Christmas Cookies!

AbielleRose

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Last night I got my first ever spritz cookie press as a gift and I'm hard at work punching them out today. Ever since I was a kid these have been my favorite Christmas cookies. I plan to eat at least 2 dozen today.
 

Stacia Kane

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Hee! How'd they turn out?

I've made the World's Easiest Cookies (and gave a bunch to my butchers), cherry shortbread cookies with Kisses on top, and oatmeal Nutella sandwich cookies. But I need more!

Does anybody know those cookies you get in grocery store cookie trays? There's usually a green leaf-shaped cookie, and maybe some shortbread, but there's a cookie covered in a sort of white chocolate glaze with sprinkles. It's a very crisp cookie. I think they might be ricotta cookies, but I seem to think they have a hint of spice to them. I've been trying for years to figure out what they are and make them. Does anyone know the ones I mean?
 

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I'm not sure what they would be, but all of your cookies sound delicious!!

I burned my first spritz batch but the rest came out perfect. :D I'll be making more of them today along with some sugar cookies and chocolate chip. That reminds me, I should take the butter out now...

If you find the recipe for those let us know!
 

sassandgroove

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Oh I love my cookie press. This year my thing has been chocolate covered Oreos. I started with white chocolate and peppermint candy prices, yum, then tried reg choc and chopped peanuts and reg choc with mint Oreos and winter green candy peices. They've been a big hit.
 

AbielleRose

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BW :O You actually have baking ingredients?!?!?!

sass, Ooh! those are so yummy! I used to have a really cute little chocolate fondue pot that made dipping stuff in chocolate sooo easy because it got it to the perfect temp. I haven't tried it since getting rid of that pot because I have a horrible track record with burning/messing up anything like it on the stove.
 

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AR: I just melted choc chips in the microwave following the instructions on the bag. The one time I didn't follow the instructions I burnt the choc, it smelled bad and looked like soil.

I only dipped the cookies half way in. Then dipped them in broken candy peices or chopped nuts. When it would start to cool to much to dip I microwaved it a few seconds. I laid the cookies on wax paper to set, and put them in an air tight container on layers of wax paper to set in the fridge, but once they are set you dont need to refridgerate them.
 

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The World's Easiest Cookies:

1 box Devil's Food cake mix (I use Betty Crocker, but any will do as long as it's not a "pudding in the mix" type. Though who knows, I bet that could work).

2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 - 1 1/2 tsp vanilla (to taste)

powdered sugar


Mix cake mix, eggs, vanilla, and oil. Roll mixture into small balls--about 3/4 inch. Roll each ball in powdered sugar. (I have on occasion forgotten the vanilla and they're still delicious, btw, so if you are out or whatever don't worry.)

Bake 375F for about 9 minutes; they'll still be very soft when you take them from the oven, so be careful not to overbake. Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes to firm up, then switch to a rack. The powdered sugar won't melt so they'll have a nice crinkle appearance.

I've made these dozens of times, and everyone loves them. I'm actually embarrassed giving them to people, though, because they come from a boxed mix, you know? And they quite literally take me less than an hour from start to finish; the rolling is the most complex part, and now I actually keep a container of powdered sugar just for these, drop in about five-eight dough balls at a time, and shake it up.

It's also very forgiving, in that you can refrigerate the dough, balled or not, for a couple of weeks, and just ball up a few cookies whenever you feel like it.

I made these for my Faerie's b-day a couple of weeks ago and sent her to school with them, and had about a dozen children I don't know come up to me to tell me how those were the best cookies they'd ever had. They really are good, even if they make me feel like a cheater. :)


You can also use these cookies as the basis for any number of kinds of sandwich cookies: marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, cherry whipped cream, peanut butter, buttercream... You can leave the powdered sugar off as you bake them and instead make a glaze from powdered sugar & water (and add orange or any other flavoring if you like) and dip them in the glaze.
 

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Ack, I should have stuck with cookies this year for Christmas. Instead I decided to get creative and try making little mini-tarts (the one-bite-and-it's-gone kind). The fruit mince tarts were fine, and the lemon curd ones managed to hold their own, but the hazelnut and white chocolate ones with handmade little tiny chocolate Christmas trees on top....crikey. It was over a hundred degrees on Christmas, and the poor little chocolate trees melted within minutes!
 

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BW :O You actually have baking ingredients?!?!?!

sass, Ooh! those are so yummy! I used to have a really cute little chocolate fondue pot that made dipping stuff in chocolate sooo easy because it got it to the perfect temp. I haven't tried it since getting rid of that pot because I have a horrible track record with burning/messing up anything like it on the stove.

If you have a basic aluminum bowl you have a double boiler perfect for melting chocolate without possibility of burning or messing it up. You can use glass or ceramic too, but they're heavier.

Just take a saucepan smaller than the bowl and fill it about 1/3rd to 1/2 way with water (so the water isn't touching the bowl bottom). Put it on the stove and heat it until it's simmering (not fully boiling, but sending up bubbles, like almost boiling - it doesn't actually matter that much, but boiling will use up the water faster so you may have to add more later).

Then pop the bowl on top of the pot, just rest it there, and toss whatever chocolate in. It'll melt, fairly slowly, and it's very hard to mess up. You can temper fairly easily too. You then just take the bowl off, dip or what have you, pop it back on the simmering pot if it gets too cool, or dip right there, doesn't matter. Like so -

melt.jpg


It doesn't even have to fit perfectly -

mousse8.jpg
 

MattW

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Going to attempt an old family recipe with my daughter tomorrow - some kind of Polish rolled cookies filled with cherry, apricot, or prune.

I remember eating dozens of those in a sitting as a kid...
 

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Those sound like something an old Croatian co-worker used to make us. I think they were 2 shortbread style cookies with preserves sandwiched between them and the top had a shape cut out so you could see the color of the presserves. They were tiny, too. Sooo yummy.

Hope they turn out well!
 

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Oh, I love doing spritz for gifts! They make such pretty mixes for bags or tins. My favorites are eggnog, chocolate-coffee, and orange flavors. Oh wait, maple is good, too...

(This year I went for maximum laze and just did cinnamon-sugar pecans for everyone, though.)
 

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Those sound like something an old Croatian co-worker used to make us. I think they were 2 shortbread style cookies with preserves sandwiched between them and the top had a shape cut out so you could see the color of the presserves. They were tiny, too. Sooo yummy.

Hope they turn out well!

That sounds like a Linzer Tart. They're delicious!
 

MattW

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I got around to making them today. I mixed the dough yesterday and chilled overnight, rolled out my squares today.

It was labor intensive to cut and fill and wrap each cookie individually, but they were soooo good.

Recipe for those interested:
3 sticks softened butter (12 oz)
1 package softened cream cheese (8 oz)
Mix together until fluffy
3 cups all purpose flour
Mix in one cup at a time
Chill for at least 90 minutes
Prepare rolling surface with mix of powdered and granualted sugar
Roll dough flat, cut into squares 2 inches across
Spoon 1 tsp of favorite jam or pie filling
Fold 2 points of dough together, place on cookie sheet
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes
Cool
Dust with more powdered sugar before serving

I used canned apricot and strawberry fillings, and Polish plum jam (not exactly lekvar, but taste and texture is right).