Gingerbread Cookies

gingerbread cookies

 

 

 

 

 

Gingerbread has a long history among religious men and women in Europe, but when the Brothers Grimm published Hansel and Gretel, spicy treat catapulted into mainstream German culture and folks began to decorate gingerbread houses like the one in the story. When German immigrants came to America, they brought this tradition, along with many other Christmas standards we now think of as American, right along with them.

This was the first time I’d ever made gingerbread cut-outs, and next year I hope to make a house with this recipe. It is sturdy enough to hold up, I think…but only time and royal icing will tell!

Ingredients

For the cookies

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1/3 cup sugar

For the glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons hot (just below boiling) water

Preparation

In a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, salt, and pepper; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, and molasses until fluffy, about three minutes.

Add flour in two batches, beating until well-combined.

Divide dough in half and flatten into discs (dough will be very sticky); refrigerate about one hour, until easy to handle.

Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes.

Bake for about 12 minutes; you do not want the gingerbread to burn, so keep an eye on it.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

If glazing:

Combine 1 cup powdered sugar and one tablespoon very hot water; gradually add more water, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until icing can be piped through a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip.

Pipe as desired, or thin out icing further and drizzle.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

pb blossoms

 

 

 

 

 

My mom, Genny, made these cookies every Christmas when I was growing up. Her recipe involved a box of yellow cake mix, and I suspect that’s because she was a busy lady with a full-time job, two children, a million things to do at Christmas, and very little time for completely scratch-made treats.

Charlie Brown asked the immortal question “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is really all about?” and the ever-earnest Linus Van Pelt (who I suspect became a minister when he grew up) gave him a thoughtful answer in this clip. I think we’d all do well to remember, in this time of door-busters and inflatable snowmen and pop stars crooning about chestnuts and drummer boys and reindeer, what Christmas is really all about. So enjoy your friends and family. Bake some cookies (these ones, maybe?). Buy creative gifts from local merchants. Hang out in your pajamas. And take some time to reflect on what Christmas is really all about, and what it really means to you.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar, for rolling
  • 36 Hershey’s Kisses

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line several baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.

Unwrap 36 Kisses and set aside in a cool place, away from the heat of the oven so they don’t start to melt.

In a small bowl, measure out 1/4 cup sugar for rolling; set aside.

In another small bowl, measure out 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening and peanut butter until smooth.

Add sugar mix and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until combined.

Add flour and beat until well-combined.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into balls; roll balls in sugar and place two inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-11 minutes; remove from oven and immediately press one Kiss in the center of each, then transfer the entire baking sheet to a wire rack away from the oven to cool for about 5 minutes.

Remove cookies and cool completely on a wire rack.

 

 

 

Peppermint Snowballs

peppermint snowballs

 

 

 

 

 

Peppermint is a wonderful flavor often associated with winter, and these cookies, found in a delightful Christmas cookie magazine, have been on my list to bake for the past several weeks. Sometimes, you can tweak a recipe and make it better; other times, what you add or omit affects the finished product in what I wouldn’t necessarily call a bad way, but in an unexpected, less than desirable way.

Hoping for intense peppermint flavor, I added more crushed peppermint candies than recommended. At the time, I didn’t think about how they increased quantity of candy (essentially, melting sugar, which turns to liquid) would affect the dough, and it certainly did. Rather than turning out button-like as Russian Tea Cakes do, these were flat, and took longer to bake. The cookies still taste good, but next time, I’ll stick closer to the recipe and incorporate 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, then decrease the vanilla to 1/2 teaspoon as well.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies (20 candies)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups flower
  • 1 cup powdered sugar, for rolling

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add the 2/3 cup powdered sugar, crushed peppermints, vanilla, and salt; beat until well combined.

Add flour, one cup at a time, beating until combined.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into balls, then place at least one inch apart on baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown.

Remove from oven, let stand on baking sheets for 5 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

The Scrap Cookie…

scrap cookie

 

 

 

 

 

With Christmas right around the corner and Hanukkah on day two, I imagine many folks are baking sugar cookies today. And so, I pay tribute to the scrap cookie.

Scrap cookies are always misshapen, but they taste just as good as the regular ones that you’ve rolled, cut, and baked in the shape of pumpkins, turkeys, shamrocks, trees, dreidls, whatever. I encourage all bakers of sugar cookies to embrace the imperfection of the scrap cookie, to hold it up as an example for life in general. While not everything will turn out as pretty as you might have wanted, or look the way you thought it should, it’s still valuable and important.

Plus, the scrap cookie allows you to be as creative as you like. So roll into a ball and press it flat with the bottom of a glass (which is what I always do), or shape it free-form. Either way, you’ll have something tasty.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

choc pb barsMy dear friend Bryan lives in New Mexico, and he’s very supportive of my baking endeavors. I promised to bake and blog something just for him, so, ta daaa, chocolate peanut butter bars!

Bryan and I worked together in the visitor services department at the National Building Museum in DC; I believe we first bonded over having grown up sixty miles apart in Wheeling, WV and Pittsburgh respectively. One of my favorite memories with Bryan is the day he and I conducted visitor services research (read: ran around checking out signage, exhibits, and having great fun) at other museums. Though we lost touch for a while because of job changes and moves, I was happy to reconnect with Bryan on Facebook, where you can find us liking each others statuses every five minutes.

I admire Bryan for many reasons. He’s a therapist, so he helps people make sense of their lives. He’s a great husband, doing thoughtful, awesome things for his husband Paul. He is passionately committed to causes that are of great interest to me, and he’s the kind of person who states his position with not only great conviction, but respect for alternative points of view.

If I could manage to ship these tasty bars to Bryan, I would! They feature oats, chocolate chips, and peanut butter, which are among my favorite things, and therefore fitting for one of my favorite people.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups oats
  • 1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup butter, slightly softened
  • 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
  • 1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/3 cup peanut butter

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flours, baking powder, and baking soda.

Add butter and rub in with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in peanuts.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 3/4 oat mixture with chocolate chips; set aside to use as topping.

In a large measuring cup, combine peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk and whisk until smooth; set aside to use as filling.

Add beaten egg to remainder of oat mixture and mix well; press into bottom of a 15x10x1 pan.

Bake for 15 minutes; remove from oven and pour filling over bottom crust, then top with chocolate chip oat mixture.

Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack.

Sugar Cut-Out Tips

 

 

 

 

 

For a long time, sugar cookies were my nemesis. I loved how they looked, but didn’t really love to make them, because I always had trouble getting the right consistency in my dough. The following tips may help you reach sugar cookie nirvana:

  • Softened/room temperature butter should be the texture of ice cream, not peanut butter. It should hold some of its shape, but not be too soft.
  • Flour incorporation takes a few minutes. The dough will go through a crumb-like stage and then change to a more cohesive dough that pulls away from the side of the mixer. When it pulls away, it’s done.
  • If your dough is too crumbly, even after a few minutes of mixing, go ahead and add another teaspoon of vanilla extract or water. Take care not to add too much water; your dough needs to be stiff enough to roll out, so if you end up adding more liquid (or your butter was really, really soft) add another tablespoon of flour to help stabilize the dough.
  • Place your dough in large  Ziploc bags or between sheets of waxed paper and roll it slightly before chilling.
  • Chill your dough for about 30 minutes; I’ve found that this gives enough time to make rolling easier, but isn’t so long that your dough is hard.
  • Remove your dough from the fridge and let it sit out for a few minutes before you roll it.
  • If you have trouble with breakage when transferring your cut cookies to the baking sheet, keep the cookie cutter in place once you’ve cut your shape, then slide an offset spatula beneath the cookie and move the whole thing, cutter and all, to the baking sheet and then remove the cutter.
  • Chill your cut-outs for 5-10 minutes before baking.
  • Different shapes = different baking times, so bake one shape at a time. For example, if you’re baking moons and stars, bake all of the moons on one sheet and all of the stars on another to ensure even baking.

Milk Chocolate Fudge

 

 

 

 

 

I will admit it: I am cheap. And I don’t like to waste, so when I found myself with half a can of evaporated milk left over from pumpkin pie last Thanksgiving, I surely didn’t want to pour it down the drain. A quick online search led me to this recipe, an easy one especially if you’re a rookie candy maker.

Remember, on this blog, we have no fear. Candy making needn’t intimidate anyone if they follow their recipe and choose a dry day to experiment (because sugar attracts water and behaves differently in humidity and rain). Essentially, candy making is about how sugar is transformed when heated, if it forms small crystals or large crystals based on what temperature it reaches and whether the molecules are agitated by stirring.

This particular recipe requires extensive and vigorous stirring, so be prepared to get a bit of a workout. It also helps to have an assistant for the step when you remove the mixture from the heat and add the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and vanilla, so you can continue to stir constantly.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
  • 2 cups miniature marshmallows
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Line an 8×8 baking dish with foil, extending foil over the sides.

In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips and marshmallows; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt; stirring constantly, bring to a rolling boil over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes. Note: you must continue to stir the mixture while it boils for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add chocolate chips, marshmallows, and vanilla extract. Vigorously stir until the mixture is smooth, about 3-4 more minutes. Pour into baking dish and place in the fridge to cool completely.

Cut into squares and store in the fridge.

Pumpkin Pie

 

 

 

 

 

Why do we eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, and not in the middle of July? Because once upon a time, long before supermarkets and canned pumpkin puree, people ate what was available to them in any given season, and pumpkins were available in the fall.

Seasonal eating is another great lesson that can be learned from your local family farm market. Pumpkins, squashes, and apples are great fall foods, as peaches, berries, and corn sweeten the summer. Citrus fruits, like my favorite clementines, are at their best in winter. So while you can procure nearly any fruit or veggie year-round, it won’t necessarily taste as good out of season.

You could certainly roast a pie pumpkin, scrape out its flesh, and use that in your pumpkin pie, but thanks to the good folks at Libby’s pumpkin puree is available year-round. This is a quick and easy recipe that works well for busy holiday times.

Ingredients

  • 1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
  • 1 16-ounce can pumpkin puree
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 3 lightly beaten eggs
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup milk*

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 9-inch pie dish with crust; trim edges and place on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any overflow.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and beat with a fork.

Add eggs and beat lightly until combined.

Slowly add milk and mix well.

Pour filling into prepared pie dish.

Cover the edge of the pie with a guard or foil to prevent over-browning.

Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover the edge and bake another 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean.

Cool completely.

*Full disclosure: In my flurry of Thanksgiving preparations, I totally forgot the additional 1/2 cup of milk in this pie. It turned out just fine, but next time, I’ll make sure to use both the evaporated milk and fresh milk!

Turkey Sugar Cut-Outs

 

 

 

 

 

Several Thanksgivings ago, in our tiny kitchen in DC, I made sugar cut-outs in the shape of turkeys, pumpkins, maple leaves, and acorns. Rolling out sugar cookie dough in a galley-style kitchen is next to impossible, but the little dining table we had in our living room worked very well. Decorating sugar cookies is a fun endeavor, and because I had colored sugar that year, I decided to embellish the turkeys so that both toms and hens were on the platter.

When the cookies arrived at Aunt Liz’s house, they were a big hit. My cousin-in-law, Robb, first called the turkeys “anatomically correct,” but we later agreed that “gender specific” was a more appropriate term. Either way, I now make these turkeys every year.

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe sugar cut-outs
  • 1 recipe Zella’s icing
  • Brown gel food coloring
  • Miniature chocolate chips, for turkey eyes
  • Colored sugar sprinkles, for tom feathers

Preparation

Bake and cool sugar cut-outs.

Prepare icing; add enough brown food coloring to reach your desired turkey color.

Frost turkeys with a small offset spatula or butter knife, using a swirling motion to make feather patterns.

Press a miniature chocolate chip onto each turkey for the eye.

For the toms: starting on the outside of the feather end, use a teaspoon to sprinkle on a generous amount of colored sugar; repeat with two additional colors. Gently press the sugar into the icing with your finger, then lift the cookie and shake off any excess.

Allow icing to set before storing; store between sheets of parchment or waxed paper.

Apple Pie

This summer Mike made a huge career change, leaving the office world behind for the fresh air at Soergel Orchards, a local, family-owned farm market. Soergel’s is a fun place for both kids and grown-ups; if you live in the Pittsburgh area and have never been, you must go—not just for the experience, but for the produce.

Soergel’s has helped me realize why locally-grown produce is the best choice, both gastronomically and economically. Because local fruit and vegetables spend no time in transit, they don’t have to be preserved and waxed like their commercial counterparts. Taste-wise, there is no comparison—you haven’t tasted an apple, or a strawberry, or a butternut squash until you’ve had one from a local field. Economically, buying local keeps money in your community and supports families who work incredibly hard, doing what they love, in order to bring fresh, nutritious, high-quality food to your table.

The apples in this pie are Jonagold and Mutsu from Soergel’s orchards. Using two different kinds of apples, one tart and one sweet, adds an interesting dimension of flavor.

Ingredients

  • 2 9-inch pie crusts, unbaked
  • 6 medium to large apples, preferably a mix of red and yellow or green, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 9-inch pie dish with crust and place on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any overflow.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add apple slices and toss to coat.

Pour into prepared pie dish; cover with top crust and trim edges. Gently prick the top crust with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Cover the edge of the pie with a guard or foil to prevent over-browning.

Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover the edge and bake another 25-30 minutes, until crust is evenly browned.

Serve warm or cool.