Best Christmas Cookies
Growing up Jewish, you’d think I never had occasion to bake Christmas cookies with an elder. Not so! My mother and I used to bake all sorts of shaped cookies; she had a special recipe and made her own icing, cutting the tips from plastic baggies to frost the cookies. I’m hungry to continue the tradition with my new family. Gary and I picked out some large copper cookie cutters from Chef Central: a sleigh , a gingerbread man , a nutcracker , a train, and a car with a Christmas tree on top (my favorite), as well as a set of twelve copper cutters in a smaller size. I’ve tried several recipes, even fashioning one myself out of two that looked promising, with varying results. The recipe I created rolled out perfectly, but tasted way too floury. I also made them too thick, with the resulting cookies resembling Mongo from Shrek . Going back to an old standby, I tried Cook’s Country’s Best Christmas Cookies. The sour cream adds a discernible delicious tang that wasn’t present in the other cookies. However, you must remember to keep the dough cold, otherwise it gets too darn sticky. When I made these at my sister-in-law’s house on Christmas Eve, I worked with a floured marble work surface and marble rolling pin, even with these however, the dough got too warm too fast (their thermostat is set at 70˚). I did not have access to parchment paper, it’s what I’ll be working with when I try these at home.
My sister-in-law had already made icing, using confectioner’s sugar, milk, and shortening according to a family recipe, coloring it with Wilton Paste Colors . I don’t like the taste of the shortening nor the thickness it imparts; my icing used heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar only, but I just had the regular food coloring bottles you can buy in the supermarket. What a n00b! On Boxing Day I went out to A.C. Moore and procured some Wilton Colors for myself; I found them to be much richer. I’d brought some décoratifs that I’d bought at Crate & Barrel in the shapes of snowflakes, gingerbread men, candy canes, and Christmas trees, and we used some cinnamon dots as well. My niece helped decorate a few, but I slogged through most of them myself, only pausing to eat the broken ones. I’m new at this, so be gentle in your criticism.
December 22nd, 20095:57 pm at
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