For my holiday cookies, I think of flavor first. While I’m enchanted by decorated cookies with lacy piping it’s not something I enjoy doing. So I don’t. I make cookies that taste wonderful but aren’t fussy. Cookies such as the Coconut Stars or Norwegian Christmas Cookies might seem a touch plain compared to cookies gilded and bejeweled, but wait until you bite into one. They’re tender, buttery and delicate. They're sophisticated in flavor, not just sweet, and to me, they're so much easier to make, rather than fooling with icings and a piping bag. Try one, you’ll love it.
Tips to amp the flavor:
• If you bake only occasionally check your ingredients before starting. Baking powder can lose its potency after a year or so. Spices will lose their pungency after about a year. Give them a sniff and purchase new ones if the aromas have faded.
• To add more vanilla flavor to a plain sugar cookie, bury a vanilla bean in some sugar for four or five days and use that sugar before baking. Or if you are rushed, process the sugar for the recipe with a cut-up vanilla bean in a food processor until very finely ground.
• Plain cookies also can be enhanced with freshly grated citrus zest added to the batter. Then ice them with a powdered sugar glaze prepared with a squeeze of juice from the same citrus fruit.
• To gussy up a butter cookie, add some colored sanding sugar on the top. The sugar will add a crunch and sparkling effect.
• Buy fresh nuts for baking and keep them frozen in zip-top freezer bags. Toast them before using to deepen their flavor.
• Ginger cookies will be even more deeply flavored if you add some finely chopped crystallized ginger to the batter along with ground ginger.
• Spice cookies will benefit from a touch of ground fresh pepper as a backdrop flavor.
• Switch up the flavor in a chocolate cookie by using a darker chocolate. Even bittersweet. Deepen the flavor by adding a little instant espresso powder to the batter, or if it calls for some liquid use strong brewed coffee.
Miriam Rubin: mmmrubin@gmail.com or on Twitter @mmmrubin.
Candied Fruit Slices
PG Tested
My mother always made these cookies for the holidays. Most likely, the recipe came from an old issue of Woman’s Day magazine. When she sent me the recipe she wrote at the bottom, “Send Some To Me!!” I promise, Mom.
1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted after measuring
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon fine table salt
2¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into cups and leveled off
1 cup each red and green candied cherries, cut in half
1 cup pecan halves
In stand mixer, with paddle, beat butter and powdered sugar at medium speed until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla; scrape sides. Mixture may look curdled, if so, mix in 1 tablespoon flour and scrape the sides again. Mix in salt. At low speed, mix in flour, in 2 batches, just until blended.
With a wooden spoon, or sturdy scraper, mix in candied cherries and pecans. Dough will be stiff. Cover and chill 1 hour.
Divide dough in thirds. On separate sheets of waxed paper, shape dough into rolls 12-inches long. Roll up logs, overwrap if necessary, and place on rimmed baking sheet. Chill at least 3 hours (or quick-chill in freezer for 1 or 2 hours).
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut rolls in about ⅛-inch-thick slices and place 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 14 minutes, or until delicately browned on edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Store in airtight containers or freeze.
Makes about 7 dozen cookies.
— Dianne Rubin
Coconut Stars
PG Tested
This superb butter cookie has a mild coconut flavor. The dough is very easy to work with and you can freeze half of it if you don’t want to make all the cookies at one time. The recipe made 1-inch star cookies but I preferred a bigger cookie and used a 2-inch cutter instead.
1 pound (2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond flour
1½ cups unsweetened desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
4 ½ cups plus ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, spooned into cups and leveled off
In stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and powdered sugar on low speed until creamy and blended. Scrape sides. Add almond flour, coconut and salt; mix until combined. Gradually add eggs and mix until combined, scraping the sides. Add flour and mix only until the dough just comes together. Be careful not to overmix.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until chilled all the way through. You can also freeze it, well wrapped in plastic in an airtight container, up to 1 month.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
On floured surface, roll dough until about ½-inch thick. Use a floured 1-or 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter (or any shape you’d like) to cut cookies, transfer to lined baking sheets. Bake about 8 minutes, or until bottom edges of cookies turn a very light golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough, rerolling the scraps. Dough gets soft very quickly.
Let cool completely on baking sheets, then store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 2 weeks, or freeze.
Makes about 12 dozen one-inch cookies, 6 dozen 2-inch cookies.
— Adapted from “Payard Cookies” by Francois Payard (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, $30)
Fig and Fennel Seed Biscotti
PG Tested
2¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into cups and leveled off
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons fennel seed, chopped (chop on a slightly damp cutting board with a slightly damp knife so seeds won’t slip)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces dried Calimyrna figs, stemmed and finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Decorative or sanding sugar, for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, fennel seeds and salt. Stir in figs and walnuts. With portable electric mixer, beat in eggs on medium speed until dough is evenly moistened, 1 to 3 minutes. Gather dough into a ball.
Halve dough, and using slightly wet hands, roll each half into 10-inch log. Set logs on one of the prepared baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Flatten each log to 2½ inches wide. Sprinkle tops with decorative sugar.
Bake until golden brown and puffed, and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Tops will look dry and cracked. Let cool on sheet on a rack until easily handled. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
On a cutting board, with serrated knife, cut logs into ¼-inch slices. Arrange slices cut side down on baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned and beginning to crisp, rotating sheets halfway through, about 20 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely.
Store in airtight container about 1 week, or freeze for a month.
Makes about 3 dozen biscotti.
— Adapted from “The New Sugar and Spice: A Recipe for Bolder Baking” by Samantha Seneviratne. (Ten Speed Press, 2015, $27.50)
Norwegian Christmas Cookies
PG Tested
Tender and buttery, this recipe makes a ton of little cookies, but the dough keeps in the fridge for a couple of days so you don’t have to bake them all at once.
2 large eggs, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into cups and leveled off
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine table salt
3 sticks (1½ cups) unsalted butter, cut up and softened
½ cup sugar cubes, coarsely crushed, or decorative or sanding sugar
In stand mixer, with paddle, beat 1 egg and the granulated sugar on medium-high speed until thick and pale. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix on low speed until almost blended. Mixture will be clumpy. Add butter and mix on low speed, scraping sides as needed, until dough forms.
Transfer to another bowl, cover and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. (Dough gets hard when cold but it’s easy to work with.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat remaining egg in a small bowl. Roll level teaspoons (or a little bigger) of dough into balls and arrange 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press thumb into center of each ball to flatten, leaving a depression, and brush lightly with beaten egg. Sprinkle crushed or decorative sugar in centers.
Bake until golden at edges, 12 to 18 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Store in airtight containers or freeze.
Makes about 12 dozen cookies.
— Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
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