Cookie Calendar: Forest Fruit Rugelach

Yes, I did feature this particular rugelach recipe last year, but I thought rather than feature a recipe I haven't yet made that instead I would tell you how I altered this recipe to fit my taste and ingredients on hand.

The original recipe calls for walnuts and raspberry jam. That's fine and tasty, but why rest on my laurels? I honor traditions, but tweaks keep things interesting.

I substituted chopped pecans for the walnuts. We had half a bag leftover from salad making, true, but pecans are the superior nut. Less bitter, and these days, it seems, less expensive.



(Three-year-old A did a great job spreading the jam here, but I did forget to tell him to leave a small circle of dough empty in the middle. You'll remember.)

For the raspberry jam, I skipped both the suggested apricot jam and the cherry filling in King Arthur Flour's version in favor of forest fruit jam. I spied a jar at the local Aldi, and it brought me back to last Christmas in Europe. Forest fruit is a standard jam flavor in East-Central Europe, as common as strawberry here. This one featured raspberries and blackberries among other tasty woodland berries.

I've found that rugelach adapt well to any jam or nut you feel inspired to use. You can also sprinkle in dried fruit. Be creative!

I'd suggest using salted butter instead of the unsalted I used to get extra flavor into your cookies. I read a post on shortbread over at the Bakers' Banter blog that suggested as such after I'd already made my dough. Oh well.

Forest Fruit Rugelach
Source: Adapted from Kraft Foods
Yield: 64 cookies

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, preferably salted, softened
2¼ cups flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans
½ cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar, divided
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, divided
¼ cup forest fruit preserves

1. Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gradually add flour, mixing well after each addition. (Dough will be very soft and sticky.) Divide dough into 4 portions; place each on sheet of plastic wrap. Pat each portion into 1-inch-thick circle, using floured hands. Wrap plastic wrap around each circle to enclose. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Cover baking sheets with foil or parchment paper. Mix walnuts, 1/2 cup of the sugar and 2 tsp. of the cinnamon; set aside. Roll each portion of dough to 11-inch circle on lightly floured surface, lifting dough occasionally to add more flour to work surface as necessary. Spread each circle evenly with 1 Tbsp. of the preserves.

3. Sprinkle nut mixture over preserves. Cut each circle into 16 wedges. Roll up each wedge, starting from wide side. Place, point sides down, on prepared baking sheets; shape into crescents. Sprinkle with combined remaining 1 tsp. cinnamon and 2 Tbsp. sugar.

4. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately remove from baking sheets. Cool on wire rack.

Cookie Calendar: Decorator's Dream Cookies

Picture soon!

I put all those tips I expounded upon yesterday (now with pictures!) into practice today. My cutout experience was, far and away, much, much easier this time around. It came even close to meriting the name of today's recipe: Decorator's Dream Cookies.

The dough was thoroughly chilled before I even started to roll, as I let it sit in the fridge for a couple days until I felt confident enough to make cutouts. It held up in storage perfectly.

The moment the dough seemed to soften, I stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes. I kept the dough on the chilled cookie sheets to retain the low temperature for as long as possible. The cold, hardened dough cut cleanly and peeled off the parchment without much trouble.

Which was definitely a good thing, as I cut huge cookies out of this dough (that I forgot to take a picture of before wrapping and freezing - you'll have to wait for Saturday at least!). Those trees and snowmen will get a hard, opaque glaze suitable for writing on with food-safe markers at the kids' Christmas party.

The third round of cutouts, though, I devoted to smaller cookies for us to snack on before Christmas. I have to say, despite being the third rollout, and despite all the extra flour from rolling, these cookies stayed tender. A sweet, delicious confection.

I'd recommend this sugar cookie recipe just as highly as Alton Brown's. His cookies, being plain, are best suited to strongly flavored icings. These cookies, with their hefty dose of extract (I used vanilla), don't need anything more than a glaze. They'd also be fine with bland royal icing.

After all, they are a decorator's dream.

Decorator's Dream Cookies
Source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
Yield: About 4 dozen 2-inch cookies

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cups (8 ounces) confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon baker's ammonia (optional) [for extra-crisp cookies]
3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1. In a medium-sized bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and corn syrup until light and fluffy. Beat in the Fiori or extract and salt. Add the baker's ammonia to the egg and water and stir to dissolve. Add this mixture, along with the flour, to the ingredients in the bowl and beat until smooth. Divide the dough in half, put each half in a plastic bag, and flatten each slightly. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. There's no need to grease the baking sheets.

3. Take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator and flour a clean work surface and the dough. Roll it out as thin or thick as you like; for slightly less crisp cookies, roll it out more thickly. We roll these cookies to a 1/16 to 1/8-inch thickness. Sprinkle flour under and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking to the table or rolling pin.

4. Alternatively, place the dough on parchment and put a sheet of plastic wrap over it as you roll, pulling the plastic to eliminate wrinkles as necessary when rolling. This will keep dough from sticking without the need for additional flour.

5. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible.

6. Transfer the cookies to the ungreased cookie sheets (or, if you've rolled right on parchment, remove the dough scraps between the cookies). Bake the cookies just until they're slightly brown around the edges, 8 to 12 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they're set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cookie Calendar: Gingerbread Cookies

I faced down my cookie demons tonight and attempted some honest-to-goodness cutout cookies. No slicing, no pressing - this time, I flattened the dough with a rolling pin and used actual cookie cutters.

It took an hour and a half. For half the cookies.

I did learn a few valuable rollout-cookie lessons.

1. Keep the dough very, very cold. Alton Brown instructed me it was essential on his show yesterday, and today I discovered how right he was. The process went a lot more smoothly when I stuck the dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes after I rolled it out. The cutters pushed through more crisply, and the dough held its shape as I peeled it off the parchment.

2. Roll on parchment. Being able to lift the parchment and peel it back from the cookies made it a lot easier to get them up for transferring to the cookie sheet. A spatula can smoosh the dough, making it lose its shape.

3. Flour generously. AB suggests confectioner's sugar, but I have more flour around. The flour works with the chilling to prevent sticking. It's especially helpful for rubbing on the rolling pin.



After two rollings, I elected to form the rest of the dough into small rounds. Cookies turn tougher with each batch you roll out, but I can't bear to throw away the remaining dough.

This recipe produced crunchy cookies, much like gingersnaps. They taste pleasantly spicy, with a strong molasses flavor. For a softer small cookie, bake for less than eight minutes.

Cousin C helped with the cookies today. She's older than A and B, and certainly seems to have experience, but it's hard to keep her interest for long in activities not involving driving a Mario Kart vehicle off a bridge. Oh well.

Gingerbread Cookies
Source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
Yield: 3 dozen 3-inch cookies

3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (6 oz) brown sugar, packed
3/4 (9 oz) cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice or cloves
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 oz) flour

1. In a saucepan set over low heat, or in the microwave, melt butter, then stir in the brown sugar, molasses, salt, and spices. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, let it cool to lukewarm, then beat in the egg.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the baking powder and soda into the flour, and then stir these dry ingredients into the molasses mixture. Divide the dough in half, and wrap well. Refrigerate for 1 hour or longer.

3. Preheat your oven to 375°F. There's no need to grease the baking sheets.

4. Once the dough has chilled, take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator, and flour a clean work surface, and the dough. Roll it out as thin or thick as you like; for slightly less crisp cookies, roll it out more thickly.

5. Use flour under and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking to the table or rolling pin. Alternatively, place the dough on parchment, and put a sheet of plastic wrap over it as you roll, pulling the plastic to eliminate wrinkles as necessary when rolling; this will keep dough from sticking without the need for additional flour. For soft dough, or dough to be rolled extra-thin, you may choose to roll right onto the ungreased back of a baking sheet.

6. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste.

7. Transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets (or, if you've rolled right onto the parchment, remove the dough scraps between the cookies). Bake the cookies just until they're slightly brown around the edges 8 to 12 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they're set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Good Eats' "The Cookie Clause" On Now

That is, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. If you're on the West Coast, you can catch it in three hours.

"The Cookie Clause" will repeat at 3:30 a.m., if you want to set your TiVo.

If you're interested in the featured recipes on the show, check out these two posts:

Cookie Calendar: Sugar Cookies

Cookie Calendar: Chocolate-Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

Cookie Calendar: Fruit-Flavored Cookie Dough

Remember the Pinwheel Cookies? Here's another dough to swirl into those fancy rounds, one that will light up kids' eyes with its psychedelic color.

The secret ingredient that transforms this dough from plain vanilla to a vivid hue is one 3-oz. box of flavored gelatin. You can use whatever flavor makes you happy, but I'm employing strawberry and lime for their Christmas-y colors.

My dough is chilling in the fridge, waiting for kids to come roll it into pretzels (I'll post that recipe soon), but tasted raw, the fruit flavor is as faint as the recipe warns. However, it does have the distinct sour tang of fruity gelatin. We'll see if it lasts when baked.

I made this and one other dough tonight. Wrapped in wax paper and sealed in gallon-sized zipper bags, they'll wait for me to have the time to roll them out. I often stockpile doughs in the fridge when doing my holiday baking, as it's much more efficient to keep reusing the ingredients and tools I have out without stopping to bake.

If you can't wait to bake this dough, visit the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's web site, which has an excerpt from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion giving you recipes for the two other dough flavors plus instructions for the many cookie varieties you can craft from them.

P.S.: Yesterday's sugar cookie entry is now updated, with my baking experiences and beautiful photos. Check it out. Now.

Fruit-Flavored Cookie Dough
Source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
Yield: Depends on the baking method

3 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) confectioners' sugar
1 (4-serving size) package fruit-flavored dry gelatin mix
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt, extra-fine preferred
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the sugar, gelatin mix, butter, salt and vanilla. Add the flour, stirring to make a cohesive dough. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cookie Calendar: Sugar Cookies

What is Christmas without sugar cookies?

Linzers or spritz, frosted or stamped, homemade or store-bought, sugar cookies grace every holiday table in some form.

As I write this, I have two logs of Alton Brown's sugar cookie dough sitting in the fridge, waiting to be baked. Though he calls for rolling out the dough, I'll attempt to slice off cookies to avoid the hassle. I've read sticking it in the freezer for about half an hour before slicing helps the dough keep its shape. Maybe I made that up. We'll see tomorrow!

I'll update this post tomorrow to detail my experience getting from dough to cookie, plus let you know how they taste. I can tell you that everyone in the kitchen yesterday enjoyed the taste of the raw dough, as I had to keep batting off thieves!



The Next Day: I did freeze the dough for about 30 minutes before I sliced it. The extra firming made it a breeze to slice into 1/4-inch rounds. No rolling; no mush!

The dough did not spread or puff excessively in the oven, so I'd recommend it for fancy cutout cookies if you have the patience to roll out your dough. Below, you'll see the raw slice on the left, with a baked cookie to its right.



My cookies needed only seven minutes to bake, but mine were on the small side. In case you're unsure how to tell when your sugar cookies are done, check out these photos:



Notice that the cookie is just browning on the very bottom edge. When you pull out the cookies, you'll see a bare hint of golden brown right where the dough touches the pan.



The bottom will look much like this: mostly golden brown, with blond spots, yet no dark brown. I did, in fact, forget to set the timer for one tray of cookies, which took on a decidedly dark brown cast.

Sugar Cookies
Source: Alton Brown
Yield: about 3 dozen 2 1/2-inch cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

12 Days of Cookies: Snowflake Cookies Recipe for MacGourmet

Once is a coincidence; twice engenders paranoia.

After making the Chocolate Crinkles dough yesterday (pictures now posted!), I mixed up a batch of Alton Brown's sugar cookie dough to use for the annual thick-frosted cookies. And today's 12 Days of Cookies recipe?

Sugar cookies.

Specifically, Snowflake Cookies, courtesy of Paula Deen (her second recipe this year). It's the decorating that sets these apart from the millions of other sugar cookie recipes out there, and a frosting recipe is included just for that purpose.

Now's a good a time as any to look this up: Are silver dragées toxic? I've heard you aren't supposed to eat them . . . OK, here's the report: Metallic dragées are edible, but the FDA does not consider them food and recommends they only be used for decoration. They once contained mercury in the silver finish (yuck). However, the only state to ban metallic dragées these days is California.

So if you're reading this from the Golden State, sorry, no shiny snowflakes for you!

Check out today's recipe on Food Network's site, or download Snowflake Cookies into MacGourmet.

12 Days of Cookies: Candy Cane Cookies Recipe for MacGourmet

Speak of the devil, and he appears.

In this case, blog about candy cane cookies, and another candy cane cookie recipes appears in your inbox the next morning.

Well, I'll be da - OK, maybe I'm taking the analogy too far.

Anyway, these cookies aren't quite the same as the recipe I baked yesterday. The Neelys' cookies are lemon flavored, rather than vanilla mint. They also twist two separate strips of dough together to create the striped candy-cane look instead of creating a variegated rectangle.

By now, I think it's clear that rather than going with a theme, like last year's international cookies, this year's newsletter is all about promoting the new crop of TV chefs. Half of the recipes so far have come from the rising stars at the network instead of our old favorites. We've come a long way since the days when most of the recipes came courtesy of the net's only dedicated pastry chef.

Check out today's recipe on Food Network's site, or download Candy Cane Cookies into MacGourmet.

Cookie Calendar: King Arthur's Special Roll-Out Sugar Cookies

Recipes like these are what make me wish I left more than spilled ingredients on my cookbooks.

I'm constantly on the lookout for a reliable recipe for roll-out cookies that hold up to cutting with intricate cutters and to decorating. The problem is, every year I forget what sugar cookie recipes worked (or didn't) the year before.

Because. I. never. write. it. down!

I know I attempted this sugar cookie recipe a couple years ago. There was flour cemented to the page as evidence! But I can't remember if they spread and puffed, ruining the pretty cookie shapes.

It's a problem, because I need to choose a recipe for this year's attempt at fir trees and snowmen. I'm considering this recipe, but I'm leaning toward either another one from the same book called "Decorator's Dream Cookies" or the "Holiday Cookies" from my new America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I have also eyed the Pioneer Woman's recipe for Christmas cut-out cookies, which have an interesting painting technique.

Ack! I can't decide.

I'm actually planning to make two sugar cookies this year. One I'll use for fancy shapes and decoration, and the others I'll probably scoop straight from the bowl onto the pan for rounds I can slather in that accursed margarine frosting that apparently it wouldn't be Christmas without.

I still refuse to go the route of pre-made dough even for those, though. Principles, people!

One thing, though -- even if I can't remember whether these cookies puffed and spread, I do know that at least they are tasty!

King Arthur's Special Roll-Out Sugar Cookies
Source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
Yield: 42 cookies

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 large egg
¼ cup (2 ounces) heavy cream or sour cream
3 tablespoons (¾ ounce) cornstarch
3 cups (12¾ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, vanilla, and almond extract until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Add half the cream, all of the cornstarch, and half the flour; beat well. Add the remaining cream and flour, mixing just until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.

2. Divide the dough in half, flatten into rounds, and wrap well. Refrigerate for 1 hour or more, to facilitate rolling.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

4. Transfer the chilled dough to a lightly floured work surface and place a piece of plastic wrap over it while you roll it out to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll the dough to ¹⁄₈ to ¼ inch thick. Cut it into shapes of your choice and transfer to the prepared baking sheets.

5. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until they're set but not browned. Remove them from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Use a metal spatula to pick up one cookie; if it seems fragile or breaks, let the cookies continue to cool until you can handle them easily.

12 Days of Cookies: Peppermint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Today's recipe arrived late to my inbox. Was it worth the wait?

Peppermint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies leap out as a Giada recipe for their plentiful application of chocolate, yet the fact that this recipe uses store-bought sugar cookie dough makes me wonder if Sandra Lee had a hand in their creation. After all, isn't Giada De Laurentiis supposed to be an experienced pastry chef?

However, if your cookie tastes run more towards decorating (or eating) than baking, take a second look at today's cookie. They're simple, with most of the effort devoted to the ganache filling and chocolate glaze. Use parchment paper to roll the cookies out and you won't even make a big mess.

Check out today's recipe on Food Network's site, or download Peppermint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies into MacGourmet.

12 Days of Cookies: Gingerbread Cookies Recipe for MacGourmet

This year's 12 Days of Cookies line-up seems focused on promoting Food Network celebrities, with their takes on the classics of the Christmas cookie lineup. Today, for example, we're treated to newly minted star Anne Burrell's tried-and-true Gingerbread Cookies.

I can't help making gingerbread people every year, even though they're among my least-popular cookies thanks to a combo of large size and challenging flavor.

As in, not plain vanilla or chocolate. Why are people are such picky eaters?! My cardamom butter squares and date-stuffed maamoul are weeping from afar.

Gingerbread cookies make darling tree ornaments if you're unable to talk your family into venturing out. And if you enjoy spicy carrot cake or pumpkin pie, why not bite the head off a gingerbread man this year before off he runs as fast as he can?

Check out today's recipe on Food Network's site, or download Gingerbread Cookies into MacGourmet.

12 Days of Cookies: Pistachio Linzertorte with Cherry Jam Recipe for MacGourmet

Day 2 of Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies brings one of my favorite cookie varieties, the Linzertorte.

While you might find the tart version of this confection in its native Austria and Hungary, here in America it's known mostly as a Christmastime sandwich cookies.

What distinguishes Linzer cookies from other sandwiches is the use of ground nuts in the tender, crumbly cookie. Hazlenuts are traditional, it seems, though I've often seen recipes call for less-expensive almonds. Paula Deen's recipe defies tradition and goes with pistachios, perhaps a more festive choice with their natural green hue.

I usually see Linzer cookies made using round, fluted cutters, with small, decorative cutters used for the peek-a-boo holes on top where the jewel-colored jam shines through. However, unless you are a traditionalist, there's no reason not to use whatever shapes you have on hand. A drinking glass and an apple corer might even work.

Check out today's recipe on Food Network's site, or download Pistachio Linzertorte with Cherry Jam into MacGourmet.

Salty Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

The recipe title alone sounded so intriguing that I had decided to make these Salty Oatmeal Cookies before I read on and discovered . . . another roll-out cookie!

If Homer Simpson became a baker, he might yelp, "Dough!"

Tee-hee. I crack myself up.

Honestly, I tried to roll the suckers out, but this dough did not seem at all suited to it. The large oat flakes caused the dough to break apart whenever I lifted it. Thus, I was back to scooping and flattening with a floured glass bottom.

The recipe could use some more detail, frankly. Nowhere does it tell me how big each cookie should be, so there's no way I was going to emerge with three dozen cookies. Also, it would have been helpful to know how much these cookies spread before I crowded a ton onto the first tray.

So here's your warning: They spread a lot. Allow space.



Salty Oatmeal Cookies don't resemble the classic recipe off the top of the Quaker Oats carton. White sugar makes for a very light cookie, and of course, no raisins enter the picture. The cookies also lack the warm spices that make their way into many oatmeal cookie recipes in favor of plain, simple salt.

I elected to use kosher salt rather than table salt for gilding the cookies. I've read larger flakes are better accents, with the texture adding a little crunch. Plus, it's a bit prettier.



Tastewise? I don't know. I think brown sugar, with its more caramel flavor, would be a better base. The cookie flavor as is reminds me strongly of a honey-wheat pretzel, with a slightly sweet, grainy base and strong saltiness.

Not bad. I could see it growing on me. They're a decent snack.

Interested in this recipe? Check out a few other bloggers who have tried it:
Culinary in the Country: Trying to keep my hand out of the cookie jar . . .
The Everyday Gourmet: Salty Oatmeal Cookies

My recipe comments in [brackets].

Salty Oatmeal Cookies
Source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
Yield: 3 dozen cookies

½ cup (3¼ ounces) vegetable shortening
½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1 large egg
1½ cups (6¼ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling [I used kosher salt for sprinkling]
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups (10½ ounces) rolled oats

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening, butter, and sugar until light. Beat in the egg. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda and stir into the sugar/shortening mixture. Mix in the vanilla and oats. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured work surface. Cut it into shapes with your favorite cutter, or simply cut it into squares or diamonds, using a pizza wheel or a sharp knife. Lightly sprinkle the surface of the dough with salt.

4. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until they're just lightly colored at the edges. Remove them from the oven, let rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Snaps

I waited until the witching hour, but I finally managed to bake the Halloween cookies I've been planning all month.

Not that I haven't been baking. I've churned out several loaves of bread (two this past week alone), a couple batches of muffins, and two dozen carrot cupcakes with pumpkin-hued cream cheese frosting to get us in the Halloween mood.

Mmm. Carrot cake. Aaaauuughhhhh.

Anyway, I decided that Halloween demanded dark chocolate cookies, especially since I'd already gone the fall-spice route with the cupcakes. Preferably, cookies made from a recipe calling for Dutch-process cocoa, which produces baked goods as black as my wicked heart.



And black my heart felt after struggling fiercely with this extremely soft dough. I chilled it for three hours, which was the minimum suggested, but I doubt a longer rest would have helped matters. Maybe a nice marble gravestone to roll on . . .

I heavily floured the countertop, as instructed, but the cookies sucked it up like vampires at a blood bank. I managed to get three cookies off the counter without resorting to my bench scraper. The rest got reformed into circles on the baking sheet.

Next, I tried patting the dough out straight onto the cookie sheet with my hands, punching out the cookies and pulling off the excess. That method worked all right, but the dough still stuck the rolling pin and it was a pain to peel up the excess.

I tried slicing a log of dough, but the soft dough squished into little rectangles. I couldn't slice it thin enough, either. Still, this method yielded some success when I rolled the cut dough into balls, placed them on the cookie sheets, and pressed them flat with a greased glass bottom.

I cast a spell on you, recipe, and now you're mine!

A ghost of a problem: The flattened cookies turned out bigger than the 2-1/4 inches called for in the recipe, so I only ended up with 53 cookies, far from eight to nine dozen. I never hit the recipe yield right, though, so no big deal.



The cookies taste a lot like slightly soft Oreos, appropriate since one of the variations calls for sandwiching them around a creamy filling. If you love the classic lunchbox cookie, you'll enjoy these.

I usually avoid roll-out cookies (and pie dough) because of these hassles. They're the monsters under my baking bed; the boogeymen in my cookie closet. But tonight, I persevered and triumphed; the brains of Frankenstein combined with the cunning of the Wolfman pulled me through the ordeal.

Happy Halloween!

My comments in [brackets].

Chocolate Snaps
Source: King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook
Yield: 8 to 9 dozen cookies [I ended up with 53 cookies]

1-1/2 cups (6-1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (2-1/4 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa powder [natural cocoa is given as a possible substitution, but your cookies will turn out reddish rather than blackish]
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounce) sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder, whisking until no lumps remain. In a separate, larger bowl, beat the butter until light. Add the sugar and continue beating until it's well incorporated. Then add the egg, water, and vanilla and beat for at least 2 minutes, until the mixture has lightened both in color and texture. [The change is dramatic.] Gently mix in the dry ingredients.

2. Shape the dough into a flattened disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours, or overnight. This dough is very soft, so it's imperative that it's been chilled before you roll it out.

3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two or three baking sheets. [Actually, if you rolled the cookie dough out on the parchment, transferred the paper to the sheet, cut the cookies, and removed the excess, that might work better than the coming step . . .]

4. On a clean, heavily floured work surface, roll the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness, and use a round cutter to cut it into 2-1/4-inch circles. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets. They won't expand a great deal, so you don't need a lot of space between them.

5. Bake the cookies for 17 to 18 minutes. (Watch them carefully; it's difficult to tell when they're done, as they're so dark you can't see if they're brown, but when you start to smell them they're probably done. If you smell even a whiff of scorching, remove them from the oven immediately.) Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool them completely.

Nutrition (1 cookie, 7 g): 30 calories, 1 g fat, 1 g protein, 2 g complex carbohydrates, 2 g sugar, 6 mg cholesterol, 14 mg sodium, 14 mg potassium, 14 RE vitamin A, 3 mg calcium, 8 mg phosphorus, 2 mg caffeine

Optional: Frost the cookies with orange-tinted Vanilla Yogurt Frosting for a spooky treat.

Cookie Calendar: Ultimate Sugar Cookies

OK, this recipe is not the fanciest for sugar cookies out there, but if you're looking for something reliable and planning to smother the things with a thick coat of butter frosting anyway, they will certainly do the trick.

You know, Alton Brown said on the chocolate-chip cookies episode of Good Eats that butter-flavored Crisco somehow tastes more buttery than butter in cookies. It's possible. I'm betting the stuff is chock-full of diacetyl . . . let me check.

Looked it up on Netgrocer . . . no ingredients listed. But I did learn that apparently the "0 g trans fat" thing has moved into the butter-flavored line. Well, you can feel a little less guilty about eating these, unless you're still making that frosting with margarine.

Well, the Crisco web site lists ingredients, and it doesn't mention diacetyl specifically, just "natural and artificial butter flavors." I guess the jury's still out on whether taking a big whiff of hot butter-flavored Crisco every day will give you popcorn lung.

Cookie Tip #12: Be gentle with your roll-out cookie dough. The first roll of the dough will always produce the most tender cookies because subsequent kneading together and rolling of the dough will develop the gluten. Gluten equals nice, chewy bread and yucky, tough cookies. Hmm, tough cookies. Anyway, I don't believe in throwing away a ton of dough, so I always do a second rolling out. Just try not to manipulate the dough too much -- push it into the empty spaces to form a nearly flat cohesive mass again, then gently smooth out the top with the rolling pin.

Ultimate Sugar Cookies
Source: Crisco

• 1-¼ c. sugar


• 1-¼ c. (1 stick) butter-flavor Crisco


• 2 eggs


• ¼ c. light corn syrup or regular pancake syrup


• 1 tablespoon vanilla


• 3 c. all-purpose flour


• ¾ teaspoons baking powder


• ½ teaspoon baking soda


• ½ teaspoon salt


• Decorations (your choice)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine sugar and Crisco in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, syrup and vanilla. Beat until well blended and fluffy.

Combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix until well blended. Divide dough into four quarters. Tip: If dough is too sticky or too soft to roll: Wrap each quarter of dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour.

Spread flour on large sheet of waxed paper. Place 1/4 of dough on floured paper. Flatten slightly with hands. Turn dough over and cover with another large sheet of waxed paper. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out with floured cutter. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet with large pancake turner. Place two inches apart. Sprinkle with granulated sugar or colored sugar crystals, or leave plain to frost when cooled.

Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 degrees for 5 to 9 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. Cool two minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to racks to cool completely; frost if desired.

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Cookie Calendar: Minty Cream Wafers

And more with the mint!

Did you know that the flavor of mint appears to suppress your appetite? Sort of lends credence to that well-traveled bit of diet advice about brushing your teeth immediately after eating to curb snacking. I've heard that cinnamon also acts to curb your desire to eat. It seems that Christmas cookies are the answer to our nation's obesity crisis.

OK, maybe not.

I remember making these last year and having such a difficult time finding plain, minty candy canes. Cherry, tropical fruit, citrus -- sure! But the candy cane we all think of when we think of candy canes, the kind that are typically a dime a dozen? Nowhere to be found in the week before Christmas!

I don't remember if we ever found candy canes or if we had to resort to crushing starlight mints. I suppose we could have just gone the fresh mint route and saved ourselves some trouble, but I didn't think that it would hold up so well in storage.

At any rate, these are a sweet little cookie. Use candy canes in the filling if you like the crunch but don't mind the sticky candy taking up residence in your molars; use the mint if you're fancy and planning to serve the cookies right away before it can discolor.

Cookie Tip #11: While red and green are traditional Christmas colors, don't limit yourself in decorating your cookies! Dye frosting a deep yellow for a holiday gold, or leave it snowy white. Blue is popular for both Hanukkah and Christmas, and purple was pretty trendy last December. If you stick with red and green, your cookie platter will look pretty dull. If you go a little wild, it'll look lit up like a Christmas tree!

Minty Cream Wafers
Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Yield: 70 cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened


• 2 cups all purpose flour


• ⅓ cup evaporated milk


• granulated sugar


• ½ cup butter, softened


• 1 tsp. vanilla


• 2 ⅓ cups sifted powdered sugar


• ¼ tsp. peppermint extract (optional)


• Red and green food coloring


• 2 to 3 tbsp. finely snipped fresh mint or finely crushed candy cane (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, beat the 1 cup butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 3- seconds. Beat in flour and evaporated milk. Form into ball. Cover, chill 2 hours or until firm.

Preheat oven to 375°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and sprinkle with sugar. Prick each round three times with a fork. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the 1/2 cup butter on medium to high speed about 30 seconds. Add vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in peppermint extract, if using. Separate filling into 2 bowls. Tint one part with red food coloring and the other with green. Generously spread the bottoms of one-fourth of the wafers with red frosting and one-fourth with green frosting. Lightly sprinkle the center of the frosting with snipped fresh mint or crushed candy cane, if desired. Top with remaining wafers, bottom sides down.

Notes:
Tip: If planning to store cookies for longer than three days at room temperature, do not use fresh mint as it may get dark.

Nutritional notes:
66 cal., 4 g total fat (2 g sat. fat), 11 mg chol., 31 mg sodium, 7 g carbo., 0 g fiber, 0 g. protein, 3% vit. A, 0% vit. C, 0% calcium, 1% iron

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Cookie Calendar: Fourteen-in-One

I relish the idea of putting my hand to a dozen different cookie recipes at least every holiday season. I go through butter and sugar like water throughout November and December, and I buy countless bottles of special spices, extracts, nuts, and dried fruits to create a vast spread.

However. . . I think most people prefer the idea of a cookie swap, where you save time and money buy investing in one giant batch of the same cookie, then meet up with friends or co-workers to exchange wares. I've participated in these before, too.

But I (and Scott) end up eating all the exchange cookies well before Christmas!

Anyway, this recipe, from The Joy of Cooking (maybe The Joy of Cookies right now!), is like a cookie swap without the get-together. You stock up on just the ingredients for the master recipe, make the one giant batch, but you customize and add little bits as you go to end up with different varieties.

While pretty much all the variations sound scrumptious, I've only tried the Cornmeal-Citrus and the Coconut myself. The cornmeal adds a bit of grittiness to the cookies, which is good if you're looking for a contrasting texture, but the cookies remain very tender. The Coconut cookies might be improved by adding coconut extract, maybe to replace some of the vanilla.

Cookie Tip #2: If you hold a cookie swap this year, plan on bringing a cookie that's sturdy enough for travel and not sticky. Jam or other coatings can get onto the other cookies you're collecting, making for poor presentation later. And don't forget to bring a collecting container!

Fourteen-in-One (Master Recipe)
Source: The Joy of Cooking

• ½ lb. unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature


• 1 c. sugar, processed in a food processor for 30 seconds (or superfine sugar)


• ½ teaspoon salt


• 1 large egg yolk


• 1 large egg


• 2 teaspoons vanilla


• 2-½ c. all-purpose flour

Cream butter, sugar and salt. Add egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low and beat in flour until just combined.

Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least one hour. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to two days or it can be double-wrapped and frozen for up to one month.)

To bake, position a rack in the upper third and lower third of the over. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator and cut in half. Return the unused portion to the refrigerator.

Either: Scoop the cookie dough into 1-tablespoon balls with a small ice cream scoop and roll each ball between your palms until smooth. Place the dough balls on parchment-lined cookie sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a smooth, flour-coated glass, flatten each dough ball to about 1/8 inch thick.

Or: Lightly flour the work surface. Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick, using an offset spatula to loosen the dough. Sprinkle the surface lightly with flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking (use powdered sugar or wax paper, alternatively). Cut the dough into desired shapes. Place the dough shapes on parchment-lined cookie sheets, spacing about 1/2 inch apart. Get as many dough shapes as you can our of each sheet, because the dough should be rolled only two times. Discard any leftover dough after the second rolling, or form the leftover dough into balls and flatten them to about 1/8 inch thick.

Bake, two sheets at a time, until the cookies are evenly golden brown, 6-8 minutes; rotate the sheets halfway through baking for even browning. Using a thin-bladed spatula, immediately transfer the cookie to racks to cool to room temperature. Decorate the cooled cookies, if desired, and transfer to an airtight container.

Notes:

Variations:

Cornmeal Citrus Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon or orange zest to the creamed butter, sugar and salt, and substituting 1 cup fine cornmeal for 1 cup of the flour.

Chocolate-Cinnamon Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 1 ounce melted and cooled unsweetened chocolate to the creamed butter, sugar and salt. Substitute 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa for 1/4 cup of the flour and add 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to the flour-cocoa mixture.

Marble Cookies
Follow the master recipe, stirring 2 ounces melted and cooled semisweet or bittersweet chocolate into 1/4 of the master recipe dough. Divide the chocolate dough into six portions. Press into the remaining 3/4 of the master recipe dough. Knead the doughs together to create a marbled effect.

Lemon Butter Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest to the creamed butter, sugar and salt.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest to the creamed butter, sugar and salt, and stirring 2 tablespoons poppy seeds into the finished dough.

Orange Butter Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest to the creamed butter, sugar and salt.

Orange-Nut Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest and 1 cup finely ground walnuts, pecans or skinned hazelnuts to the creamed butter, sugar and salt.

Coconut Cookies
Follow the master recipe, stirring 1 cup flaked sweetened dried coconut, toasted, into the finished dough.

Ginger Cookies
Follow the master recipe, adding 1 teaspoon ground ginger to the flour and stirring 6 tablespoons finely minced candied ginger into the finished dough.

Butterscotch Cookies
Follow the master recipe, substituting 1 cup packed light brown sugar for the sugar.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Because of the extra fat from the peanut butter, these cookies have a sandier, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Follow the master recipe, creaming 2/3 cup peanut butter with the butter, sugar and salt.

Spice Cookies

Follow the master recipe, substituting 1 cup packed light brown sugar for the sugar and adding 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves to the flour.

Raisin-Spice Cookies

Prepare Spice Cookies, above, stirring 1/2 cup finely minced raisins or 1/2 cup dried currants into the finished dough.

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