Holiday Cookie Swap, Ricochet-Style
Have you ever been to a holiday cookie swap? It's a holiday party with very simple rules: choose your favorite cookie recipe(s), bake a few dozen cookies from it, and then bring them to the party host's house, where a cornucopia of holiday cookies of all shapes, sizes, and flavors will await you.
Though you come with one type of cookie, by the time you leave, your cookie box will be full of a diverse array of holiday goodness, and--in theory--you'll be inspired to bake more fabulous and elaborate cookies next year. Among women, as you can imagine, these cookie swaps become somewhat competitive.
Even though our Ricochet community can't put on a proper holiday party, we can still hold a virtual holiday cookie swap. Instead of baking cookies and swapping them at my place, why don't we swap our favorite cookie recipes here?
For those of you who aren't as disposed to baking, just list your favorite cookie type and maybe one of us can supply a simple recipe.
I'll start with a recipe that I recently tried, via Martha Stewart, for Buttery Pecan Rounds, pictured above.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup finely chopped toasted pecans (about 2 ounces)
Pecan halves, for decorating
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together flour and salt into a small bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment [or you can mix by hand]; mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg yolk until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Mix in chopped pecans.
Using a 1 1/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 3 inches apart. Press 1 pecan half into the center of each. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.
Next up, I'm trying out the Cherry Tuiles.
Even though Martha's recipes are great, and pretty straightforward, I could really use some inspiration from friends I know and trust, which means you!
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May '10
Re: Holiday Cookie Swap, Ricochet-Style
Thanks Emily. As a person who spends more time reading/learning here than sharing, I appreciate this chance to speak up on a less intimidating topic. Now I don't feel like such a lurker! ;)
Here's my mother-in-law's soft and chewy gingersnaps. A Christmas favorite around here. Somehow they are always better when she makes them, but give them a try anyway!
Gingersnaps
2/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses (light)
Mix first 4 ingredients together with a blender.
In a separate bowl mix:
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Add these to the wet ingredients with the blender. Then mix in:
1 3/4 to 2 cups flour (start small and add a little at a time until you get a stiff dough)
Chill the dough for 1/2 hour.
Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.
Makes 40
May '10
Re: Holiday Cookie Swap, Ricochet-Style
We Norwegians have certain unmatched delicacies, each of which requires a special appliance to make, but are worth the result. The all-time best Christmas "cookie", krumkake, which translates roughly as "crumb-cake", is made using a special stove-top iron, or (thank God for technological improvements) a double electric model.
Our younger daughter is allergic to an unidentified milk protein, so she basically has to eat vegan, and here is her recipe, tested successfully last week on her graduate seminar class:
Three eggs, combined with 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until light (or your arm falls off if you lack a mixer), add 1/2 cup cold water, 1/2 cup melted and cooled Earth Balance "margarine"spread (mmmm), 1 tsp cardamom, and ...1 cup flour. Stir to combine, then put one teaspoonful and wait for magic. Check frequently- they bake fast.
Use a butter knife or spatula to remove when done (lighter golden-brown), and then put in the shape you prefer- cone, flat, cylinder- it will "harden" into that shape. Eat plain or fill with whipped cream. Sinfully delightful. Obviously, butter instead of Earth Balance works even better.
Edited on Dec 13, 2010 at 11:57amAug '10
Re: Holiday Cookie Swap, Ricochet-Style
When I get around to it, I'll post my family's recipe for almond/hazelnut meringues.
It is a gluten-free recipe, which will please Ursula, I bet.
They're not my favorite Christmas cookie, but they're our family's tradition.
My favorite Christmas cookies might be Pfeffernüsse (literally peppernuts, because of their spicy flavor) or Lebkuchen (which is sort of a soft, crumbly gingerbread with extra spices). These spice cookies can have pretty much any "sweet" spice imaginable in them -- including black pepper, cocoa powder and citron (citrus peel preserved in sugar -- yum).
According to Wikipedia, "high quality" Elisen Lebkuchen is "flour free" -- and here's a recipe to prove it:
Elisen Lebkuchen recipe (no flour/wheat)
To round things out, here's a decent-looking Pfeffernüsse recipe.
I have yet to try these recipes myself -- because Mom keeps me plenty busy every year mass-producing nut meringues for all the relatives -- which "everyone likes" whether they like it or not. But then, that's how Christmas goes.
May '10
Re: Holiday Cookie Swap, Ricochet-Style
Oh, thank God. I was worried this was a euphemism for one of those parties where everyone tosses their car keys into a bowl.
Nov '10
Re: Holiday Cookie Swap, Ricochet-Style
These aren't holiday cookies by any means, but my mom takes them to one of the above parties every year, so they count. And since they aren't holiday specific, you won't feel awkward having them all year.
Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies
Preheat oven 350*
4 eggs, beat until foamy
Mix well with eggs: 3 c brown sugar (packed), 1.5 c oil, 2 t vanilla
Add and mix well: 1 T baking powder, 2 t salt, 3 c flour
Stir in 2 c/1 12oz package of chocolate chips
Spread on 12"x17" baking sheet with border
bake 35-40 minutes
What comes out is kinda like brownies in appearance, but with the texture (hopefully) somewhere between brownies and cookies - completely firm, yet very chewy.