Vanilla Cornmeal Wreath Cookies

I made these cookies many years ago and found them less than exciting, but thought they had promise.  The original recipe has you coating corn flakes in egg white and applying them to the surface of the cookies in a leaf pattern.  I didn't find this to be a good addition for a number of reasons.  For one, corn flakes always taste like breakfast cereal, and that's not a flavor I want in cookies.  Second, when the cookies were fresh, the corn flakes were tough and unpleasant, although they crisped up after a couple days.  Lastly, it was a process that was extremely time-consuming.  The flakes were a nice touch as far as appearance, but the cookies are a bit dry and I had decided they needed a bit of frosting, which would further make the topping unnecessary.

For 17 3½-inch cookies, here's what I used:

1⅛ cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon anise extract, optional
1 large egg, room temperature

Sift together the flour, cornmeal, and baking powder. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with a handheld electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla, and anise (if using) to the butter and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes more. Add the egg (one at a time if doubling the recipe) to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Stir the flour-cornmeal mixture into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula; it will be a stiff dough. To make dough easier to handle, chill until firm. Divide the dough into 17, 1-inch balls. Make a hole in the center of each ball with the tip of a wooden spoon and work each piece of dough into a doughnut shape with a 1-inch hole and about 2 inches wide. Use scissors to snip 1/2-inch long angled cuts, about 1/2-inch apart around the outside ring of each cookie. Arrange cookies on greased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. (Optional: freeze cookies on the sheet until firm, about 10 minutes.) Bake at 350F until just golden around the edges, about 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Frost and decorate.

Frosting
1/4 cup butter, softened
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Cream together the butter and vanilla. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and very fluffy.  Add green gel coloring and use a large star tip to decorate cookies, immediately sprinkling each with red nonpareils. Allow frosting to dry until firm.

A ridiculous number of the nonpareils fell off while I was sprinkling them on (I had frosted all the cookies and then added the sprinkles-- the frosting had already started to dry), until I finally placed each cookie in a small bowl so I could collect and salvage the deserters.

I over baked the cookies slightly, getting them a little too brown around the edges.  They were a little drier than I would have liked, but I think a minute or two less time in the oven would have fixed that.  I had to be a little stingy with the frosting and barely had enough as it was-- they could have used just a tiny bit more, both for flavor and appearance. 

Conclusion:  It still needs tweaking, mostly just on the bake time, but I was pretty happy with the results.  (I discovered chopped peanuts would be a good addition, either in the cookie or sprinkled on top of the frosting.)  The frosting not only adds moisture and sweetness to what is otherwise a somewhat dull cookie, but also provides a buttery richness to the corn flavor.  While it will never be the most exciting cookie on the plate, the subtle flavor and texture is a nice contrast to the outspoken fruits, nuts, jams, and chocolates of a traditional holiday cookie assortment.

Recipe:  Cornmeal Wreaths via Food Network

Gingerbread holiday cookies

I made this recipe once before when I made these gingerbread trees.  I followed it almost exactly that time and really liked the results.  This time I made a few more tweaks, including modifying the flours I used.  I also halved the original recipe.  To produce perhaps two dozen cookies (of varying sizes) plus three tiny houses, here's what I used:

6 tablespoons salted butter, softened
3/8 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/8 cup unsulphured molasses
1/2 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon whole milk powder*
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup King Arthur white whole wheat flour (12.2% protein)
1/4 cup Trader Joe's all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 heaping teaspoon Tellicherry black pepper, freshly ground

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth, 3–4 minutes. Add the molasses and continue mixing until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and continue mixing until homogeneous, about 2 minutes more. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients; add to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until completely blended. On a lightly floured sheet of waxed paper, press dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, roll the dough out to between 1/8" and 1/4" thick, depending on your preference and the handling of your dough.  Chill between activities as necessary for ease of handling, which might mean placing the rolled dough and/or cut cookies in the refrigerator or freezer for several minutes.  Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness and preference for soft or crisp cookies.  (For soft cookies, the edges should be semi-firm but the centers still soft.)  Cool on baking sheet a few minutes, then move to a wire rack.

*The original recipe calls for 1½ teaspoons of milk.  I don't know what role such a small amount of milk plays.  The dough was very soft, so I doubt extra moisture was needed.  Perhaps it helps keep the cookie soft, the way milk helps produce a soft bread.  This time, I used milk powder instead, without trying to figure out how much powder equaled that amount of liquid milk.  A teaspoon was probably too much, but I don't see that it would cause any harm.

I decided to leave out anise seed, which I had used previously, because what I have is getting old and tasting a bit herby, but I think it would be a good addition if fresh.  I doubled the allspice called for because, although I ground it from whole berries, there wasn't much flavor.  I got the idea to add a spicy black pepper from these gingerbread men.  I'd also like to try adding turmeric-- maybe next time.

I didn't have any bread flour as called for in the original recipe, but the white whole wheat I used contains the appropriate amount of gluten-forming protein.  The Trader Joe's AP flour has a higher protein content than the Gold Medal, but I don't know whether it's the right type for gluten formation.  So I might or might not have the intended amount of gluten in the dough.  And I'm not convinced it makes any difference anyway, because any bread baker knows it takes a lot of kneading to create gluten, and that doesn't happen in this recipe.  (Although I did let the dough rest for two days; time will also cause gluten development.)

I baked the light bulbs 8 minutes, the ladies 7½ minutes (I failed to turn the pan and one started to over-brown on the edge), and the smallest pieces (which were the house parts) 6½ minutes (which wasn't enough-- they felt undone rather than soft-baked, but still turned out okay.)

Conclusion:  Initially, these tasted too sweet!  Like, WAY too sweet.  How could that be?  Was it the sugar topping?  And I even questioned whether they were too spicy.  But after a few days, they tasted better.  (The tiny houses had a little royal icing gluing them together and that was not too sweet of an addition, but might have been if they'd been decorated.)  It was probably a combination of letting the flavors blend and my getting away from them for a fresh approach.  These should probably be made and stored for at least a week before eating as they seem to get better with time.  I finished the last of them on March 1 and they were still soft, spicy, and delicious.

Recipe:  "Spiced Gingerbread Cookies" from The Cookie Book by Rebecca Firth

Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookies

I typically give stink eye to anything not home made at Christmas, but occasionally we all have to take short cuts.  I saw these sugar cookies, plain and awaiting decoration, in the store and, upon investigating the ingredients, didn't see anything too offensive.  I was supposed to be bringing cookies to pickle ball and decided to fix these up for the occasion.

I melted about 1/2 cup of milk chocolate and unsweetened chocolate together and spread that on the bottom of the cookies.  Then I frosted the tops with peppermint buttercream, sprinkled them with crushed peppermint candies and let that dry, then dragged stripes of chocolate across the top.  

I was worried about the frosting tasting like mouthwash, so I added the extract very slowly, 1/4 teaspoon at a time.  It was too mild, too mild, too mild... and then suddenly mouthwash.  Aaagh!  I frosted the cookies anyway and let them sit out overnight, hoping that would evaporate some of the mint flavor.  It did.  The next day, they were pleasantly minty and no mouthwash.  (I think there's an option for "mint" extract in the store that might be more mild than peppermint.)  The open air, plus being eaten with the cookie rather than off a spoon probably both contributed to the improved flavor.

I also discovered there's an art to getting chocolate just the right consistency to get a thin stream:  if it's too cool OR too warm, it clumps.  Weird.

After all that, pickle ball got rained out.  More cookies for me.

Frosting
1/4 cup butter, softened
5/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream 

Cream together the butter and extract until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and very fluffy.  Add in heavy cream, a little at a time, until the desired spreading consistency is achieved.

Conclusion:   These still tasted a little commercial (what is it they do to factory cookies to make them taste that way??), but overall they tasted good and I really liked how they looked.  They were fairly large cookies and were a bit too rich to eat one all at once, so I had to break mine in half whenever I indulged.

Apple Walnut Muffins

 

One of my favorite recipes.  These muffins have big bites of tangy apples and crunchy walnuts that scent the kitchen as they bake.  You could change up the recipe to replace the raisins with other fruit, like dried cranberries, or apricots.  I've even thought about adding cheddar cheese.  I did replace most of the white flour with whole wheat, and they're fine either way.

To make eight muffins, here's what I used, with a few modifications:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups diced apple, unpeeled (about 1 large)
1/2 1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup flour (mix of white with up to 3/4 whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup broken walnuts (in large pieces)

In a mixing bowl, add the egg, oil, and vanilla and stir to blend well.  Add the apples, sugar, and molasses and mix thoroughly.  Sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; add the to apple mixture and mix well.  Add the raisins and walnuts and mix until they are evenly distributed.  Spoon into greased muffin tins.  Bake at 325F for about 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.  Serve warm.

Full disclosure:  I made these the moment I got up and, not being a morning person, I made a few mistakes.  First, I dumped the flour in with the apples and had to dig out as much as I could to sift with the other dry ingredients.  (After nearly doing the same with the baking soda and the cinnamon, I had to move the bowl away from my work area until I was ready for it again.)  Then, as I was transcribing the recipe, I realized I used only half the apple amount.  (And yet, they were still delicious.)  I really shouldn't be baking in the morning.  At least not first thing.

Conclusion:  These will continue to be on regular rotation in my house, but I'll be sure to add ALL the apples.  And now that I've thought of it, I'm really anxious to try the cheddar option.

Recipe:  Raw Apple Muffins via The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham