I Love Cookies

Time to plan the baking of holiday cookies! Last year, the only ones I remember baking were chocolate crinkles and russian tea cakes and they were both great. I'm thinking chocolate chip gingers this year, butter cookies for decorating, and would like to do a fruitcake-like drop cookie w/ candied pineapple and cherries maybe for extra festivity.

What are your favorites?

Going to try making spekulatius again this year, even though I don't have molds...

I need a good molasses spice cookie recipe to bake tonight--any suggestions?

chocolate chip gingers sounds nommmmm

Molasses spice cookies - I've made these: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/molasses_spice_cookies/

My mom used to make the chocolate chip gingers by using a Betty Crocker gingerbread mix and adding chocolate chips to it. I want to try something more like a toll house cookie with chopped candied ginger added.

oh god that sounds amazing

i attempted cookies tonight using gluten-free all purpose flour and following a regular cookie recipe. they are ok... i stuck them back in the oven because, although golden, they were not quite cooked in the middle. i threw in some dried cranberries, chopped pecans, some oats, and a tiny bit of dark chocolate. not nn-approved!

i think i realized i am not really a cookie person, i just like baking. maybe i should try bread instead.

tho the chocolate chip gingers still sound pretty great!

I'm definitely not a cookie person. But starting to bake my own bread this year has been 100% awesome. Got two loaves cooling right now.

i think i would rather just eat chocolate.
will look into bread.

Those spicy chocolate shortbread things I experimented with ended up awesome on the third go:

1/2 lb butter
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c flour
1/4 c rice flour
2/3 c cocoa (dutch process is best)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne

Cream room temp butter well. Add sugar and cream again until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and salt. Sift remaining dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add 1/2 to butter mixture, beat in well. Scrape mixer bowl and beater down. Beat in remaining dry ingredients. Form into waxed paper wrapped logs, approx. 1" dia, and refrigerate for an hour or so. Oven @ 325 F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Slice logs into 1/4" thick rounds, place 1" apart on parchment. Bake 10-15 minutes. Cool thoroughly.

So all the creaming and beating is best done with a stand mixer - though you could possibly do it by hand (I can't, I'm weak). Definitely use butter, margarine or crisco won't work nearly as well or taste nearly as good. If you don't have rice flour, just use all regular flour instead. 1 tsp of salt is if you use unsalted butter. Use 3/4 tsp salt if you use salted butter.

Ha! I just now got this email from someone I sent the recipe to on Sunday:

OH I CANT STOP EATING THE BATTER!
why have you cursed er, blessed, me with this spicy chocolate awesomeness?!
anyway, i think about half the batch is in my belly
the other half is cooling in the fridge.
YESSSS

can we say LEIBNIZ

jaq i'm sorry but that sounds too dangerous for me! i think i would wind up passed out in a cookie coma! :) friggin love shortbread anything

haha your friend sounds like someone i would be friends with. and eat their cookie batter.

I want to make chocolate cherry cookies, but I am still looking for dried cherries.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1949710

Trader Joe's usually has them. I love the tart ones (montmorency?).

Whole Foods has them.

I couldn't find them in my neighborhood (though I've picked them up before, must just be a dry period) so I used cranberries instead.

damn it. i just made a joy of cooking recipe for chocolate cookies and they are way too sugary. also i can't believe i forgot about jaq's spicy chocolate shortbreads! would have much rather made those! argh!

If yr making choc chip cookies I would highly recommend the nytimes recipe. They're the bomb

they were chocolate chocolate chip cookes (with cocoa in the dough). i added dried cranberries, too. but yeah, way too much sugar :(

i don't really make a ton of cookies, i just felt in the mood for it. def making jaq's next time.

Wow yeah jaq's recipe sounds great! Will be making soon

Cookulus

HT: the higgs

Hey Jaq or any other cookie people - I have a holiday cookie swap thing at work to bake for this weekend. What are two simple but delicious cookie recipes that you think might be good for this?

we're doing a bake off/cookie party next week. i am going to test the spicy chocolate shortbread this weekend in preparation.

spicy chocolate shortbread: yum! i think i will add a tiny bit more cayenne in next batch because i am fond of spiciness.
however, i am having a sugar problem. it seems like the granules are possibly too large because they're not blending fully into the butter or something and the texture of the cookie ends up too crunchy/grainy. is there a way to fix this without buying new sugar?

Are you using room temp ingredients? Maybe cold butter & eggs are keeping the sugar from melting?

Could you dissolve the sugar in melted butter?

melting the butter i think would damage the texture of the cookies more.

how long did you cream the butter and sugar together? sometimes it takes a long time to make them blend. alternately, if you've got a food processor you could put the sugar through it to get it finer.

I usually use baker's sugar (aka superfine), but you could probably take c sharp's suggestion and run regular granulated through a second grind. Don't melt the butter, you will get flat sticky caramelized disks instead of cookies.

no it was def room temp. no eggs in the recipe. i am thinking maybe this has to do with using an electric whisk instead of a stand mixer (which i don't own). santa???

the butter did seem really creamy though. i think the sugar is just too coarse. sigh.

Try creaming the sugar in with a spoon instead - it's a lot of work, but will give you better results than a whisk. The sugar/butter mixture needs to be really fluffy for the best end texture.

ok, take 2 on the shortbread in the oven now! i ended up using my stick blender to try to break up the sugar some. i hope this helps! i also creamed everything by hand w/ a spoon...ow!

ok, shortbread was a hit! jaq, you are the best!