Christmas cookies & bazaars

For me a huge part of Christmas is baking. I love making desserts any time of year and for any occasion, but Christmas just isn’t Christmas without cookies, and nothing looks more Christmassy than prettily decorated sugar cookies.

This year my friend, Lily, encouraged me to make them to sell at one of the Christmas bazaars we always have a table at, and they were pretty popular. I was very happy with the little flowers and stars covered in red, green, and white sprinkles.

Here’s the recipe I used:

I like this one particularly because it uses sour cream which gives a bit more of a kick to the flavour of the cookies. Sugar cookies can tend to be a bit plain.

1 cup sugar (these are not very sweet, you could even add a little more sugar)

1 cup shortening (I use a combination of butter and oil, it mixes up better than just using butter)

1 egg

1 cup of sour cream (or use thick yogurt if you don’t have sour cream)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About 4 ¾ cups flour (you really do need all this flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Combine first 3 ingredients; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in sour cream and vanilla mixing well. Combing flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture, beating well (at this point you’ll have to use your hands or a fork instead of a whisk). Chill dough at least 1 hour.

Divide dough into thirds; work with one-third of dough at a time, keeping remaining dough refrigerated. Roll out onto a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness; cut into desired shapes. Place cookies on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees (170 C) for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned.

To decorate the cookies, apply sprinkles or colored sugar before baking.

Some more interesting decorating tips I found but didn’t have time to try:

Mix an egg yolk with a drop or two of food coloring. Paint onto the cookie before baking.

Ice with royal icing (there are lots of recipes for this, and they generally all call for egg white, so you could use the yolk for painting and then pipe designs with a different coloured icing afterward)

All recipes has an excellent looking recipe for icing that only calls for mixing a little milk and corn syrup into the icing sugar. I didn’t try it, but it looks much simpler than royal icing.

Cookies & Milk

In my current living arrangement I don't get a chance to cook much. Two of the people I share an appartment with are excellent cooks, and are even happy to throw a simple meal together when they get home late after a long day of work. To be honest after spending a year managing a kitchen for a center of 16 people I'm pretty happy to take a break from kitchen, cooking, and food service.

But because I can't stay out of the kitchen entirely I've taken on baking as my department. A couple times a week we host classes and meetings at our place, so I have plenty of opportunity to experiment with recipes, and come up with just the right variations that are a hit.

Here's my adapted recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies. When it comes out right, this one is always popular.

Oatmeal Cookies

Soften:

1/2 cup butter (you can replace part of this with oil if it makes it easier to mix)

Add and mix well:

3/4 cup sugar

Beat in until smooth:

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

Sift together, then add to the wet ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

After the batter is beaten smooth then add:

1 cup oats

1/2 cup raisins

Drop cookies 2 inches apart on a well greased cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes or until light golden brown in 180 degree C (375 F) oven. (These need to be well baked. They'll firm up a little as they cool but won't get too dry.) One recipe makes about 30 to 36 cookies.

Get a big glass of cold milk or mug of hot coffee and enjoy.