Almond Spritz Cookies

These may not sound like a lot ... but they are like crack. And incredibly easy to make. But mostly like crack. It's hard to eat just one!

This is a simple cookie press recipe that you can whip out in a very short amount of time. Don't have a cookie press? I'm sure you could find a way to make these anyhow, but the dough is incredibly soft and sticky. I'd reckon that these would be perfect for a nice afternoon tea, or with a dollop of sorbet for a light summer desert!

Almond Spritz Cookies
adapted from my Cookie Press Cookbook

Prep Time: 10 - 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Yields: 3 dzn cookies

Ingredients

• 8 TBS (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 TBS granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the flat beater (or with a hand mixer), beat together the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour a little at a time, beating until well blended.
3. Fill the cookie press with dough according to the instructions and fit with the desired-shaped disk. Press the dough out onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing the cooking about 1 inch apart.
4. Bake until the cookies are firm to the touch, about 10 minutes.
5. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Cookies may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Yum!!

Gingered Sugar Cookies

These have a subtle gingery flavor...so don't be astounded if you're not thrown back from the taste of ginger. But this makes a lovely, delicate tea-like cookie.

Gingered Sugar Cookies
adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Prep time: About 5 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes plus cooling time
Makes: about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp grated ginger
  
• 14 TBS (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 TBS chopped crystallized ginger
  

Recipe

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Process 1/2 cup sugar with the grated ginger in food processor until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Place sugar/ginger mixture in a shallow dish for coating and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
4. Beat the butter and the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and then add the crystallized ginger. Beat until well combined, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.
5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is combined.
6. Using wet hands, roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into balls, then roll in the sugar mixture to coat. Lay the balls on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Flatten the cookies with the buttered bottom of a drinking glass, then sprinkle any of the remaining sugar over the flattened tops. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and just beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cook completely.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Hazelnut Diamonds

So, this is under the "holiday cookie" section of the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook...there are a bunch of recipes based off of one basic recipe. This is one of the variations...and is quite a pretty and delicious cookie with a delicate crumb.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Diamonds
courtesy of Americ'as Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Prep time: 1 hour 5 minutes (includes making the dough)
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus cooking
Yields: about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar (Superfine sugar will give your cookies a finer crumb and crisper texture. If you don't have superfine sugar or can't find it in the store, process about 1 cup granulated sugar in a food processor for abotu 30 seconds, then measure out 3/4 cup for the recipe)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 16 TBS (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened
• 2 TBS cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and chopped fine (If you don't have/like hazelnuts, you can substitute another nut. I chose to use almond slivers.)

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, then continue to beat 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until the dough just begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds.
3. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Press the dough in an even layer into a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake the cookies until they are light golden brown, about 20 minutes.
4. Immediately after removing the baking sheet from the oven, sprinkle evenly with the chocolate chips and let stand until melted, about 3 minutes. Using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate in an even layer, then sprinkle evenly with the shopped hazelnuts. Cool on a wire rack until just warm, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 1 1/2-inch diamonds. Transfew cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.
   

Linzer Cookies

Okay...these are a bit time consuming (or I like to refer to them as being a pain in the ass). But...Matt really loves them. Heck...everybody loves them. They are delicious, and well worth the trouble to be honest. But...I do only make them once a year, around this time when I do my holiday cookie assortment. Yum!

Okay...here you have it:

Linzer Cookies
adapted from Epicurious.com

Active Time: 1 1/2 hours
Total Time: 4 hours
Yields: about 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup hazelnuts (3 oz)
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 12-oz jar seedless raspberry jam (I like to use black raspberry jam from the Farmer's Market...)
  

• Special equipment: a 2- to 2 1/4-inch fluted round cookie cutter and assorted 1/2-inch shaped cookie cutters or aspic cutters

Recipe:

1. Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan until fragrant and skins begin to loosen, about 6 minutes. Rub nuts in a kitchen towel to remove any loose skins (some skins may not come off), then cool to room temperature.
2. Pulse nuts and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely ground.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
4. Beat together butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with paddle) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add nut mixture and beat until combined well, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
5. With floured hands, form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 5-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours.
6. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
7. Roll out 1 disk of dough into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick) between 2 sheets of wax paper (keep remaining dough chilled). If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm. Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with larger cookie cutter and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging about 1 inch apart. Using smaller cutters, cut out centers from half of the cookies, reserving centers and rerolling along with scraps (reroll only once). Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 10 to 15 minutes total, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies from second disk.
8. Spread about 1 teaspoon jam on flat side of 1 solid cookie and sandwich jam with flat side of 1 windowed cookie. Sandwich remaining cookies in same manner.

Cooks' note: Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, chilled in an airtight container 2 weeks.

Enjoy!

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

If I could live off of these...I would. But I would be a very fat lady then. So...I just make these occasionally. They are easy to whip up, but do take a little bit of pre-planning as the dough needs to set AT LEAST 2 hours prior to baking. That said, you can whip it together one day, and bake them the next if you are time challenged.

Matt and I were coming up with the cookie list for this holiday season (I promised to do up a bunch of cookies for him to take into work) and this made the list. Try them at the holidays, or any time. Perfect to take to a housewarming, eat with a nice cup of joe or just a little treat for yourself!

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
courtesy of Smitten Kitchen

Prep time: about 20 minutes

Inactive prep time: 2 hours

Cook time: 18 - 20 minutes

Total time (including resting of the dough): 2 hours 40 minutes

Yields: 32 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (plain, or a toffee variety), finely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water, and set aside to cool to tepid.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a sturdy rubber spatula.

3. Using the spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.

4. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

5. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.

7. If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!

Gingersnaps

I wasn't really thinking when I was baking, so I apologize for the lack of photos on this one...

The gingersnap is one of my favorite cookies - and I think it's perfect for this time of year! Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of gingerbread men. I do love me some gingerbread, and gingersnaps. But it's something about the texture with those little men and a lack of ... pop with the flavor.

I made these for a little cookie swap I went to over the weekend. It's a simple cookie with pizazz, and easy to make to boot. So, without further ado...

Gingersnaps
(Courtesy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook)
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake time: 8 to 10 mins per sheet
Yield: About 4 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
Granulated Sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Beat the brown sugar, shortening, molasses and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. (These can also be mixed with a spoon) Stir in the remaining ingredients except for the granulated sugar.
3. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
4. Shape the dough by the rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Dip tops into granulated sugar. Place balls, sugared sides up, about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until just set. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

These cookies are best the next day after the flavors have had time to meld...

Enjoy with some sorbet or a nice cup of tea!!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Or...butter + powdered sugar = delicious.

So, Matt's been bugging me to make these for awhile. It's a simple recipe with few ingredients...these tend to be my favorites in terms of recipes. Too many ingredients sometimes muddle the taste. If you have good ingredients, why not showcase them?

It's been probably a good two years since I've made these cookies. I couldn't remember why, I assumed it was just because these cookies are delicate and don't travel well. Much of my baking has to stand-up to the subway test (can I take them into work? Yes = good recipe, No = seldom made recipe). Our apartment isn't fantastic for entertaining, so delicate recipes tend not to be made often. What I realized when making them is I hadn't made them because they require hand shaping. I'm a lazy baker and prefer drop cookies, or cookie cutter cookies. I'm not gonna lie. But...Matt wanted them, so I made them.

Of course...for Matt's sake I was incredibly messy in my baking since he was home. No one has ever (or will ever) accuse me of keeping my workspace clean. However, I managed to drop my container of flour (ie...the top came off when I was taking it from the shelf) and got flour all over the kitchen. Always an adventure...

Anyway, without further ado:

Mexican Wedding Cookies
adapted from Paul Deen
Paula Deen & Friends Cookbook

Prep time: approx 15 mins
Baking time: 45 mins
Total time: about 1 hour + cooling
Makes about 2 1/2 dzn cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
1 cup pecans, chopped into ver small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed, gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatual.

3. With floured hands, take out about 1 TBS of dough and shape it into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place them 1 inch apart from one another on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Roll in additional confectioners' sugar while still warm. Cook completely on wire racks and store in airtight tins. So...a few adjustments this time around, and we will see how they go.

• I was running low on pecans (a travesty, I know) so I used about 1/2 pecans & 1/2 walnuts. I use these nuts interchangeably a lot anyway. I tend to like pecans more then walnuts and use them to punch up recipes that call for walnuts. The walnuts don't show in the taste, but there is a bit of a walnut-ty after taste. I do prefer the pecans, but think the walnuts aren't a bad way to go.
• I'm generous with my vanilla use.

Enjoy!