Christmas Cookies
I was at Skye's this weekend for a cookie making event, and two of my cookie recipes garnered requests:
our Molasses Cookies, and my Mom's Christmas Cookies (aka Butter Cookies).
Molasses Cookies
My sweetie bitmonger loves molasses cookies. I didn't so much grow up with them, so I didn't have a particular favorite when we started making them. We tried a couple and ended up combining two particularly good ones. We liked the texture of Silver Palate's molasses cookies, but Christopher Kimball's Dessert Bible Molasses Cookie had a nicer flavor. So we adjusted the spice ratio based on Kimball's recipe, and we ended up with this:
12 T. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. molasses (we like the brand Grandma's best)
1 egg
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Oven at 350F.
Melt butter.
Mix with sugar and molasses. Thoroughly.
Lightly beat egg, and add to butter mixture.
Sift (or whisk) remaining ingrediants.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture.
Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough on cookie sheets.
Leave some space between as they will spread when baking.
Bake 10 minutes, and then start checking at 2-3 min intervals until done. (The lifecycle of the baking molasses cookie is like so: spread, puff up, flatten out, harden. I like to remove them when they've flattened out.)
Let them cool for a few minutes to set before attempting to move them. A good way to do this is to bake them on a silpat or parchment paper, and then move the whole liner off the cookie sheet onto someplace appropriate to cool. But you can also leave them on the cookie sheet to cool too, but then you're out a cookie sheet. Also, they'll cool slower. If you try to move them (with a spatula or your fingers) too early they won't be structurally sound, and they'll fall apart, so be patient. These keep really well.
Mom's Christmas Cookies
These are butter cookies, not sugar cookies. Although they look similar, they are (as you would expect from the name) more like shortbread in flavor: buttery and a little less sweet than a sugar cookie. These are cut-out cookies, and you'll have to roll them out, and cut them into shapes with cookie cutters. We like to sprinkle them with red and green dyed sugar too.
I call them Mom's Christmas Cookies, 'cause (duh) I got the recipe from my Mom, who undoubtedly got it from _her_ Mom, and also 'cause we always called them Christmas Cookies, so it feels odd to call them Butter Cookies. Odd like calling my aunt "Connie" instead of "Aunt Connie". Not impossible. Just linguistically odd.
1 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Oven at 400F.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add egg yolks and vanilla.
Beat thoroughly.
Sift (or whisk) remaining ingrediants together.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture.
Mix, blend well.
Chill for a couple of hours, wrapped in wax paper or plastic wrap. (Grandma's notes imply 30 min is enough. Mom says otherwise. If I had to guess, I'd give it minimum an hour, but I haven't really experimented. You want it pretty hard.)
Roll out (half the dough) using more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface and rolling pin, working quickly.
Cut out into shapes and decorate.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet (with silpat or parchment paper, for the love of humanity). Grandma's notes say 7-10 min, but we found 6.5 was about right the other day.
Put dough scraps back into plastic wrap and re-chill.
Repeat rolling chilled dough, cutting, decorating, and baking until... you're done with the process.
our Molasses Cookies, and my Mom's Christmas Cookies (aka Butter Cookies).
Molasses Cookies
My sweetie bitmonger loves molasses cookies. I didn't so much grow up with them, so I didn't have a particular favorite when we started making them. We tried a couple and ended up combining two particularly good ones. We liked the texture of Silver Palate's molasses cookies, but Christopher Kimball's Dessert Bible Molasses Cookie had a nicer flavor. So we adjusted the spice ratio based on Kimball's recipe, and we ended up with this:
12 T. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. molasses (we like the brand Grandma's best)
1 egg
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Oven at 350F.
Melt butter.
Mix with sugar and molasses. Thoroughly.
Lightly beat egg, and add to butter mixture.
Sift (or whisk) remaining ingrediants.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture.
Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough on cookie sheets.
Leave some space between as they will spread when baking.
Bake 10 minutes, and then start checking at 2-3 min intervals until done. (The lifecycle of the baking molasses cookie is like so: spread, puff up, flatten out, harden. I like to remove them when they've flattened out.)
Let them cool for a few minutes to set before attempting to move them. A good way to do this is to bake them on a silpat or parchment paper, and then move the whole liner off the cookie sheet onto someplace appropriate to cool. But you can also leave them on the cookie sheet to cool too, but then you're out a cookie sheet. Also, they'll cool slower. If you try to move them (with a spatula or your fingers) too early they won't be structurally sound, and they'll fall apart, so be patient. These keep really well.
Mom's Christmas Cookies
These are butter cookies, not sugar cookies. Although they look similar, they are (as you would expect from the name) more like shortbread in flavor: buttery and a little less sweet than a sugar cookie. These are cut-out cookies, and you'll have to roll them out, and cut them into shapes with cookie cutters. We like to sprinkle them with red and green dyed sugar too.
I call them Mom's Christmas Cookies, 'cause (duh) I got the recipe from my Mom, who undoubtedly got it from _her_ Mom, and also 'cause we always called them Christmas Cookies, so it feels odd to call them Butter Cookies. Odd like calling my aunt "Connie" instead of "Aunt Connie". Not impossible. Just linguistically odd.
1 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Oven at 400F.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add egg yolks and vanilla.
Beat thoroughly.
Sift (or whisk) remaining ingrediants together.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture.
Mix, blend well.
Chill for a couple of hours, wrapped in wax paper or plastic wrap. (Grandma's notes imply 30 min is enough. Mom says otherwise. If I had to guess, I'd give it minimum an hour, but I haven't really experimented. You want it pretty hard.)
Roll out (half the dough) using more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface and rolling pin, working quickly.
Cut out into shapes and decorate.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet (with silpat or parchment paper, for the love of humanity). Grandma's notes say 7-10 min, but we found 6.5 was about right the other day.
Put dough scraps back into plastic wrap and re-chill.
Repeat rolling chilled dough, cutting, decorating, and baking until... you're done with the process.