Day 11: Gingerbread

With only two recipes to go, I opted for a very classic Christmas cookie. I don't have any Christmasy cookie cutters but I do have an adorable set of Easter cookie cutters, which explains the gingerbread ducks.

Gingerbread can be a tricky to work with because the dough tends to get a little sticky but just keep the dough very cold when you work with it. Stick the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes if you need to. For chewy gingerbread roll it out a little thick, about 1/4 inch, and bake them for a short amount of time and leave them a tad underbaked. For drier cookies used for decorations, bake them longer to harden them. For thin and crispy gingersnap-like cookies, roll the dough thinner and bake them a little longer.

Gingerbread Cookies
3 C AP Flour
10 Tbsp (1 stick + 2 Tbsp) butter
1/2 C packed dark brown sugar
1/2 C molasses
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp powdered ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Beat the butter until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and beat until evenly mixed. Then add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and continue to beat until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until everything is thoroughly combined.

Gather the dough in a mound and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Lightly flour the dough and roll out the dough in between two pieces of parchment to about 1/4 inch thick. Peel off the top layer of parchment then flip the dough over and peel off the bottom layer of parchment. Use a cookie cutter of your choice to cut out pieces of dough. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, the cookie will still be soft. Do not overbake.

Gather up the scraps in a mound and rechill the dough to roll it out again, otherwise it will be too sticky to work with.

Day 1: White Chocolate Cashew Macadamia Butter Cookies
Day 2: Shortbread Bars with Mango Jam
Day 3: Pumpkin Butter Thumbprints
Day 4: Butterscotch Cookies with Hazelnuts
Day 5: Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, and Dried Cherries
Day 6: Torta Sbrisolona
Day 7: Alfajores
Day 8: Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Day 9: Brown Sugar Cookie
Day 10: Flaky Black Sesame Cookie

Day 10: Flaky Black Sesame Cookie

We're nearing the end of the 12 Days of Cookies and I wanted to make a Chinese cookie. The problem is that there aren't many classic Chinese cookies and no fortune cookies do not count. The lack of home baking is because most Chinese households don't even have an oven and baking is primarily done in bakeries in the form of little bread buns and pastries, rarely, if ever, cookies. But for the purposes of this cookie event, these Thousand Layer Cookie will be our Chinese cookie of the day because 1. Steven's mom bought these at our local Asian supermarket (99 Ranch) and 2. There are Chinese characters on the packaging (which I think say qian ceng bing aka Chinese for Thousand Layer Cookie), which makes these Chinese cookies (good reasoning right?). So when you open up the wrapper, inside is a cookie about 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and roughly 3/8 inch thick. There are a few sugar crystals on top of the cookie to give it an extra crunch. Break it in half and you see that though it is not 1000 layers, it is indeed very flaky, with a few black sesame seeds.





The main difference between Chinese baking and Western baking is that the Chinese use lard instead of butter (we like our pork and pork products). As a result of using lard, the baked goods are flakier and more tender but lack the characteristic flavor of butter. My goal was to recreate this cookie at home because they're really, really good and addicting. The ingredients seemed pretty straight forward: 1. use a combination of butter and shortening to approximate lard, 2. add in some whole wheat flour (because the back of the wrapper had a picture of wheat, again more good reasoning right?), 3. some black sesame seeds, 4. and finally some raw sugar on top for crunch. The hardest part of this recipe was creating the flaky texture.

My first attempt was to use the Chinese pastry technique. An oil dough (shortening, butter, and flour) is sealed inside a water dough (flour, oil, water, sugar) and rolled out and folded repeatedly, much like puff pastry. However, I've never made puff pastry or Chinese pastry before so this led to the disastrous result of One Layer Cookie (bleh). So I tried a second technique, which was to adapt a basic pie dough recipe to create the flaky layers. The layers will not be as uniform and distinct as a cookie made with the Chinese flaky pastry technique but this is much easier to do at home and with a food processor, the dough takes a minute to put together.

And the results? As you can see, my cookie does not have as many handsome layers as the original. Texture wise, it is a little more crunchy and fragrant than the packaged cookie because I used a little butter in combo with the shortening. I learned that my Chinese pastry technique definitely needs more practice and I will continue trying to recreate the original cookie. But this recipe is a great start (A for effort *thumbs up*) and the cookies have excellent flavor. The black sesame seeds adds a delicious nuttiness and the raw sugar adds a great crunch to this unique cookie.

Flaky Black Sesame Cookie

3/4 C AP flour
1/2 C white whole wheat flour (if you don't have it AP flour is fine)
4 Tbsp cold shortening
4 Tbsp cold butter
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp black sesame seeds
3 - 5 Tbsp ice cold water
1 - 2 Tbsp raw sugar

Mix the two flours, sugar, salt, and black sesame seeds until everything is evenly combined. Cut the shortening and butter into cubes and scatter them in flour. Make sure your shortening and butter are very cold. Use a food processor and pulse the butter with the flour until the mixture looks crumbly and the butter pieces are no bigger than a pea. Alternatively use a pastry cutter or two forks and cut the butter into the flour.

Start with 3 tablespoons of water and scatter it over the mixture. Pulse in the food processor slightly until the dough comes together. If it still looks dry add a little bit more water (I used a little over 4 tablespoons). If you're doing this by hand, scatter the water over the mixture and fold with a spatula and press the crumbs together until the dough starts to come together.

Form the dough into a flat disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least an hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Flour your work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle until it is about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch thick. Scatter raw sugar on top of the dough and gently press in. Cut into 1 inch by 2 inch portions and place them on a baking sheet. Bake until the cookies are golden, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Day 1: White Chocolate Cashew Macadamia Butter Cookies
Day 2: Shortbread Bars with Mango Jam
Day 3: Pumpkin Butter Thumbprints
Day 4: Butterscotch Cookies with Hazelnuts
Day 5: Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, and Dried Cherries
Day 6: Torta Sbrisolona
Day 7: Alfajores
Day 8: Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Day 9: Brown Sugar Cookie

Day 9: Brown Sugar Cookie

Sugar cookies are a ubiquitous part of the holiday cookie platter. Though fun to decorate, they are often bland and not very fun to eat. I'm not a big fan of eating food coloring icing anyway. But these brown sugar cookies are a whole another story. With hints of butterscotch, molasses, and caramel, these cookies are anything but ordinary. I really have to give it to Cook's Illustrated for coming up with such a delicious cookie using (as with many CI recipes) what may seem like a strange but ingenious technique. This cookie sounds deceptively simple, just take a regular sugar cookie and swap the granulated sugar with brown sugar, but this caused a variety of problems. In the end after much tweaking, the key step was using browned butter. Browned butter adds an amazing depth and irresistible fragrance to this cookie. It is a crucial step that should not be skipped.

Like a normal sugar cookie, the cookie is rolled in sugar and I chose to roll these in some raw sugar, which adds a delicious crunch to the exterior of the cookie. The fragrance of browned butter, the crunch of raw sugar, and a chewy interior bursting with brown sugar flavor creates a truly unique and addictive cookie. I adapted the recipe by getting rid of an egg yolk since I have too many egg whites in the freezer already and decreasing the sugar (originally the recipe called for 1 3/4 C) because otherwise the cookie is much too sweet. Remember to keep an eye on the butter because it will go from browned to burnt faster than you can say beurre noisette.

Raw sugar or turbinado sugar is unrefined sugar cane and comes in the form of pale golden crystals. You can buy it in packet form but I believe it also comes in larger box quantities. I really recommend using raw sugar, as opposed to the substitute sugar mix, because not only does it provide a better crunch, the bigger crystals also look great.

Brown Sugar Cookie
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1 3/4 sticks butter (14 tablespoons)
2 C AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 C packed dark brown sugar (use soft brown sugar; old and hard brown sugar will make a drier cookie)
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla

Sugar coating
1/3 - 1/2C raw sugar
or if you don't have raw sugar
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp dark brown sugar

In a small saucepan melt 10 tablespoons of butter, reserve the remaining 4 tablespoons and set aside, over medium low heat. Do not use a nonstick skillet or saucepan with a dark finish because you will not be able to gauge how dark the butter solids are. The butter will melt, then a white foam will appear onto of the melted butter. Continue to cook and stir. The white foam will disappear and pay close attention because pretty soon the butter will start to smell nutty and caramelly and the solids will start to brown at the bottom of the pan. It will take about 1 to 3 minutes. Once you see the solids start to turn golden brown, remove the pan from heat but continue to stir. The residual heat from the butter will continue to caramelize the butter solids. Once the solids are nutty brown (return the pan to low heat if you need to brown the butter a tad more) stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter to slow the cooking process. Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl (like the bowl of a KitchenAid) and set aside for 15 minutes. To cool the butter faster, dip the bottom of the bowl in a pot of cold water.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a shallow dish pour out raw sugar or if you don't have raw sugar, make a mixture of white sugar and brown sugar. Set this aside for rolling later.

Add the 1 1/4 C packed brown sugar, egg, and vanilla to the melted butter in the bowl, and mix until everything is evenly incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until evenly combined and no pockets of flour remain.

Form about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoon balls of dough, making 24 cookies. Roll each ball of dough in sugar and space them 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are puffy and the edges have set but the centers are still underdone, about 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

Remove the cookie sheet and cool the cookies on the sheet for 1 - 2 minutes. Then remove to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Day 1: White Chocolate Cashew Macadamia Butter Cookies
Day 2: Shortbread Bars with Mango Jam
Day 3: Pumpkin Butter Thumbprints
Day 4: Butterscotch Cookies with Hazelnuts
Day 5: Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, and Dried Cherries
Day 6: Torta Sbrisolona
Day 7: Alfajores
Day 8: Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Day 9: Brown Sugar Cookie



I will be submitting these to Susan for her Eat Christmas Cookies Event. This recipe is another one of my favorites! So head on over for even more Christmas Cookies!

Day 8: Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Biscotti always struck me as a very sophisticated, grown-up cookie, also one that would be difficult to make at home. Little did I know that these elegant cookies are actually very easy to make (you don't even have to use a stand mixer!). This holiday variation decorated with red cranberries and green pistachios makes a festive cookie that's perfect for dunking in hot chocolate. These cookies also make a great holiday gift because not only do they look impressive, they ship well and keep for a long time. You can dip the cookies in melted dark chocolate or white chocolate for even more wow factor (I got a little lazy towards the end of the day). I will eventually dip them in chocolate because I love the way the chocolate slightly melts in espresso or hot chocolate.

Biscotti doughs all contain the basic flour, sugar, baking powder, flavorings, and eggs but can be divided into 3 categories: dough that uses whole eggs, only egg whites, or whole eggs with additional fat such as butter or extra egg yolk. Cook's Illustrated tested all 3 doughs and had a great summary of their findings. Egg white dough created a toothcrackingly hard cookie - not the best choice. Whole eggs dough made a great cookie that keeps very well. Better yet, the cookies seems to improve with age. Dough made with whole eggs supplemented with butter or additional yolks had the best flavor. However they should be eaten quickly (best the day they are made) because they tend to go stale more quickly due to the butter. For shipping and gifting, I would recommend using the whole egg dough. However, if you plan to eat these regularly like with your morning coffee, go for adding a little extra butter (modified recipe at the end)

Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

2 C AP flour
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C pistachio halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, pistachio halves, and cranberries. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is evenly incorporated.

Divide the dough in half and form two logs that are about 10 to 12 inches long and 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide. Bake for 30 minutes, rotate the pan halfway into the baking time.

After baking, cool the loaves on a rack until they are cool enough to handle.

Then using a serrated knife cut the cookies about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick at an angle. The length of your cookies will depend on the angle at which you cut the cookies.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

Place the cut biscottis on a rack placed on a sheet tray and continue to bake for about 20 minutes, until the cookies have completely dried. If you don't have a rack for your pan, place the cookies directly on the pan and bake for 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes.

Let the cookies cool completely before storing them. Or dip them in some chocolate if you prefer.


Orange Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti (butter dough)

2 C AP flour
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp orange zest
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C pistachio halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and orange zest and mix. In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, pistachio halves, and cranberries. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until the dough comes together and everything is evenly incorporated.

Proceed shaping and baking same as the recipe above.

Day 1: White Chocolate Cashew Macadamia Butter Cookies
Day 2: Shortbread Bars with Mango Jam
Day 3: Pumpkin Butter Thumbprints
Day 4: Butterscotch Cookies with Hazelnuts
Day 5: Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, and Dried Cherries
Day 6: Torta Sbrisolona
Day 7: Alfajores



I will be submitting these to Susan for her Eat Christmas Cookies Event. So head on over for even more Christmas Cookies!

Day 7: Alfajores

Okay let's brush those sbrisolona crumbs off the sides of our mouth and hop on a plane from Italy to Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil or Chile (whichever country you prefer, maybe somewhere warm). The delectable alfajor, a sandwich cookie made with buttery biscuits filled a layer of dulce de leche, is a very popular snack in all of these South American countries. The cookies can be dusted with some powdered sugar or covered with chocolate. I dunno about you but anything with dulce de leche has my full, undivided attention. And yes these are as delicious as they sound.

Dulce de leche is very easy to make at home. You can either start with whole milk and use Pim's recipe or start with a can of sweetened condensed milk. I chose to with go the condensed milk route but I was scared to death of the whole "can may explode" warnings because hey if it can happen, it will probably happen to me. I envisioned a loud bang and hot goo covered can shrapnel flying every which way. So better play it safe. Luckily, I found an explosion-free way to make dulce de leche using a double boiler.

Explosion-Free Stovetop Dulce de Leche
Pour the can of condensed milk in the top part of the double boiler and simmer for a few hours, stirring occasionally until the DDL is the color and thickness you like. At the end of cooking mine was almost solid. Steven turned the pan upside down and marveled that it barely moved at all.

Alfajores

1 - 1 1/4 C AP flour
1/2 C corn starch
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 C sugar
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Dulce de leche
Powdered sugar
Cinnamon (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In another bowl whisk together the flour (starting with 1 cup), cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough comes together. Add some of the remaining 1/4 C of flour if the dough is too wet.

Roll out the dough to about 1/8 in thickness and cut into whatever shape you desire. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown.

Cool on a rack and fill with a teaspoon or more of dulce de leche (I chose more).

Dust the tops with some powdered sugar (add a tiny bit of cinnamon if preferred). I skipped the dusting part.

Day 1: White Chocolate Cashew Macadamia Butter Cookies
Day 2: Shortbread Bars with Mango Jam
Day 3: Pumpkin Butter Thumbprints
Day 4: Butterscotch Cookies with Hazelnuts
Day 5: Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, and Dried Cherries
Day 6: Torta Sbrisolona



These are one of my favorites so I will be submitting these to Susan for her Eat Christmas Cookies Event. Head on over to her blog for even more Christmas Cookies!

Day 6: Torta Sbrisolona

Torta sbrisolona, which literally means crumbly cake, is more like a big cookie. It is a speciality of the city of Mantua/Mantova from the Lombardy region of Italy. The cake is a very old and traditional one and popular during Christmas time. In the oldest recipe neither butter nor eggs were used because many people could not afford these rich ingredients. This cookie should not be cut, instead, set it on a platter and have everyone breaks off a piece a two.

The flavor reminds me a little of shortbread but it is more crisp and crumbly and the top is covered with crunchy streusel-like pieces. Some recipes use a combination of cornmeal and flour (I think this is more traditional) and other recipes are flavored with a little lemon zest but I chose to enhance the almonds with almond and vanilla extracts. Next time I will try substituting some of the flour with finely ground cornmeal. The original Martha Stewart recipe yields a very thick cookie so I decreased the recipe for a slightly thinner cookie.

How to blanch almonds

Torta Sbrisolona
Adapted from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

1 1/2 sticks of butter, cold
1 1/2 C AP flour
1 1/2 C blanched almonds, finely ground
1/2 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of almond extract or 1 - 2 tsp of amaretto

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 10 inch springform pan. I found that buttering the pan was unnecessary since the cookie is quite buttery.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, finely ground blanch almonds, and salt or pulse ingredients together in a food processor. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients then about halfway through sprinkle in the extracts and continue to cut until the mixture is fully incorporated and starts to come together, there should be no dried crumbs. Or alternatively you can pulse the butter into the dry ingredients in a food processor. Squeeze the mixture to form pea to 1 inch size clumps of dough.

Gently press about 1/4 of the crumbs into bottom of the springform pan. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture evenly over the top. Bake until the cookie starts to turn pale golden, about 20 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 300 and continue to bake for 20 more minutes until the cookie is dry and crisp. Cool on a rack and release from the springform before serving.

Place on a platter and dust with powdered sugar if preferred.

Makes 1 10 inch cookie

Day 1: White Chocolate Cashew Macadamia Butter Cookies
Day 2: Shortbread Bars with Mango Jam
Day 3: Pumpkin Butter Thumbprints
Day 4: Butterscotch Cookies with Hazelnuts
Day 5: Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever with Chocolate Chunks, Pecans, and Dried Cherries