Cookie Exchange 2012 Recipe Thread

[niener]

Share or request cookie exchange recipes here!!

[diggitydot]

www.harryanddavid.com

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My cookie recipes this year.

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

Chinese Chews
(makes about 24)

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. dates (chopped)
• 1 c. walnuts (chopped)
• 3 well-beaten eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• Additional granulated sugar from coating

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Toss in chopped dates and nuts. Stir in well-beaten eggs and vanilla. Pour into greased 10 x 14-inch pan (it should make a thin layer of batter). Bake 300 degrees for 20 minutes (until top is browning and edges are just beginning to look crunchy - the batter in the center should no longer jiggle).

Remove pan from the oven. Using a large spoon, scrape and mix the dough into one pile in the middle of the pan. Allow dough to sit for approximately 5 minutes (until it is still hot, but not so hot that the dates feel like molten lava -- I speak from experience). While dough is still hot, roll into balls and drop in granulated sugar and coat. It is helpful to have a bowl of water at your cooking station to place hands in every few rolled (as needed -- don't worry about drying your hands, it will not affect the cookies). Store uncovered (they taste better the next day).

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Chocolate Chocolate Cookies (adapted from Momofuku's Chocolate Chocolate cookies)

(Makes 24-32 cookies -- depending how much of the dough you eat...If possible, use the gram measurements as it seems to differ greatly from the cup/Tbs/tsp measurements...)

INGREDIENTS

• 16 tablespoons (225g) butter, at room temperature (I use salted butter, but I like these cookies a little extra salty - fair warning though, they are a little salty to begin with - but it brings out the chocolatey richness very nicely)
• 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
• 1/4 cup (100g) glucose powder (original recipe calls for liquid glucose, but it's hard to find and expensive...the powdered stuff works fine - apparently you can substitute 2Tbs. of corn syrup instead of liquid glucose, but I can't attest to that).
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon (1g) vanilla extract
• 2 ounces (60g) 55% chocolate, melted
• 1 1/4 (200g) cups flour
• 3/4 (100g) cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon (3g) baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.5g) baking soda
• 1 3/4 teaspoons (7g) kosher salt
• 1/2 recipe Chocolate Crumb (fully cooled) (recipe follows)

PREPARATION
Combine the butter, sugar, and glucose in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, vanilla, and melted chocolate, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (Do not walk away from the machine during this step, or you will risk overmixing the dough.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Still on low speed, add the chocolate crumbs and mix just until incorporated, about 30 seconds.

Form dough into 1-inch balls. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat (or leave them in balls if you want them to look more like lumps of coal). Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature--they will not bake properly.

Heat the oven to 375°F.

Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 2 inches apart on parchment-lined sheet pans. Bake for 7 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. It's tough (kind of impossible) to gauge if a cookie that is this dark with chocolate is done. If after 7 minutes, the cookies still seem doughy in the center, give them another 1 minute in the oven, but not more (or they will burn on the bottom and you won't realize until they're cool).

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or an airtight container for storage (don't hesitate to use the freezer to cool these cookies). At room temp, the cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

Chocolate Crumbs

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup (105g) flour
• 1 teaspoon (4g) cornstarch
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 2/3 cup (65g) cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon (4g) kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted

PREPARATION
Heat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and paddle on low speed until mixed.

Add the butter and paddle on low speed until the mixture starts to come together in small clusters.

Spread the clusters on a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes, breaking them up occasionally. The crumbs should still be slightly moist to the touch at that point; they will dry and harden as they cool.

Let the crumbs cool completely before using in a recipe or eating. Stored in an airtight container, they will keep fresh for 1 week at room temperature or 1 month in the fridge or freezer.

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Graham Crackers (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (375 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (176 grams) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 teaspoon (6 grams) baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon (4 grams) kosher salt
• 7 tablespoons (100 grams) butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen (I use salted butter here)
• 1/3 cup (114 grams) clover honey
• 5 tablespoons (77 grams) whole milk
• 2 tablespoons (27 grams) pure vanilla extract
• Turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw) - for topping

Make the dough: Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and dust it lightly with flour, then turn the dough out onto it and pat it into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap it, then chill overnight.

Roll out the crackers: Divide the dough in fourths and return 3/4 of the dough to the refrigerator. Dust both sides of the dough and work surface with a light layer of powdered sugar and roll the dough out until it is about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be sticky, so powder with powdered sugar as necessary. Using cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes (or just cut into squares)

Place the cookie cutouts on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes in the fridge or 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Gather any scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and re-roll.

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until browned. They should be quite crunchy. If cookies are still soft in the middle after cooling, put the cookies back in the oven, flipping every minute or two until crunchy.

[SuzySunshine]

These are the cookies Michele photographed in the cookie exchange thread, they are basically snickerdoodles with candy canes - yum!

http://www.wearenotmartha.com/2010/1...sugar-cookies/

Sparkling Peppermint Sugar Cookies (makes about 24):


• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/2 C butter (1 stick), softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 1/4 t mint extract
• 1 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1 t cream of tartar
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 C crushed candy canes or peppermint candies (about 7 candy canes)
• 1/4 C sugar, for coating


(pre-heat oven to 350 degrees)


First, you’ll want to crush your candy canes or peppermints.

Combine 3/4 C sugar, and butter in a mixer (or bowl with hand mixer) and blend at medium speed until creamy. Then add egg, vanilla, and mint extract and blend to combine.


In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly combine that to the butter/sugar mixture and blend on low speed, until fully mixed.


Then, stir in 1/4 C of your crushed candy canes.

And mix it up.

Take the other 1/4 C of crushed candy cane and mix it in a bowl with the remaining 1/4 C sugar.

Now, shape the dough into 3/4 inch balls and roll in the sugar/candy mixture.


Place the dough balls about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.


Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes (I would try to stick to 8 for softer cookies) at 350 degreees. And then let them cool on cookie sheet for about 1 minute before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.