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Eggnog Cookies

12.12.2014 by J. Doe // 1 Comment

My grandmother, each Christmas, would make cream cheese spritz cookies. I loved getting them, a big coffee can full of cookies, with no wrapping except a holiday bow on the plastic lid. It was “something to open” alongside the checks she gave me and her other three grandchildren. Her spritz were formed from a cookie press into little circles, often not very neatly, because she made hundreds of them that time of year – and other times too – and gave them to everybody.

I have her recipe for cream cheese spritz and the cookie sheets she baked them on, but oddly, I don’t have the cookie press she used to shape them. It’s a shame because I cannot seem to form even her lopsided squiggle shapes very well with the press I do have, and so making these cookies became a source of frustration for me.

Her cookies weren’t fancy, but they tasted like Christmas.

In recent years, I hosted a holiday cookie exchange. I think I started it when The Child was about 6, and all my friends seemed to like it, so I did one every year, until last year, when The Dog’s deteriorating health made the whole thing just too stressful. One friend was quite disappointed, and left a plate of cookies on my door, saying, I look forward to next year – but this year rolled around, and I still didn’t feel like it.

The Child was disappointed. I didn’t mind missing one year, she said, but two? Will we ever do it again?

I tell her the women’s group I belong to is hosting an exchange, and so we’ll bring cookies and let someone else host, but she’s not satisfied with this. The women are boring, she says.

I point out that it’s a lot of the same women who came to our house every year, but that’s not the answer she’s looking for. What she wants, we discover after some discussion, is not a party at all: She wants my eggnog cookies. She wants some to eat, she wants some to give to her teachers and friends.

I don’t mind. I already have all the ingredients.

The recipe is originally from The Complete Cookie, by Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey, which rather sadly seems to be out of print, though you can still get used copies on Amazon for not too much. I think I received the book as a gift the year it came out, or possibly bought it as a gift for myself when I was doing some holiday gift shopping (one for them, one for me …). Whatever the case, I loved it enough that although many cookbooks have come and gone from my shelves since then, it has stayed.

The Eggnog Cookies weren’t actually my favorite recipe from the book, but became my holiday cookie-party staple for one simple reason: unlike many holiday cookie recipes, they’re crazy easy. They’re just drop cookies, and require no refrigeration time, no rolling and cutting, no cookie press. There is no elaborate icing. There are no special, expensive, or obscure ingredients to buy. Basically, if you get just one bottle of rum extract, you can whip up last-minute holiday cookies for several years.

And yet for all this lack of fuss, these cookies still say Happy Holidays the way only eggnog can.

I made a batch one evening, supposedly for the ladies’ cookie exchange, and The Child came down and helped herself to several. They didn’t have their powdered sugar topping yet, but she didn’t mind: They were soft and warm from the oven. She swiped a few on the way out to school the next day, too, still untopped but still perfect, she says: We’re giving them to everybody.

 

Eggnog cookies

 

Eggnog Cookies
 
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Author: adapted from "The Complete Cookie" by Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey
Ingredients
  • 2 cups AP flour
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp nutmeg (plus extra for topping)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
  • 1½ tsp rum extract
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.
  2. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together in a bowl, and set aside.
  3. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and thick. Add the softened butter, rum extract, and cream. Mix at a low speed until thoroughly blended, then increase speed to high. Add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated.
  4. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto the cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. They will spread. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden, delightfully fragrant, and firm to the touch.
  5. Remove to cooling racks and dust with powdered sugar and a pinch of extra nutmeg, if desired.
Notes
The original recipe calls for only 6 tablespoons of butter, so you may wish to reduce the amount you use. I tossed in a full stick by mistake but found that worked well.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // cookies, holidays

Lebkuchen (German Spice Cookies)

12.19.2013 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

When it’s time for Mr. Faraway to make the long trip back home, the following day, I send him with one other small gift – an extra handout from a class I took the previous week on German holiday treats. He knows how to pronounce lebkuchen, my favorite from the class, and knows details about them, too, like the fact that they keep for weeks and actually improve with age. Because it was a class, I don’t have any extra to offer him, but he samples my homemade citrus peel that is waiting to be made into cookies, and appreciatively takes the recipes with him, along with a few more he copies out of one of my cooking magazines.

I took the class the week before his visit, with a friend, who persuaded me to sign up for it months ago, and our daughters, both 13. I completely forgot about the class until she reminded me, and it was a refreshing break with the routine of years past, where I hosted an annual holiday cookie exchange. All the work of the party meant that every year, I made the same cookies, because I didn’t have time to experiment or run the risk of a new recipe that didn’t work out.

This year, we made four kinds of cookies and treats, all with German origins, like myself, my friend, and Mr. Faraway: Lebkuchen, Almond Crescents, Burnt-Sugar Almonds, and Spitzbuben (raspberry jam sandwich cookies). The four of us took turns rolling out long ropes of almond dough, which was fun, although we found the resulting cookie fairly dry – probably good with a hot cup of tea or spiced cider, not so good on its own. The Child and her friend favored the Spitzbuben, mostly for the raspberry jam, but also because they liked saying the name. It was hands down the most photogenic cookie of the evening, so the two girls started instagramming spitzbuben, then when the cookies were all eaten, checking out each other’s Instagram profiles.

My favorite, though, were the lebkuchen, cakey-soft and highly spiced, studded with lively bits of chopped orange peel. The cookie is perfect on its own, though not especially pretty to look at. The class was fun and taught by Erin Coopey, a local chef and author of The Kitchen Pantry Cookbook. As we waited for the cookies to bake, she told stories about German holiday markets and Christmas traditions.

Holiday traditions are wonderful, especially when they’re new.

Lebkuchen

 

Lebkuchen (German Spice Cookies)
 
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Prep time
30 mins
Cook time
15 mins
Total time
45 mins
 
Author: Erin Coopey
Ingredients
For Cookies
  • ¾ cup hazelnuts
  • ¾ cup sliced almonds
  • 2¾ cups AP flour
  • 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp ground cloves
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • ¾ cup mild honey
  • ½ stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup finely chopped candied orange peel
For Icing
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp water
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 large baking sheets.
  2. Place nuts, flour, cocoa, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a food processor, and process until the nuts are ground into a flour.
  3. Beat together brown sugar, honey, and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in nut flour at low speed until just blended, then stir in orange peel.
  4. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls with dampened hands, then put on baking sheets and flatten slightly. Dough will spread during baking.
  5. Bake about 15 minutes, until surface of cookies no longer appears wet. Transfer to racks to cool.
  6. Make icing: Sift powdered sugar into a bowl, then stir in water until smooth. Evenly brush cooled cookie tops with icing. Let set one hour.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // almonds, cookies, hazelnuts, holidays

Hot Cross Muffins

03.31.2013 by J. Doe // 4 Comments

Growing up in Manhattan in the 1970s-80s, there were a couple of things we ate for breakfast on the weekends, neither of which my mother cooked because, well, my mother didn’t really cook much. On the weekend, she would send me out with some money and tell me to go pick something up and bring it home for breakfast.

The first goal was always bagels, from the local bagel shop – hubcap sized and smeared with cream cheese and lox. But the line for the bagel place was often out the door and that was on a good day: If you got there too late, the line was out the door and halfway up the street.

These days, I would get on that line and wait for one of those bagels, but back in the day I could get one any old day – I could even have one for lunch, since it was right near my school – so the line seemed hardly worth the trouble.

On those days, I would take the money to the supermarket and pick up something from Entenmann’s. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Entenmann’s? The ones on the supermarket shelf next to the Hostess chocolate-covered donuts?

Well, yes and no. The box was the same, sure. But the Entenmann’s that I grew up on was a family-owned company that baked their danishes and coffee cakes locally (the company was sold to General Foods in 1982). It was fresh and delicious and sometimes, just sometimes, I could get this one amazing thing: Hot Cross Buns.

They came in little packs of nine square buns, with a tic-tac-toe of frosting on the top and delightful little bits of citron hiding inside. I loved how flavorful and yet not-too-sweet they were. I was always a bit sad when I went on an Entenmann’s run and couldn’t find the Hot Cross Buns, which was more often than not; but then it was a pleasant surprise when they appeared again on the shelves.

Only as an adult did I discover the significance of the crosses on the buns, and realize that, yes, they were a seasonal item for Easter.

It made sense when it was pointed out to me.

Anyway, by the time I figured it out, Entenmann’s had changed somehow and though I couldn’t really put my finger on what was different about it, I started avoiding it. The crumb coffee cake – another favorite – lightened up and became less flavorful, less satisfying. I stopped seeing the hot cross buns at all, though possibly I just didn’t remember to look for them at the right time of year.

I’m not a bread baker, so I was pleased to find a recipe for Hot Cross Muffins in my King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion. The taste of the original without all the effort of making yeast-raised buns, said the recipe, so I tried it.

I wanted them to be the best effort possible, to resemble my childhood treat, so I made some Candied Orange Peel a few days ahead, to use in lieu of the citron. I used very cheap oranges from Target’s produce department (perhaps not the finest produce department I’ve ever seen), and though they came out a bit small and sad-looking, they were quite flavorful.

The muffins were very close to the hot cross buns I remember from my childhood – perhaps not quite as light a texture as the original, but I think a bit of flour-sifting might resolve that issue. I loved all the plump raisins and sweet, chewy bits of peel. The frosting is dense and adds just the right touch of buttery sweetness to the muffins, which are not actually terribly sweet – meaning they were just right.

 

IMG_9494

Hot Cross Muffins
 
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Author: King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
Serves: 12
Ingredients
Batter
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 3 cups AP Flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground allspice
  • ½ cup candied citrus peel
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted and cooled
Icing
  • 1¼ cups confectioners' sugar
  • 2 tbsp soft butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp milk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Batter: Mix together the raisins and water in a bowl, and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the raisins and citrus peel.
  4. Beat together the eggs, milk, and melted butter, then add to the dry ingredients all at once. Stir until everything is evenly combined.
  5. Scoop into 12 greased muffin pans (or use paper liners). Bake for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Remove them from the pans and allow them to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before icing.
  6. Icing: Combine all the icing ingredients in a small bowl and beat till thick. Use a pastry bag and tip to pipe thick crosses onto the muffins. (If you don't have a pastry bag, fill a sturdy plastic bag with the frosting, squeezing it down into one corner. Snip the tip of the bag off, and squeeze the frosting onto the muffins.) I used a ziploc bag ... it works fine. Not elegant, but still plenty tasty.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // holidays, muffins, recipes

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