 |
|
Don't
let the higher prices of sugar and butter stop your
holiday cookie baking such as creating this dough
for petis fours de noel cookie.
|
Life
is sweet, especially since a batch of home-baked cookies can
still make someone’s day. Butter and sugar prices may give
some bakers pause this holiday season. Don’t let them. We’ve
scoured through the new batch of cookbooks and baked up a
selection of cookies with an eye on tight food budgets. One
recipe requires no butter, another uses shortening, one is
light on sugar, and some don’t skimp at all.
Here’s
more on the cookbooks:
"One
Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes,"
by Tracey Zabar (Rizzoli, $30): The international array of
cookies includes cherished family favorites and signature
best sellers from 70 of New York’s best culinary talents.
This is a book to buy and keep; has glossy paper and color
photographs.
"The
Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking, and Reinventing the
Classics," by Stacy Adimando (Quirk, $18.95): Each
section begins with pictures of all the cookies, from
buttery to chocolaty, fancy to fruity, spicy to nutty and
seedy. This is a great gift for beginning bakers.
"Sugar,
Sugar: Every Recipe Has a Story," by Kimberly
"Momma" Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero (Andrews
McMeel Publishing, $29.99): This collection down memory lane
— featuring cakes, pies, cookies, bars and candies —
includes bourbon balls, rum balls and church windows, those
beautiful no-bake slice cookies made with colored
marshmallows. Yum.
"Biscuiteering
Book of Iced Cookies," by Harriet Hastings and Sarah
Moore (Kyle Books, $18.95): There are fewer than a dozen
cookie recipes in this book, but the iced cookie ideas and
templates will hook you and inspire you. This book arrived
too late to try any of the recipes.
"Baking
Style: Art - Craft - Recipes," by Lisa Yockelson
(Wiley, $45): Words can’t do justice to this decadent ride
through baking in all its buttery glory. This is a book
meant to be treasured and savored and enjoyed as much for
the recipes as for the photographs and Yockelson’s
thoughtfully written prose.
"So
Sweet! Cookies, Cupcakes, Whoopie Pies, and More," by
Sur la Table (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $15): This book
arrived too late to try any of the recipes, but its colored
photographs, gift-able size and breadth of whoopie pie
recipes mean it won’t be sitting on the bookshelf too
long.
———
GREAT
PUMPKIN COOKIES
This
recipe is from Toni Fiorenza of Toni’s Courtyard
Cafe&Catering, Merced, Calif. (www.toniscourtyardcafe.com).
"These
delicious moist cookies have been a favorite of my family
and customers for years," said Fiorenza in an e-mail.
"If you are a pumpkin lover, these cookies are for you
and even if you don’t believe in the ‘great pumpkin’
once you’ve tried these cookies, you will become a
believer!"
Chef
Lee Vera also makes a selection of gluten-free cookies.
Ingredients:
1 cup
butter, softened
1 cup
white sugar
1 cup
brown sugar
1 egg
1
teaspoon vanilla
1 cup
canned pumpkin
2 cups
flour
1 cup
old-fashioned oatmeal
1
teaspoon baking soda
1
teaspoon cinnamon
½
teaspoon salt
Instructions:
Blend
butter, sugars, egg and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in
pumpkin and blend well. Combine all dry ingredients in
separate bowl and slowly stir into pumpkin mixture. Place
spoonfuls of dough on buttered baking sheet.
Bake
325 degrees for 25 minutes or until center of cookie is
lightly firm to the touch.
You
can add chocolate chips to the dough to make great chocolate
chip pumpkin cookies.
———
OATMEAL
RAISIN COOKIES
Makes
2 dozen
This
recipe is from "The Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking, and
Reinventing the Classics," by Stacy Adimando (Quirk,
$18.95).
Ingredients:
½ cup
unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3
cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup
all-purpose flour
½
teaspoon baking soda
½
teaspoon salt
½
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1½
cups old-fashioned or quick-cook oats
2/3
cup raisins
Instructions:
Cream
together the butter and sugar on medium until light and
fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix a bit more. Sift flour,
baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. Pour in the
flour mixture and work mixer on low just to work in dry
ingredients. Stir in oats and raisins with a spoon. Scoop
out tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto
parchment-paper-lined sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake 12
to 14 minutes at 350 degrees. Chilling dough results in a
taller, chewier cookies.
———
Sweet-Surplus-Of-Chocolate
Cookies
Makes
about 21 cookies
This
recipe is from "Baking Style," by Lisa Yockelson
(Wiley, $45).
Ingredients:
2/3
cup plus 1 teaspoon unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
1/8
teaspoon baking soda
¼
teaspoon salt
11
tablespoons (1 stick plus 3tablespoons) unsalted butter
¾ cup
packed light brown sugar
3
tablespoons granulated sugar
2
large egg yolks
2½
tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup
plus 3 tablespoons quick-cooking (not instant) rolled oats
12
ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3
cup firmly packed sweetened coconut
Instructions:
Preheat
oven to 325 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment.
Sift flour, baking soda and salt together.
Cream
the butter in the large bowl of a free-standing mixer on low
speed for three to four minutes. Add the brown sugar and
beat on moderate speed for one minute. Add the granulated
sugar and beat one minute longer. Add the egg yolks, beating
on low speed until just incorporated. Blend in the vanilla
extract and then the sifted ingredients until flour
particles are just absorbed. Scrape down the sides of the
bowl with a rubber spatula and then blend in the rolled
oats, then the chocolate chips and coconut. Place 3
tablespoon mounds of dough about 3 inches apart on prepared
baking pans. Bake 16 to 17 minutes, or until just set. The
edges off the cookies will be just a bit darker than the
centers.
———
PETITS
FOURS A L’ANISE
Makes
about 100 cookies
This
recipe, from "One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share
Favorite Recipes," by Tracey Zabar (Rizzoli, $30), is
from Andre Soltner of the French Culinary Institute. When
you bake these cookies, they rise a little and look like
mushrooms.
Ingredients:
1 cup
granulated sugar
3
large eggs
1
tablespoon whole anise seeds
2 cups
all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more for flouring pastry
sheets
Unsalted
butter for pastry sheets Instructions:
Butter
pastry sheets and dust with flour.
Put
sugar and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix for
about 10 minutes on high speed, until a ribbon forms when a
whisk is inserted and lifted from the mixture. Add the anise
seeds and beat for a few minutes more, until the seeds are
blended. By hand, with a spatula, gently fold in the flour.
Put this dough in a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch tip.
Pipe dough onto the pastry sheets, forming circles ¾-inch
across. Let them dry overnight, or at least four hours, at
room temperature. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Bake cookies
for about 10minutes.
———
PETITS
FOURS DE NOEL
Makes
about 100
This
recipe, also from "One Sweet Cookie," is also from
Andre Soltner.
Ingredients:
8
ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup
granulated sugar
½
teaspoon cinnamon
3
ounces candied orange peel (optional)
8
ounces ground almonds
Grated
zest of 1 lemon
3
small eggs
4 cups
all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 egg
beaten with a little cold water Instructions:
Cream
butter and sugar. Add cinnamon, candied orange peel,
almonds, lemon zest and three eggs and mix thoroughly. Add
flour and knead until you have a smooth paste. Enclose dough
in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator overnight, or
up to two to three days.
Preheat
oven to 300 degrees. Butter a pastry sheet and dust it with
flour.
On a
floured work surface, roll out the dough to a ¼-inch
thickness. Cut with cookies cutters. Combine scraps and roll
and cut again. Arrange cutouts on the pastry sheet. Brush
them with beaten egg. Bake until they are golden brown,
about 10 minutes.
———
TRIPLE
CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Makes
2 dozen
This
recipe is also from "The Cookiepedia."
Ingredients:
1¾
cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cocoa
1¾
teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt
12
ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup
unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼
cups dark brown sugar and ¼ cup sugar
3 eggs
1½
teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup
semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions:
Sift
flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl and
set aside. Set a small pot of water on the stove and bring
it to a simmer. Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl
and set the bowl atop the pot. Stir chocolate until it’s
melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
Cream
the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and
fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix to combine.
Pour in the melted chocolate and continue beating. Add the
flour mixture and chocolate chips, half at a time, and mix
on low speed, until just incorporated. Refrigerate dough 15
to 20 minutes, or until firm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into
1½-inch balls and place on cookie sheet about 2 inches
apart. Bake for eight to 10 minutes. Cookies will firm once
cooled.
———
MOLASSES
CONSTRUCTION CRUMPLES
Makes
about 4 dozen
This
recipe is from "Sugar, Sugar: Every Recipe Has a
Story," by Kimberly "Momma" Reiner and Jenna
Sanz-Agero (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $29.99).
Ingredients:
2¼
cups all-purpose flour
2
teaspoons baking soda
½
teaspoon salt
1
teaspoon cinnamon
1
teaspoon ground ginger
½
teaspoon ground cloves
¼
teaspoon salt
¾ cup
vegetable shortening
1 cup
packed light brown sugar
¼ cup
molasses
1
large eggs
1 cup
granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions:
Whisk
flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a
large bowl; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted
with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening and brown
sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about two
minutes. Mix in the egg and molasses on low speed until
blended. Add the flour mixture gradually, and beat until
just incorporated, about one minute. Form the dough into a
ball, and cover tightly with plastic. Chill for at least two
hours.
Preheat
oven to 375 degrees. Line sheets with parchment paper. Put
granulated sugar in a small bowl. Roll a tablespoonful of
dough into a ball the size of a large walnut. Dip the top
half of the dough ball in sugar and place it sugar side up
on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12
minutes, or until cookies are set but soft in the center.
———
ALMOND
CRESCENTS
Makes
about 28 cookies
This
recipe is from "Baking Style," by Lisa Yockelson
(Wiley, $45).
Ingredients:
2¼
cups all-purpose flour
¾
teaspoon baking powder and 1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup
finely chopped almonds
½
pound (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
½ cup
confectioners’ sugar (plus 2½ cups for dredging baked
cookies)
1½
teaspoons vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup
slivered almonds for pressing on the baked cookies
Instructions:
Line
baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking
powder and salt in a medium bowl. Scatter over the finely
chopped almonds and whisk to combine.
In a
large mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, ½ cup
confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract.
Add the flour almond mixture and stir to form a dough. Chill
the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 45 minutes. Preheat
oven to 350 degrees. Place slivered almonds in bowl.
Scoop
up 1 tablespoon-size pieces of dough and roll into stubby
logs. Place each log of dough 2 inches apart on baking pan.
Form the logs into crescent shapes, tapering the ends
slightly. Apply sliced almonds to the top of the cookies and
gently plump up the dough. Bake cookies 15 to 16 minutes, or
until set and light golden. Cool cookies. Dredge the cookies
in confectioners’ sugar. Wait 20 minutes and dredge in
sugar again.
