Ginger Snap Cookies

After yesterdays cookie disaster I knew I had to try again. I have never made gingersnaps before but a coworker brought them to work and they were delicious. Plus they are a lower calorie cookie so you don't have to feel bad about eating it! Below is the gingersnap recipe I used that produced a softer gingersnap which actually looked and tasted like it should! Phew....I haven't lost my baking touch.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup shortening

1 c sugar

1/4 c molasses

1 egg

Additional sugar for rolling

The most important ingredients

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix flour, baking soda, salt and spices in medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat shortening and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg.

4. Gradually stir in flour mixture until well mixed.

5. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in additional sugar to coat. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

6. Bake 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Store in airtight container.

I am so happy the cookies turned out well! After yesterday I needed this to work! I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Almond Oat Lace Cookies

I decided I have had enough chocolate chip cookies and should try something new this Christmas. So I stumbled upon the Almond-Oat Lace Cookies in Food and Wine Magazine. I should have known better than to attempt a cookie in a gourmet magazine but I tried anyways. While this recipe seemed easy enough I turned out with Almond-Oat Sticks instead of cookies. But if there is one thing this year has taught me it is that you cannot control everything and when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Below is the recipe and the not so perfect desert I turned out with!

Ingredients: (For 24 cookies, I doubled the recipe when I made it)

1/2 cup whole natural unsalted almond with skins

2 tbsp old-fashioned oats

6 tbsp unsalted butter

6 tbsp superfine sugar

2 tbsp light brown packed sugar

1 1/2 tsp honey

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp kosher salt

4 oz bittersweet chocolate melted

 Directions:

1. Arrange racks in lower and upper thirds of oven. Preheat to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Correct Rack Placement

2. Pulse almonds and oats in a food processor until coarse meal forms. Set aside.

Before Pulsing

3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

4. Add both sugars and honey; whisk until blended and sugar dissolves (1-2 minutes).

5. Remove from heat. Add nut mixture, flour, and salt; stir until well blended.

6. Spoon batter by 2 tsp portions onto baking sheets, spacing 2 1/2" apart. Using your fingertips, pat cookies down to 1/4" high rounds; push in any jagged edges to form smooth circles.

NOTE: This is where I started going wrong. These cookies are way too big! They ended up as a sheet of cookies. See below pictures of disaster!

7. Bake, rotating sheets after 6 minutes, until dark golden brown and cookies spread out into a thin layer, 10-12 minutes. Slide cookies onto wire rack.


This is what happens when you spoon too large of cookies onto baking sheet!

Trying to save my cookies.....

Deciding they shouldn't be cookies but snack size sticks

So I thought I had learned from my previous mistakes and made my cookies much smaller. Well the size worked well but this time my cookies were burnt. So make sure to watch the time when baking them as they burn very quickly.

On the left my burnt cookie!

8. Using a pastry brush, brush half of each cookie with melted chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours.

NOTE: I decided not to brush the sticks but instead drizzled the sticks with chocolate.

Delicious Chocolate



My drizzled chocolate bars


So, while the end result was very different than what I originally intended to do they are still delicious. If you decide to make them and would like a few more tips please feel free to ask. I would love to apply what I learned during this cookie fiasco!



Snickerdoodles

Let the christmas baking begin! My first cookie of the christmas season is a simple but delicious one. Below is my snickerdoodle recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tblsp white sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Cream together butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, and the vanilla.

3. Blend in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Mix in the 2 tbls white sugar with 2 tsp ground cinnamon in a small seperate bowl.

5. Roll 1.5 inch bowls in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Then place 2 in. apart on baking sheets.

6. Bake 10 minutes and remove immediatley from baking sheets.

Sugar Cookies Part II

Tonight I finished one of the more time consuming parts of sugar cookies...the icing. I had about 5 dozen cookies and it took almost 3 hours but in the end they are always worth it.

Sugar Cookie Icing

Gather your supplies

Ingredients:

- 1 cup confectioners sugar

- 2 tsp. milk

- 2 tsp. light corn syrup

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Stir together sugar and milk

2.  Beat in corn syrup and extract (you can also add food coloring as desired)

Finished Icing

I outline each cookie before spreading with the filler color. The outline color should be a little thicker so it does not run off your cookies and can support the filler color. I make my outline frosting, put it in a ziplock bag, and snip the corner to get a nice thin line when I squeeze it out.

My outline color in my handy ziplock bag

Make sure to let your outline color dry for a few minutes before putting the inside color so it can support the slightly less thick frosting.

Cookie with outline icing and filler color

I also like to apply sprinkles to add additional depth. I added red and yellow for the leaves and added frosting detail for the acorn top with additional icing.

Leaves with additional sugar details

Acorns with additional frosting detail at top

Finished sugar cookies

Let the baking begin...sugar cookies

With Thanksgiving only a few days away it is time to start baking. Since we will be traveling to North Carolina I knew I had to bake something that traveled well. So I decided to go with the classic and crowd pleasing sugar cookies. While I love the end result this is one recipe that takes a while to make. Below is my recipe which is perfect for sugar cookies with small details like the sharp points on the leaves I cut. This recipe does not spread or rise much like other cookies which makes it perfect for detailed cookie cutters.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

-          6 cups flour

-          3 tsp. baking powder

-          1 tsp salt

-          2 cups butter

-          2 cups sugar

-          2 eggs

-          2 tsp. vanilla

Getting the ingredients together

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cover baking sheets with parchment paper. (This will ensure your cookies do not stick.)
2. Cream butter and sugar (Make sure the mixture is creamy before moving to the next step.)
3. Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture one at a time. Beat well between each addition. Then add the vanilla.
4. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly add dry ingredients to butter and sugar mixture.

Adding the dry ingredients to the egg mixture

5. Chill at least 2 hours. (I chill overnight since this is what will keep the mixture from sticking while you roll it out.)

The dough ready to chill

 6.      Roll out  dough to about ¼” thick and cut cookies. (Remember this will be about the thickness of your finished cookies since this dough does not rise much.)



1/4" thick dough



Cookies ready to be baked on the cookie sheet

 7.      Bake for 8-10 minutes (You will want to watch your cookies closely. They will only brown on the edges and the remainder of the cookie will remain the light dough color. If you wait for the entire cookie to brown then they will burn. I usually cook them for 10 minutes.)

Cookies straight out of the oven

At this time you have finished your sugar cookies. However, they are not complete until the frosting has been added and the cookies are decorated. I will be completing this step tomorrow since it is very time consuming….stay tuned for additional directions.