Snickerdoodles

There is something so warm and comforting about the aroma of cinnamon coming from your oven. Our kids love anything with cinnamon and I had been meaning to make these cookies for a while already. They're super easy to make and get gobbled up as quickly as you'll allow! I found the recipe from All Recipes and pretty left it the way it was written. Some said they had tried these using butter and others stick to the shortening, you decide.


Snickerdoodles
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Cream together the shortening and sugar, add eggs. Sift together the flower, soda, tarter and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. In a small bowl stir together the 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the dough into 1 1/2" balls and roll in the cinnamon mixture, don't flatten. Bake for 8-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bet you can't eat just one!

Tina

Christmas Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

Tis the season to be baking.... I love the look of decorated sugar cookies and have been practicing this last week. I think I'm starting to improve! I love a soft sugar cookie so I was delighted when this attempt brought the results I was after. They were so soft, moist and held their shape perfectly. I did find that the cookies were perfect with just a little bit extra flour. Maybe a 1/4 cup more, if that? Please note the the Tree Cookies were made with another recipe, I much prefer the recipe that I tried today!





Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
1 cup margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl sift together the remaining ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture. Chill overnight or until cool. Roll dough out toe 1/4" thick on a floured counter top and cut out with your favourite cookie cutters. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes, until just baked. Cool and ice with your favourite icing. I use one that I found at All Recipes a while back and had tons of reviews.

Glace Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp almond flavouring
1 tbsp white corn syrup
1 tbsp milk
Food colouring

Mix together until smooth, you might have to adjust the consistency by adding more syrup or milk. First I pipe the outline of the cookie, let this dry and then fill with the same icing, only thin it out a little more. Once that's dry, add additional colours. I am by not means a pro, obviously I still have tons to learn but I'm having fun doing it.

Tip for the cookie: I love a cutout cookie that holds it shape, where the sides stay sharp and I've heard that after you've cut out the cookies chill the dough again and than bake. I don't know if that's what did it but these really kept their shape. Well the first batch didn't have the straight sides but after I added a smidgen more of the flour the edges stay perfect!

Tip for the icing: I only found this out today after I had already decorated my snowflake cookies. If you want a white icing you will need to add white food colouring to the icing. You would think since it's white it wouldn't need it but somehow the icing turns almost translucent when dry. So definitely add some white food colouring!

Enjoy!
Tina

Cocoa Nut Cookies

I'm sure there could be a better name for these cookies but this is what they are named in my Mother in law's cookbook. I asked for this recipe a few years ago and I love making this recipe during the holidays, once you see the ingredients you'll know why it's only made for special holidays, lol. I love the combination of a soft cake like cookie topped with a marshmallow type filling and finished with white chocolate. It sounds quite time consuming but it's really not that bad. It's also a big recipe, it makes roughly 7 dozen cookies so some of you might want to cut that in half.

Cocoa Nut Cookies
1 cup oil (I use canola)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup chopped pecan nuts
3 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/2 cups flour

Mix cocoa, hot water and baking soda together, set aside. Beat together the oil, sugar, eggs, and cream. Stir in the cocoa mixture, then stir in the flour, salt and nuts. Drop by tsp full and bake for 8-10 minutes or until firm to the touch at 350F. While cookies are baking prepare the gelatin filling.

Gelatin Filling
1 envelope gelatin
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
pinch Cream of Tartar

Mix the gelatin and sugar together in a saucepan. Stir in the water and bring just to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil remove from heat. Allow to cool. Add cream of tartar and whisk on high using your electric mixer until the filling holds it's shape, this can take a while.

Note: If you are using the full cookie recipe you might need to double the gelatin recipe to have enough for all your cookies. It of course, depends on how much filling you add.

Once filling is stiff enough you can start spreading it on your cooled cookies. I use a tablespoon and just spread it around, very easy. Once the gelatin as set I dip them in white milk chocolate. I always stock up on the white Easter bunnies at Easter time, I prefer the taste over the other stuff, and it's cheaper too. I also add some shortening to the chocolate to make it thinner, which makes it easier to dip.

My last tip: To help the gelatin set I always put the un-dipped cookies on my baking pans and straight into the freezer for about an hour. I find the chocolate sets quicker if the cookie is cool and it makes dipping a lot easier. You also want to make sure your chocolate is not too hot. I once read that if you leave the pot on the burner right up until the chocolate is completely melted your chocolate is already too hot. You want to take your pot off the oven while you still have a few small lumps, keep stirring until everything has melted and it should be the perfect temperature!

Enjoy!
Tina

Spritz Cookies

I was browsing recipes on the web today and came across this one. I had bought a cookie press many years ago and never used it. It was really fun and easy to make. You don't need a cookie press if you don't have one. You can pipe them out of a bag if you like. I had made the cute little box at my sisters class the previous week and thought it would look great with the cookies in it. You can find the tutorial of how to make those here

Spritz Cookies (All Recipes)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and egg yolk; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Fill a cookie press or pastry bag with dough, and form cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Make a dent in the middle of cookies and fill with jam (I used seedless raspberry jam).
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cookies are golden brown on the peaks and on the bottoms. Remove from cookie sheets at once to cool on wire racks.



Happy baking,
Erna

Sugar Cookie Icing

Christmas is so close and with that comes the season of baking all the various Christmas cookies. I have never been able to find the right sugar cookie recipe and today was no different. But what made today's cookie feel like a good find was the icing recipe. This icing gave the cookies a high gloss finish, and most icing recipes that do this require meringue powder or egg whites, both of which I either didn't have or didn't want to use lol. This was my first attempt ever at decorating cookies so I don't know if I should be embarrassed at how these look but I'm thinking practice will make perfect!

I got this recipe from All Recipes and it's called exactly as I wrote it in the title, it had over 1,000 reviews with a 4 1/2 star rating! I did mess up a little on the consistency but after some adjusting it was fine.


Sugar Cookie Icing

1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)
Food colouring

In a small bowl stir together the sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in the corn syrup and vanilla, beat until smooth. If icing is too thick add more syrup. Separate into bowls and add your food colouring. Spread onto cookies and let the icing dry, this will probably take about 4-6 hours. I was able to pipe the snowflakes on after only about 30 minutes of drying time. The icing was dry yet but it had formed enough of a crusty layer so that the colours didn't bleed together.

Hope you enjoy!
Tina

Macarons

This recipe is definitely a simple one when it comes to ingredients. Only four things go into it to make such a delicate cookie. Egg whites, sugar, icing sugar and almond flour.

Macarons

You can find many recipes online when it comes to the macaron. Since eggs can vary in size I liked just using a ratio of weight according to however many egg whites I'm using:

1 : 2 : .5 : 1.10

Egg whites : Icing Sugar : Granulated Sugar : Almond meal/flour

( So if I had 50g of egg white it would be two times that for the icing sugar at 100g and 25g for the granulated sugar and 55g for the almond flour. Hope that makes sense) If you don't have a kitchen scale you should get one, it makes things so much easier. I tell my husband all the time how much I love mine.

For the almond flour I used whole almonds that I ground up in my magic bullet. This can lead to moist flour so do it ahead of time so they can dry a little bit. I put mine in the oven at the lowest temperature setting and let it dry for awhile. Since this recipe is very temperamental when it comes to moisture content.

The egg whites should be aged for a few days to allow for some of the moisture to evaporate. You can leave them in the fridge for a few days or if it doesn't bother you on the counter loosely covered for a day or two. Some would argue that this step is unnecessary. You could try both ways and see what works for you.

1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl.

If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks.

Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

*This is very important that it be very stiff. You have to be able to turn the bowl upside down without the meringue falling out.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

* I put about half in and then added the rest. I read a few people say at first you want to fold quite vigorously to incorporate it fast. Some people found it helpful to count how many times they fold so that they were more in control. I think I did it around 30 times. The look you're going for is a magma consistency. Not too runny but not too stiff. I just guessed.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip . You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

* I used parchment paper that I had drawn circles on one side and then turned it over so that I had a guide to make uniform sizes.

* It is also recommended that you bang the pan on the counter to let any air bubbles out and so the any bits of almond meal settle more to the bottom so you can get that smooth top.

* It is best to leave them on the counter for at least half an hour to two hours so that the shell can form a little bit on top.

6. I baked mine at 300F for twenty minutes.

* A good tip is to double up on the baking sheet to get better temperature control.

* My first pan I piped too many on and they didn't bake as well as the second pan. They stuck to the pan probably because they weren't quit as done yet. I just sprayed a light mist of water under the parchment paper after to remove them easily.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

I used a ganache to fill them using a 2-1 ratio of chocolate to cream. Boil the cream and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for a few minutes then stir until the chocolate is melted. Put it in the fridge to set. If it gets to hard warm it just for a few seconds in the microwave.

Pipe a nice size on half of cookies and sandwich together. They are best if you leave them in the fridge for a few days before consuming. Just let them come to room temperature first. I of course sampled some everyday.

Now it may look way more complicated than it really is. Once you have everything in order it really is very simple.

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Chocolate Strawberry Rugelach

I love the tender crust of rugelach. It's also such a versatile recipe. You could fill it with anything your heart desires. You could do peanut butter and jam and sprinkle some crushed peanuts in it as well. Nutella and bits of hazelnuts, chocolate and toffee bits, dried fruit with some nuts. Really there is no limit. The rolling of the dough is not hard just a little tedious, overall a very simple recipe to follow. I baked these and gave them to a church group that gets together regularly and needed a few things to store in the freezer and pull out when needed. It fills my need to bake without me chowing down on every last piece ( yes, I would eat every one). Hope you enjoy them as well.

Chocolate Strawberry Rugelach

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For the dough:

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 c. sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 t. vanilla

A pinch of coarse salt

2 1/3 c. all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling out the dough

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For the filling:

1 heaping c. pecans or walnuts

1/4 c. granulated sugar

3-4 dashes cinnamon

A pinch of coarse salt

12 ounces strawberry jam, melted

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips,

or 6 oz. of chopped bittersweet chocolate

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For the finishing:

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten .

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The dough:

On medium speed, beat together the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the 1/2 c. granulated sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, leaving enough time for each yolk to combine with the batter between additions. Add the vanilla and the salt, and beat to combine. Reduce the speed to low, and beat in the flour. Divide the dough into three pieces and pat into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.

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The filling:

I toasted the walnuts in a pan on the burners for a few minutes, careful not to burn them. Once the nuts have cooled, pulse them together in a food processor with the 1/4 c. granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Depending on the consistency that you want will determine how long you pulse them for.

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Roll and bake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Melt the jam in a bowl in the microwave until it is runny enough to brush across the pastry without tearing the dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough into a thin 12-inch round. (The dough should be less than 1/8 of an inch thick.) Brush evenly with jelly. Sprinkle one-third of the walnut mixture and one third of the chocolate chips over the jelly. The rugelach will roll up best if you leave about a 2-inch circle of dough in the center free of chocolate and nuts. Using the rolling pin or your fingers, gently press the chocolate and nuts into the dough. Next, cut the round into 16 equal-sized wedges with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. Starting from the "crust end," roll up each slice to the center of the "pie." Press the tip of each "slice" into the body of the pastry to seal. Place the rugelach on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Brush the tops of the rugelach with the beaten egg whites ( and sprinkle with sugar if you like). Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

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Erna

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

I found this recipe a year ago on All Recipes but have since then changed it enough that I wouldn't even call it the same recipe, lol. It's not a crispy cookie so if you don't like cake-like cookies then this is not the recipe for you. One of the things I added to this recipe is the Kashi cereal, I love this cereal and figured this would help make it a healthy cookie. This is a big recipe but I find it's great to freeze and take them out as needed.

Oatmeal Cookies with Kashi

1 stick Margarine
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup milk, add 1 tsp vinegar and let it sit for a minute
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup kashi cereal (I use puffed kashi cereal)

Beat together the margarine, applesauce, eggs and sugar. Stir in milk and vanilla. In a seperate bowl combine the flour, bkg soda, bkg powder, salt & cinnamon. Stir this into the creamed mixture. Finally stir in the oats, chocolate & kashi cereal.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
This makes about 6 1/2 dozen cookies that are only 67 calories each! You could add more chocolate chips to the cookies but of course your calorie count would be a little higher. I like to add just enough to give you a taste of chocolate.

ETA: If you want to ruin plain oatmeal cookies forever for your tastebuds, try dipping your oatmeal cookies in whipped nutriwhip or whipping cream! Mmmmmmm, oatmeal cookies have never tasted better!

Thanks for stopping by.
Tina