Eggnog Snickerdoodles

It's snack day on the pickle ball courts!  To make these festive cookies, I needed egg yolks and rum extract.  As it so happened, I had egg yolks left over from the chocolate-almond spice cookies, and surprisingly half a bottle of rum extract in my cupboard.  (I wonder how old that is...  The only thing I can remember making that was rum-flavored were these cupcakes, but they used real rum.)  I halved the recipe to make 12 cookies and changed the butter and salt, as shown.  The original recipe calls for baking the cookies on parchment on a rimmed cookie sheet; I opted for greasing an unrimmed sheet, which worked fine.  This is the full recipe, which makes 24 approximately 3¼-inch cookies:


3½ cups (445 grams) all-purpose flour 
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1¾ cup (350 grams) granulated sugar, plus ¼ cup for rolling
1 ⅛ teaspoon kosher fine sea salt
1 large egg plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
1 tablespoon rum extract
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda, and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, 1¾ cups sugar and the salt on medium-high until very smooth and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Return the mixer to medium speed and add the egg and egg yolks, incorporating each before adding the next. Add the rum extract and continue to beat for another minute or two. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Set the dough aside to hydrate for about 10 minutes while you prepare to bake.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease two baking sheets. Make the nutmeg-sugar mixture by combining the remaining ¼ cup sugar with the nutmeg in a small bowl.

Roll the dough into balls slightly larger than a golf ball (about 44--47 grams), then roll each dough ball in the nutmeg-sugar. Transfer the balls to the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart, and bake 10 to 13 minutes, rotating pans and switching racks halfway through, until slightly puffed and just set. Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. These cookies are even better the day after they're made, and will keep for 4 days sealed in an airtight container.

 

A note about the salt...  The recipe simply calls for kosher salt, but not all kosher salts are created equal.  Diamond Crystal kosher salt is very popular amongst celebrity chefs for some reason, but you have to use a lot more of it than you do Morton kosher salt, and both are coarse, which also affects the volume measurements.  I further complicated it by using salted butter instead of unsalted.  Most cookie recipes call for a little extra salt even when using salted butter.  Seems to me snickerdoodles run on the slightly less salty spectrum of cookies, so I added only a small amount extra; it was adequate.

At a little over 10 minutes, the cookies still looked wet within the cracks and I didn't consider them "set"-- they felt very fragile and dented easily when touched.  At 12 minutes they were pretty much the same.  At just over 13 minutes, the edges felt quite firm-- perhaps too firm-- so I took them out.  Vaughn kept referring to them as custardy; mine most certainly are not -- they should have come out just a bit sooner.  They had a very firm "tooth" and were crunchy on the bottom, but softened over the next two days.

Conclusion:   They really do taste like eggnog!  The flavor is very subtle.  They were very buttery and smelled like shortbread.  I definitely could taste the artificial aftertaste of the imitation rum extract in the dough, and was still detectable in the final cookie, but not as much so.  They were overall quite good.  I initially thought they were too sweet -- I felt it overpowered the delicate eggnog flavor -- but seemed less sweet by the next day.  I would make these at least a day in advance of when I was planning on serving them.

 Recipe:  Eggnog Snickerdoodles via Vaughan Vreeland for New York Times Cooking

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I don't know why these little cakes are called whoopie pies.  Maybe for the same reason cow patt---   Never mind.  Anyway, whatever they're called, I love them.  Perfect little individual cakes for when you want a treat.

I made these for a Halloween party and they were a big hit.  The only real change I made was to substitute a little whole wheat flour in for the white and an adjustment for salted butter.  For 12 cakes, here's what I used:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs room temperature, lightly beaten

1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 1/4 teaspoon salt

1⅔ 1⅓ cups flour

⅓ cup white whole wheat flour

 

Filling

4 ounces cream cheese, chilled

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 cup powdered sugar

A few pinches salt

Heat oven to 350.° Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a standing mixer with whisk attachment, mix together butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs, pumpkin puree, spices, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a spatula, fold in the flour. Using an ice cream-style batter scoop, drop batter by heaping tablespoons, 12 to a sheet and evenly spaced. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. 

 

For the filling, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Add syrup, sugar, salt, and vanilla (see discussion below); mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.

  

I was irritated to find there were some errors in the recipe.  For one, the ingredients called for maple syrup in the filling, but the directions mention vanilla.  So then you have to wonder whether they'd swapped maple syrup in place of vanilla in a standard recipe and forgot to remove it from the directions, or if they'd simply forgotten to include the vanilla in the ingredient list.  It's really up to you whether you want to include it or not; I did not.  

The bigger irritation was that the directions called for using an ice cream scoop with "generous" scoops-- that would give you about four giant cakes.  I initially followed their directions, but of course ran out of batter immediately and then had to start redistributing the batter to get the right number of cakes.  But because the batter contains baking soda, it had started to rise immediately and I deflated some of those air bubbles while I was redistributing the batter.  I don't know what they were thinking. I modified the directions to use the appropriate amount of batter per placement.

Conclusion:  These were delicious!  Very rich and perhaps a bit sweet.  I would be inclined to slightly reduce the sugar in the cake part.  They don't keep too well as the filling soaks into the cake, but that also made them easier to eat-- the cake doesn't squish the filling out with each bite.  And they probably freeze okay. 

Recipe:  Pumpkin Whoopie Pies via PBS Food

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

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

Happy Halloween! Chocolate Red Wine Cake

 This isn't my first foray into the chocolate/booze experience.  The first was this chocolate rum cake-- good, but I didn't rave about it.  I tried these red wine brownies and had a mixed reaction.  I even tried a red wine chocolate cake once before, but was unimpressed.  So why try again?  Because I'm convinced this is a delicious combination-- I just have to find the right mix.  Is it the recipe that makes the difference?  Maybe.  Food & Wine, the source for today's recipe, has a well-deserved reputation.  Review comments on this recipe, however, seem to put great stock in the wine used.  Seems Bordeaux is the prime choice, while Cabernet Sauvignon did not work well.  Not very helpful, since Bordeaux reds are a blend of grapes, one of which is Cabernet Sauvignon.

Not willing to invest a quality wine to what might end up a mediocre bake, I bought a bottle of Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon, otherwise known as 2-buck Chuck (now $3.99 Chuck).  Despite its low cost, Charles Shaw wines regularly receive surprisingly good reviews, probably because it's actually drinkable, while other wines at that price point are better reserved for salad dressing.  That said, the wine in the final result was completely undetectable, even in the ganache.  I didn't point out it was a red wine cake when I served it, and no one asked about any subtle flavoring.  It was, however, an amazing chocolate cake!

I was bringing this cake to a Halloween party, so I baked it in my Wilton skull pan, but kept it simple.  (I've used this pan previously here and here.)  No fancy decorations this time.  The original recipe is for a 12-cup Bundt; I halved the recipe and baked it in just the face half of the skull pan.  It would probably work fine in an 8" x 4" loaf pan, or a single 9" round cake pan.  Here's what I used:

1 cup all-purpose flour 

3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)

5/8 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

7/8 cup sugar

1 large egg 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

5/8 cup dry red wine 

Confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 325°. Butter and flour a 6-cup pan. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, 4 minutes. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes longer. Working in two batches, alternately fold in the dry ingredients and the wine, until just incorporated.

 

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack; let cool completely. Drizzle or streak the ganache around the sides of the plate and just a little in the center (to help hold the cake in place.) Dust the cake with confectioner's sugar, then place on the plate. Serve with whipped mascarpone cream.

 

Ganache:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons red wine

pinch of salt

Heat the chocolate and butter in a double boiler until melted; stir together.  Add the wine and salt and stir until smooth.

 

Topping
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup (118 grams) chilled heavy or whipping cream
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip together until soft peaks form -- don't over whip. 

 

I over baked this cake, and it still turned out great, but I'm frustrated with Wilton-- they included a recipe with the cake pan for a pumpkin cake that requires a long bake time.  I think it must be the moisture in that particular batter requiring that lengthy bake, because I keep over baking the cakes when I use another recipe.  It was nice of Wilton to include the recipe, but guidance for a standard cake recipe would have been more helpful.  I used a thermal cake strip around the pan, which is supposed to help the cake rise more evenly.  I baked it for 65 minutes, and even though it was overdone, it sank in the middle.  The edges were a bit crusty, but the whole thing was delicious.  The pan probably needs only a normal bake time.

 

Conclusion: This was amazing! Semi-sweet, and so good! Rich and moist and chocolatey, made even more so with just a little bit of the ganache -- you don't need a lot.

Recipe:  Chocolate Red Wine Cake via Kristin Donnelly at Food & Wine

December ABC challenge: Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

 

This month's challenge is a favorite holiday dessert.  For many years, this has been one of my trusty go-tos for a holiday gathering.  It's delicious, easy to make, usually foolproof (see explanation below), and the best part is that it's better after a couple days, so it can be made ahead.

2 1-ounce squares semisweet chocolate
2 cups all-purpose flour
2¹/₂ teaspoons ground ginger, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 cup dark (unsulphured) molasses
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour (or use cocoa powder) a 9'' springform pan.   In a small heavy saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate, stirring constantly until smooth.  Remove from heat to cool. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine flour, 1½ teaspoons ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg to blend thoroughly; beat in molasses and buttermilk.  Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour mixture.  Beat in melted chocolate until well blended.  Pour batter into prepared pan; bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to rack to cool completely.   To decorate, in small bowl combine cocoa powder and remaining 1 teaspoon ginger; sprinkle evenly over cooled cake.

Thanks to a boyfriend who didn't know that the heavy aluminum plate the cake I made him was resting on wasn't disposable, I lost the bottom to my 9" springform pan.  No good deed..., as they say.  (Note to readers:  never turn over a cake to others that's still on the springform bottom -- you'll never see it again.)  I should have tried making this in a standard 9" cake pan -- I'm sure it would have worked fine.  But instead I used an 8" springform and it did NOT work well.  I didn't reduce the temperature (I probably should have), but I did bake it about another 15 minutes.  I also probably should have put foil around the top edges once they'd cooked.  I even have cake pan insulators that help a cake bake evenly, but I completely forgot about them.  I was hoping the center would eventually rise as it completed baking, but it actually sunk lower.  (Possibly from all my jabbing with a cake tester to see if it was done yet.)

Conclusion:  As a long-time trusted recipe, I'm disappointed in how it turned out this time.  It was still rich, moist, and delicious, but the flavor seemed a little too intense.  It's possible that was a result of the changed texture from improper baking, or perhaps my tastes have changed.  (Admittedly, it's been a while since I've made it.)  You have to be careful with the cocoa powder on top--if it's at all loose (as it was this time on the smaller cake), it can make people choke.  A light drizzle of dark chocolate ganache might be a good addition.

Recipe:  "Dreamy Chocolate Gingerbread Cake" from a magazine, circa 1980-something

November ABC challenge: Persimmon Muffins

 This month's challenge was color.  I'm not sure I achieved it, but I tried.  Persimmons have a deep orange color that definitely warms up the color of the muffins.  The seed envelopes, which are a brighter orange color and showed up well in the raw batter, however, turned darker during baking, so are not visible.  But don't count out the bits of cranberry!

I love these muffins -- I've made them several times.  As I recall, the first time I made them I misread the quantity of persimmon pulp and used twice as much, but otherwise followed the recipe.  The results were dense and rich and chewy and incredibly delicious.  Since then, I have always included extra pulp (until today), but I've tinkered with the rest of the recipe considerably.  I really have to question the amount of sugar and butter in the original and whether I ever followed that instruction.  It's a lot!  Regardless, this is a great recipe no matter how it's done!  One of my favorites.

The recipe calls for 18 muffins, but I made 12.  My changes are in italics and strike out.  Here's what I used:

1 cup persimmon puree (preferably Hachiya)

1 1¹/₂ teaspoon baking soda

12 4 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature

1¼ 1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons molasses 

2 eggs

1¹/₃ cup all-purpose flour (3/4 cup white, remainder whole wheat)

1/2 3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Zest of one orange or 1/2 teaspoon orange extract

1 cup walnut pieces

3/4 cup currants dried, sweetened cranberries

Heat oven to 325 degrees; grease muffin tins* on the inside as well as the top edge of each cup.  In a small bowl, mix the persimmon puree with the baking soda; set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until mixture is creamy and smooth.  Add eggs and beat well.  Sift together the flours, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.  Add to the butter, along with the persimmon, and beat until well blended.  Beat in the vanilla, almond extract, lemon juice, and zest until combined, then stir in walnuts and cranberries.  Fill each muffin cup and bake 45 minutes, or until a wood pick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. Remove from the muffin pans and let cool on racks.

*These are very delicate so difficult to remove cleanly. Try using paper or silicone muffin cups. 

I had to use vinegar in place of lemon juice, but that wouldn't have affected anything.  And I didn't have orange zest, so I used 1/2 teaspoon orange extract.  I used two defrosted persimmons that have been in my freezer for two years, unwrapped.  They turned into a liquid pool once they defrosted -- shapeless, deflated lumps of pulp in a sweet syrup.  I used only the pulp, but I lost flavor and sweetness by excluding the juice.  I probably should have added it, since it was original to the fruit, but the pulp was already so wet.

The batter is quite light and fluffy and seems like it would rise into stable, tall muffins, but actually they always come out flat-topped and looking a bit melted.  I overfilled the tins, which created a crispy/chewy ring where it overflowed -- delicious!  This time I had some trouble getting them out.  I had to break a piece of the outer ring off so I could get a knife down and pry them out.

Conclusion:  These are indescribably delicious, especially warm out of the oven.  As prepared, they are plenty sweet, and buttery enough to leave your fingers a little oily.  If made per the original recipe, I think they should probably be served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream!

Original recipe:  "Persimmon Muffins" via The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham

Spiced Butter Cookies: fall leaves

 It's good to have a dependable, delicious butter cookie.  Slightly spicier and a little sweeter than this version, these are lightly spiced and perfect for this time of year.

1¹/₄ cups sugar

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 egg 

3 tablespoons dark corn syrup or molasses 

1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour

1¹/₂ teaspoons baking soda 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine sugar and butter in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy (1 to 2 minutes). Add egg, molasses, and vanilla; continue beating until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Reduce speed to low; add all remaining ingredient. Beat until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Divide dough into thirds, flatten into discs ½-inch thick and refrigerate until firm (1 to 2 hours) or up to three days.

Heat oven to 375F. Allow dough to soften slightly, then roll out on lightly floured surface to ⅛-inch thick. Cut with a 3 to 4-inch cookie cutter. Place one inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until set. Let stand one minute, then remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

 

In order to get the 6 dozen this recipe can yield,  you really do have to roll the dough quite thinly as directed and use the correct size cutter.  Rolled as directed, it makes very thin cookies.  The issue with that is that it's so easy to overbake them.  This cookie has a very delicate buttery flavor with light spices; they are still delicious when browned, but taste more like graham crackers.  They lose much of the delicate flavoring because the toastiness overwhelms it.  I'd be inclined to roll them slightly thicker (mindful of the fact that they're more likely to lose fine definition) so there's less chance of overbaking.  I checked the larger leaves at 5 minutes and they didn't seem as firm as I wanted.  I left them about another minute or so, and they were slightly overdone.  The small ones were still soft at 3 minutes but just about perfect at 4+.  (They might have benefited from using an airbake pan to reduce crisping.)

Conclusion:  Buttery, sweet, with delicate spices.  This is a great basic recipe and makes nice cutout cookies. 

Recipe:  "Twinkling Ginger Stars" via Land O Lakes butter

March ABC challenge: Ukrainian Snowcap Cookies

 

This month's challenge is Ukrainian desserts.  To be honest, I'm not sure this is Ukrainian -- or if it is, I think it's been Americanized.  Whatever, it was yummy!  I thought these were cookies with a meringue "frosting", but they're more like macaroons with a cookie base.  At least that's how mine turned out.  

The recipe called for a "small" cookie cutter.  I used a 1.25" fluted cutter.  That worked fine, but in hindsight I think a 1.75" cutter would be a better size (although it might alter the bake time.)  I think I also rolled them slightly less than 1/4".

To get 4½ dozen small cookies, here's what I used:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (not necessary but recommended)
1/2 cup salted butter
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon cream

Topping
3 egg whites
1¼ cups confectioners' sugar
1½ cups chopped walnuts
1 cup flaked coconut (see note)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and beat in egg yolks one at a time. Stir in cream, and then mix in the dry ingredients to form a light dough. If necessary, cover dough and chill for 30 minutes for easier handling. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness and cut into small circles. Place the circles about an inch apart onto baking sheets. 

In a clean glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add confectioners' sugar while continuing to whip to stiff peaks. Fold in walnuts and coconut. Mound a generous spoonful of the meringue mixture onto the top of each cookie. (Any excess meringue can be baked off without the cookie base.) Bake for 12 minutes, or until delicately browned. Remove to a rack to cool.

Note
For mildly sweet cookies, use unsweetened coconut.

These were really tasty! It was hard to stop eating at a reasonable number. The recipe was pretty easy too, except for one hiccough: I can't make meringue. The whites whip up fine at first, but once I start adding sugar they collapse and I end up with a sticky, runny "sauce". (I think the whites aren't stiff enough when I start adding sugar.) This time was no different, but I persevered. It turned out there was enough nuts and coconut to stick everything together pretty solidly, so it worked out.

The cookie base has perhaps a bit too much butter. (They were very rich!) The recipe called for greased baking sheets, which at first I ignored because I knew this sort of cookie didn't require it. But I changed my mind because I was afraid the meringue might contact the pan and stick. As it was, there was so much oil oozing from the cookies that they slid around independently like pucks on an air hockey table!

These were fairly mild flavored, which was fine, although I think a little vanilla in the cookie base would be nice. I had been concerned that the cookies would burn on the bottom because of the high butter content, but they were fine. In fact, they might have been a wee bit too pale, especially in the middles. I recommend pressing the cookies down gently on the sheet to ensure there's good surface contact, which should promote browning.

Conclusion:  I really liked these, perhaps a little too much. Easy enough to make that I'll probably do them again. They went on my "favorites" list!

Recipe:  Ukrainian Snow Cap Cookies via RedCipes