12 Days of Cookies ~ Days 6, 7, 8, and 9

So, um, we have some catching up to do. And that means that instead of bringing you one cookie today, I'm bringing you a whole cookie platter!

Chocolate and Almond Dipped Sandwich Cookies ~ Day 6

I took a lot of license with this recipe. Not that I didn't like the original as presented, on the contrary, I liked it very much. Unfortunately, though, the dough was difficult to work with. Like a lot of butter-rich cookie doughs, this one required chilling at every step of the process: before rolling, during rolling, after rolling, after cutting, etc. After one batch, I realized that staying up till 2:00 a.m. rolling out cookies was not in my game plan, so I cut small circles and pressed them into a greased mini-muffin pan. After chilling these, I baked them to form cookie cups, which I piped full of Nutella (aka, dessert in a jar). Heavenly. And with much less effort required.Win-win.

Chocolate-Glazed Mocha Fans ~ Day 7

This recipe is a winner all the way around. It comes together in moments, bakes up in one batch, is incredibly easy to cut and handle, and offers flexibility for decorating. (The original recipe calls for edible gold leaf. I drizzled mine with semisweet and white chocolates instead.) Best? It looks and tastes like something you would purchase in a high-end bakery. Which makes it perfect for bringing to those holiday parties where you have to impress someone or where you just don't have time to fool around with chilling/rolling/chilling/cutting/etc. A standout.


Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies ~ Day 8

These are a cute addition to your cookie plate, especially if you're making cookies with kids in mind. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that my testers weren't overly enthusiastic about the flavor of the mint in this cookie. My teenage son, who nevertheless consumed about a third of the batch, compared them to "a bad reality show you just can't tear yourself away from." (I will add that he felt similarly about these cookies, which he compared to "eating a brownie after you've just brushed your teeth" ~ he ate the majority of that batch too.)


Hazelnut Shortbread Sticks ~ Day 9

These are by far one of my favorite cookies ~ in this series and in general. Crunchy hazelnut shortbread with milk chocolate. Score! This one goes into my permanent collection.


So, now that you've seen what I've been baking . . . why don't you visit the rest of the gang and check out their cookie platters?


Andrea of Andrea's Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Macadamia Nut Cookies ~ Day 5 of the 12 Cookies of Christmas

White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Macadamia Nut Cookies were a pick for a few members of my family, and I was relieved to add such a straightforward recipe to my list.These easy, unfussy drop cookies turned out exactly as I thought they would, which at this point in the cookie odyssey is a welcome result.

I'm not generally a big fan of white chocolate, but it does match beautifully with the crunchy macadamias, and the tanginess of the cranberries is a perfect foil for the sweetness of the white chocolate. I added a bit of orange zest to brighten things up. Texture-wise, they're lovely ~ pleasantly dense in the middle, crisping up toward the edges.

The great news about these cookies is that they freeze well, unlike many of the others I've made in the 12 Days of Cookies event thus far. I fed a few to my kids and their friends and packed up the rest of the generous batch for the freezer.

You can definitely use unsalted macadamias in these ~ I did ~ but don't forget to toast them if you do. For this recipe, and the recipes of the other cookies in this 12 Days of Cookies extravaganza, visit Bon Appetit's Holiday Cookie-a-Day Slideshow.

Now that you've seen mine, why don't you treat yourself and go see what the rest of the gang is up to?

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Orange-Almond Lace Cookies ~ Day 4 of the 12 Cookies of Christmas

I'm a fan of lace cookies, so I was excited to make these Orange-Almond Lace Cookies from the Bon Appetit cookie slide show, even though I'd taken on the Pecan Lace Sandwich Cookies just a couple of days earlier. For one thing, these were made with almonds, and they were spiked with orange ~ a combination of flavors that I always find difficult to resist.

To shake things up a little, I turned most of this batter into tuiles. The only thing that made them different from the flat lace cookies was that while they were still hot on the sheet pan, I removed them with a thin metal spatula and molded them over my rolling pin to set until cool. When cool, they retained this classic tuile shape.


The taste of these is really good ~ rich, buttery, with orange and almond in balance. The texture was a little vexing; the edges kept wanting to break off and the centers were thick on a few of them.

Overall, I doubt I'd make them again. Though the taste was excellent, I've got other tuile recipes I prefer, and I liked the texture of the Pecan Lace cookies better ~ finer and somehow less fragile. I will probably crush the remainder of these into crumbs for ice cream topping, a prospect I find really appealing at the moment.

Now that you've seen mine, why don't you treat yourself and go see what the rest of the gang is up to?

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Chocolate Mint Cookies ~ Day 3 of the 12 Days of Cookies

These Chocolate Mint cookies were a high priority for me from the moment I saw them in the Bon Appetite cookie slide show. Chocolate and mint is one of my favorite combinations, and a classic pairing for wintertime desserts. The recipe was an interesting one to work with. Raw, the dough is dense and velvety. It looks like fudge or fondant, and tastes like it as well.

There is one thing I'd do differently at the prep stage, and that is to roll and shape the dough logs more carefully before refrigerating or freezing. I did this part carelessly, assuming I'd fix it later, before cutting. Not so much. That log of dough is pretty dense and hard to roll, and you really don't want to soften it too much or it will spread out on the sheet while baking. So, make sure your cookies are nice and pretty (that is, shape and round your dough logs conscientiously) before you chill them.

I underbaked these by a couple of minutes, and the texture is fantastic. The mint is present but not overpowering. I didn't drizzle my cookies, preferring to have a more assertive chocolate presence. Instead, I frosted them with melted semisweet chocolate, then drizzled them with melted milk chocolate to which I added a bit of mint extract. On a few of the cookies, I skipped the drizzle altogether and sprinkled the tops with crushed candy canes for color.



Store these by themselves to avoid imparting a hint of mint to the rest of your cookies, and enjoy them with a hot cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk.

Now go and see what the rest of the gang is up to!
Andrea of Andrea's Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Lime Snowballs ~ Day 2 of the 12 Days of Cookies

When I first saw this recipe for Lime Snowballs in the Bon Appetit cookie slide show we are choosing our recipes from, I immediately associated it with cookies I baked for last year's 12 Days event, the Pastelitos de Boda, or Bride's Cookies. That was a nut-flavored cookie, but similarly rich and buttery, and also coated in a heavy layer of confectioner's sugar.

Like that cookie, I flattened this one ~ the original recipe calls for it to be formed in a little ball. I prefer the flattened, patty shape, and it's easier to eat, especially with all that powdered sugar.

This cookie contains lime zest, lime juice, and lime oil ~ three potent citrus flavoring agents ~ and the lime flavor is perfectly balanced, not overwhelming at all, which I feared might be the case. I'm not inclined to tweak the amounts of any of these agents at all.

The texture of this cookie is interesting ~ lighter and more airy than a shortbread cookie, but richer and more tender than a butter cookie. I guess I'd place it somewhere between a shortbread and a melting moment.

The only changes I made to the recipe were those of technique. As mentioned, I flattened the cookies rather than shaping them as balls, and I let them cool before dusting them with powdered sugar. My favorite way to sugar cookies, by the way, is to fill a tea-steeping spoon with powdered sugar and use that to dust the cookies. Alternatively, I fill a small resealable plastic bag with powdered sugar and add a few cookies at a time, shaking them to coat. Both methods work very well and don't leave everything dusted with a layer of sugar.

I would make these again, and particularly in the springtime, with lime again or even lemon, orange, or grapefruit.

Don't forget to stop by and check out what the other group members have created today!

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

The 12 Cookies of Christmas Kicks Off Today!

It's that time again ~ the 12 Cookies of Christmas have arrived! I'm excited . . . and I know my fellow cookie bakers in our mad little group are very excited too. We've got 12 Days of Cookies for you, and trust me, you won't want to miss a single post. There are a lot of cookies to cover!

Last year we baked Gourmet; this year all our cookies will be chosen from Bon Appetit. Below you'll find a list of our illustrious, industrious group members:

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Each day for the first 12 days of December, each one of us will choose a recipe from the Bon Appetit feature, make the cookies, and post about it on our own blog. We don't tell each other our plans in advance, so it's always a surprise ~ you may find us all baking the same cookie one day, each of us baking something different the next. Part of the fun is seeing everyone's interpretation of the recipes.

For Day 1 of the 12 Cookies of Christmas, I chose the Pecan Lace Sandwich Cookies with Orange Buttercream. I like lace cookies in general: they're easy to make and always a crowd pleaser. I ground the pecans in my mini-processor (which I love for this task) and the texture was perfect.

The batter wasn't hard to work with, though it did get quite stiff as it cooled. Don't let that worry you ~ carve out little pieces of batter with a teaspoon and carry on; the cookies will come out just fine.

I like the bright orange flavor of the buttercream but found it to be a bit sweet in combination with the caramelized-sugar lace cookies.

To provide a bit of contrast, I painted one side of the sandwich with dark chocolate (I used Taza brand) and the other side with buttercream, then sandwiched them together once the chocolate had cooled. My testers voted this combination ideal, and I think I'd go with it in the future as well.

I rate this recipe a keeper, and it's going into my file of holiday cookie staples. Impressive to look at and a hit with guests.

Don't forget to visit the other group members' sites to see the cookies they chose today, and stop by tomorrow for Cookie 2 of The 12 Cookies of Christmas!

BYOB Roundup ~ December 2009

I almost can't believe that with this roundup, we've come through an entire year of Baking Our Own Bread (and many, MANY other things). It's safe to say that my relationship with baking has changed a lot of things in my life over the past year, personally and professionally, and in some weird and unanticipated ways. For example ~ as I write the introduction to the final roundup of 2009, I have close to 200 pounds of flour, at least seven different types, in my house. That might be considered extreme home baking, and that's what this year has brought me to. And, I have to tell you, I am in love with it.

So, without further delay, let me show you the art and talents of others in our BYOB group. Others who've also fallen in love with the rise and fall of dough, the smell of warming spices drifting from a rarely cool oven, the texture of beaten butter growing pale and light with air. (And who may or may not have a couple hundred pounds of flour in their basement.)

Cathy of The Bread Experience has been keeping her oven warm with a parade of oven love: Portuguese Sweet Bread (BBA), Cinnamon Pumpkin Crescent Rolls, Braided Holiday Pumpkin Wreath, Poolish Baguettes (BBA), Pizza Napoletana (BBA). Don't you wish you were her neighbor?

Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook got creative with this gorgeous Danish Braid, which she will be (hopefully) bringing to my house if we ever get together for coffee. Or, I guess, she could bring this insanely delicious-looking Cranberry Fudge Brownie Torte (TWD), because I am willing to be that flexible. Wow, Di.

Kira of A Homesick Aussie has some gorgeous breads for us! She's got a Whole Wheat 10+ Grains that makes you feel virtuous just looking at it! And be sure to check out her lovely from-scratch Sourdough . . . mmmm. Last but not least, she's made Pizza and Stromboli ~ two subjects very near and dear to my heart.

Sarah of Que Sarah Sarah has baked a perfectly shaped loaf of Sandwich Bread ~ bakery perfect! This loaf wouldn't last half an hour in my house; my teens would be on it in a heartbeat.

And never ones to disappoint, Chrystal and Amir of The Duo Dishes bring it big-time for our final 2009 roundup: Pear and Walnut Coffee Cake, Spiced Walnut and Maple Cream Cake, Apple Turnovers, Rosemary Breadsticks, 1-2-3-4 Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Cheese Frosting, Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Bread, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza, and Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Brown Sugar Maple Icing. See what I mean?

Happy holidays, all . . . God bless you and keep you, and may you give and receive much oven love!

~Sandy