Christmas Cookies 2014

I've reached the moment in time where I have made peace with the fact that my iPhone takes better pictures than my 10-year-old Canon point-and-shoot.  Sigh.  I made a huge tray of cookies on Monday to take to work, and tried taking pictures, and they were just ... awful.  (Darkest day of the year certainly didn't help!)  So this year, instead of viewing the entire spread, you get a shot of my "snack plate" that I fixed for myself today, for periodic nibbling in-between meals, walks, knitting, reading, laundry, and maybe, just maybe, a nap.  (Because I got home from singing for Christmas Eve service well into Christmas Day last night!)  Merry Christmas!

Cookies after breakfast?  Yes, please!

TOP ROW:

Chewy Gingersnaps
I have made this recipe several years in a row now, and they have become a mainstay.  I love gingersnaps, and I love them even more when they are chewy (and STAY chewy several days later.)  Gingersnaps are one of those cookies I believe are actually better a few days after baking ... maybe it's that whole "flavors having a chance to blend" thing?  Anyhow, these are great -- nicely spiced, but not "too spicy."  A cookie for adults and children alike.  I used coconut oil this year (instead of the canola oil called for in the recipe,) and they are perfect.

Magic in the Middles
This fall, I had a peanut-butter stuffed chocolate cookie at a local restaurant, and fell in love -- I HAD to find a recipe!  King Arthur Flour to the rescue!  I strayed from the original recipe a bit, adding an ounce of Neufchatel and a tablespoon of milk to the chocolate dough, (recipe reviewers complained the dough became dry with storage,) and ended up having to add a few teaspoons of milk to the peanut butter filling (using natural peanut butter made the filling a bit dry and crumbly.)  These weren't nearly as fussy as I thought they were going to be to shape, and have been a huge hit with friends and coworkers.  My friend Dora told me, as she dropped me off after church last night, that "the chocolate cookie with the peanut butter surprise" was the best one I made this year!  They were the first to go off the tray at work, too.

Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Thank you, Faith Durand and The Kitchn, because these are, hands-down, the BEST cut-out sugar cookies I have EVER HAD.  The dough is a dream to work with, froze beautifully, and yielded soft, yet sturdy cookies.  I also love that the additions of both lemon zest and almond extract make the cookies themselves more of an event, rather than just an avenue for buttercream and sprinkles.  :)  Decorated sugar cookies are always my favorites, and these have elevated what I've come to think of simply as "Christmas Cookies" to a whole new level.

MIDDLE ROW:

Peppermint Cream Squares
Another Kitchn recipe I tried this year, and a good one.  For a few years growing up, we made a cookie called "Peppermint Snowballs," which I believe may have been a grandparent to these bars, and Peppermint Snowballs were always a favorite of mine.  I don't love chocolate, although I LOVE mint, and I fell for the buttery shortbread and minty cream filling instantly.  However, we gave up on those cookies after a few tries because they were too fussy and just didn't store well.  I was thrilled to find this recipe, because I missed the flavor of Peppermint Snowballs, but not the fuss and mess.  Bars to the rescue!  I made a few changes to the published recipe, (including using all of the shortbread as the crust and simply sprinkling the peppermint/powdered sugar over the warm cream cheese layer,) but may even make more changes next year.  I wanted a slightly thicker, more cheesecake-like peppermint layer on top, rather than the more moist, sticky layer I got using the original recipe.  I think I will increase the cream cheese and add an egg next year.  Regardless, these have still been hugely popular ... people who love shortbread and mint were coming back for seconds!

Fig and Cream Cheese Bars
These babies are unassuming at first glance, but folks who are brave enough to try them are richly rewarded.  I think people either love or despise figs; I am a lover of figs, both fresh and dried, and consequently, LOVE these bars.  (Plus, hello lemony cream cheese topping!)  A day after delivering tins and gift bags of cookies, I received a text message from my friend Stephanie: "It's like a fig newton but better!  Yummmm."  Agreed.  I follow the recipe as printed, baking the bars in a smaller 8- or 9-inch square pan, rather than the 9x13 called for.

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
Salted caramels almost seem like a cliche these days, but maybe for good reason -- starting around Thanksgiving, I start getting the "are you going to make caramels this year?" questions.  This recipe from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert is a hit, and in my opinion, both reliable and relatively easy to make.  (The hardest part of making caramels, in my opinion, is CUTTING THEM.  Sigh.)  I love the gentle flavor golden syrup lends to baked goods, (it's the not-so-secret ingredient in my pecan pie,) and these caramels are no exception.  I decided to salt the caramels using Maldon sea salt this year, instead of the coarser salt I've used in the past -- and I love the gentler flakes, instead of the crunchy chunks.  Last year, my friend's (then) 4-year-old daughter scarfed three of these caramels in one sitting while no one was looking ... smart girl.  :)  (They got a whole bag of extra caramels this year!)

BOTTOM ROW:

Apricot Coconut Bars
I have wrestled with these bars for years, because I love the dense, chewy, sweet, rich, apricot-coconut topping, but DESPISE the crust as written -- it is crumbly and difficult to work with, and literally shatters and disintegrates when cutting.  This year, I added an extra ingredient (an ounce of Neufchatel,) and changed my technique (creaming softened butter, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup sugar together, before stirring in the flour,) and was promptly rewarded by a sturdy, flavorful shortbread crust for that glorious topping.  (P.S. flipping the bars out of the pan upside-down on a sheet of parchment paper to cut also helped.)  Success!  Only took me three tries to figure that one out.  I think we will call this holiday season the year of Neufchatel, since it became a key player in many of my cookie recipes, all of a sudden.  :)

Cream Cheese Meltaways with Lemon Glaze
This is another one of those frequent repeats, as I get several "are you making the lemon cookies this year?" requests, again beginning at Thanksgiving.  One of my work friends reported these were her husband's favorites, and I "caught" at least one coworker rushing back for seconds of this one just moments after returning to his desk with his first selections from the tray.  I decided rather than toss out the surplus glaze this year, I would simply double-dunk the cookies.  More sugar!  Yes.

NOT PICTURED:

English Toffee (from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)
The toffee is not pictured, because it is gone!  It's gone for several reasons, really -- I have a couple of gluten-free treat recipients who deserved extra toffee and caramels this year, and well, I just really like toffee.  It's easy to sneak a bite here and there, you know?  :)

Off to eat a post-breakfast cookie now.  Merry Christmas!

the great Christmas cookie conundrum of 2014

Every year.  (shakes her head)

Christmas 2013

WHY do I do this to myself every single year?  I get way too ambitious with my holiday baking, find way too many new recipes I want to try, and end up with a "to bake" holiday cookie list longer than my forearm.  Both a little ridiculous and a lot impractical, I need to pare the list down, STAT.

Christmas 2102

That's where you come in.

Here's what made my final cut this year ... but we're still at ten items.  I'd like to cut the list back to eight, if that's humanly possible.  ;)  I do like to keep a variety of different things on the cookie tray -- some bars, some cookies, some candies, -- of a variety of different flavors/pairings/key ingredients (like lemon, chocolate, nuts, fruit, mint, molasses, etc.)

What would you cut?  What would you keep?

Magic in the Middles
Cream Cheese Meltaways with Lemon Glaze
Sugar Cookies (with buttercream and sprinkles)
Potato Chip Cookies
Apricot-Coconut Bars
Chewy Gingersnaps
Fig and Cream Cheese Bars
Peppermint Cream Squares
Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
English Toffee (using the recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

"C" is for "cookies"

. . . AND "Christmas!"

Since I went all out and made a dozen different holiday cookies/bars/candies this year, I figured I better do a blog post review and recap, as I tried many new recipes!

Top row, L-R:

Cream Cheese Meltaways with Lemon Glaze

These have been a HUGE hit the past two years in a row -- there's never any left on the tray at the end of a party, and several people have asked me for the recipe.  If you like lemon even a little bit, make these -- you won't be sorry.  :)  (Plus, they are really pretty easy!)

Maple-Walnut Bars

A new recipe I tried this year, and although they are delicious, they are far from perfect.  :(  For starters, they were nearly impossible to cut without shattering the bars, (the crust largely crumbled into oblivion, and the topping frequently separated from the crust,) and personally, I don't think they have enough maple flavor to suit my tastes.  (The recipe called for 1/4 cup maple syrup in the topping, to which I added some maple extract, and it still wasn't "maple-y.")  I might ditch these next year in favor of the Maple-Walnut Spice Cookies I made last year.

Sugar Cookies
Even though these are far from "fancy," these are still one of my favorite cookies on the tray.  In fact, I may have one with my tea right now.  ;)

Chocolate Crinkles
I'm not a huge chocolate fan, although I do enjoy chocolate-mint things around the holidays.  I added some peppermint extract to these babies . . . delicious!  Beautiful!  Although, I have to confess, not great keepers -- after a few days, their texture has gone downhill and I'd now describe them as a little stale/dry.  :(  Definitely won't be one of the cookies I make in advance next year!

Potato Chip Cookies
Yeah . . . potato chip cookies.  Salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, nutty, buttery . . . holy hell.  My only complaints were as follows: 1. wish I would have refrigerated the dough before rolling, as it was kind of a sloppy mess, 2. the recipe didn't call for nearly enough ounces of potato chips to meet the quantities of crushed chips called for, and 3. I baked them a couple of minutes too long, so they were on the crispier side.  Next year, I'll fix all of those things and we'll have cookie nirvana.  ;)

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
A new favorite, and a repeat for years to come, I'm certain.  These soft, chewy, pillowy cookies are topped with the most flavorful icing ever.  I didn't think I could like pumpkin cookies without cream cheese icing . . . I was wrong.  These have also been awesome keepers (in the fridge) -- soft and perfect for days.

Middle row, L-R:

Buckeyes
Yeah, you're right . . . those squares look nothing like buckeyes.  That's because the recipe as-is is an epic fail, (c'mon, Real Simple, you've never let me down before!)  After chatting with a friend of mine about this, I've determined the original recipe is missing at least 2 cups of powdered sugar in the peanut butter base, maybe as much as 4 cups.  So, what did I do to rescue this year's batch?  I dumped the peanut butter slop into the pan of melted chocolate, added a few splashes of cream, melted the whole shebang down, and cooled it in my silicone pan.  Ta-da!  Fudge?  Not really.  Truffle?  Not exactly.  But peanut-butter-chocolatey delicious, and flying off the cookie tray faster than you can say, "fail, rescued!"

Apricot Coconut Bars
These are another repeat that I have received many compliments on and requests for these past couple of years.  However, I'm not entirely pleased with them -- basically, the crust is a crumbly mess!  Boo!  I was convinced the problem was that I was using a 9-inch pan, (the recipe calls for an 8-inch,) and the crust was falling apart because it was too thin.  This year, I used an 8-inch pan as directed, but no . . . still a mess!  Next year, I'm going to try chilling the bars before cutting, and making sure I flip the bars and cut them upside-down.  Any other suggestions?

Ginger Bars
This recipe has been on my back burner for years of holiday baking, and I just got around to it this year.  Frankly, they are simple to prepare and delicious, (moist, chewy, and faintly spicy,) but nothing special.  I'd take a gingersnap or gingerbread person any day of the week!  (And one problem that I didn't anticipate is that many people think they are a brownie!  Oops!)  I'm definitely not going to delete the recipe from my bookmark list, but will likely return to making gingerbread people next Christmas.

Chewy Gingersnaps
A perfect, classic, simple gingersnap recipe -- nothing fancy, which is ok, in my opinion.  :)  I've made gingersnaps with candied ginger or fresh ginger in the past, and sometimes, all you want out of a gingersnap is a soft, chewy, spiced molasses cookie.  This recipe delivers.  (P.S. they've kept beautifully -- still soft and chewy days later!)

Fig and Cream Cheese Bars
This is another recipe that I have been eyeing for years, and finally got around to trying this year.  WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR????  :)  Totally a new favorite of mine, and a hit with all who love figs.  Moist, with a crunchy yet sturdy crust, chewy from the figs, with just enough tangy cream cheese layer on top to offset the sweet richness.  The crust has softened with refrigeration, but still has just enough "bite" to it.  Good thing these bars are out of sight, as otherwise they might already be gone!  (Additionally, these look impressive, but were actually pretty easy to prepare, as you don't have to pre-bake the crust -- just layer the three different components in the pan and bake!  Pretty simple, if you ask me!)

Bottom row:

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
I didn't make these last year, and everyone missed them.  These are moist, chewy, intensely flavorful caramels, (it's the golden syrup, I swear . . . the caramels have more depth and are less tooth-achingly sweet than most,) that are only improved by the addition of coarse salt at the very end.  Our friends' picky four-year-old snuck three of these in a row while the adults were chatting over coffee, if that gives you any indication as to their appeal.  :)

~~~~~~~~~~

Other highlights from this holiday season include returning to the church choir just in time to sing for Christmas Eve, (always a late night, but always magical,) having a chance to see "White Christmas" on the big screen at the Riverview, (we had so much fun, we're already planning on making time to see "It's A Wonderful Life" next year,) plenty of get-togethers with family and friends, and the gift of an iPad!  I feel a little extreme in the technology department right now, (iPhone, iPad, and MacBook all at my disposal . . . sheesh!), but I have a feeling the iPad will become my primary "device," especially when it comes to using bookmarked or other digital recipes in the kitchen.  (An expensive "cookbook," but an extremely useful one!)

Hope you are enjoying a lovely holiday season with your friends and family!

Christmas = cookies!

Christmas definitely equals cookies at my house.  After nearly 5 pounds of flour, three pounds of butter, assorted other ingredients, and 11 1/2 hours of my time yesterday, I have nine varieties of Christmas cookies on hand!  I always enjoy my baking day; afterwards I enjoy eating and sharing homemade cookies over the following weeks.

Here's what I made this year:

Double Ginger Crackles

A soft, chewy, yet sturdy molasses cookie, with a double punch from ground and candied ginger.  I like that these cookies focus only on the ginger, omitting the more traditional spices found in molasses cookies.  However, I'm sure they'd be delicious with the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, too!

White Chocolate and Peppermint Brownies

If you are careful to catch these beauties just as they approach done, you will be rewarded with the richest, fudgiest brownie ever!  I enjoy the white chocolate and crushed peppermint candy topping -- my mom makes "peppermint bark" (white chocolate and crushed candy canes) yearly, but I've found it's too sweet for me in my "old age."  These brownies offer a taste of that childhood candy, but in a more balanced package.  Plus, chocolate and peppermint is such a classic holiday flavor, and the candy canes add a pop of color to the cookie tray.  Win-win-win!

Apricot Coconut Bars

After trying these bars for the first time last year, I received complimentary phone calls and emails from several choir colleagues about these!  Better make 'em a frequent repeat.  These remind me somewhat of a lemon bar, as they have a shortbread crust covered in an eggy, fruity topping.  However, these bars have more texture than a lemon bar, filled with chewy dried apricots and plenty of flake coconut.  (I choose to use unsweetened coconut, which is a variation from the recipe.  I find it makes the bars just a little less sweet, with more coconut flavor.)  Side note: John doesn't care much for coconut, but he still loves these!

Anise Tea Crescents

I enjoy "wedding cakes" just as much as the next person, but I really love the surprising licorice flavor the anise seeds give this cookie.  (Plus, I love Cooking Light cookie recipes . . . you'd never guess in a million years that this is a "light" cookie!)

Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies

Bless the Post-Punk Kitchen for developing the simplest, easiest to work with recipe for gingerbread vegans!  I love so much about this recipe -- the yield is small to moderate, (important when you are making a plethora of cookies as I do,) it calls for basic pantry staples (canola oil!  Woot!), results in a soft, yet sturdy cookie, and is so deeply SPICY.  The bestest.

Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies

I wasn't entirely sure these cookies were a success straight out of the oven, (they seemed a bit dry to me at first,) but once they cooled . . . watch out!  Chocolatey, rich, and decadent, with a nice sour pop of dried cherry every now and then.  These may be a frequent repeat for years to come!

Maple-Walnut Spice Cookies

These were another cookie I wasn't entirely sure about when I finished them, but after a day's storage . . . YUM.  They softened with time, the maple flavor deepened, and the warm spices mingled to create something perfectly delicious.  I keep these on the bottom of the cookie "tower," as if they were on the top, I'd keep sneaking one here and there between meals.  :)

Cream Cheese Meltaways with Lemon Glaze

John labeled these as one of his favorites of this year's selection, and I agree -- the soft, buttery, fluffy cookie topped with crunchy, sweet-sour glaze is practically perfect.  :)  I enjoy the bumpy, rustic look my cookie scoop gave these cookies, too!  More little pockets for glaze to soak in, right?

Basic Sugar Cookie Dough with buttercream and sprinkles:

A classic I almost considered skipping these this year, but I'm so thankful I didn't.  Real Simple creates amazing recipes, and this sugar cookie dough is no exception.  Simple, classic, tasty, and easy to work with, this dough has booted my GRANDMA'S recipe for sugar cookies out of my holiday cookie rotation.  :)  Can you believe it?  If left relatively thick, the cookies bake up soft yet sturdy, with rich vanilla flavor that is only complemented by a bit of frosting and sprinkles.  You want a decorated sugar cookie base to have some flavor, but not be overwhelming, you know?  I've been delighted with this recipe, and again, appreciate the moderate yield.

With my baking done, I'm ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy the rest of my Christmas vacation!

What did you bake this year?  Do you focus more on family favorites, or exploring new recipes?

the cookie plan

As my Facebook friends know, I started thinking about Christmas cookie-baking this week.  (You know, I did observe that whole "one holiday at a time" plan, and then as soon as Thanksgiving was over, it was time!)  I decided to draw myself a chart this year, which helped a lot!  I devised rows for bars, cookies, and candies, and categories such as "classic," "chocolate," "ginger," "lemon," "fruit," and "nut."  I then went through all of my past blog posts about cookie-baking, adding recipes I might like to make and/or repeat from years past.  And then I went through my bookmarked cookie and bar recipes, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything!  :)  Once I had all of my ideas down, I chose one or two selections in each area.  Here's what I believe to be my final list:

Basic Sugar Cookie Dough (with frosting and sprinkles)
Merengues (likely not dipped in chocolate and nuts)
Anise Tea Crescents
White Chocolate and Peppermint Brownies
Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies
Double Ginger Crackles
Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Cream Cheese Meltaways with Lemon Glaze
Apricot Coconut Bars
Maple-Walnut Spice Cookies

Ten cookies/bars this year, and no candies.  This might be the first year of my life baking for the holidays and NOT making candy.  I'm also still debating whether I should switch out one of the cookies for a bar in a similar category . . . thoughts?

What are you planning on baking this year?

the cookies.

I really tried to exercise considerable restraint when planning my Christmas cookie baking marathon this year -- I limited myself to two candies, two bars, and three cookies. A feat, if you ask me! I started baking on Friday night, and finished up early this morning. I took breaks to sleep and eat, obviously, and also squeezed in a run yesterday morning, a short nap yesterday afternoon, and dinner out last night. I packed up piles of cookies for church choir friends this morning, and plan on taking a big tray of cookies to work sometime this week -- hopefully I won't have TOO many leftovers! :)

Without further ado, here's what I made this year:

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels:

I didn't add quite enough coarse salt to the tops of the caramels! Oh, the horror! Don't worry . . . they are still fantastic. :) Just not sweet-salty enough!

Glazed Lemon Cookies:

SO easy, and so delicious! A simple slice-and-bake butter cookie, dunked in a super-lemony glaze. I added yellow sprinkles. It's Christmas, you know! Christmas calls for extra sprinkles, if you ask me. ;)

Triple-Ginger Cookies, from Fine Cooking:

These are super-spicy and deeply molasses-y, but I baked them a minute or so too long . . . I love nothing more than a soft ginger cookie, and these are not. Alas! I'll note in the recipe to pull them out of the oven a couple of minutes early in the future, but for now, I dunk them in my tea. :)

White Chocolate and Peppermint Brownies:

OH. HELL. YES. I did a little happy dance when I tried a bite of these last night! The brownie layer is perfectly dense, gooey, and chocolatey, yet sturdy enough to stand up to being covered in white chocolate and crushed candy canes. MMM!

English Toffee:

I make toffee every year, since I find it dead easy and everyone seems to go apeshit over it. I followed a recipe from Fine Cooking this year, and determined that the yield is a little too large for my 8-inch silicone pan, which I use for candy-making. No real complaints, it's just extra-thick!

Apricot and Coconut Bars:

These were on my to-try list last year, but got the axe . . . I'm so glad I decided to try these this year! I actually received a phone call from a church choir friend about an hour after church today, singing the praises of these bars. I love them lots, too!

And lastly, Sugar Cookies with frosting and sprinkles:

I was pleasantly surprised by an offer of help with the cookie-baking this year, and found that these roll-outs went much faster with two people! I really like this recipe from Real Simple -- the dough is basic yet flavorful on its own, soft yet sturdy enough to allow for plenty of decorations, and the yield is just right -- not too many, not too few!

Happy sugar time! Wee!

weekend noteworthies

As I began my weekend on Friday night, I started to think that there was no way I was going to find time to put the tree up -- between laundry and other housework, multiple sets of plans with friends (yay!), church choir rehearsal, and our Advent concert on Sunday morning, I was feeling pretty booked! However, some things changed come Saturday afternoon, and I found myself with a free evening! Time for the Christmas tree!

It's kind of a lot of work to put up (AND take down,) but it's fun to enjoy!

I also managed to squeeze in some more baking and cooking over the weekend:

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars, for church choir rehearsal:

I followed the "Raspberry Oatmeal Bars" recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking, except I promptly de-veganized them by using butter instead of margarine, (what I had on hand, after all,) and used leftover cranberry chutney from Thanksgiving instead of raspberry jam. The chutney worked beautifully! The bars have a nice tart-sweet contrast to them, and I was happy to have the opportunity to find something to do with most of the leftover chutney. :) People gobbled them up at rehearsal, so they must have been good!

Sunday night dinner was a repeat that I had been waiting far too long to make:

"Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, with a side of chile-garlic roasted broccoli. Thanks to lots of help from a now-expert onion chopper and caramelizer, this was on the table in no time. :) (Plus, it's always good to have help in taking down a pound of pasta! I still have lots of leftovers, but not an insane amount.)

And in my book, life is incomplete without dessert:

Homemade butterscotch pudding, recipe from The Betty Crocker Cookbook. Homemade pudding is so damn easy, (and so incredibly tasty,) I wonder why I don't make it more often?

Last, I leave you with a snapshot of the hike I took at Ft. Snelling State Park yesterday:

It was the perfect day for a winter hike, if you ask me -- not too cold, not too windy, not too much snow! Woo!

the cookie plan

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, isn't it?

Here's what Christmas means to me:

1. Getting to sing for 11 PM Christmas Eve service
(I know it's kind of geeky, but there you go . . . )

2. Baking cookies!

I actually do have a plan this year, and the decision-making process wasn't nearly as challenging as it was in years past. :) Here's the list:

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
Toffee
Apricot Coconut Bars (sorry you can't see the recipe -- but I have a hard copy somewhere . . . !)
White Chocolate and Peppermint Brownies
Sugar Cookies (with frosting and sprinkles, of course!)
Triple-Ginger Cookies (from Fine Cooking . . . and I can't find the recipe online anywhere! Sorry!)
Glazed Lemon Cookies

Perhaps I'll get the tree up this weekend, so I can really go nuts next weekend! Baking, Christmas music, decorations . . . what else does one need?? :)

Maybe an iPad, so I don't get flour all over my laptop? ;)
(Not this year, I know! But a girl can dream, right?)

it's cookie time!

As I wrote over the weekend, I finished all of my holiday baking! Wahoo! I ended up making six cookies and one candy, which was a significantly reduced amount from my original plan, but still plenty of variety and tons of fun! Here's the spread that I took to work yesterday:



From left to right . . .
Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
I first stumbled into this recipe as part of a Daring Baker's Challenge, and although I've never made the caramel cake since, (the main part of the challenge,) these caramels were such a hit with friends and family (and me!) that they are a MUST at holiday time. I recommend sprinkling the hot caramel with coarse sea salt after pouring into the pan -- it turns the already fantastic treat into something other-worldly. I also recommend purchasing a package of "confectionery waxed paper" for wrapping, since it makes your life SO much easier when you are wrapping almost 100 caramels -- those pre-cut rectangles are a lifesaver! Additionally, I have veganized these in the past using Earth Balance and full-fat coconut milk (in place of the heavy cream,) with no noticeable difference in flavor or texture. The best review came from Dan, while chomping on one of my salted caramels: "now, I REALLY don't like caramel . . . but I LOVE these!"

Pistachio-Cranberry Biscotti Straws
I go back and forth on including biscotti in my holiday cookie tray, because, although I LOVE biscotti and find them ridiculously easy to make, they are often the "bastard stepchild" of holiday cookies -- two or three are left lingering on the tray with a heap of crumbs, whilst everything else has been gobbled down. However, I don't know what it is about this recipe -- perhaps the simple yet satisfying flavor combinations, or the long, thin, crispy-but-not-tooth-shattering shape -- but these guys are a winner! I would definitely recommend making biscotti long and skinny in general -- they are fancier to eat, for some odd reason, and they have a simple, pleasant crunchiness, instead of the dry, gnaw-off-a-chunk of traditional biscotti. I will definitely make this recipe again, and will perhaps play around with flavor combinations in the future! (Lemon-Ginger? Coconut-Lime? YES!)

Pine Nut Wedding Cookies
There is something about these cookies that screams "CHRISTMAS!" to me, and although practically everyone and his next-door-neighbor makes these, I wanted to make some this year, too. (Plus, my mom requested them -- who knew? I don't ever remember her making wedding cookies for her Christmas tray!) Now, this recipe as written is NOT budget-friendly -- hello, 2 cups of pine nuts? Yowza. BUT, I could easily see substituting a cheaper nut in the future with delicious results. These are nutty and buttery and sweetly satisfying, with that traditional, melt-in-your-mouth wedding cookie texture. Yum yum butter, nuts, and sugar! What's not to like? :)

Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this recipe when looking for gingerbread cookies to make with my students a few years ago, (we had both a dairy and an egg allergy among the group, so vegan baking was required,) because this is the easiest, SPICIEST, tastiest gingerbread cookie ever! The cookies mix togeher in minutes, are a breeze to roll out, bake up soft yet sturdy, and store well over the Christmas week. (That is, if they last that long! Dan loves these guys, too.) I love the intense, spicy flavor using the full amount of spices, but I would definitely recommend cutting back on all of the spices if you are baking for conservative palates. (The cookies as is have a gentle heat to them, but that might be too much for very young children or picky adults -- I'd cut all of the spices down to 1/4 teaspoon, and the cookies will still be delicious!) I also love that the cookies are made with healthy canola oil, and suggest whole-wheat flour as a possibility, too. Additionally, the size of this recipe is quite modest, which I like -- nobody wants to get carpal-tunnel from the pastry bag after decorating 10 dozen gingerbread people!

Peppermint Merengue Kisses
Merengues and I have had a long and sordid history . . . let's just say we don't get along well! :) Anyhow, I confess to being a lazy baker and didn't completely follow the mixing directions in this recipe; consequently, I really couldn't get my merengue to whip to stiff enough peaks that they could be piped beautifully. Oh well! That's what spoons are for, right? My rustic merengues taste fantastic, and are being quickly disappeared by Dan -- I think he could eat a double-batch of this cookie all on his own if allowed! The basic recipe is simple enough to adapt to a variety of flavors, which I may choose to play around with in the future.

Basic Sugar Cookies
I posted at length about these cookies already; let's just say that they are one of my favorites, and I look forward each year to decorating cookies!

Salted Nut Roll Bars
I found vegetarian marshmallows! (My co-op has started carrying "Dandies!" Wahoo!) A church choir friend introduced me to these bars, and I'm totally hooked -- the Salted Nut Roll (made in St. Paul, Minnesota,) is my favorite candy bar EVER, and this simple, sweet-and-salty bar so closely mocks the original, I'm hooked! I did make a few changes to the recipe/directions, which seemed to work well for me -- I didn't combine the marshmallows with the peanut butter caramel layer, instead just layered the marshmallows over the salted peanuts and poured/spread the sticky stuff on top. This seemed to work REALLY well for me, and avoided the messy, gooey spreading job described to me by my choir colleague. (Also, the recipe I used did not call for any butter, and it worked just fine.) I would recommend chilling these bars before cutting, otherwise you'll have a very sticky knife and globby shapes instead of "bars." Globby or not, these are fantastic!

Well . . . merry what have you to all! I'm off work again today due to 8 more inches of snow and general horrible weather, (woot snow day!), and I'm absolutely delighted to have a "free day" to finish preparing for the holidays. I definitely need to get a little more cooking done, and our apartment could use a quick clean before hosting guests. I'm off!

SNOW DAY!

I have pretty much always worked for non-profit preshool/child care programs in my career, which means, we NEVER get snow days. Typically, policy has been we don't close unless the public schools close, and the public schools never close!

Well, that is, until this week! Seriously, this is the first time I've remembered Minneapolis and/or St. Paul Public Schools closing in well over ten years. (I remember the University of Minnesota shut down one day during my freshman year because the air temperature was a high of -20 Farenheight, with even scarier wind chills. I'm sure the schools were closed that day, too!) It was such a surprise, receiving a call from my coteacher on Sunday night, with the message "SNOW DAY" loud and clear! THEN, last night, my boss called, stating, "another snow day tomorrow!" Wow! (The reasoning? I guess we got such a dumping of snow over the weekend, the city has not yet been fully plowed, so the school busses can't get through.)

Well, really, the reason doesn't matter -- snow days are the BEST! Of course, my favorite thing to do on a snow day is BAKE! Now, I've drastically changed my Christmas cookie plans for this year, since my parents have decided to come up. My mom does a ton of baking most years, and I didn't want to duplicate anything she's making, so my list has been cut from a dozen different things to about five. I wasn't even planning on making roll-out cookies this year, (since my mom already makes them,) but yesterday, I just couldn't help it! Snow days require frosting and sprinkles, in my opinion!




No offense to my grandma, whose "Christmas Cookie" dough I almost always make, but I decided to do something simpler this year, with a smaller yield. I settled on Real Simple's Basic Sugar Cookie Dough, which was just right. I ended up getting 40 cookies from this recipe, (the suggested yield is 18,) likely because I rolled the dough a little thinner and used smaller cookie cutters than they did. (I also believe strongly in re-rolling scraps. If I hadn't, I would have wasted at least half of the dough!) My cookies only took about 9 minutes, too, instead of their suggested 12 to 15. After cooling, I whipped up a super-simple buttercream, (1/2 cup butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and about 3 tbsp milk, or until the frosting held together but was still creamy and spreadable,) and attacked my stash of sprinkles. Wahoo! Dan didn't feel like helping with the decorating this year, and that was just fine -- the recipe was manageable enough, I finished the decorating before I was sick of it. :)

AND, since we cannot survive on cookies alone, (although it would be fun to try,) I did some actual cooking these past couple of days, too.

First, "Saucy Hungarian Eggplant," from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers:

For some reason, seeing bulgur in the cupboard made me think to make this dish! Really, though, it is spectacular and easy, and one of my favorites from this cookbook. I couldn't believe the prices on decent-looking artichokes from California this week, so I decided to pick up two for us to enjoy alongside. (We also had salad! It was a veggie-full meal.)

Last night was an incredibly simple miso soup supper:


Here's my recipe, which serves two:

1. Combine 6 cups of water, 2 strips of kombu, 2 dried shiitake mushrooms, and 4 "coins" of fresh ginger. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover your dashi. This can steep basically as long as you'd like, but for at least a half-hour. Remove and discard the kombu, shiitakes, and ginger.

2. Return the broth to a boil. Add 1/2 package firm tofu, pressed and cubed small, about 12 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced, and 1 "bundle" of soba noodles, broken into about 1-inch pieces. Boil for five minutes, or however long your noodles take to cook, stirring frequently.

3. Turn off the heat and stir in 1 bunch of green onions, sliced, and 2 tablespoons of miso. Enjoy!

We had a small bowl of leftover soup, which I wasn't expecting, but because we had barely done anything all day long, I guess our appetites weren't at their normal level! Alas, I guess I'll just have to have the leftovers for breakfast this morning!

Off to enjoy snow day #2, here -- if I feel like getting out to buy more flour, I'll definitely be doing more baking! Wee!

Christmas Cookies 2010

Truthfully, I'm not really in the "holiday spirit" much this year -- I don't think we'll have time to put our tree up, and shopping for Christmas presents on a tight budget will be challenging. (I'm sure you can all relate!) However . . . there is still one holiday tradition I have been planning and looking forward to for over a month now -- baking cookies! I picked up Fine Cooking's holiday cookie issue back in October, and I have been dog-earing the pages for weeks. I think I've finally settled on a list! Here's my baking plan for this year!

CANDIES:
Traditional Peanut Brittle
Toffee-Chocolate Candy
Sea Salt Caramels (I have made these several years in a row, now)

COOKIES:
My Grandma's butter cookies with frosting and sprinkles
Peppermint Meringue Kisses
Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Pine Nut Wedding Cookies
Pistachio-Cranberry Biscotti Straws

BARS:
Apricot Coconut Bars
Ginger Bars
Gingered Lemon Bars
Fig Bars with Thyme

Um yes, that is a DOZEN different treats that I'm planning on making! Oh dear! My only consolation is that every year, I feel like I've chosen way too many things, block myself out a whole weekend in which to bake like a maniac, and always seem to finish baking (and washing all of those dishes!) far ahead of schedule. :) I still feel compelled to cut out two things, though -- ten treats seems like a more manageable amount than twelve, for some reason. What would you cut?

UUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH.

Anyone else feel like they've been eating too much junk food? My non-stop food fest has been going since Wednesday night, and I fear there's no end in sight any time soon . . . holiday treats, rich foods, going out to eat, parties . . . ack! I already feel icky, and we have several sets of plans involving eating out coming up this week.

I have a feeling a nice, healthy dose of yoga or a walk, oatmeal for breakfast, and a big, green salad will be items on my agenda for tomorrow! (I bought a HUGE bag of salad greens at the co-op today, expecting I'd need them!)

How do you combat the "post-holiday grossness?"

a very Minnesota Christmas

Hello blog folks! I left my camera at home, so I have no pictures to share of our holiday festivities, but I must say, I received the BEST Christmas gift a Minnesotan who loves the outdoors could get!

SNOWSHOES!

Am I weird? Dan, his brother Ryan, and I each received a pair from their parents today. Wahoo! We tried them out right away, and it's SO much easier than hiking in boots! (Even though I'm having some technical difficulties with mine -- they are whipping snow up my back and over my shoulders! Must experiment with adjustments further.)

What was your favorite holiday gift this year?

meals and Merry!

Here's what we've been noshing these past few days . . .

"Jerk Tofu" and "Coconut Rice," with a side of kale, from Vegan with a Vengeance:


"White Bean and Garlic Soup with Greens," from Love Soup:


And "Smoky Grilled Tempeh," from Veganomicon, with roasted sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, and leftover Coconut Rice:


And last but not least, just in case you haven't enjoyed enough treats yet, here are all of the cookies, arranged together to take to work:

I still haven't found out whether I won the second baking contest!!! We shall see. :)

Dan and I are headed out of town tonight, in an attempt to beat the winter storm headed our way. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! (And enjoy your time away from work, to those who don't!)

Just say "yes" to treats!

(UPDATE: Shout out to Dan's Aunt Mary! Unbeknownst to me, she's been following my blog and Christmas cookie debate since Thanksgiving, and I've added links to my recipes on this post, since she's faced with the challenge of baking for her mother-in-law's 35 closest friends! Go Aunt Mary!)

'Tis the season for dessert after every meal, including breakfast! My selection:

Anise Tea Crescents

These are such a nice surprise -- good anise flavor without being overpowering, and they weren't nearly as fussy to shape as I thought they were going to be. Nice change from the predictable (yet very tasty) Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cake.

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

I chanced making these again this year, since I wasn't totally pleased with them last year. Important lessons learned this year: DON'T freeze the dough balls before baking, (the cookies dried out too much last year,) DON'T overbake (again, too dry last year,) and I also doubled the amount of pepper (both types) called for in the original recipe. Wahoo! That's what I'm sayin'! Spicy, rich goodness!

German Honey Cookies

I haven't made these in years, and am very glad to return to this recipe. Dan LOVES these -- they have a good honey flavor, without being oppressive. You sort of have to stop and think while you are chewing, to figure out what you are tasting. A nice, soft, chewy, homey, satisfying cookie.

toffee

Crowd-pleaser, and dead easy. Recipe from Betty Crocker is as follows: combine 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook to "hard crack" stage (300 - 310 degrees Farenheight.) Add 1 cup chopped pecans, then quickly pour into a very well-greased pan. (I own an 8-inch square silicone pan purchased especially for candy-making. Very handy. Saves lots of time in not having to pick bits of greased foil from the bottoms of things.) Top with 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and cover until the chocolate is melted. Spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee, and cool. Remove from pan and cut into small bites. Yum!

Lemon-Rosemary Butter Cookies

A repeat from last year, since I can't get enough of the slightly-sweet, slightly-lemony, slightly-pine-y flavor and dry, almost sandy texture. Very much a "grown-up" cookie, I think!

my grandma's Christmas cookies with buttercream and sprinkles

Smells, looks, and tastes like childhood. I make vanilla-mint buttercream every year, but the traditional vanilla or almond-flavored frostings are also delicious.

Gingerbread Cutout Cookies

I doubled this recipe, and have an army of ginger-vegans! (Except there's an egg white in the decorating icing. Sorry, vegan police.) Tasty, spicy, molasses-y goodness! I love gingerbread people, but until now, had not found a recipe for gingerbread dough that I actually liked eating. (They are always too dry or too sweet, if you ask me.) Soft and chewy but still sturdy, these dudes rock!

Yummy Molasses Crackles

I love molasses spice cookies so much, I just HAD to make these this year, even though the gingerbread people have all the same flavors. Chopping the candied ginger requires a little extra work, but it's SO worth it. A "light" cookie that certainly doesn't taste like it sacrifices a thing! Good job, Eating Well!

Oh yeah . . . and don't forget about the caramels, too!

DONE!

Can you believe it? I finished ALL of my holiday baking today! I must have hit some sort of pre-holiday baker's time warp, because I made seven different cookies and my toffee in less than 24 hours! (That's including icing and decorating the sugar cookies!)

I've also washed all of those dishes, and took time out to read for a while this afternoon, and to go out for dinner with Dan and his bro!

A "Christmas miracle," if you ask me!

Photos soon -- it's too dark now to get decent shots. More later!

a great weekend!

I really have had a great weekend! Let's recap . . .

Friday night, my friend Ann met me at work and we walked to the Cheeky Monkey Deli for dinner. YUM YUM YUM! I've walked by this place a bunch of times, and finally ventured in, based on a recommendation from my boss. I had a side salad, pressed brie and roasted mushroom sandwich, some chips, and split a sour cherry mascarpone rice pudding with Ann for dessert. I'm still dreaming about that sandwich . . . this may be my new "go-to" place when I fall through packing a lunch for work! (The harder part will be NOT eating there once a week!) After dinner, we went to Penumbra Theatre and saw "Black Nativity," which was excellent, and helped finally shove me into the Christmas spirit! ;)

I spent Saturday morning sitting around on the couch, clipping recipes out of food magazines and drinking tea:

Yeah, that's a lot of tea. I had, ahem, an impulsive trip to the co-op on Friday afternoon during my break! (Hey . . . they were all on sale!) I made it my mission to try all FOUR flavors of holiday tea, just so I could post a short review here:

Candy Cane Lane: One of my favorites of the bunch. Decaf green tea with peppermint and vanilla flavors. I found this tea benefited greatly from an extra minute of steeping, and a teaspoon of sugar stirred in before enjoying. Brought out the vanilla flavor a little more. Delicious, especially if you love mint tea as I do!

Sugar Plum Spice: My other favorite. Fruity and spicy, sweet without adding any additional sweetner, and delicious! Bright pink in the cup, too. Leave the teabag in a long time, (I usually let my herbal teabags sit in the cup until I've finished drinking,) because the spiciness becomes more present the longer it steeps.

Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride: I have heard wonerful, rave reviews of this tea, but I must confess . . . my socks weren't knocked off. My first cup was sort of blah -- the tea smelled AMAZING, but didn't taste like much. After experimenting a little bit, I found this tea required doubling up on bags in my cup, a LONG steep, (up to 30 minutes,) and a teaspoon of sugar for best flavor. After my initial disappointment, I've been pleased -- imagine sweet sugar-cookie flavor and aroma, with a hint of orange. This would make a fun after-dinner treat on a day you don't want many extra calories!

Gingerbread Spice: I almost didn't buy this tea because I was afraid it would be too . . . spicy. "Spice" tea usually means overpowering, almost bitter cinnamon flavor, in my opinion, and I was a little worried . . . but the sale price made this box jump in my cart, and I'm glad it did! This is a nicely balanced tea, spicy but not overwhelming, and enjoyable even when I forgot and left the tea bag in for fifteen minutes. :)

So . . . if you're a fan of herbal teas and like holiday-inspired flavors, check these out! I think they might still be on sale at Mississippi Market, too! (Maybe even the Wedge? I've seen them on display, but didn't pay attention to the price.)

After my morning of tea and lounging in my jammies, Dan and I decided to head out on foot and "play" -- we went out for lunch, went to the library, hit up a couple of stores, (smoked paprika from Penzey's, a few holiday baking essentials from Kitchen Window, a quick grocery item I forgot on Friday, etc.), got Dan a haircut, a short browse at Cheapo, and then took the bus home. Whew! We were tired!

When we got home, Dan napped on the couch while I made cookies:

Dan complains that I can't ever make "regular" chocolate chip cookies, (i.e., no oats, nuts, dried fruit, etc.,) and unfortunately for him, this batch wasn't "regular." I threw in a bunch of peanuts and a teaspoon of coarse sea salt, which I'm thrilled with! And, well, Dan did confess that he actually liked them. :) (He's not anti-nut, just anti-walnuts and pecans, which I tend to use most often.) I'm going to take some to work tomorrow to share with my boss -- she's had an overwhelming couple of weeks, and deserves a treat!

When Dan got up from his nap, he made his famous tempeh stir-fry for dinner:


Yum! Spicy, salty, and delicious! (And I love all of that broccoli!)

After dinner, we watched part of "The Last King of Scotland" before I practically had a meltdown due to tiredness. :) Early to bed for me!

Today, I went to church, and then made pizza for lunch:

Dan and I had a funny discussion about how much we both love pizza, and never seem to get sick of it. Probably why we have it a couple of times a month! :)

After lunch, we finished the movie, then put up our tree:

Wee Christmas! Now the trick is to keep the cat from tearing the whole thing apart before Christmas actually arrives!

Off to finish the laundry, wrap some presents, and make bean burritos for dinner. Anyone have an amazing refried bean recipe they love? I haven't been happy with the experiments that I've tasted to date . . . I guess I'll just have to search for a recipe!?!?