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Something occurred to me the other day as I was baking a round of cookies for my annual holiday tins–my mother wasn’t much of baker.
Not at all.
I mean, she baked cakes for our birthdays (always out of the box) and sometimes made cookies for school functions, but I never once saw her wield a rolling pin or don an apron because there was too much flour in her kitchen.
No, Rebecca Brigman specialized in savory dishes–pork chops, red beans and rice, soups, stews, grilled cheese, but never pies, cakes, or cookies. I actually remember asking her how to make an apple pie once, and she gave me the weirdest directions (and I paraphrase,) “just put the apples in the crust and bake it.”
Hindsight is 20/20, and being a chef, I can’t tell you how much these instructions leave out! If you read my recipe for a killer Apple Pie here, you can see the omissions.
Since I tend to romanticize my mother’s cooking skills (ahem, ahem, she could cook anything), I was surprised by the revelation. In fact, 100% of the cookies I baked as a child were at the homes of two very close family friends–Linda and Lise. Lise and I baked chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread men from the ages of 8 to 14, and Linda was the first to introduce me to royal icing and intricately designed Christmas cookies like Santa on his sleigh or a reindeer with bells on his collar.
To this day, I’ve never seen cookie cutters quite like the ones they owned, but I know they looked something like these (red, plastic, with detail marks built into the cutter):
Pictured: The closest thing I can find that reminds me of Linda’s cookie cutters–red, plastic, and very cute.
This week, Lydia and I made our own round of Christmas cookies for friends and family. We combined cookie cutter forces (although she was devastated that her unicorn cutter had gone missing), and produced a series of bells…
trees…
stars, and the like.
Afterwards, we wrapped the batch up in tins for our recipients and downed some holiday wine. It was insane amounts of fun to bake, frost, and decorate, and I just love this holiday tradition.
Since moving from New England, I frequently miss baking giant batches of cookies with Linda and Lise, and this week’s baking party quickly put me in the holiday spirit.
Pictured: I’ll never over-spend on holiday tins again–$1 each at the Dollar Tree, these tins are perfect for holiday treats.
This year, I used Elise Bauer’s classic Christmas Sugar Cookies recipe, but with a few modifications (frosting and infusions, mostly), and I love the results. It’s my third or fourth time using these sugar cookies specifically, and I keep returning to Elise’s recipe over my family’s for a few good reasons. Mostly, I think her sugar cookie recipe is spot on. It’s not too sweet, not too bland, but just right. Also, I love how Elise suggests adding sugar crystals to the flour you roll the dough in. It results in a lovely, glistening product that is perfect just by itself. And, the royal icing recipe isn’t too sweet, but just right…all great reasons for a wonderful holiday cookie.
While there’s still time, bake some holiday cookies for friends and family! The gesture is a lovely “thank you” with something a little sweet. Happy Holidays, readers. I hope they’re as tasty as they can be.
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Yield: 24 servings (about 2 cookies each)
Calories: 252.7 (see here for full nutritional info)
Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
This recipe comes from the Simply Recipes blog (here). Elise’s version of sugar cookies is simple and fool-proof. Simply blend, chill, roll out, and bake. Here, I’ve added almond extract and moved around some measurements. I’ve also suggested the use of butter instead of Crisco for the royal icing.
Ingredients:
–Cookies–
*3 cups all purpose flour
*1 cup sugar
*1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*2 sticks butter, softened (1 cup)
*1 egg, beaten slightly
*3 tablespoons cream (can substitute half and half)
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1 teaspoon almond extract
*flour and sugar for rolling
–Icing–
*1/3 cup butter, softened
*3 3/4 cups confectioner’s sugar (1 pound)
*1/4 cup milk minus 1 teaspoon
*1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1/2 teaspoon almond extract
*I also used the leftover Cream Cheese Icing from my Pomegranate Christmas Cupcakes here.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
*Silpat mat or parchment paper
*rolling pin
1.) Whisk together dry ingredients–flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and combine until mixture resembles a coarse meal (I like to do this with my hands by simply grabbing fistfuls of the mixture and squeezing the butter into it. You can also “cut in” the butter).
2.) Add egg, cream, and extracts and mix to combine thoroughly. Chill for several hours before rolling out.
3.) Preheat oven to 375F. On a clean surface, sprinkle heavily with flour and sugar. Elise suggests a 2/1 ratio of flour and sugar (1 cup flour plus 1/2 cup sugar) and dust rolling pin heavily so dough won’t stick. Break off a piece of dough (about the size of an orange or grapefruit) and work the dough back and forth until rolled out to 1/4-inch thick. Using cookie cutters, crowd the surface of the dough and press out as many cookies as possible.
4.) Remove cutters and peel away dough from shapes.
5.) Lay cookies across a Silpat mat (pictured here) or wax paper. Leave about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies.
6.) Bake for 8 minutes at 375F or until dough is cooked and corners begin to golden. Elise suggests 5-8 minutes at 400F, but I like to drop the temperature a bit and add an extra minute or two to prevent from burning. Cool completely.
7.) Meanwhile, prepare icing: In a standing mixer, combine all five ingredients until smooth and even. I like to use the paddle attachment and set the speed to a high medium. You’ll know the icing is ready to use when the texture is smooth and free from fat molecules. Transfer icing to piping bags for frosting the cookies.*
*Note: you can also take a moment to divide up the icing and color it using standard food coloring (something Linda used to do when we needed reds and greens for our cookies. For this recipe, I just used the white icing and colored with the help of sprinkles, but at this point, the possibilities are pretty endless!).
8.) Ice and sprinkle cookies as you like and enjoy! Makes 4-5 dozen cookies based on cutter size.
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