by Lauren Chattman
As the author of several books about cookies, I’m expected at this time of year to bring holiday treats wherever I go. I dare not show up at a dinner party or piano recital empty-handed. Pierson teachers assume that my children will provide the cookies for classroom celebrations. My children’s friends wait for their share in the cafeteria in the days leading up to Christmas break.
To meet these expectations, I prepare in advance. Freezing unbaked cookie dough is the key to producing cookies on demand. Weeks before Thanksgiving you can find me rolling out and cutting cookie dough and placing the cut-out but unbaked cookies on a baking sheet in single layers separated by parchment. I wrap the whole baking sheet in plastic, and freeze the cookies until I need them. In the time it takes to preheat the oven I can arrange as many frozen cookies as I need on a fresh baking sheet. Baking them takes just minutes.
Unadorned cookies will do at other times of year. But during the holidays, quick and easy decorating tricks help gild the lily:
*Let it Snow: A dusting of confectioners’ sugar is seasonal and adds necessary sweetness to rich and crumbly shortbread-style cookies (think Mexican wedding cakes and vanillekipferl). Best of all, applying confectioners’ sugar requires only a small strainer and absolutely no skill.
*Add Sparkle: Look for jars of sanding sugar (the big, sparkly crystals that come in white and a variety of colors) at the Variety Store, IGA, and Williams-Sonoma. Sprinkle the sugar on cookies before baking. If you wait until later, they’ll slide right off.
*Or Add Shine: A simple mixture of confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest adds flavor and a glossy finish to plain sugar cookies.
*Lose the Pastry Bag and Pick up a Fork: It takes practice and excellent fine motor skills to pipe the kind of royal icing and chocolate decorations commonly pictured in food magazines at this time of year. Piping those eyes and buttons on a gingerbread man is not as easy as it looks! Instead, dip the tines of a fork in a small bowl of melted chocolate or white icing and wave the fork over your cookies. In an instant you will have given them a bakery-worthy decoration.
*When in Doubt, Go for the Gold: Like a magpie, I get distracted by sparkly things, especially when I page through the King Arthur Baker’s Catalogue (www.kingarthur.com) or visit New York Cake and Baking Distributers (www.nycake.com) in the city. This explains the large supply of metallic dragees, edible glitter and gold sprinkles in my pantry. Now’s the time to bring them out and use them.
Walnut and Brown Sugar Cookies
Makes about thirty-six 3-inch cookies
These rich and not-too-sweet cookies can be decorated in a variety of ways. Dust them with powdered sugar just before serving, drizzle them with dark, milk, or white chocolate, or go all the way like I did and apply gold decorating spray to some of them before adding the chocolate and sprinkling with gold sanding sugar.
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups walnut pieces, toasted, cooled, and finely chopped
Gold decorating spray (optional)
½ cup milk, semisweet, and/or bittersweet chocolate chips, melted
1 tablespoon coarse gold sanding sugar (optional)
1. Combine butter, confectioners’ sugar and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and beat until smooth. Stir in flour, cinnamon, and salt until just incorporated. Stir in chopped nuts.
2. Divide dough into two equal portions, shape each one into a 5-inch disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least one hour and up to three days.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Working with one dough disk at a time, roll dough into a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured countertop. Turn the dough often, loosening it from the countertop with a large offset spatula, to prevent sticking.
5. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough, re-rolling scraps and re-cutting until all of the dough is used. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake until firm, 9 to 11 minutes. Slide cookies, still on parchment, onto wire racks to cool.
6. To decorate, lightly spray with decorating spray if desired. Dip tines of a fork into chocolate and wave over cookies to create a striped pattern. Sprinkle with sanding sugar so some of it adheres to melted chocolate if desired. Let stand until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes. Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
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