Holiday Cookies Three Can t-miss Recipes
Your Host- Errol Crary Hi. I am Errol Crary, the host of the WidowerRecipes website, and the author of this Holiday Cookies ebook. My wife Marlys died in May 2012, and left me with a large loose-leaf binder of recipes. Last December, I decide to try to make some of the many cookie recipes she had collected; I had some failures, but mostly success, and I got hooked on cooking and baking. In late March 2013, my daughter Mindy helped me start the WidowerRecipes website, and I have been publishing ever since. This ebook focuses on a few of my favorite recipes that I haven't posted to the website--therefore, as a thank-you for being a subscriber, these are exclusively for you! I may post them on the site later this year, but you get the advance copy of my favorite recipes.
Holiday Season Cooking Marlys always enjoyed celebrating the holidays by making cookies and candy. She collected cans with the holiday motif in which to keep her cooking, and decorated the house with the cans; they would be on tables and counters, on bookcases and buffet, where ever there was space. She had big cans, and small cans. Cans with candy usually were in the refrigerator so the chocolate wouldn t melt. Any given year, Marlys and our daughters would easily make a dozen different kinds of cookies and candy. The recipes I am giving you in this ebook are but a small section of her many recipes that make her family think of the Holiday Season. I hope they can become an addition to the way you celebrate the Holiday Season.
The Recipes Recipe #1: Kookie Brittle a pan cookie that is broken into uneven pieces. Recipe #2: Snickerdoodle a drop cookie that really says Holiday Season. Recipe #3: Cut-Out cookies a real challenge to bring out the artist in everyone. Bonus Recipe! English Toffee the ever favorite candy to go with the cookies I am adding the candy English Toffee to the list of recipes as a bonus. This has been the Crary family go-to candy and one of the first recipes we make for the Holiday Season.
Kookie Brittle The irregular shape of the pieces of Kookie Brittle invite you to take the size piece that will be just right. One size does not fit all when eating cookies.
Ingredients for Kookie Brittle 1 cup butter 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup granulated sugar 2 cup sifted All Purpose flour 6 oz. chocolate chips (semi-sweet) ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
Directions Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Blend the butter, vanilla and salt together well. Gradually add the sugar, flour and chips. Press evenly into an ungreased 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the top and press firmly into the dough. Bake 25 minutes or until browned. Cool and break into irregular pieces and drain on paper towels
Hints and Suggestions I was surprised that the directions do NOT cream the butter and sugar, but add the sugar later with the dry ingredients. I think this may make the mixing of the dry ingredients into the dough slightly more difficult. The dough is very stiff when mixing is finished; it is almost the consistency of clay. It will take some effort to push it out into all areas of the pan. If you have too much trouble getting the dough spread into the pan, put it in the hot oven for just a minute; it will soften and spread easier.
Snickerdoodle What can say Holiday Season better than the smell and taste of Snickerdoodle cookies. The cinnamon and sugar coating gives a real comfort feeling. I think the cinnamon makes you feel warm and cozy.
Ingredients for Snickerdoodles 1 cup shortening 1 ½ cups sugar, + 2 Tablespoons for rolling 2 eggs 2 ¾ cups AP flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 Tablespoons cinnamon for rolling
Directions Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add vanilla extract. Form into walnut-size balls and roll in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon (2 Tablesoons each mixed well). Bake 10 minutes on greased cookie sheet if not using silicon mats; cool on sheet 3 minutes before moving to cooling racks. Cook one pan at a time
Hints and suggestions I use a #50 scoop to measure the dough into a walnut-size ball. And I use silicon mats on my cookie sheets to avoid the problems of greasing and regreasing the sheets. When I take the cookie sheets from the oven, I slide a cooling rack onto the cookie sheet under the silicon mat to help the cookies cool. I leave it there for 3 minutes for the cookies to harden enough so I can move them.
Cutout Cookies Here is fun for either the little ones, or even older kids-at-heart. It was a ritual in our house for the girls to decorate cookies, and a few years ago, we had an adult decorating party where everyone was over 65 years of age.
Ingredients ½ cup shortening ¼ cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs ½ teaspoon lemon extract 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt
Directions for making the dough Sift together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream the shortening, butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and flavoring and mix until creamy Add dry ingredients and mix til combined. Divide the dough into two parts; put each part on a sheet of plastic wrap Shape each part into a flat disk and wrap in the plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Directions for making the cookies Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, unwrap one package of dough and roll to 1/4 inches thick. Cut out the desired figures with cookie cutters and place on an ungreased baking sheet. If NOT icing the cookies, sprinkle with sugar before cooking Put the baking sheet with the cutout cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes. Reshape the leftover dough into a disk and rewrap it in the plastic wrap, and put it back in the refrigerator to cool. Bake the cookies from the freezer for 8-10 minutes; let the cookies cool on the baking sheet elevated on cooling rack for 3 minutes before moving the cookies off the baking sheets onto cooling racks. While baking the first batch of cutout cookies, use the second package of cooled dough and repeat the above directions Keep the cookies perfectly flat from the time they come from the oven until they are completely cooled on the racks; otherwise, they will break.
Hints and suggestions Don t try to cut out cookies with the plastic cutters that are only 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep, and have all the interesting markings to transfer to the cookie. They are not worth the money. They smash the dough and it ends up stuck in the cutter. After trying with them, I have settled on using only outline shaped cutters that are at least as deep as the dough. To measure 1/4 inch thick for rolling out the dough, I made a couple sticks that I place on either side of the dough, close enough so the rolling pin stays at that height. I have also used a section of clothes closet dowel as a longer rolling pin so the dough is wider; more cookies can be cut at one time. If you break a cookie, keep it together; you can use icing as glue later. At some point, the two packages of dough need to be brought together.
Directions for Icing & Decoration I strongly suggest going to the WidowerRecipes website to find the Royal Icing, recipe and what I learned about decorating cutout cookies at the Decorette Shop Cookie Decorating Class. Icing is simply confectioners sugar and water; this means it does not need refrigeration. The basic amounts are 1 cup sugar to about 1 Tablespoon water. You will need to add more water (not more than 1 teaspoon at a time) to get the consistency you want. I find it easiest to do the decoration in two separate sessions. The first is to do the background colors. Then the second session is to do the details. This is where the decorating party works best. There is no black food coloring; you make brown from the three primary colors red, blue and yellow. If you want truer colors, buy the Gel Paste food coloring dyes at a cake decorating supply shop. They have black and brown colors.
Hints and suggestions Mix a large amount of plain white icing to start (1 cup sugar) and then separate it into multiple dishes to add the food coloring- one drop at a time. For the background, I spoon the icing onto the cookie and then spread it to the edges with a small, offset spatula. For the detail icing, I use small paint brushes. As the icing starts to dry in the dish, you will need to stir it up from the bottom to keep it spreadable. I like white and green as the background colors, and make the green quite light so the detail colors can be seen. More hints and suggestions on the next page ---
More Hints and suggestions Again, you are going to break cookies; glue them back together with icing, and try to keep the cookies flat. Even a small curve in a platter can cause the cookie to droop and break. Avoid picking them up as much as possible while there is any moisture in them. I repaired cookies that were frosted and broke. I used icing to glue them back together, put them on separate dinner plates so they were flat, and then put them in a 200 degree oven for 7-10 minutes. The oven drys them out nicely. I tried a microwave oven, but that failed as it tries to boil the moisture in the cookie rather than evaporate the moisture. Remember that the maker sees all the imperfections, but no one else will notice if you don t point them out. When you serve the cookies, put your nicest ones on top, and no one will notice the mistakes underneath.
English Toffee English Toffee is a favorite when it comes to Holiday Season candy. I find it difficult to make because the changing state of the sugar from hard-ball to caramel is so fast you need to move quickly and use subjective judgment. There is no time to use a candy thermometer or the cold water testing of the sugar s state. The key is the dark golden brown color, but not so dark as to be burned.
Ingredients for English Toffee 1 pound butter 2 cups granulated sugar 2 cups slivered almonds 1 package chocolate chips (12 ounces) 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
Directions Stir butter and sugar together in a large sauce pan over high heat until mixture is melted Continue cooking while stirring constantly until toffee is very smooth and dark golden brown (about 10 minutes). Add almonds and cook one minute longer, being careful not to burn. Spread in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Allow to cool several minutes. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over top. As chips melt, spread over entire surface. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Cool in refrigerator. Knock from pan and break into pieces. Stores well in a covered can in refrigerator; I place wax paper between layers.
Hints and suggestions While the recipe is for a 9 x 13 inch pan, the recipe easily divides in half and can be made in a 6.5 x 9 pan. I have done that many times and recommend starting that way if you are not confident in boiling the sugar. If your pan is glass, I would recommend lining it with foil before buttering it; I have been successful buttering with PAM spray. I broke a glass pan trying to knock the toffee from an unlined pan. You are going to get a little burn in the bottom of your sauce pan; get some Barkeepers Friend and it comes right out. Mindy saw someone making English Toffee, and putting it in a 10x15 inch pan; she felt the depth of the toffee looked better than when in the 9x13 pan. If you want to do this, you should increase the amount of chocolate chips to cover the bigger area; try 16 ounces instead of 12 as a starting point. Do NOT use the point of your good knife to break up the toffee. I lost the point of my knife that way. Depending upon just how close to caramel the sugar got, you might even need to go out to the garage and get a chisel and hammer to break up the toffee.
Conclusion I hope you like these cookies. And I hope I have included enough hints that your Holiday Season cooking is fun and enjoyable. I will publish these recipes on the WidowerRecipes website just before the end of December, but you have exclusive access to the recipes now in this ebook. As I mentioned in the introduction, there are already several good recipes for Holiday Season baking on the WidowerRecipes website. I will remind you of those recipes as well as the ones in this ebook on the next couple slides. Have fun with your Holiday Season cooking, and make your cooking a party where others can join in. Tis the season to be jolly!
Widower Recipes for the Holiday Season Cookies Cutout Cookies Chocolate filled Bon Bons Kookie Brittle Coconut Lime Cookies Snickerdoodles PB&J Cookies Spicy Zucchini Brownies
More Widower Recipes for the Holiday Season Candy Peanut Bark English Toffee Coffee Truffles Breads Banana Tea Bread Zucchini Bread Steamed Bread Pudding
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