COOKING WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS : CHRISTMAS COOKIES by Vivian Wachsberger
CHRISTMAS COOKIES
Vivian Wachsberger
ccSCOOP Guest Food Writer
Everyone has a favorite Christmas cookie and memories of making them with either your grandmother or your mom. Lots of sprinkles all over the kitchen and gorgeous works of art coming out of the oven. Somehow as we get older the cookies remain a memory and the thought of making them seems onerous. Come on, they’re easy and fun and better than store-bought.
The cookies shown in our slide show can easily be made by one person or a group, and by young and old. Any sugar cookie recipe will do. I have included a recipe I’ve developed for Gingerbread Cookies, with a hint of cocoa, and a simple recipe for a versatile icing.
First, a few tips to make your cookie baking easier.
Read the recipe several times so you know you have everything you need. Set all the ingredients out on your counter, so you won’t have to stop and search for the baking soda or for other ingredients you don’t use frequently.
Tape down some waxed paper on your counter and treat yourself to two ¼-inch dowels. The dowels will help you roll the dough to a consistent thickness. When you roll out dough, the ends tend to get very thin. Putting the dough between the dowels and moving your rolling pin over the dowels will prevent that for happening.
Sprinkle the waxed paper lightly with flour and rub some flour onto your rolling pin.
Coat your cookie sheets with baking spray or parchment. If you make a lot of cookies, buy yourself some Silpat baking mats. They’re pricey but well worth the investment.
To make the cookies with the “stained glass” details, use a small cutter to cut an opening of any shape in the cookie, and then fill the hole with chopped up hard candy—for example, Life Savers (not the gummy ones) or butterscotch drops. It helps if you put small pieces of waxed paper under those areas when baking.
When you take the cookies out of the oven, let them cool a few minutes before transferring them to racks. Hot from the oven cookies are very soft and can easily bend and break.
If your dough is sticky, dip your cookie cutter in flour before using. Work from the edges of the dough in, and cut your cookies close together to avoid excessive re-rolling.
Cream together:
2 sticks butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
Beat in:
1 egg
2 tablespoons molasses (HINT: Spray cooking oil on your measuring spoon so the molasses slides off.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In another bowl, whisk together:
1 tablespoons baking powder
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing to incorporate well after each addition. DO NOT REFRIGERATE DOUGH. Roll out to a thickness of ¼ to ⅜ inch. Cut out your cookie shapes and transfer cookie to prepared cookie sheets.
Bake at 400 degrees in the upper third of the oven for 10 minutes.
Wait a couple of minutes before transferring the cookies to a rack.
DECORATING NOTE: You can put sprinkles, colored sugars, and dragées on the cookies before baking, or you can ice the cookies after baking (and cooling) and add the decorations then.
E-Z ICING
Whisk together:
2 teaspoons dried egg whites
2 tablespoons water
