Christmas Cookies 2020

I went a little overboard baking this year - perhaps too much COVID time.   At least my neighbors are enjoying them.     Thought I would share some recipes here (and so I don't lose them).   To keep this photography-related - This is a reminder I should practice my food photography - the iPhone can only get me so far.

For the 5 cookies, I made dough each day of the week and put it in the fridge.   That was the easy part.    Baking them all on a Saturday was the exhausting part.   Lessons learned - start baking earlier in the day, and let the dough warm up a bit before trying to scoop it out.

Starting with the diamonds at the bottom and going clockwise

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👉Grannie's shortbread 

Those golden diamonds are not in any book, but an old family recipe that I've decided to share.   

Check out the recipe on my other blog post here

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👉Red Velvet white chocolate chip

Recipe here - kind of.  

The website had an 'original' recipe and a 'new' recipe.   Since then (all of 2 weeks ago) the original has disappeared, so the cookie made here can't be made again.  :)

These were a bit of a challenge.  I scooped them while they were still cold, so some baked into weird shapes.   Next time I'll let them thaw a little, then make them into proper balls.   

Next problem were the (vanilla) chocolate chips.   The recipe said coca butter chips are the best to use.  What a mistake.  :)   the chips near the bottom of the cookie just melted and candied the bottom of the cookies.   The rest just turned into puddles.  You can see some of the white globs above.   You can also see some burned chips.   No fun.   Next time I'll try Ghiradelli and see if they last better.

That being said - these were very tasty nonetheless.   

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👉M&M Cookies

Recipe here  Photo at top of page

Every year I try a different M&M recipe.   They're usually good, but not great.    I have now found great.

I'm not sure if it's a good recipe, or if it is because this recipe calls for more M&Ms than usual, plus it has you add chocolate chips for good measure.  These are amazing.   My search is over!

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👉Italian Lemon Ricotta

Recipe here

I tried this on a lark.  I like lemon, and these reminded me of childhood cookie.  Ironically, I thought these were good, just not great.   Maybe the other high sugar cookies have me spoiled.  But they were good and the neighbors loved them.   I tried drizzling the topping on, but dipping the top of the cookie in the glaze worked best, and was actually less messy.

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👉Chocolate Chip

Recipe here  Photo at top of page

Well, who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie.   But like M&M cookies, there's no shortage of recipes out there.  And there are a LOT.     I randomly picked one of the many 'this is the best' from a FB cookie group, and I struck gold.   I think they are literally the perfect chocolate chip cookie for me!  Lots of chips, great texture, and lots of chips.   I definitely need to make these again.

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👉Chocolate Crinkles

Recipe here   Photo above

I got this from a cookie book, but there are a million crinkle recipes out there.  The one above is closest so what my book has.   These are a fun cookie - nice and chocolaty.   You can make these nice and small so they are bite-size.  And they're a fun cookie to make with kids - roll balls like play dough and sugaring them up.    My only tip is to really coat them with powdered sugar.  It melts a little when they bake, so if you have a light coating, you won't have white powder on the cookies when done.   (if you have a cookie like that, you can sprinkle powdered sugar on them afterward.   They'll look different but are still tasty)

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I hope some of these inspire you!!

Enjoy!

Grannie's Shortbread

It's time to share

I've been making my grandmother's shortbread forever - the 'secret' family recipe.  The time has come to share the recipe, with both the family and all the great bakers I'm meeting on FB.   Grannie used to make this in round cake pans, but I find doing it on a cookie sheet gets me some nice crisp shortbread.

Recipe

• 1lb butter (salted)
• 1 cup granulated sugar, plus a handful or two
• 4 cups flour (all purpose)

350 degrees, 30-40 minutes or until golden brown

Directions

Bring butter to room temperature

Using your hands, mix the butter and sugar until well combined

Add the flour a bit at a time (a cup-ish) , hand mixing until well combined before adding the next bit of flour.  You're basically giving time for the flour to absorb the butter.   You could add it all at once, but it would take forever to mix.   Once mixed, let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes to continue to absorb and mix with the butter.

Line a baking sheet with a brown paper bag.  You can cut the bag down to size before baking.   

Form the dough into a long log and place in the center of the sheet.   Using hands (or rolling pin if you like) to spread the dough until it fills the pan,   Do your best to make it even throughout the pan.

Using a fork, make a lot of holes in the dough.  This will help in the baking process and ensure the center is nice and crisp.

Cut any excess bag off and place in center rack int he oven.   Back for 3-040 minutes or until they look golden.

Once out of the oven sprinkle the top liberally with sugar.   Then cut the shortbread into pieces while it is still warm from the oven.   (As it cools the shortbread will crisp up and be impossible to cut without it falling apart).  

Enjoy!!

Details

Once mixed and allowed to rest, it will have a consistency like play-doh.

I work the dough into the try by hand - the uneven look makes the shortbread more interesting.  

You can also roll out with a rolling pin.  Might be interesting to try going over with a patterned roller.

Here I've already cut the bag down - I wait until all rolled out in case things shift on the pan while I'm spreading the dough

The brown paper will absorb a lot of the oil - I never tried using regular parchment paper, that would prevent sticking but wouldn't absorb anything.

The recipe calls for poking holes throughout - I do so with a fork

I assume this is to ensure consistent baking throughout, so I've never tried not doing this.  If you make this in 2 smaller pans you might not need the holes, but they do make the shortbread interesting.

Since you will cut into smaller pieces, you can poke holes freehand.

Shortbread right out of the oven.

I let bake it a little longer to make a bit crisper, (and my friend loves the crispy ends)

You can tell by the color variations that my oven isn't quite consistent, but it all tastes good.

Grab a handful (or two) of sugar and sprinkle it all over the shortbread.

You don't have to be perfect.

Make sure you cut this right out of the oven, before the shortbread starts to crisp up

I make the second cut on the diagonal to be more interesting than plain old squares

I also like small, bite-size pieces.  

These manage to be a nice 2 bite snack

Let cool in the pan an hour or two and then put in a container, or serve!

Will keep in an airtight container for a few weeks

These also freeze well - just allow to come back to room temperature on their own

I hope you enjoy the family recipe!   Leave a comment if you try it and it works out well!