Christmas Butter Cookies

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

    

Christmas is never complete without cookies.

I baked some Butter Cookies for my brother-in-law’s Annual Christmas Eve Carol.

A good butter cookie is always well received especially one that is just the right combination of crispness, tenderness and a good buttery flavor.

I love baking butter cookies as it is simple yet the minute the oven is opened, the aroma of freshly baked butter cookies is just divine. I found this wonderful recipe of the makes the best butter cookies ever.

Pam Anderson’s  (a food writer and author of several cookbooks ) all purpose butter cookies are simple, delicious and very versatile. The dough is very easy to make. I like the method of slice-and-bake cookies as I can decorate with sprinkles or nuts. The dough can be prepared a few days in advance and stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Since it is Christmas, I have made the Christmasy by rolling the dough with red and green coloured sugar.

For those who are looking for a great butter cookies recipe, do give this a try;

All Purpose Butter Cookies (by Pam Anderson)

Ingredients :
1 cup butter, room temperature ( I used 225gm)
1 cup sugar ( I used 150gm as I perfer them to be less sweet)
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour (I used 350gm )
chopped nuts, coconut, sprinkles or sugar, for decorating

IMethod:

• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in egg, egg yolk, vanilla and salt and mix well.
• Gradually, with the mixer on low speed, blend in the flour until a smooth dough comes together.
• Divide dough in half and shape each piece into a log roughly 2-inches across.
• Wrap in wax paper or parchment paper and freeze for about 2 hours, or until firm.
• Dough can also be stored for several days in the fridge (several weeks in the freezer, well-wrapped).

Preheat oven to 375F. (190C)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take the logs of chilled dough and cut each in half. Dough may need to soften for a few minutes. Roll each smaller log in finely chopped nuts, coconut, sprinkles or coarse sugar. Cut logs into slices about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer cookie rounds to prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 12-14 minutes, until cookies just begin to brown around the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 4-5 dozen cookies

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

My daughter’s speech & drama class will be having a party tomorrow. It’s a potluck and everyone is to bring something. Since I will be busy tomorrow, ferrying my 2nd son for this exams, I reckon I would not have much time to prepare something elaborate for her.

It strike me that its about time to get my daughter involved in the culinary skills. When she was younger, she used to  watch me do my baking. However, as time goes by, she prefers to spent her time in front of the computer.

To revive her interest in baking, I got her to bake some cookies for her class tomorrow. Of course, this is done under the watchful eyes of her mother……

Despite her lack of confidence (especially in breaking an egg), she did well.

 

The Chocolate chuck Cookies turned out well.

We (or rather she) made a total of 52 cookies. Since they are for kids, I suggested having them in bite size and lined on small cupcake liners.

 

These are like chocolate chip cookies. Only difference is, we cut chocolate into chunks instead of using chocolate chips.

The cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy inside…..yummmm!!!!!

Simple yet heavenly. Perfect recipe for beginners….

 

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients :

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch (also known as cornflour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
200g bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

 

Method :

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree celcius.
• Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
• Mix the rest of the dry ingredients.
• Stir in chocolate chunks.
• Drop cookie dough onto a greased baking sheet (or like us,, onto paper cupcake liners.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

*What makes the cookies chewy is the cornstarch.

If you prefer the crispy, omit the cornstarch and replace the baking soda with baking powder.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Last week my gym buddies decided to have a breakfast potluck after our routine morning gym workout. I did not have much time to prepare something extravagant. So I optioned to make cookies. Since we are working towards a healthy living, I searched the blogsphere for a healthy chocolate cookie.

I stumbled upon an easy and yummilious recipe from one of my favourite food blog "Happy Home Baking". It's called Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie. The ingredients used are much healthier than the normal chocolate cookie. So I decide to get my hands dirty on it. Baked 2 batches (1 for the family and the other for my gym buddies).

Some of my cookies are slightly overbaked (so they are crispier)

I (and the rest of those who consumed my bakes) love the crunch and the taste of the cookies. It is crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy in the center, The walnut, oatmeal & chocolate were a perfect match. Moreover, this cookie uses less butter and sugar. So... it can be eaten without guilt ;-D.

A definite keeper. Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (adapted from Happy Home Baking)

(makes 25 cookies)

Ingredients :

90 gm butter (soften at room temperature)

25gm castor sugar

25gm brown sugar

1 egg (weight is about 60gm with shell), lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

100gm plain flour

100gm roll oat or oatmeal (I used organic baby oat)

20gm dark semi sweet chocolate (finely chopped)

50gm walnut (roasted and coarsely chopped)

60gm mini chocolate chips

Method :

• Preheat oven to 190 C.
• Line baking tray with parchment paper.
• With manual whisk, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till pale and fluffy.
• Gradually beat in the egg.
• Add in salt and vanilla extract, mix to incorporate into the batter.
• Sift flour over the batter and fold in with a spatula.
• Add in oatmeal, chopped chocolate, walnuts and mini chocolate chips.
• Mix well with the spatula.
• Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking tray. Space them out evenly to allow spreading.
• Flatten each cookie dough slightly with the back of a fork (keeping the shape as even as possible.
• Bake for 8-10 mins or until golden.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an air-tight container.

Gingerbread Man

Christmas is just around the corner. Despite the fact that I am not a Christian.....like most Malaysians......we still celebrate Christmas in one way or another. The other day, while I was tidying the children's bookshelves, I stumbled upon the book, "The Gingerbread Man". Now, my children have long outgrown the book...but I suddenly have this urge to bake some gingerbread man cookies. After all, it's a must have for Christmas, right?

I have never baked this cookie before. So, I started surfing the Net for help. Found this recipe online and was immediately attracted to it. It looks simple to make. The next day, I got all the required ingredients and was ready to roll out some gingerbread man. Unfortunately, I could not get hold of the gingerbread man cookie cutters as the bakery supply store has ran out of it. So... I drew the gingerbread man on a piece of paper and cut it out as a template. I had to hand cut the gingerbread man with the template using a some plastic knife. It's time-consuming but the end result was pretty satisfactory.

Gingerbread men with a scarf

Dancing Gingerbread man (or are they supposed to be running!)

Gingerbread couple!!!!

They are so cute and taste good too!. My gingerbread men are of a darker shade as I used organic black strap molasses. I do find it a bit too sweet, so the next time I will reduce the amount of sugar.

Gingerbread Man

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp (freshly) ground nutmeg

pinch ground black pepper (optional)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup coffee or water 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Sift together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
• Cream butter and sugar until smooth in a mixer.
• Beat in molasses, water and vanilla.
• Gradually add in flour mixture until a smooth dough is formed.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions (dough will be quite soft) and cover with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate till firm (about 2 hours)

Preheat oven to 190C (375F)

For softer cookies :

• Roll out the dough to just under 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface.
• Use cookie cutters of your choice 92-3" gingerbread man are ideal) to cut the dough.
• Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 9-12mins (depending on the size of the cookie cutter)
• Cookie should be slightly firm to touch at the edges.
• Let cookie cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before transferring on a wire rack to cool completely.

For crispier cookies :

• Roll out the dough to just under 1/8" thick on a lightly floured surface.
• Use cookie cutters of your choice (2-3" gingerbread man are ideal) to cut the dough.
• Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 9-12mins (depending on the size of the cookie cutter)
• Cookie should be slightly firm to touch at the edges and lightly browned.
• Let cookie cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before transferring on a wire rack to cool completely.

When cool, decorate with lemon icing (recipe below)

Lemon Icing

Ingredients

2 cups confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Method

• In a small bowl icing sugar with lemon juice.
• If you do not have fresh lemon juice, you can substitute with milk or cream plus 1 tsp lemon extract.
• Add enough lemon juice to make the icing thick and pourable, but not runny.
• Stir till very smooth
• Scrape into piping bag with a fine tip or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off.
• Pipe onto cooled cookies.
• All to set for at least 30mins or until firm before storing cookies in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chips Cookies

My eldest son and his High School friends are planning to spend a night at Port Dickson ( a beach front along the coast of Peninsula Malaysia) for BBQ tomorrow. He is 18 years old and has just completed his Pre-University studies this month. I know his friends well as they used to frequent my home when they are in High School. They love to visit me as I always stuff from with my bakes. So, it was not a surprise that they requested that I bake them something to munch when they have their night out tomorrow. The consensus was "Chocolate Chip Cookies".


Chocolate Chip Cookies it shall be. Baked a batch (just the way they like them... gooey inside and crispy outside) so that the boys can fill their tummies tomorrow.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

230gm butter
200gm brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon powder
360gm low protein flour (cake flour)
1 tsp sodium bicarbonate
1/2 tsp salt
200gm chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170 degrees C.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs (1 at a time) and continue creaming.
4. Add in vanilla essence.
5. Fold in flour, cinnamon powder, sodium bicarbonate and salt till well combined.
6. Add in chocolate chips
   
7. Scoop out the batter with an ice-cream scoop onto a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes.