was going to be like any old day. I realize that by making that comment, I am taking the slight risk that I overestimate the impact of this blog post on your life. I'm not a Leo for nothing. Please don't burst my bubble, because I'll just come up with another delusion to make myself feel better.

Hm, after all that, I looked back at my blog and realized that I already shared one of the cookie recipes with you. So, it is just a single dose of recipe today. I imagine you are devastated.  If not, please see above note about keeping me in ignorance.

Anyway, a few years ago I got in the "habit" (if doing something two years in a row counts as a "habit") of making cookie tins for some family members.  The first year I made 5 different kinds of cookies.  The next year, I made 3.  This year, I trimmed it to a very sleek and slim 2 varieties.  I highly recommend this to myself for any future cookie tins.

I made molasses spice cookies again, and rugelach.  Both cookie recipes are from Dorie Greenspan, and can be found on the internet or in Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I love rugelach--so tasty, and so festive in appearance.  Perfect for a cookie tin.

I made this recipe twice.  The first time I followed the recipe as is, putting all the filling ingredients into each cookie.  The second time, I made half with the jam, cinnamon sugar, currants and nuts, and the other half with a brush of egg wash, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips and nuts. You can play around with this recipe.

Ingredients

For the Dough
4 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Filling
2/3 cup raspberry jam, apricot jam or marmalade
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I generally use pecans for any baking that calls for nuts, unless the recipe calls for peanuts, in which case I use peanuts--I won't get into this now)
1/4 cup plump, moist dried currants
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips (or 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, but the mini chips are so much easier)

For the Glaze

1 large egg
1 teaspoon cold water
2 tablespoons sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar (I forgot this)

Notes: I like to make the dough, form the cookies, and freeze them at least a day beforehand just to break things up. If you freeze your cookies before baking, add a few minutes to the baking time (no need to defrost).

To make the dough, place the flour, salt, butter and cream cheese in a food processor.  

Dorie says to pulse the dough 6 to 10 times, scraping down the sides as you go, then processing continuously until large curds form. I didn't scrape the sides down, just pulsed and then processed. I think it turned out okay. You don't want to process it so that it forms into a big ball--that's going too far and bad things will happen. Divide the dough in half, form each half into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day (or freeze for up to 2 months).

When ready to form the rugelach, take out 1 disk of dough and let rest on the counter for about 10 minutes. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the disk into a 11 to 12-inch diameter circle.  Thinly spread half of the jam onto the dough circle.

Then sprinkle half the cinnamon-sugar mixture, currants, nuts and chocolate over the dough.  Take a piece of wax paper (or plastic wrap) and gently press the filling ingredients down into the dough.

Rugelach pizza!  Using a sharp knife or a pizze cutter, divide the disk into 16 wedges (start by quartering the pizza, then halving each quadrant into 8 pieces, and then halving each piece for a total of 16).  Starting from the outside of each wedge, roll up tightly, ending with the tip tucked under the bottom.

The one on the right rebelled against the whole "tip under the bottom" instruction.

Place the formed rugelach onto a greased baking sheet (a greased/nonstick surface is important because some of the jam will seep out) and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or, you can freeze them, lightly covered, for up to 2 months).  

Repeat with the second disk of dough.

Whenever you are ready to bake the rugelach, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the egg and water, and brush the tops of each cookie with the egg wash.  If you remember (which I didn't), sprinkle the 2 TBS sugar over the cookies.

Bake the rugelach for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through, until the rugelach are golden. 

Remove each rugelach to a cooling rack.

Cameo by molasses spice cookies.

For packing the cookie tins, I bought some red and green packing filler from World Market and placed it at the bottom of the tin, and then nestled the cookies into muffin wrappers.  For the larger molasses spice cookies, I flattened out the muffin wrappers into disks.  I covered the whole thing with parchment paper before putting the lid on and sending the tins on their way.

Hail the cookie tin! Ta-da!

Seasons Greetings!

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! However you say it--Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Kwanzakuhmas--what I really mean is warm wishes of friendship, family and love. 

Beetch, where is my geeft?

Seriously, ees you stupid? Where EES my GEEFT?  

This does NOT suffice. However, it is a much better background for my coloring.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Cookie Tins

Now that I've had my little detour into Scroogeville, back to the good-natured stuff.  Which I swear I have a lot of.

As part of that ho-ho-ho spirit, I sent out cookie tins to some folks.  But only so much ho-ho-ho spirit. I'm not Martha (i.e. don't have low-paid interns and assistants to do my bidding). So I limited the cookie tins to just family.  And then further Grinched out by limiting it to close family. That I like.  Rebounding from snark is hard, folks.

So on with the cookie collection that started with the peppermint bark shortbread.  Last year I made about 5 varieties of cookies for the tins.  That was a mistake. This year it became a much more manageable 3.  In addition to the peppermint bark, I made molasses spice cookies and walnut shortbread.  Both recipes are adapted from the lovely Dorie Greenspan.

What's nice about these cookies is that they are relatively hearty (good for travel), and both require some chilling time, so you can break up making them over a few days if you like. 

Molasses Spice Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking soda 
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1 large egg
• Granulated sugar, for rolling

FYI--this makes quite a crispy cookie (which may, ahem, may be due in part to some overbaking on my part).  Perhaps this is a softer cookie if baked properly, but I figured its crispiness would help it stand up to the travel.

Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. 

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the room temperature butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Mix in the brown butter and molasses and beat until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the egg and beat for about 1 more minute.

Add in the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.

Divide dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap.

Looks like pile of dinosaur dung a la Jurassic Park.  Don't worry, the poop references do not stop here.

Freeze for about 30 minutes before moving on to the rest of the recipe, or chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Divide each ball of dough into 12 pieces (if you want smaller cookies, that's fine, just remember to shorten the baking time).

Roll each piece into a ball.

Camel poop, anyone?

Place the sugar in a bowl.  Roll each ball of dough until lightly coated.

Lay on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 2 inches apart...

Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass (dipped in sugar to prevent sticking), until about 1/4" thick.

The original recipe says to bake for about 10 minutes.  The original recipe also says the cookies are done until centers are just set--I'm not sure what that means, and it became clear that I didn't when the cookies became a bit more crisp than desirable. "Just set" does not mean firm. Just that it's not soupy any longer, which I think for my oven would have taken more around 7 minutes.  So start checking at 7 minutes. 

Remove cookies with a spatula and set on wire rack to cool.

Brown Butter Walnut Shortbread

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup finely ground walnuts or pecans (I should point out that the original recipe is called Brown Butter Pecan Shortbread--but I had extra walnuts lying around, so there you go) 
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Mix flour, cornstarch, salt and cloves in medium bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar on medium speed until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

With mixer on low speed, gradually add in flour mixture until just combined.

Gather dough and place into gallon-size resealable plastic bag.  It will be soft and sticky. That be okay.

Roll out into a rectangle about 1/4" thick and about 9" x 10 1/2".  I probably spent about 20 minutes on this part because I am not adept at this sort of thing.

Refrigerate dough, in bag, for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut off plastic bag and discard.

Cut dough into 1 1/2" squares.  I scored mine first.

After cutting the dough into squares, prick each piece with a fork two times, with the tines of the fork going all the way through the dough.

Place on parchment-lined baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake 15-20 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back. Shortbread is done when they are just light golden brown. Again, as is my wont, I overshot it and they were pretty golden brown. It was not my night for baking.

To pack the cookies, I bought these cute tins from the Container Store.

 

Source 

I nestled the stacks of cookies in cupcake wrappers.  For the peppermint bark shortbread, I separated the layers with more wrappers.

Ta-da!

Gift Ideas

Ever have to get a gift for someone that you kind of pretty much don't like, but the obligation exists nonetheless? Well, I have a list for you. And I'm not saying who or what inspired these ideas. Or whether the who or what even exists. I might have just been thinking about these on my own.  Except for the fact that they were a helluva lot funnier when I had someone specific in mind. Not that I did.


Anyway, make it special for them. Make it holiday-y. Oh you know what I mean. Yes--make it the 12 days of Christmas.  For someone you really don't want to care about.


Warning: you will see how nasty and mean I can be.  If you want to hold on to your impressions of me as an angel, go back to the last post about shortbread and peppermint


Day 1: A trial pack of Prozac, generic or brand-named, with a note saying "Wheeeeee!"


Day 2: Two articles of clothing you don't wear anymore, that you can "donate"  to your [person you don't like but to whom you must give a gift even though they DO NOT deserve it].  Just stick those faded sweatshirts and PJ bottoms into a box and tie 'em with ribbon--they'll never know they were used! Don't forget to spritz with Febreze. An actual washing is completely unnecessary.  The recipient (again, I won't say who) should be grateful for the injection of fashion into their lives, even if it comes into the form of sweatpants with elephants all over them. Not that I have those. I actually don't. Moving on... 


Day 3: A variety pack of three matchboxes wrapped in pretty Paper Source paper, with a note saying "For when you need to pinch a big stinky loaf".


Day 4: Four lightbulbs--one for recipient [I won't say who] and three for his/her imaginary friends--with recipient's and totally hallucinatory friends' names written in puffy pen, with a note saying "For display purposes only".


Day 5: Five snails and/or dead rodents.  No no silly haha I'm not talking about giving someone just a snail or rodent.  Make sure they're dead (or not), shellack them, and glue them to cardboard. 


Day 6: Six tasers with a note saying, "So people stop rolling their eyes and falling asleep when you talk!"


Day 7:  Seven garbage bags, each clearly labeled with a different day of the week in big, glittery cut out letters.


Day 8: Eight pounds of dirt from nearest...dirt place.  Pack it into a box, tie it with ribbon, and say it's real earth from Santa's special magic garden.


Day 9: A little dixie cup, with a note saying "For when you scrape the plaque off your teeth in public and want to remember it.  Cup only holds scrapings from nine teeth".


Day 10: Collect your eye and nose boogers for 10 days.  You will need to plan ahead of time to make this work.  Squish into big ball, slap a bow on it, and tell recipient it's a toffee-flavored taffy ball.


Day 11:  A pair of forceps (both tongs representing the numeral "11"), with a note saying "For when you decide to pry the stick out of your ass".


Day 12: A bottle of weed killer, with a note saying "The perfect solution for all that pesky facial hair you have!" (No relation to the number 12)


Happy Holidays.

Peppermint Bark Shortbread

Holidays and cookies. What could be better.  Each year I have a fantasy of turning my kitchen into a flour- and sugar-covered wonderland where the mixer is always on and the oven is happily chugging away and making apartment toasty, and I bake millions and bajillions of cookies.

This pretty much never happens. Maybe one day. When I have my huge-ass house with a ginormous kitchen with a massive island perfect for multiple stations for cookies in various stages of creation.  Actually, it probably wouldn't happen then either.  The expansive house and kitchen probably won't happen either.  Pretty much a useless and depressing exercise in imagination.

Until then (or never), I will make peppermint bark shortbread.  It is easy and festive--I made it for an office potluck and for cookie tins that we mailed to family (which probably should have been mailed with a pouch of shelf-safe milk since there were some other components of the cookie tin that were quite...crispy, even by the time I mailed them. Whatever it's the thought, people).

From Epicurious

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk
• 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red-and-whitestriped hard peppermint candies or candy canes (about 3 ounces)
• 2 ounces high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the crap outta your candy canes or peppermint candies.  I do this by placing the candies in a resealable plastic bag (something thicker than just a sandwich bag, like the quart or gallon size because the candy shards will mercilessly rip through a sandwich bag) and beating it with a rolling pin.

Coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.  Cut a piece of parchment paper to line the pan, with enough overhang on the short ends that will give you enough grip to lift the parchment and cookies out of the pan.  Spray the parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

In a mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy--a couple of minutes.

Or, as was the case with me, beat a mere 1 minute until half fluffy, half greasy because the butter was too warm. Whatevs.

With mixer on low speed, gradually mix in sugar.  Make sure to spill a good portion of it on the counter.

You'll end up with something like this.  But maybe not as greasy (see note above).

Gradually mix in flour/salt on low speed, until just combined--as in, don't wait for it to come into a ball or anything.  Scoop dough out of mixing bowl into parchment-lined baking pan.

Gently press dough evenly over the bottom of the baking pan--it's going to be a thin layer, about 1/4" or 1/3" thick.  Prick all over with a fork.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Honestly, I overdid the baking a touch. The next time I paid attention to the lightly in "lightly golden" and was happier with the final results.

While the shortbread base is baking, chop up the bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. I used a combo. Like you care.

When the shortbread base is done, evenly sprinkle the chocolate all over the base.  Some of it will start to melt right away.

Cover tightly with foil and let sit for about 3 minutes, to give all the chocolate a chance to soften.

Remove the foil.  With an offset spatula (or whatever, you could use the back of a spoon), spread the chocolate into a smooth layer.

Fun.  Then, sprinkle the peppermint candies all over. 

Someone didn't work quite hard enough at beating the candy canes into submission.

Rogue piece of candy cane. 

Melt white chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan filled with an inch of simmering water.  In order to get the white chocolate to drizzling consistency, I had to add a touch of cream, like a teaspoon or so.

Dip a fork in the melted chocolate and drizzle over your concoction.

Place entire pan in refrigerator until the white chocolate sets up--at least 30 minutes. 

Some of my "drizzles" were more like blobs.

You can lift the entire massive "cookie" out of the pan and cut into desired size. 

I have final pics of the shortbread that I'll show to you later, along with the other cookie goodies I made.

But here's a Ta-da in the meantime. Ta-da!