Christmas Cookies 2013

This year Christmas cookies were mostly in ball form. Simple, easy, quick but look nice. Perfect for our first year really needing to have a full birthday party along with the holidays. Three is definitely the age when they understand birthday party and have expectations. This was also the first year G insisted on helping in the kitchen and these are easy enough for an almost 3 year old to make, with a little help, of course.

The non-ball cookie: Almond Coconut Chip

I like to store the ball cookies in the refrigerator for a few days before eating. The flavor definitely improves with time. These were packed in pretty tissue in boxes and clear containers but did I remember to take any pictures? No. Sorry, maybe next year!

Brownie Balls, flavored with either rum or coffee, depending on the recipients, were the simplest. There's not much of a recipe. Bake a 9x13-inch pan of chewy or fudgy brownies from a mix or scratch. Cake brownies do not work so well. When cool, crumble up in a bowl and stir in 6 Tablespoons of coffee or spiced rum. Roll into 1-inch diameter balls. To make fancy, roll in sprinkles or shredded coconut.

Lime Coconut Balls came next, some in a Margarita version.

113 g melted butter (4 oz, 1 stick, 1/2 cup)
400 g brown sugar (2 cups)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
250 g flour (2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of 3 limes
3 Tablespoons lime juice
3 Tablespoons tequila or lime juice
1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Spread in prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until tester comes out mostly clean. Let cool.

Crumble into a bowl and stir in lime zest, lime juice, tequila, and coconut. Roll into 1-inch diameter balls. Makes approximately 30.

And, finally, Almond Coconut Chip Cookies. These were supposed to be balls but spread too much in the oven.

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (60 g)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
4 oz melted butter (1 stick, 113 g, 1/2 cup)
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a large bowl, stir all ingredients together to combine. Scoop 1 Tablespoon balls onto prepared baking sheet. Bake until light golden on bottom, 9-10 minutes. Makes approximately 60 cookies.

Christmas baking leftover bars

It's been a while so I have a backlog of things to post. I'm going to try for something like chronological order in catching up, though.

After making the various baked goods my mother requested at Christmas time, there were small amounts of various ingredients leftover. Since the alternative was letting them sit around for another year until I came back, these were going to be used up. Give me chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, coconut, and powdered sugar, katakuriko, and a few standard items, I give you some rather decadent bar cookies.

As with the sweet potato bars, it's written for an odd sized pan but could easily be scaled up for a standard size. The katakuriko (potato starch) and powdered sugar result in a nicely textured shortbread that you could eat alone (if for some reason you were against the topping). You could probably substitute cornstarch for the potato starch, or maybe even rice flour, if that's what you've got.

Leftover Bar Cookies
Crust:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup katakuriko (potato starch)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts or pecans (optional)

Topping:
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 10" x 6" pan.

Make crust: In a bowl, combine flour, katakuriko, powdered sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is sandy, with the largest butter chunks the size of peas. Mix in nuts. Press mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan. Dock (poke holes in) crust with a fork. Bake until very lightly golden at the edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

Make filling: While crust is baking, beat together egg and sugar. Stir in flour, followed by coconut, chocolate chips, and nuts. Spread over baked crust. Return to oven and continue baking 20 minutes longer. Allow to cool somewhat before cutting and serving.

Mint Chocolate Chews

One of the few herbs I have growing outside in the ground is chocolate mint and every year as the weather gets cooler I look at the bounty of mint left growing and think, "How can I use that before it freezes?" Within the last week I have made mint chocolate chip bar cookies (great), cucumber mint cake (not so good), and mint chocolate cookies. The mint chocolate cookies turned out perfect - moist, chewy, and just minty enough. I'm working on a gluten-free version of these but haven't worked it out quite yet. The cocoa powder I regularly use is Penzey's Natural High-Fat Cocoa Powder. It really does make a difference in how much butter you need so follow the note if you are using regular grocery store type cocoa.

Mint Chocolate Chews
2 dozen cookies

140 g  all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1/4  teaspoon  baking soda
1/8  teaspoon  salt
3  tablespoons  butter, melted
40 g unsweetened cocoa, high quality, high fat (about 7  tablespoons)
50 g  granulated sugar (about 1/4  cup)
150 g light brown sugar (about 3/4  cup packed)
1/3  cup unsweetened applesauce
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
2 tablespoons minced fresh mint

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, soda, and salt. Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat (or in a microwaveable bowl in the microwave). Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa and sugars; you will need to work to moisten and combine everything, it's dry. Stir in applesauce, vanilla and mint. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment.

Bake at 350° for 8 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Note: If using regular unsweetened cocoa, increase butter to 4 tablespoons

Oatmeal Macadamia Chip Cookies

Last weekend there were two places I wanted to bring something to share for munching. But time was tight so I wanted one recipe that could be used for both. There wasn't much in the house but a quick search through the pantry yielded oatmeal, macadamia nuts & chocolate chips. Put those together and it's cookies. After seriously altering my usual chewy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe it didn't take long to make a double batch of these soft cookies. I used coarse sea salt for a sort of burst of salty-sweet flavor.

Oatmeal Macadamia Chip Cookies
100 g rolled oats (1 cup)
2 oz macadamia nuts, dry roasted, lightly salted (1/2 cup)
130 g all-purpose flour (1 cup)
1/4 tsp salt, preferably coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
75 g sugar (6 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
75 g light brown sugar (6 Tbsp)
1 lg egg
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Put nuts in food processor, pulse until very coarsely chopped. Add oats, pulse 5 times or until oats are very very coarsely ground (not even close to flour).

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg. Add applesauce, stirring until combined. Add flour mixture, stirring until just barely combined. Add oat mixture and chocolate chips, stirring until just combined.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 9 minutes (convection) on until tops are lightly golden. Slide parchment off cookie sheets to cool.

Store in a tightly sealed container separated by parchment paper.

Makes about 30 cookies

Lemon Cornmeal Cookies

Last weekend we went to visit some friends and I wanted to bring cookies. Something not overly sweet or heavy - summer cookies. So working with several different recipes I came up with these. When they first come out of the oven the lemon flavor isn't that strong but it seems to develop by the next day. They're soft, not crisp, which I like, but the cornmeal gives them some texture. The ginger doesn't come through so leaving it out might not make a difference.

130 g all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
65 g cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
150 g sugar (about 3/4 cup)
1 lg egg
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, ginger & baking powder.

Cream together butter & sugar. Add egg and beat well. Add lemon juice, zest & extract. Mix to combine. Stir in flour mixture.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 1-inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown and the tops are still pale.

Remove parchment from baking sheets and cool on parchment. They kind of stick to the parchment until they cool a bit.

This made 28 cookies using my scoop.