December 7: White Velvet Cut-Outs

A long time ago, in an apartment far, far away, I made my first cut-out cookie as an adult. Disgruntled Husband and I were newly married his oma (German for “Grandmother”) gave me a cookie cutter.

That brought my count up to one. When Christmas rolled around, I brought out the cookie cookbook from my teens and made cut-out cookies with my one cookie cutter.

I didn’t make these last year and I found that I missed them. The recipe is super simple, but makes for a very tasty cookie. Instead of narrating the entire process, I think I’ll just use the pictures I took today, along with the recipe at the end.

(Oh, and the icing method and recipe can be found on my pinterest board, or on the sole November 2014 post on this very blog.)

—

White Velvet Cut Outs

(from Gooseberry Patch’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookies)

1 c. butter, softened 1 egg yolk

3 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/2 t vanilla

1 c sugar 2 1/2 c flour

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Beat in sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla, then stir in flour. Gather dough in a ball and chill overnight. To prepare, pre heat oven to 350. Rolll dough out to 3/16″ and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are light brown.

Cookies today: 37

Cookies this year: 318

December 6: Gingerbread Men

I venture to say that Gingerbread men and women are one of those things that it’s “just not Christmas until…”they show up in a box of cookies.

Now, to that end, I have made them today–but I really don’t like them. I don’t know why. I like molasses. I like ginger and cinnamon and all the other Christmas spices. But somehow, I only like the smell of these.

But that little red-headed girl of mine just loves them. So I make them.

I start with shortening. Now, if you’re a novice baker, let me tell you that shortening means Crisco. You can use butter or margarine if that’s all you have, but generally if a recipe calls for shortening, you best find the white grease and use it. Because my mom is southern, I grew up with Crisco and thought everyone knew what it was. Since growing up and moving to Wisconsin, I have discovered that this is simply not true.

While my shortening was being beaten, I dug out the two jars of molasses from my fridge. I use molasses two times a year–when my mom is visiting (because you dip biscuits in molasses if you’re from North Carolina) and when I make gingerbread cookies.

It takes a while to get all the molasses out. I have two jars because a few years ago, I decided it was easier to just get a new unrefrigerated bottle and use that than it was to pry open the bottle in my fridge and attempt to pour it out.

But enough about my problems.

Once I add the molasses, sugar, and egg, I get my gingerbread voodoo spices out and go to work. Spices and baking soda goes in, and then the flour. Most people would stop the mixer to add things.

Not me. Nope. It’s just not worth it unless I can try to time the beater’s revolutions with the adding of the flour. Sometimes it gets messy. (Okay. It’s most of the time.)

Throw it in the fridge and attempt to get the rest of your Christmas crap done.

Fail miserably, and three hours later, roll out your choice of gingerbread shapes.

I am a purist and go for the men and women, but there’s no law saying you need to.

While you are busy rolling out the second tray of cookies, yell at your kitten for jumping on to the first tray sitting on the table, throw out those cookies, and mumble under your breath.

A naughty kitten did this.

Once they are cooled, you can decorate them. I use a Wilton bag and a small round tip. Sadly, this year I didn’t make any anatomically correct gingerbread people because my kids were home. I mean, not that I’ve ever made them in the past…

Mini Me was sad when she got home from school, and this particular gingerbread man had a frown instead of a smile.

—

Mom’s Gingerbread Cookies
(from Gooseberry Patch Old-Fashioned Country Cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 c. shortening
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. molasses
1 egg
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves

Ingredients for Powdered Sugar Icing

1 c. sifted powdered sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1 T. milk

Directions:

1. Beat shortening until softened. Add molasses, sugar, and egg, beat again, and add spices and soda. Beat again and add half the flour.
2. Add the rest of the flour, mixing well.
3. Refrigerate for three hours
4. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out cookies.
5. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes, ice with powdered sugar icing

Cookies today: 35

Cookies this year: 281

December 5: Almond-Filled Creams

My friend Christina is a thrift store wizard. She can find the most amazing things that I would walk right past. Last month, she presented me with this:

Brought to you by your local electric co-op…

It is utterly amazing. A quick check on the inside cover reveals the publication:

It even has that “1960” font going on.

Yes, that’s Christmas 1960. What was the world like then? JFK was just elected president, a loaf of bread was $.20, Chubby Checker introduced “The Twist”, and The Flinstones first aired on television.

A little math on my end reveals that my grandmother–a 4’10” beauty full of sass and crass–was 45 that year. Though that’s still 10 years older than I am right now, I decided I’d try and channel Grandma to make this recipe.

The first three ingredients show just how far removed we are from the olden days. I beg you to find me a recipe still in circulation that calls for this:

Nothing says love like butter and cream.

(We’re in black and white now because it’s 1960. Duh.)

I even sifted the flour, as written. I normally don’t do that unless I’m combining it with something else. I don’t know what difference it makes in 2014, but I did it anyway.

I mixed it all up (in my crazy mixer from the future), and let it chill in my brand new sea-green refrigerator/freezer.

When I was ready to start, I put my apron on, poured a tumbler of scotch and lit a cigarette. (Just like Grandma surely did.)

*scotch and cigarette may have been written about in hyperbole.

Rolled out the dough and cut it with a round biscuit cutter. Poked them a few times with the tines of my best silver. And then lit another cigarette and yelled at my kids to get off the green feather couch.

One thing I forgot to do was cover both sides in sugar, which may explain why these turned out more like biscuits. I blame the scotch.

Threw them in my oven and reapplied my lipstick.

I don’t know why they came out oval when they went in as circles. If you know, please tell me.

They look circular here, but I’m telling you, there were ovals everywhere.

To make the filling, I found Marty McFly and he brought me back this crazy contraption. I hear it’s to grind coffee beans, but I used it to grind almonds for cookies.

I threw all of the filling ingredients together. And in the interest of not having an entirely beige cookie, I added some of 1960s best bright toxic food coloring. (Or 2014’s non-toxic, yet equally bright equivalent.)

The filling before Red Dye #2 was added.

Somewhere around then, I poured myself another scotch and fed my poodle. I also read the minutes of the last Glenview Botanical Society meeting.

I piped some filling on a cookie/biscuit and topped it with another cookie/biscuit.

Perfect for my next Junior League meeting!

Oh here, see it in color.

Even though I forgot to dip the cookies in sugar, I thought the sweetness of the almond filling made up for it.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a luncheon to get to.

—

I like the reminder about flameless electric cooking.

Cookies today: 16 (but remember, they are sandwich cookies)

Cookies this year: 246

(**Dedicated to my late grandmother, Eleanor Frank, who would be both appalled and amused by my imitation of her.)

December 4: Italian Sand Cookies

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, but wasn’t going to make it. I liked reading about the search to get this “secret” recipe right, and it brought back memories of also getting this cookie in bakeries over my lifetime. (Note: I have yet to meet a bakery I didn’t like.)

But this recipe was like an ear-worm, only it was in my brain. I couldn’t stop thinking about it–remembering the cookie myself, and then the blogger’s quest to find the recipe. It’s something I can understand doing (To this day, I fantasize about a cookie I had a few years ago and can’t find the recipe. I’m sure one of these days I’m just going to try to figure it out for myself.)

You may have eaten these in the past, too. When I was a kid, they were in the top shelf of the display at Kings’ Bakery, in the tray closest to the front. They aren’t anything fancy, but boy were they good. The ones they had came with some rainbow sprinkles on them.

So, the good people (or person..I think it’s just one fabulous lady) at Chef Tess Bakeresse went in search of the recipe. There’s a whole post devoted to the mission at http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/2010/06/evil-italian-butter-cookies.html and it really is adorable.

“Creaming method” adding of the flour.

I love how the instructions are simply “creaming method,” as if it’s saying “if you don’t know what we mean, then you probably should stick with ready-made cookies.” It’s just an easy way to say mix the butter, shortening, and sugar together, then add the vanilla and eggs, and then finally the rest of the ingredients.

(I will say though that my dough was a little to sticky when I followed the recipe. I could have chilled it, but instead I added a little more flour–about another 1/3 c. In hindsight, it probably could have been a little less, but they turned out just fine.)

Once that is done, you get out a big star tip and a pastry bag, and fill it with the dough. Pastry bags are nothing to fear. It’s just a matter of getting the right tip with the right consistency of dough. And, like this recipe, most of the time it will tell you which one to use.

My tasty little Italian babies, all ready for the oven.

I piped circles on the parchment paper and filled them in. There are two schools of thought on this…either go from the inside out, or the outside in. Either way, they will taste the same, so do whatever makes you happy.

After they came out of the oven and cooled, my kids were home from school. And of course, I had a little helper. After I melted the chocolate chips (with just a little bit of coconut oil for consistency reasons), Mini Me informed me she was the official sprinkle-putter-onner. That lasted for one tray of cookies. She abandoned me for Sofia the First, and I had to sadly finish the cookies myself.

A simple recipe that tastes like a million bucks!

I let the cookies dry on wax paper, but then decided to speed up the process by throwing the cookies (still on wax paper, now back on cookie sheets) into the freezer for 10 minutes.

After trying one, Disgruntled Husband had a look of shock on his face and said, “These are REALLY good.”

(Thanks for the vote of confidence, dear.)

The (much shorter) video about said recipe:

—

SAND COOKIES

(from www.cheftessbakeresse.com)

1 1/2 cups flour (we used AP)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar *
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 eggs
*(we also liked 3/4 c. conf sugar & 1/4 c. granulated which made them a slight bit sweeter)

Creaming method. Put through bag with large star tip. Bake @ 375 F for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown. Decorate with choc chips, sprinkles or leave plain and dip half in melted choc., etc.

Cookies today: 37

Cookies this year: 230

December 3: Swirled Sugar Cookies

I don’t know what previous generations did without Pinterest. I really don’t. I can find jokes, recipes, directions on making plutonium from common household items (come on, what movie?), and a vast array of urban legends people post. One of these days, I’m going to put something on there super outrageous, just to see how many people try it. (“The secret of younger skin is found in the litter box!”)

But I digress.

I found these on Pinterest and the pictures were just so pretty, I couldn’t not try to make them myself. It’s from a site called salt tree.com. I followed the basic sugar cookie recipe from that website, and then split the dough in half and dyed one part of it Royal Blue.

Nothing in nature is this color, which makes it fun!

And I don’t care who you are, you will somehow always get food coloring on you somewhere when you work with this stuff. It looks like I committed a Smurf-icide.

Both doughs got wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled in my fridge for an hour. I then rolled it out and uttered some not-Christmas friendly terms. Putting one layer of dough on top of another requires patience and precision, of which I have neither. But somehow, I made it work.

I think I may have actually broken out “Son of a Nutcracker” whilst trying to make this work.

Here’s a (much shorter) video on how I did it, and then how I did the next part–rolling the whole damn thing in sprinkles.

After I let the roll hang out on my front porch, I sliced the roll into 1/4″ slices and baked them. And, thanks to Salttree.com and Pinterest, it turned out exactly as it looked online! Win!

So pretty!

—

Swirled Sugar Cookies

(From Salttree.com)

Sugar cookie recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream it all together.

Then split it in half and dye one (or both, I suppose) with food coloring.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball of dough separately to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Using a pastry brush, apply a little water to the darker layer of dough. Roll the lighter colour of dough around the rolling pin and transfer it on top of the darker coloured layer of dough. The little bit of water will help them stick together.

Trim the edges so you end up with a neat and tidy rectangle. Save the scraps! (I did and made smaller rolls with them.)

Roll it up, jelly roll style and pour out a container of sprinkles. (Take it from me, it’s easier to use a cookie sheet or something.) Brush the log with a little water and roll in the sprinkles.

Cover with plastic wrap and let chill for an hour.

Slice them about 1/4″ thick and place on cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper). Bake for about 10 minutes at 350.

Cookies today: 105

Cookies this year: 193

December 2: Swedish Butter Cookies

I blame this guy.

Tommy in my kitchen, just hanging around.

Just ask Little Miss Muffett–spiders are no good.

(Actually, I kind of like spiders, but today, they are on my list.)

This was supposed to be a post about how good these Swedish Butter Cookies are, and how I got the recipe last year from Michele, a friend of mine from college. (Since last year, she has increased her children by 2/3…twins arrived right before Thanksgiving.)

But, I got a little distracted by that dude at the top. As I was baking the cookies, I saw him (I’ve decided it’s a him, and I’ve decided to name him Tommy, after the boy in 2nd grade that I had a distracting crush on) and was fascinated. You can even see it in the video below, complete with oven timer blasting away.

In as much time as it took me to get a good picture of Tommy (and I think it is a pretty rad pic), my cookies burnt. Yes, I am a mere mortal. The tops and sides looked okay, but the bottoms, well…

Sad panda.

So I whipped up another batch after I made the video. These fared much better.

And as for Tommy, he disappeared somewhere on the linoleum floor. Maybe he was a feline snack; maybe I’ll see him again.

Here’s the video. Let’s all just remember that I had to make these all over again without the camera.

—

2nd time around…

Swedish Butter Cookies

courtesy of the Divine Ms. Michele!

½ lb. butter or margarine (2 sticks)

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

½ c. sugar

1 egg yolk (save whites to whip)

1 T. half & half (I always use milk)

½ t. baking powder

½ c. chopped pecans

1 bottle maraschino cherries

Cream butter, add sugar; add egg yolk then vanilla and mix well. Next, add the flour with the baking powder mixed in. Alternate adding the flour with the half & half. Form dough into little balls the size of a walnut. Whip egg whites stiff. Dip dough balls into whipped egg white and roll in pecans. Place a half of a cherry in the center and push it down lightly. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15-20 min. in a 350 degree oven. Watch them so they don’t over brown. Yum, yum, yum!

Cookies today: 26

Cookies this year: 88

December 1: Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Chocolate Chips

Well, we have returned from Chicagoland and none of my pants fit, which generally means that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now we are on to December.

It’s that time of year again, folks.

New website, new Youtube channel (more on that later), new Pinterest board (I’ll figure out how to put the link on here later), and a few new recipes to try.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Chocolate Chips. There has to be a better name for these.

To ease us into the cookie season, I’m starting with a relatively easy one: Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies. Except, I have a friend that requested these without any chocolate chips, so that’s what I’ve done.

Mixed it all up, plopped it on a cookie sheet, and baked them. I did try to make them festive by dying the dough red, except it looked more like bubblegum, and by the time they came out of the oven, they were kind of flesh-colored (my flesh color anyway).

I’m trying something new this year (and I don’t know how long I’ll stick with it), but I made a video of myself (unshowered with no makeup, mind you) making these cookies.

This is our new kitty Gandalf. Nothing to do with cookies, but isn’t he cute?

Here’s what you didn’t see in the video: my boys upstairs with me, Larry Potter asking if our kitten had his vet appointment this week. (New kitty is Gandalf, and he’s getting neutered on Tuesday.) I said he was, to which Hoover asked what was going on. LP described the procedure in as much detail as he could imagine, and then he and Hoover got in a discussion about what that would mean for Gandalf’s reproductive future.

Larry Potter, right before he held sex ed class in my kitchen.

And then, my smart eldest son decided to teach his little brother all sorts of biologically-based terms and phenomenon. Yeah. So now all that I’m going to remember about these cookies–Hoover skipping down the stairs shouting words that will surely have his teacher calling me about this week.

Nestle Tollhouse Cookies

(from https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cookies today: 62

Cookies this year: 62

November 16: Pre-game

Like any good professional with a deadline, I have to make sure I’m warmed up.

And, like any good double X-ed person out there, I tend to visit Pinterest with lots of good intentions.

For your reading pleasure, I give you:

Web-lebrities*, They’re Just Like Us!

(*Some liberties have been taking with considering myself a web-lebrity.)

I saw a pin and wanted to try it out. Maybe you’ve seen it? It’s the one about how to ice cookies really fast, with gorgeous results.

(You can see my Pinterest page and the board this pin is on HERE.)

I bought a bag of pre-done cookie mix yesterday. I didn’t concern myself too much with the guilt of not making these from scratch. After all, it was the frosting of the cookies I was practicing, not the baking.

After the kids went to bed, I mixed it all up, cut some cookies and threw them in the oven. That’s when I mixed up the icing from the recipe.

I think I mis-counted how many cups of powdered sugar I poured in, because my mixer now smells like a fire at a tire factory. It was just too thick. I added more water. And more water. And a little cream. A little more water.

Finally, I could pour my icing into my shallow dish. The instructions said to use a lollipop stick, secured by a rubber band. I improvised and used a small spatula and two rubber bands linked together. I was so happy I saved these from newspapers this week, you have no idea. Seriously. It’s a personal success.

I was going for red. After the third hunk of Red Wilton dye, I gave up. There is only so many artificial colors I'll let my family eat.

I was going for red. After the third hunk of Red Wilton dye, I gave up. There are only so many artificial colors I’ll let my family eat at once.

I then dipped my cookies.

Smothering sugar cookies to a delicious death.

And in the end, this is what I had:

Gorgeous!

Wait. Wait, what’s that under the tray of beautifully iced cookies?

::hangs head in shame::

Those are the cookies that died in battle. You see, some of my cookies were too soft to withstand the thick frosting. Some, like the snowflakes, had too many intricate parts and things broke off. And still, a few more were sacrificed under the “trial and error” category. That is, it took me a few tries to figure out how to hold a cookie the right way to get it frosted in this method.

After completing all of this and sitting down to my computer (thinking of all the snarky comments I could make about how maybe mere mortals like myself were better off with a knife or pastry bag), I re-read the instructions. Wait. That’s not right. Re-reading makes it sound like I read them fully to begin with. Yeah, notsomuch.

What it says in the instructions is basically what I learned the hard way: soft cookies don’t work well, thicker cookies hold up better, and this icing is like glue that you may need to water down.

Reading: it’s not for every one.

December 21, 2013: Swedish Butter Cookies

Two people sent me recipes after my request on Facebook. The first one was Michele, a teacher in Illinois with the most gorgeous blue eyes and curly hair you’ve ever seen. No, I’m not FaceBook stalking her; I went to college with her. I know all of this from seeing her in person.

I was so excited to get this cookie. We went to a Swedish college, and I just figured Michele came from a long-line of proud Swedes, making this cookie as far back as when they came from Stockholm. I have zero cultural influences in my life, so I was happy to get this obviously handed-down family recipe.

Yeah, I double-checked all that. Michele is Polish. She just likes these cookies. Well then. That’s okay, too.

It’s a basic butter cookie base, with the fun addition of egg whites to whip and roll the cookies in, and then roll in chopped pecans. And the maraschino cherry? Divine.

Even if it looks like the scene of small but severe accident.

They were quick to make, and probably even quicker to eat. I had to hide them from myself and my kids.

—

Swedish Butter Cookies

(courtesy of the fabulous Miss Michele!)

½ lb. butter or margarine (2 sticks)

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

½ c. sugar

1 egg yolk (save whites to whip)

1 T. half & half (I always use milk)

½ t. baking powder

½ c. chopped pecans

1 bottle maraschino cherries

Cookies today: 48
Cookies this year: 1127 and a batch of mints

December 20, 2013: Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

These are my almost-sister-in-law Nikki’s fault. A couple years ago, she gave everyone homemade peppermint marshmallows for Christmas, and they were amazing. I didn’t know mere mortals could make marshmallows at home. So I tried them myself, and they were just as amazing.

Though it was about the biggest mess I’ve ever made in the kitchen. And that’s saying something. To quote J-Dub, “Uh…we BUY our marshmallows.”

I just think it’s such a cool thing to make your own marshmallows. I wanted to include it in this year’s cookie mix.

In case you don’t know what goes into marshmallows, I’ll tell you: it’s mostly gelatin, powdered sugar and corn syrup. And it starts out looking like this:

That’s 3 1/2 packets of gelatin curing in some cold water. Kinda looks like something from my 9th grade biology class.

Boil together sugar, corn syrup, and salt until it registers 240 on a candy thermometer. Unfortunately, I can’t find my candy thermometer, so I had to use my meat thermometer…and an oven mit.

Pour it into the gelatin and get cracking. It will whip up white and fluffy.

Unless you dye it reddish pink, like I did. Then it will look pink and fluffy.

This recipe calls for egg whites, so I whipped them up too and folded them gently into the mixture. I also added a teaspoon and a half of peppermint and a half teaspoon of vanilla. Then I put them in my powdered sugar-dusted 9×13 pan.

I put it in the fridge to chill overnight, and then had to deal with the aftermath.

Thank God I have a dishwasher. I could reattach a limb with this stuff.

This morning, I took it out of the fridge and set it up to cut it up, dusting each section back in the powdered sugar so I could handle it without it sticking to me. A pizza cutter worked well for this.

Very tasty and impressive, if I do say so myself!

—

Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows (from the website http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/)
Adapted from Gourmet, December 1998

These homemade marshmallows are not only easy to make, they set as perfectly as promised: puffed and lightweight, bouncing off one another as I tossed them in the container. Even better, they toasted like a campfire charm speared on the end of a skewer, and s’mooshed between two graham crackers with a square of chocolate.

Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows
About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.
With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out. Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Cookies today: 73 marshmallows
Cookies this year: 1079 and a batch of mints!

24 Days of Cookies

A different batch of cookies every day in December until Christmas.

December 7: White Velvet Cut-Outs

December 6: Gingerbread Men

December 5: Almond-Filled Creams

December 4: Italian Sand Cookies

December 3: Swirled Sugar Cookies

December 2: Swedish Butter Cookies

December 1: Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Chocolate Chips

November 16: Pre-game

December 21, 2013: Swedish Butter Cookies

December 20, 2013: Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

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