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

Chocolate-Almond Spice Cookies (gluten free)

 

I was headed to a holiday cookie party and needed something gluten free.  This recipe is a riff on the Swiss cookie Basler brunsli.  The recipe halved easily, which produced 12 fairly large cookie balls.  Aside from that, the only way I deviated from the recipe as written was nearly doubling the spices (because I could barely taste them in the dry mix even before adding chocolate), using a mix of unsweetened chocolate and semi-sweet (almost 50/50, because it's what I had), and baking them on a greased, rimmed baking sheet rather than parchment on a flat cookie sheet.  I'll also mention that everything was at room temperature.

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
54 grams (¼ cup) plus 285 grams (1⅓ cups) white sugar
250 grams (2½ cups) blanched almond flour
21 grams (¼ cup) cocoa powder
½ teaspoon table salt
4 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a 12-inch skillet over medium, combine the almond flour and remaining spice mixture. Cook, stirring frequently and breaking up any lumps, until fragrant and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool until barely warm to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Heat the oven to 375°F with racks in the upper- and lower-middle positions. Line 2 baking sheets with kitchen parchment.

In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. Measure ¼ teaspoon of the spice mixture into another small bowl, stir in the 54 grams (¼ cup) sugar and set aside.

Once the almond flour mixture is cool, whisk in the remaining 285 grams (1⅓ cups) sugar, the cocoa and salt. Use a spatula to stir in the egg whites and vanilla until evenly moistened. Stir in the chocolate. The dough will be sticky.  Using two soup spoons, drop a few 2-tablespoon portions of dough into the spiced sugar, then gently roll to coat evenly. Arrange the sugar-coated balls on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Repeat with the remaining dough.  Bake until the cookies have cracks in their surfaces and a toothpick inserted into a cookies at the center of the baking sheets comes out with few crumbs attached, 12 to 15 minutes, switching and rotating the sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

I had some questionable moments making these.  The first was knowing when the almond flour was toasted sufficiently, but I think I got it right through several tastings, the aroma, and change in color.  Then when I was measuring the cocoa powder, I first filled the volume measuring cup, but added it to the bowl while checking the weight.  I barely added half the volume before I'd met the weight quantity!  I suppose it stands to reason that different cocoa powders might have different weights per gram.  I used the weight quantity (as well as the weight quantity for the almond flour.)  Then I made the mistake of leaving my bowl of chocolate sitting on top of the oven while it preheated; when I went to add it to the dough, I found it warm and the bottom had melted.  I went ahead and mixed it in anyway, thinking it was just a small quantity, but I think the chocolate was warm enough that it dissolved into the batter.  I don't detect very many pieces (although I did chop it pretty small.)  

When scooping the dough, I wasn't sure how big to make the cookies.  "Soup spoons" can vary greatly in size, and of course there's the heaping factor.  How much to heap?  Since I was making only 12, I could quickly see that I wasn't making them nearly large enough; they should be about 1 1/2" in diameter.  I ended up jamming more dough onto the bottoms of some of the balls to end up with an even 12 that were more or less the same size.  I also nudged them a bit after sugaring to make them a little less bumpy, but I wish I'd picked them up and rolled them (gently!) between my palms to fully round them.  They didn't really change shape at all as they baked, so they ended up looking more like lumps of coal.  (Were they supposed to flatten somewhat?  It looks like it in their photos, but mine didn't.  That affects the baking time.)  The fact that you're supposed to test them with a toothpick indicates these should have some depth to them.  When I tested mine, they came out still wet inside.  I ended up adding about 5 -- 6 more minutes to the baking time before I felt safe taking them out.  (You definitely don't want to over bake these or you won't get that chewy interior.)

Because these are coated in sugar, you want to let them cool on the pan long enough to firm up a bit, but not so long that the sugar starts to harden or you won't be able to get them up.  Five minutes was a bit too long in my case.  They came up okay, but just barely.  They probably could have done with a minute less in the oven, as the bottoms were quite brown and overly chewy.  I debated about using an air-bake pan, which I use with cookies I think might burn easily (because my oven heats from the bottom), but since there was no butter I thought it would be okay just using a heavy aluminum pan and placing them on the next rung above the middle.  (Things tend to bake more slowly on an air-bake, so I use those pans with caution.)

These were a little sweet for their uncomplicated flavor.  The spices were very subtle, and the sugar crust on the outside added to the sweet impression.  They could have used more salt-- I would double it even, or at least sprinkle it on top.  Otherwise, they tasted a lot like a brownie, with a similar texture on the interior.  A little orange, tahini, chili and/or coffee would pump up the flavor as well-- pretty much any flavor that goes with chocolate-- however these additions take them further away from their inspiration to the point of being almost an entirely different cookie.

Conclusion:  I wouldn't be inclined to make these again unless I used a different flavor.  (I'm really leaning towards the coffee.)  They're so similar to a brownie, but not as good, and more work.  With more spices and more salt (and more finesse), they would be a nice chocolate addition to a cookie plate (or if you need a gluten-free option), but they're nothing to get excited about on their own.  

Recipe:   Chocolate-Almond Spice Cookies via Milk Street

Chocolate Molasses Bat Cookies

 

I've been wanting to make these bat cookies for a while-- they're cute and sounded really tasty, although I had to make a few modifications to accommodate my ingredients.  I didn't want to buy the specialty dark cocoa, so I just used regular, forgetting that you have to watch your leavening agent if you switch around your cocoa powder.  (However, natural cocoa is more chocolaty, so that also affected the flavor a bit.)  I used salted butter and reduced the added salt.  Then I decorated the bats using sanding sugar because it's more sparkly than regular granulated.  I also modified the directions slightly (I didn't note my changes).  Using a 5-inch cutter, I baked the cookies 10 minutes, rotating halfway through, but my oven did not maintain a consistent temperature.  (With the first batch, it was 300 at the 5-minute mark and 350 when I removed them.  Presumably it averaged out.)  Baking 10 cookies at a time, I chilled the sheet outside in the cool night air between batches.  As my dough circles got smaller, I switched to a 4-inch cutter and baked those for 8 minutes.

For 22 large cookies and 9 medium cookies, here's what I used:

2½ cups flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate powder cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
Silver edible sugar pearls
granulated sanding sugar

In a large bowl whisk together first 7 ingredients until well combined; set aside. Cream together sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl. Add egg and beat until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add molasses, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined, about 1 minute. Divide dough in half. Place each between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll to a 3/8-inch-thick disk. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Dust countertop with cocoa powder. Transfer dough to countertop and cut cookies with a 6-inch bat-shaped cutter or desired size (adjust baking time accordingly). Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake about 12 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are firm around the edges. Using tweezers and working quickly, press 2 sugar pearls into each cookie for eyes. (As the cookies start to cool and dry, the surface will crack when you press the pearls in if you take too long.)  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Use a new paintbrush to lightly coat the tops of the bat wings with water. Sprinkle with sugar and allow to set.

My dough was very soft, more like batter-- I had to let it chill for a bit outside before I could even divide it.  (It might have been because my butter got too soft and my kitchen was warm.)  Since I was making smaller cookies, I rolled the dough thinner as well.  Being a heavy butter cookie, I knew the dough would spread.  I question the use of baking soda-- it started to react before I'd even gotten the dough rolled out, creating little air holes and making the dough fluffy.  That might have been because I used natural cocoa powder instead of dark cocoa powder, which is less acidic and wouldn't have reacted as much.

It's not necessary to cover your surface with cocoa powder before laying your dough out-- you can use plain flour.  It will soak in during baking and disappear.  Dipping the cutter in flour might leave a small amount of residue around the edge of the cookie, but it's easily wiped away.

It's a little tricky getting the sugar pearls placed-- it's a little like that children's toy with the box you have to tilt from side to side to try to get the little balls into their holes.  I'd place them with the tweezers then try to press them in with my finger, but too often the pearl stuck to my finger just long enough to be pulled loose and then I was chasing it around the pan.  Pressing too hard with my finger would smoosh the cookie.  Once in place, you have to tap the pearl down so it's flush with the cookie surface, otherwise it just falls out.  In the last batch, I tried a few pearls in the raw cutouts to see if that would work, as they were much easier to place. It worked beautifully.  In fact, even better, because it pushed the pearls forward so they were slightly above the cookie surface but still secure.

You also have to think about the logistics of making these.  They're definitely not a cookie to be made on a hot day-- the dough was so soft, and remained firm only a few minutes outside of the refrigerator.  (Probably why we're directed to make them thick.)  To keep the dough firm and usable, you have to refrigerate it completely flat-- for me, that's a challenge.  I divided my dough into thirds and, using a narrow, 5-inch cutter, got 5 cookies initially from each portion.  In the time it took me to cut out those 5 cookies and press the remnants together, the dough around the edges had already softened back to a batter state.  (Another reason to divide it into smaller portions.)  Just some things to think about before getting started.

Conclusion:  I had assumed these would be rich and chocolaty.  It wasn't until I was actually making them that I realized how very much molasses they contained.  It's the dominant flavor; I'm definitely not picking up the spices.  (I didn't really expect to with those small amounts.)  The cocoa (especially if using dark) just adds a bit of roastiness to the flavor.  Even though there's no ginger in this recipe, the spices that are there and the molasses made my brain taste gingerbread.  I was expecting a chocolaty cookie and instead it registered more as gingerbread, which isn't a flavor associated with this time of year.  An excellent dunking cookie for coffee, these were surprisingly crisp even when soft baked; careful timing would allow you to adjust the crispness to your liking (although they'd never be a soft cookie.  It's all that butter!)  If you could manage to cut out the pieces quickly and keep it cold, this dough would be great for a haunted house, as it's very firm.  If I made these again, it would be in a different shape for a different occasion.

Recipe:  Spiced Chocolate Bat Cookies via Country Living

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

Spiced Rye Ginger Cookies

I'm not sure why I keep trying different ginger cookies-- it's not like I'm a huge fan of ginger, or even spice desserts for that matter.  I think I'm looking for a hearty breakfast cookie-- something not too sweet, that I can sink my teeth into, dip into my coffee, and not feel guilty about.  (This Breakfast Cookie didn't work out so well.)  To me, the basis for that is in whole grains for nutrition and character, and spices for flavor.  (My imaginary recipe would also keep well for days, long enough for me to work my way through them.)  So I was intrigued by the use of rye flour here.  I thought it would give the cookies some substance.  I'm sure it did, but I don't know if you'd be able to identify the rye without being told it was there, even though I used dark rye rather than medium.  The only other change I made was to roll them in Sucanat, which is unrefined, natural cane sugar.  It has a dry, dark brown grain with a soft crunch rather than hard crystals.  It's producing the grainy texture you see in the photo.

Here is the original recipe:

    2 cups (212g) medium rye flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon table salt
    2 teaspoons ginger
    3/4 teaspoon black pepper
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon cardamom
    3/4 cup (149g) granulated sugar
    1/2 cup (99g) vegetable oil
    1 large egg
    1/4 cup (85g) molasses
    1/3 cup (76g) coarse sparkling sugar or 1/3 cup (66g) granulated sugar
    chopped crystalized ginger for topping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, using either a hand whisk, an electric mixer, or a stand mixer, whisk the sugar and oil until combined. Add the egg and whisk until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir until well combined. Use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to portion 1 1/4" balls of dough. Roll the dough balls in granulated or sparkling sugar to coat before placing onto the prepared baking sheets. Leave 2" between them on all sides; they'll spread as they bake. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, until they're puffed and their edges are set. Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool completely right on the pan.

A keen eye will detect that I had a little trouble with these.  It looks like my oven might have been a bit too hot, causing them to rise and firm rather than melt into flat puddles like the King Arthur examples, with "bendy centers" as they called them.  The bigger issue was that I didn't know what they meant by the edges being "set".  When I first tested them, the edges were no longer shiny, but still quite soft.  By the time they were what I consider "set" (slightly resistant to a poke), they were overdone, and even slightly burnt on the bottom.  (I didn't bake them that much longer!)  I probably should have taken them out about 30 seconds after my first test.  Oh well.  That's how the cookie crumbles.

Conclusion:  These tasted a lot like ginger snaps, but with a mild burnt sugar flavor because of being over baked, which wasn't necessarily unpleasant. They were quite hard and crunchy, which is not how they were supposed to turn out. I enjoyed them well enough dipped in hot coffee, but they weren't anything special 

Recipe:  Spiced Rye Ginger Cookies via King Arthur Baking

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

Spiced Butter Cookies: snowflakes

 
This is the same recipe I used last November for these fall leaves.  

In fact, it's the same batch -- I saved out two thirds of the dough and froze it so that I had it to use for Christmas cookies.  That quantity of dough yielded about 3 dozen cookies.  (I actually baked only 29 cookies, but after all was said and done,  I realized I still had about 3/4 cup of dough in the refrigerator.)  The recipe is supposed to make 6 dozen, but I didn't roll either batch quite thinly enough for that.

I used a 3-inch cookie cutter and sprinkled the cookies with sparkling sugar before baking.  Based on my experience with the leaves, I watched the bake time carefully and didn't let them get too firm.  I also did not use an insulated baking pan.  They came out perfectly.

Although I still think they taste a lot like graham crackers.

Fruit and Spice Bread

There are a lot of similar spiced fruit bread recipes that come out this time of year.  This was a new one for me to try.

To make a smaller, individual loaf, I halved the original recipe, which would have been shaped into a ring after being twisted, and adjusted the baking times.  Here's what I used:

1/2 cup warm water
2¹/₄ teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar 

1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 + 1/8 teaspoon aniseed, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1³/₄ cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup old-fashioned oats 

1/2 cup mixed diced dried fruit (I used apricots, tart cherries, and golden raisins)

 

Proof yeast in 1/4 cup water with the sugar. In mixing bowl, add yeast mixture, remaining 1/4 cup water, buttermilk, honey, cinnamon, salt, aniseed, and allspice; stir to combine. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and oats and beat 3 minutes. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup all-purpose flour. Continue beating until dough cleans sides of bowl. Turn out dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding up to 1/4 cup all-purpose flour if very sticky, about 10 minutes. Place dough in oiled bowl and turn to coat. Allow to rise at room temperature until tripled in volume, about 6 hours. 

 

Punch down dough and turn out onto work surface. Add dried fruit and knead until thoroughly combined. Divide dough in half; roll each half into a 15-inch-long rope. Place ropes side by side and twist together loosely to form one even loaf. Place on cookie sheet and cover with kitchen towel; let rise in warm area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 45 minutes. 

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Transfer bread to oven, then immediately reduce temperature to 350F and bake 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325F and continue baking until bread sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 15 minutes. Transfer bread to rack and cool.  

 

The directions to allow the dough to rise for 6 hours until tripled in volume were a surprise.  It's not an enriched dough--there is no egg or butter, and not an unusually large amount of sugar (honey)--so the directions are not typical for what is a fairly standard dough recipe.  I had scheduling issues with preparing this bread, so I decided to take advantage of the long rise time and start it in the refrigerator around 2:00 in the afternoon.  I didn't remove it until the following morning, and it was barely doubled.  I left it on the counter, but it continued to rise very slowly, perhaps because the room was quite cool.  Finally, losing patience, I took it out to the warm car and left it there until I couldn't wait any longer.  It still wasn't tripled, but I was concerned about letting it go any longer.  By now, it had been 24 hours.  I punched it down, kneaded in the fruit, shaped it, and left it to rise; this time it took far less time to nearly double, but I didn't get any oven spring. (I should also mention I used fast-acting yeast, which throws another curve ball into the process.) 

Since it lacked any sort of decoration, I gave it a butter rub after it had cooled to give a little shine.

Conclusion:  The bread was dense and chewy, similar to a bagel--I'm not sure if that is the intended texture or if it didn't rise properly.  It wasn't especially spicy; the most noticeable flavor was anise, which I didn't especially care for.  I normally like anise, but this came across a little medicinal.  (Maybe I need to buy new anise seed.  It tastes more herbal than candy-like.)  It wasn't particularly "festive" tasting, but was a nice variation on raisin bread.  It might also benefit from some walnuts.

Recipe:  "Fruit and Spice Bread" via Bon Appétit, September 1992

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

Streusal Coffee Cake I

 

I'm looking for my mom's recipe for coffee cake that I grew up with.  This was the first attempt.

1¼ cup flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup shortening salted butter
1/4 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Combine flower, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly; set aside 1/4 cup crumb mixture. To remaining crumb mixture, add baking powder, soda, and spices; Mixed well. Add buttermilk or sour milk and egg; Mix well. Pour into a greased, 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Combine reserved crumbs with nuts; Sprinkle atop cake. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.

I reduced the salt because I used salted butter.  I also threw additional nuts on top, probably at least another 2 tablespoons.  I didn't even notice that the recipe called for a round pan; I used a square one.

This was so close, but not quite.  The cake was brown from the sugar, but my mom's cake was light.  Did she use white sugar instead?  I doubt it -- she rarely deviated from recipes.  It seemed like hers was thicker, and I think there was more topping.

Conclusion:  Pretty basic.  A little sweet -- I'd like the topping to be sweeter than the cake; these were about equal.  I would cut the cake sugar by half and increase the amount of topping.  It could probably withstand some whole wheat flour, too.

Recipe:  Spicy Buttermilk Coffee Cake via Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, ninth edition (1985)

Spicy Gingerbread Trees

 In my hunt for the perfect gingerbread cookies, I'm trying this Saveur recipe.  The base of this is very similar to the winning gingerbread cookie by Erin Campbell in the Food Network Holiday Baking Championship Season 1, but much more highly spiced.  In fact, this has more spices in it than any other recipe I've looked at.  I was a little concerned, but I like spicy gingerbread, and these are mostly for me.

The recipe is quite fussy in that the dough needs to be chilled once (it was very soft), then you roll it out and chill it again, then you cut it and chill it again... and lots of sheets of parchment paper. I get annoyed by these recipes that require you to chill a whole baking sheet.  I don't have that kind of room in my refrigerator or freezer!  It's always a hassle. So if you want the exact directions, please refer to their recipe page. And ironically, although the description states that "the additional protein in the bread flour helps to retain gingerbread’s sharply cut shapes," the photo on the recipe page shows cookies with typically rounded edges.  (There's also supposed to be a photo of mini gingerbread houses, but I'm getting a video for some savory casserole in its place.  Way to go Saveur.)

I made slight modifications in the recipe, shown in italics and strikeout.  Here's what I used:

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup unsulphured molasses*
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon whole milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups bread flour (11-13% protein)
1¹/₂ cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon anise seed, 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. Divide the dough into two equal halves and, on a lightly floured sheet of waxed paper, press each half into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Wrap each 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 for about 5 minutes, until quite firm, then move to a wire rack.

*Saveur used regular molasses in their modified version of the original recipe.  This would make their cookies sweeter.

                        

I was undecided whether or not to add the cardamom (because I think it gets lost in spice mixes), but in the end I did.  I wasn't sure whether I liked the addition of anise seed, but eventually I forgot it was there.  I sifted my flour before I measured, which I think had me using less flour than the recipe should have had because my dough was so soft.  I refrigerated it for two days, but my dough was so soft right out of the refrigerator I didn't need to let it sit on the counter as directed in the original recipe.  Throughout rolling and cutting, I chilled the dough as needed; sometimes I needed to chill between actions and sometimes not. 

I rolled the first batch to 1/4" thick, or perhaps a little thicker, and baked them on an air-bake pan for 8 minutes -- they were underbaked.  The trees deflated, leaving the surface crinkly, and the larger house pieces were still raw in the middle.  They also cracked on the edges when I tried to recut them after baking.  The rest of the cookies were baked on a standard cookie sheet, which worked much better.  The thicker ones I baked for 9 minutes and they turned out well, but after that I rolled them thinner. 

      

Conclusion:  True to the originator's word, these cookies stayed soft!  Amazing, since there was only butter, no shortening.  Not too sweet, and nicely spiced.  I found a few of these forgotten in the cupboard months later and they were still just as tasty.  I craved them after that.   These might have to become a personal winter staple.

Recipe:  "Spiced Gingerbread Cookies" from The Cookie Book by Rebecca Firth
Another tempting recipe of hers to try is Spiced Chewy Molasses Cookies!

December ABC challenge: Dirty Chai Earthquake Cookies

The challenge theme this month is spices.  I wasn't necessarily looking for a spice cookie, but I happened upon this recipe, which had rave reviews.  Terrible name, but it seems "dirty chai" is a particular type of drink in which a shot of espresso is poured into a cup of spiced chai.  (Why not just make spiced coffee???)  And the "earthquake" part is from the cracks in the sugar coating.

It's a small recipe, so I made the whole thing, which is supposed to make only 2 dozen cookies.  The only change I made was an adjustment of salt, using salted butter, which I countered by reducing the salt in the ingredient list but ultimately resulted in a higher salt content than the original recipe, and I substituted out malted milk powder.  Here's what I used:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 tablespoon finely ground coffee (not instant)
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted then measured (255 grams)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 1/4 teaspoon kosher fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
2 large eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
2 tablespoons malted milk powder, such as Carnation brand malt syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling

Brown the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, swirling and stirring occasionally, until nutty brown, 5 to 6 minutes.  Pour over the espresso/coffee in a small metal bowl and stir to combine.  Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, salt, and pepper; set aside.  With an electric mixer, combine eggs, and light brown sugar in a medium bowl and beat on medium speed until well combined and slightly paler, about 3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.  Add the vanilla and malt syrup to the butter mixture, stirring to combine, then add that to the egg mixture and mix on low speed until combined.  Add the flour mixture, then mix again on low until combined.  Transfer dough to a resealable glass or plastic container and chill thoroughly, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar into two separate bowls.  Portion dough into heaping tablespoons (about 25 grams each); roll into smooth balls and drop a few at a time into the bowl of granulated sugar, rolling to coat.  Transfer to the bowl with the confectioners’ sugar and roll gently, coating well and place in freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.  Place on a greased baking sheet, flattening slightly (if you want a less domed cookie) and bake until cookies are still quite tender (they will firm up as they cool), 12 to 14 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheets and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

The dough sat tightly covered in my refrigerator for 3 days before I baked off half of it; that resting time should have really improved the flavor and enhanced the spices, but it didn't seem to.  I did find the cookies dry; they might be less so if I used an air-insulated pan.

My scale wasn't working, so I couldn't measure out 25g of dough.  I was further confused by the instructions to use a "small" cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon.  I have a SMALL cookie scoop that's about a teaspoon, and another that's about a tablespoon -- obviously I don't call the larger one the "small" one.  I used the tablespoon-sized scoop and heaped the dough in to round it out so it made something resembling a sphere and didn't bother to roll it any better than that-- they came out about 1.25" in diameter (and went straight into the sugar.)  Perhaps they were a little too small, because they were quite firm at 12 minutes.  (I can't believe some people baked them for 15 minutes and more... then complained they were dry.)

Some people had trouble with the crusts not "cracking", and one piece of advice was to coat them heavily with the powdered sugar.  I think that probably just makes the cracking more prominent for appearance, but likely doesn't affect the tendency to crack or not crack.  And the last thing these needed was more sugar.  However, I followed that advice, unfortunately, as it was too much sugar in the first batch.  I used a lighter touch with the next batch and also experimented with other coatings:  coarse sugar, nonpareils, and none.

Obviously, nothing gave the intended effect other than the heavy powdered sugar coating.  The light sugar coating looked sad.  The coarse sugar looked okay -- the nonpareils not so much, and the plain were downright unappetizing.

Conclusion:  I'm not a fan of sugar-coated cookies, but I thought the dough was going to be less sweet with these so it would be okay.  It was not.  My initial impression was that, if I focused, I noticed the spice flavors, but if I didn't it just tasted sugary.  I didn't detect browned butter at all.  After I'd swallowed the last bite, I detected heat, probably from the pepper, and then coffee (perhaps from a stray ground), both mild. No other spice stood out, they all melded together in a pleasant warmth; it just wasn't enough to counter the sugar.  In the end, I decided this tasted a lot like a cinnamon cake doughnut and so tried it dunked in coffee.... Delightful!  But only as originally prepared, with the crisp, sugary crust.  Any other preparation or technique fell short.

Recipe:  Dirty Chai Earthquake Cookies via NYTimes Cooking