December 18: Mint Meltaways

We are one week from Christmas and 6 days away from the end of this year’s cookies. My cookie table is looking quite crowded with this month’s abundance.

After making the world’s largest meatloaf last night, I ran out of eggs. I didn’t feel like going to the store today, so I remembered back to a few years ago when I was in the same situation. Mint Meltaways (auto spell check keeps trying to change this to Beltways) contains no eggs, so that is my cookie today.

This is our star today.

The thing with peppermint extract is that’s not like vanilla extract, in that if a little is good, more must be better. Peppermint extract is strong and spicy, and nothing you want to overdo it on. Use the exact amount called for. Don’t improvise. I saw an episode of Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network where someone did, and he was eliminated. I bet whenever he smells peppermint extract, he becomes sick with failure.

Anyway, enough of my PSA.

I mixed together my dough and brought out another shining star.

If you’ve followed my blog for a few years, you’ll recall how I’ve tried various different colors for this, all in the name of fun. One year, it was black. One year it was Oscar the Grouch pulp green. This year, I wanted to do red. But not just any red. The best red. No offense to Wilton, but their reds suck, and this one by AmeriColor is the best red around. I mean, besides me.

I plopped my red balls on a tray and baked them. The recipe says bake until golden, but there’s no golden in my blood-sacrifice red mint cookies. I timed it pretty well and they came out nicely.

The mint frosting (again, do not add more–1/4 teaspoon is just enough) whips up pretty quickly. I used a star tip to put a dollop of minty goodness on each. Generally, I have peppermint dust to sprinkle on the tops of these cookies, but not today. I put a little red ball on each, which kinda makes them look like strange red nipples, but hey, more mature people may not think they look like anything but fun festive cookies.

Mint Meltaways

(from tasteofhome.com)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
FROSTING:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons 2% milk
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

Directions:

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’sugar, milk, extract and, if desired, food coloring; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies.

Store in an airtight container.

December 17: Peanut Butter Blossoms

I woke up at an ungodly hour this morning. Actually, I’m not sure I ever fell asleep last night. Either way, I was up to see the sunrise. I wrapped presents in the dark. I organized my shoe rack. And then at 7 a.m., I decided it was a perfectly acceptable time to make cookies.

About 10 minutes after sunrise. This is not something I normally see.

So, as my children were starting to get up for school, I was creaming together shortening and peanut butter. Because my loathe of mornings is something to be taken quite seriously, I think I alarmed all my kids. “Mom, are you okay?” I heard about a dozen times before they left for school.

I think by now we all know the deal with Peanut Butter Blossoms. It’s a peanut butter cookie that you stick a Hershey Kiss in the middle of when they come out of the oven. I used the traditional Hershey recipe, and as always, it’s posted at the end of this entry.

However, when it came to the part where you roll it in sugar, I wanted to try something fun. I got out my red sugar and green sugar, and rolled them in that instead, just to make them more Christmas-y. I did this last year with Snickerdoodles, and that worked like gangbusters, so why not try with these?

Obviously, the pattern is for all of you. Although, I only took one picture of a tray, and I did the same alternating pattern on the next tray too, so maybe it’s not just about you.

And as I drank my morning coffee, I was unwrapping Kisses. I remember one year I was doing this while drinking spiced wine at night. It was almost the same, minus the delightful buzz.

I was almost done baking when my daughter texted me, asking if I could bring her eyedrops to school (don’t ask), so I took it as the perfect opportunity to pack up some cookies for the office staff at the middle school. For as much time as I spend there, I need my own parking space and a place on payroll.

I get asked a lot what I do with all the cookies. I do this. Teachers, neighbors, mailmen, friends…and whatever is left, I bring to my family Christmas at my dad’s house.

Officially, I was done with cookies at 8 a.m. this morning. I feel like a Marine, only way less important and with way more sprinkles at my disposal.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

(courtesy of Hershey’s)

INGREDIENTS

48 HERSHEY’S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup REESE’S Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup additional granulated sugar for rolling

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes 48 cookies.

December 16: Almond Crescents

Greetings from 10 o’clock at night.

Today, I graded most of the morning (only 11 essays left) and this afternoon I took my son for a haircut and then the kids and I went to Jeanne’s birthday party. (For more on Jeanne, see December 14.)

We got home and I realized two things: 1.) I have to get these last 11 essays graded so I can put final grades in and 2.) I hadn’t baked any cookies yet. And while I can grade essays from bed, I can’t bake cookies from there (yet…I have hopes for the future generations to figure out something). So I took my remaining energy and whipped up some Almond Crescents.

Now, if there’s one thing I know about these cookies, it’s that you can’t sneak one and get away with it. These are the delicious little morsels covered with powdered sugar. They are evidence-inducing, and I like that. Bravely show the world you have eaten one (or more) of these cookies. Own it.

They are kind of a crumbly cookie to make, but as long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine.

The recipe calls for a cup of butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, and then 3/4 cup of finely chopped almonds. Thanks to a fantastic coupon last week, I have nuts coming out of my ears, so this was not a problem.

The flour is then added (I used 2 cups and about 2 Tablespoons), and you mix. Like I said. It’s a little crumbly.

I tried several methods for shaping my cookies and what worked best was quickly dashing my hands under the faucet and then rolling snakes on my cutting board. The water keeps it together until the heat from your hands warms the butter and that then keeps it together.

Once they are out of the oven, they get a gentle dipping in some powdered sugar. You know, the evidence.

Almond Crescent Cookies

(courtesy of An Italian in my Kitchen)

Ingredients

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt (if you use unsalted butter add 1/4 teaspoon salt)
3/4 cup finely chopped fresh almonds, walnuts or pecans
2 -2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
powdered sugar

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350°
In a large bowl beat butter until fluffy, add sugar and beat again until fluffy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add nuts, flour (add 2 cups to start and 1 tablespoon at a time and salt.
Bring dough together with your fingers. Break off small pieces and form into a crescent shape. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for approximately 15 minutes . While cookies are still warm roll in icing/powdered sugar. Can be frozen. Enjoy!

December 15: J-Dub’s Toffee Grahams

I haven’t talked about her much this year, but J-Dub is my friend and baking antithesis. I love her to pieces, which is why I tease her, and the stories I tell (her starting a fire once with chocolate chips and a microwave; her wanting to wrangling both of our little kids instead of making a treat to sell for our MOPS fundraiser; me using her oven for its first baking even long after she moved in…) are absolutely true.

She loves this picture of us. I just know it.

Much like Clark Griswold dedicates his tree to the Griswold Family Christmas, I dedicate these cookies to J-Dub and the one time she made them. Good things must be celebrated.

These are pretty simple. I put two sticks of butter in a pot (and then use the wrappers to grease my pan) and add a cup of brown sugar. While it’s coming to a boil, I arrange my graham crackers on my greased cookie sheet (with edges…this is very important). I go edge to edge with the graham crackers and leave only a little space at the end.

Once the mixture has been brought to a bowl, let it boil for 2 minutes. Then pour on the graham crackers. (Also? My kids normally couldn’t care less about graham crackers. But when I’m using them in a recipe, they ask for some. I don’t get it.) Top with chopped pecans and bake for 10 minutes. When it comes out, it should be bubbly.

Cut it when it’s still somewhat warm and wait to eat it. Otherwise, you risk pulling out a filling. I’ve done it. It’s expensive. Wait.

There’s been no word from J-Dub if she’s attempted these or any other baking adventures this year. I feel pretty safe in assuming there haven’t been any.

J-Dub’s Toffee Grahams

(from Gooseberry Patch’s Old Fashioned Country Cookies)

24 square graham crackers

2 sticks butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325. Arrange cracker squares on a lightly greased cookie sheet with edges around it. In a saucepan, bring the butter and sugar to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Pour over crackers, covering them well. Sprinkle with nuts and bake for about 10 minutes. Cool slightly and cut into 24 squares or 48 “fingers.”

December 14: Chocolate Zingers

Jeanne and I have been friends since we were 10 years old. Now that we’re almost 40, that means we’ve lived nearly 3/4 of our lives being friends. Wow. That sentence made me feel old.

Anyway, Jeanne came over this afternoon to be my special guest star. She forwarded me one of her favorite recipes a few days ago and I made sure I had the right ingredients on hand.

Jeanne, my friend for nearly 30 years. She’s the keeper of the secrets and baker of the cookies with pepper in them.

Well, most of them.

Because this recipe calls for both black pepper and cayenne pepper, and I only saw the black pepper part, I had to go to the store once Jeanne got here. Eh. It happens.

Once I got back from the store, we were able to finish the recipe.

Jeanne and her husband Mike always have the most fun recipes to share (and parties to attend…and twins to play with…and…well I guess they are just fun people in general). Like I said above, this one has two kinds of pepper in it, but it works in the recipe. It’s not spicy, it’s more like a heat that you get in the back of your throat. And it’s definitely more chocolatey than other chocolate cookie recipes!

(This is the recipe as Jeanne sent it to me.)

December 13: Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies

This week seems to be a weird mix of super busy and “Oh I have plenty of time until Christmas.” Today I decided to use the preserves I purchased a week ago and make Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies.

I made these a few years ago, and learned the important lesson that jelly won’t cut it for these. My classy red currant jelly ended up looking like a murder scene on a cookie sheet. So when I was grocery shopping, I made sure I chose preserves.

The recipe is a simple one, which I love, and these bake up pretty quickly. I’m still not great at filling the thumbprints, but they didn’t overflow and I dust powdered sugar over them anyway.

Through the magic of television, I mean the internet, my cookie balls were transformed into thumbprint cookies. I used strawberry preserves and mango-peach preserves. And I filled a few with almond pie filling, but those are just for me.

When it came to dusting with powdered sugar, I apparently have a heavy hand.

It reminds me of the scene in Annie Hall where Woody Allen sneezes into the cocaine.

These are a crowd pleaser, and makes your house smell amazing!

Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies

(from http://www.chewoutloud.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup salted butter, softened
½ cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, plus ¼ cup more for dusting
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp table salt
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup fruit preserves

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, blend butter and sugar until fluffy and light, 2 minutes. Add vanilla and salt, scraping down bowl as needed. Switch to low and gently mix in flour, just until combined. Don’t over mix.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls. Place dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets. Press down the center of each ball with a spoon (or your thumb!) making a slight depression.
Fill cookie centers with a teaspoonful of preserves. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and puffy, but take care not to overbake. Let cool a few minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to finish cooling on wire rack.
When cookies are completely cooled, dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cookies can be kept in airtight container at room temp for a few days.

December 10: Almond Butter Sticks

I’ve never officially made these as part of my 24 Days of Cookies, but I have made them before for other things. They are amazing. They are more than amazing, like stupendous, super duper, and outrageous (in a good way). They are so good that this is the first time I have doubled a recipe on an official cookie-baking day.

I made these last week for my Composition 1 class, and they were gone within minutes. On the site where I got the recipe, the lady writes that they are deceptive and kids don’t normally go for them, which is fine because it means more for the adults. I agree with this statement, however my kids now know what these are, which means they will polish off a whole batch before someone else gets a chance to try one. Hence, the doubling.

Normally, you mix 3/4 cup sugar with 2 teaspoons of almond extract and let it sit. Because I doubled it, that was 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 4 teaspoons. Now, I love almond, but even this was a bit strong-smelling to begin with. My son always likes to tell me how cyanide smells like almonds (thanks internet) so whenever I make this, I think about cyanide and wonder if it tastes as good as almond extract and sugar do. And then I schedule an appointment for a psychiatrist, because I clearly have some issues.

In my mixer went double amounts as well: two sticks of unsalted butter and 12 ounces of cream cheese. I looked for the scene of the movie Julie and Julia, where Meryl Streep says there’s so much butter, it can stop your heart, but I couldn’t find it in gif form. But that’s where my head goes. (Along with cyanide, apparently.) This is definitely a rich dough. To that, I added two egg yolks instead of one (because, again doubling), and my dry ingredients, also doubled.

(I keep saying I doubled it because I know I would probably miss it if someone said this in a blog and I’d compare my dough to their pictures and wonder where I went wrong. And then I’d probably cry or get mad or both and vow to never make anything again. So to make sure I don’t kill any one’s baking future, I keep saying that I doubled this recipe.)

For this dough, you do have to roll it out, which is not my favorite thing to do, but because these cookies are so good, I do it happily. My silicone mat is leftover from my Pampered Chef days and it has measurements on it, which is great because for this I need my dough to be a 12×12 square. (This part is not doubled! I just rolled it out twice for two batches.) I cut away whatever is above that measurement and add pieces of dough to where it’s lacking.

From there, I split in in half and then take a tablespoon of butter and spread it all over the dough. Remember, these are called Almond Butter Sticks, and for good reason. Then, one half the dough goes on a cookie sheet and the almond sugar is spread on.

The other half is then put on top, butter-side down, and I pinch the edges to make sure they stay closed. You want all this almond buttery goodness inside the dough, I promise. Brush on the egg white and top with sliced almonds and sugar, and in a 375 degree oven it goes.

Because this dough has no sugar in it, your kids will not be interested in licking the bowl. At all. But, my feline friends are all about it.

You can’t tell here, but they were definitely licking it clean. I even gave them the rubber spatula. They’re sleeping it off now.

As this bakes, your house will smell like a warm french pastry, which is something I’m okay with.

Let it cool, and then cut it in half lengthwise, and then cut pieces in one inch increments.

Drool.

Almond Butter Sticks

(courtesy of Saving Dessert)

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon (divided)
6 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, separated (white reserved for glazing)
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon coarse sugar for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl combine the sugar and almond extract; cover and set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
In a large mixing bowl combine 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter and cream cheese. Beat on low until blended. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth. Add half the flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Add the remaining flour and blend just until the dough starts to come together.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Knead by hand about 25 strokes until the dough is pliable. Roll or press into a 12×12 inch square. Spread with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.
Cut the dough in half and place one half on the prepared cookie sheet, butter side up.
Spoon the sugar mixture to within 1/2-inch of the dough edges all the way around. Place the remaining dough half, butter side down, over the sugar. Press the edges tightly to seal.
Brush the dough with a lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with almonds and coarse sugar.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. It’s best removed from the oven when you think it needs one or two more minutes.
Cool at least 30 minutes.
Cut the pastry in half lengthwise and then into 1/2 to 1 inch strips crosswise.
Store in an airtight container.

Welcome to December 2018!

So we’ve made it to the end of this crazy year. A lot has changed for me this year–I have graduated from grad school (with TWO masters degrees), packed up the kids and cats and moved 1000 miles to the suburbs of Chicago, and somehow found a job in my field.

When people ask me what I do for fun, I have to think. I’ve been so used to not having time for hobbies, that I’m lost when this question is asked. However, I realized that this is what I do for fun. I bake cookies. I look for complicated or classic recipes. I collect sprinkles. (Seriously. I think I have a problem.)

I have been doing this crazy 24 days of cookies thing officially since 2004. I started posting my recipes on Facebook in 2008, and created this website in 2012. I’ve gone through a lot of sugar, a lot of butter, and a lot of my sanity.

So welcome to this leg of my yearly journey. This year, I’m going to do something different and have at least 50% new recipes. Please tell me what you think, and if you’re following along with me. I love to hear from all of you!

24 Days of Cookies

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

24daysofcookies