X'mas Cookies On The Go!

"And it's Christmas time..." this christmas song was playing in my head as my favourite festive season started drawing nearer. I had been racking my head over the types of cookies to bake this year. The many recipes available just for 1 shortbread gave me a headache as each blogger claimed hers is the best.

After crossing out a few and adding new recipes, I decided to bake these:

1. Famous Amos Choc Chip Cookies
2. Tangy Lime Cookies
3. Slice-and-Bake Cookies by Smitten Kitchen
4. Spritz by How To Eat A Cupcake
5. Mexican Wedding Cakes

18th Dec 08

For choc chip cookie, I added white choc chip and went w/o any nuts as I didn't have any.

Hmmm... I realised that the cookie dough that were baked on grease proof paper didn't spread as much as those on wax paper. They looked more chubby!

As proven here; cookie baked on wax paper on the left vs grease proof paper right.

If you put alittle dough on the wax paper, the cookies will turned out flat, thin and crisp.

This recipe helped me yield >70 altogether!

19th Dec 08

I was preparing for work and saw him laying on my bed. I had to snap this pic!

20th Dec 08

Pig and I were not meeting this day. I had the whole day of baking to myself, while he's travelling with his friends off S'pore. Sometimes, I do like these kinda days, doing stuff I like by myself on an entire free day.

It's Lime Cookie's turn. I was greedy, very greedy in fact to combine 3 X ingredients to bake for a larger batch.

Unlike my previous lime cookie, these were more crispy and hard. Still, not too bad as I could instantly taste the lime because I added quite a bit of lime juice!

The shortbread dough was as usual soft, thus I added more flour for easy kneading, rolling and following by cutting out the shapes.

Wooo... the spritz cookie looked pretty bouncy!

I know... the cookie cutters aren't really for the X'mas season. Well, what the heck!

By late afternoon, I started on slice-and-bake cookies by Smitten Kitchen. I did a variation of cocoa powder with raisins. I had to force the chilled dough into the heart-shape cutter instead of slicing it.

These turned out pretty soft and slight chewy due to the raisins.

And finally, mexican wedding cakes. They weren't easy to make as they were pretty dry.
In the end, I kept rubbing and instead of forming into a crescent shape, I split it into 2. Looked like a few fat thumbs baking on a tray.
Unfortunately, no pic was taken as I was very very tired and couldn't concentrate any more.

While the mexican wedding cakes were baking, I prepared icing for the cute spritz cookies. The icing had seemed to liven up them.

21st Dec 08

Individual cookies were selected and packed into the plastic bags. I got a total of 90 bags!

Some contained 4 cookies; Mexican, Lime, Slice-and Bake and Choc Chip.

Some w/o Mexican.

Some with Spritz, Mexican and Lime...

And some were Choc Chip instead of Mexican.

For Tangy Lime Cookie's and Famous Amos Choc Chip Cookie's recipe, just click on the links.

Russian Teacakes or Mexican Wedding Cakes (http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/search/label/Cookies)

1 cup (2 stick) of butter - room temperature
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1 cup of walnuts or other nuts - toasted and finely ground (I toasted almond ground nuts that I bought from Phoon Huat)

For Tossing :1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy. Stir in vanilla.

2. Add in toasted nuts and flour until well combined.

3. Roll dough into a small balls and arrange the cookies into a baking tray about 1/2" apart.

4. Bake cookies in a pre-heated 325 F until golden brown on the bottom and just lightly brown on top. It might take about 20 min (depend on your oven).

5. Cool cookies completely and then roll it in powdered sugar.

Note : If the dough is too soft, chill it in the fridge for an hour before forming it into balls. You can form the cookies into crescent shape.

SPRITZ (http://howtoeatacupcake.net/)

Makes: about 84 cookies Oven: 375 F

1 1/2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1.

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, vanilla, and, if desired, almond extract until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.

2. Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake in a 375 oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm but not browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. If desired, dip tops into icing.

Slice-and-Bake Cookies (http://www.smittenkitchen.com/2007/12/a-slice-and-bake-cookie-palette )

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan, makes about 50 cookies

2 sticks (8 ounces; 230 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour (I swapped ¼ cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa)

Options:
Mix in grated zest of 2 oranges and 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Mix in grated zest of 2 lemons; coat with or mix in 1/4 cup poppy seeds
Mix in grated zest of 2 limes; coat with 1/4 cup cornmeal
Mix in 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots; coat with or mix in 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
Mix in 1/2 cup mini chocolate or peanut-butter chips
Mix in 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger; coat with or mix in 1/4 cup sesame seeds
Swap ¼ cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa
Swap ½ to 1 cup of flour for ground almonds, pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts

1. Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until it is smooth. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and beat again until the mixture is smooth and silky.
Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the salt and any dried fruits, zest, nuts or seeds. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, beating just until it disappears. It is better to underbeat than overbeat at this point; if the flour isn’t fully incorporated, that’s okay just blend in whatever remaining flour needs blending with a rubber spatula.
Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and divide it in half. Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

2. Working on a smooth surface, form each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 to 1 1/4 inches (2.5 to 3.2 cm) thick. (Get the thickness right, and the length you end up with will be fine.)
Wrap the logs in plastic and chill for 2 hours. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.)

3. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. While the oven is preheating, roll cookie logs in any coatings of your choice.
Then, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 1/3 inch (10 mm) thick. (Blogger: You can make the cookies thicker if you’d like; just bake them longer. Me: I squeezed the dough into a heart shape cutter onto the baking sheet directly.) Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) space between them.

5. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.
Keeping: Packed airtight, the cookies will keep for about 5 days at room temperature, or in the freezer for a month. Unbaked logs can be frozen for longer.