Come on, Mom, weren't you proud I could match and count??
I've gotten much more relaxed about cookie making, not even minding so much (except the sheer waste) when I spilled an entire jar of red sprinkles on the floor last night. Yep. It's baking time at my house and the broom is at the ready. Right now, we aren't going to any cookie swaps, though I'm trying to plan one. I used to daydream about cookie swaps when I was an urban professional without any domesticated friends. And now that I live in suburbia, most of my friends still aren't that domesticated. Reality is rarely as fun as fantasy. So, right now, we're baking for ourselves and our church's annual holiday bake sale.
Besides making Christmas pretzels together yesterday, I finished off the last of our sugar cookie dough last night after the kiddos bedtime--these needed to be cookies my church could sell at its bake sale tomorrow. I cut out 36 near-perfect stars and decorated them with colored sugar before baking. I then iced with Royal Icing the best of the sugar cookies that the kids and I had made the day before (I had rolled several of them too thin and so they kept breaking). Channelling dear Miss T, I did a fair enough job with my first solo decorating attempt, even if my outlines weren't steady and my flood icing had some bubbles and took forever to dry. But they're dry this morning and good (enough) to go to the bake sale. Then--that's right, it was a Cookiepalooza over here--Mama sliced very thinly (no more than 1/8") and baked the Almond Brown Sugar cookie dough I'd put together the night before. These turned out less delicate than we feared (yay! they won't break before the bake sale) and tasted incredible. We finished off the late night with a batch of White Christmas Fudge for her swanky office party tonight; it's a homemade touch and the idea of the guy in charge. I was only too happy to participate. And Mama suggested this candy favorite from our Chicago fudge making days (it is not, though, a true fudge, if I understand the qualifications correctly). Are we done? Nope. The kids were back at it this morning, with the leftover Royal Icing (which does keep if covered in the fridge) and remaining thin sugar cookies. There are again sprinkles all over my kitchen floor.
Not the first time, not the last. It's a family tradition!
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A quick grumpy note: The Pampered Chef decorator bottles sold as child-appropriate aren't. In fact, they aren't much use for adults either. They are hard to fill with icing. Once filled, it is difficult to exert enough pressure on the plastic accordion to get the icing out--I popped the screwed on tip twice. Even when I could get icing out, there would be air pockets that made the icing sputter all over my cookies. And there's no way my kids could squeeze it, either because of the size of their hands or their hand strength; it was even cramping my hand quickly. Add to that, it's hard to get perfectly clean. Definitely not worth the money I paid and no doubt destined for the giveaway (no regift, but Goodwill) pile.
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Almond-Brown Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole blanched almonds (2 1/2 ounces) (*see blanching instructions below)
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in egg and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until a dough just forms. Stir in whole almonds. Divide dough in half. Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log 9 to 9 1/2 inches long (about 1 1/4 inches in diameter). Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least 4 hours. Freeze 30 minutes to facilitate slicing.
Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut 1 log of dough crosswise into slices less than 1/8 inch thick with a thin sharp knife, rotating log after each slice to help keep round shape. (If dough gets too soft to slice through nuts easily, freeze briefly.) Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through, until golden brown all over, 12 to 15 minutes total.
Transfer cookies on parchment to racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough (cool baking sheets and line with fresh parchment).
Cooks’ notes: •Dough can be chilled up to 3 days or frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil, 1 month (thaw in refrigerator just until dough can be sliced).•Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.
Gourmet, December 2008
How to Blanche Almonds
Buy almonds with skins on at your local grocery store.
Step2 Fill a medium saucepan half full of water and bring to a boil. Slide the skin-on almonds into the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Drain.
Step3 Grasp the warm almond between your thumb and forefinger and slide the skin off the almond from the wide end of nut.
Step4 Pat almonds dry and store for up to one week in the fridge.
eHow.com
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White Christmas Fudge
Makes 36 squares
2 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
2/3 cup milk
¼ cup butter
12 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup dried cherries, cranberries, or apricots, coarsely chopped
¾ cup toasted almond slivers
Line an 8 inch pan with foil; grease. Mix sugar and milk in heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, add butter and bring to a boil; stir constantly. Without stirring, boil constantly for 5 minutes.
Over low heat, add chocolate and almond extract. Stir then whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in dried fruit and almonds. Pour into prepared pan.
Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Invert pan, peel off foil, and cut into 1 inch squares.
To toast almonds: Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 5-10 minutes, shaking pan occasionally, until they begin to brown and turn fragrant.
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