The Good Plate

Archive for the ‘Cookies’ Category

When I wanted to make cookies for Spane’s classroom for Valentines Day, I had the cookie bags completed, and just needed to make the cookies. Usually, I use the Rollout Cookie recipe, which calls for 2 cups of granulated sugar. Horror of horrors, I did not have enough granulated sugar! But, I did have a lot of powdered sugar. People will tell you that you cannot make cookies with powdered sugar. Well, I’m here to tell you they are wrong! You can make nice crisp, melt in your mouth sugar cookies with powdered sugar!

I don’t bother making a glaze. I just buy the vanilla cream frosting in a can. Yes, I know, everything fresh, but the canned frosting is perfect for glazing. Mind you, I would never use it to frost a cake!

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I really like giving stuff I made in my kitchen to my friends, neighbors, and Spane’s school. So, this year I decided that I was going to give out some of the fudge and cookies that the kids made at the Kid’s Christmas Party on Saturday.

Life has been hectic since then, and Spane really wanted to help me to decorate the Roll Out Cookies. Today was also the last day of school before the winter break, a perfect opportunity to give his teacher and the front office some nice treats.

We got up very early this morning and started our project. The first thing I did was cut up the fudge in nice pieces. I put a little cappuccino and a little Peppermint on each plate, then wrapped each plate in some nice Christmas tissue paper that I tied with a red ribbon that said “Kiss the Cook”.

Of course, I saved one of the plates of fudge for our house. As I write this, most of it is gone. Oh, well, I can make more.

Then it was time to decorate the cookies. I separated the cookies into groups. There were nine flower looking cookies, and a dozen Christmas trees, but various other assorted cookies. The Christmas trees I knew had to have green icing, and I thought the flowers should be white.

I have found the best icing for cookies is Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla frosting in the can. I put some of it into a microwave safe bowl, and heated it in the microwave for about 10 seconds, or until it was runny. You have to be very careful not to let the frosting burn, because it will get so hot it will melt the plastic container it comes it!

Then I took a tiny bit of green Wilton food coloring gel and mixed it in thoroughly.

The cookies were on cooling racks over baking sheets. This helps keep the area clean because the icing can drip. This also keeps whatever you might want to sprinkle on the sheet, and not on your work surface.

To paint the Christmas trees, I simply used my small silicon pastry brush and painted the green icing on. After I put the cookie back on the rack, it was Spane’s turn to decorate the cookies with multicolored jimmies and multicolored candy covered sunflower seeds. I used a bit of rock candy as the tree topper.

After the icing had dried a bit, I put the cookies on the same serving dish that still miraculously had three of the White Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies I had made on Saturday.

Then it was time to do the flower cookies. For those, I poured the white icing directly on them, and then sprinkled chopped peppermint on them. Then I put a glacé cherry in the middle.

Spane wanted to take the cookies to school with him for the classroom party, but I said, no, all the other cookies I have decorated have been given away, but not these. I promised him the we would make more cookies for Valentines day.

It gives you a warm feeling in your heart when you give someone a cookie, and they bite into it. Then the corners of their mouth starts to come up, and there is a big, giant smile on their face. I’m not talking about kids, I’m talking about adults, but kids do that, too. To see that smile on someone’s face after eating something I made just makes my day.

Today is the 17th of December, in the year of our Lord, 2011. My friend Valencia had emailed me about having her child come for a sleep over a few weeks ago. Spane then came to me and asked if his other friend could sleep over. Then Spane and Noelle started practicing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer at the park, and the idea sparked in my head to have a kid’s Christmas party.

So, today we’re baking and making candy. I’m writing down the recipes on cards that I’ll give to the children so we won’t have to do anything with the computer except take pictures.

Here’s what we’re going to make:

• Fudge -
  • Peppermint Fudge
  • Cappuccino Fudge
  • Fruity Fudge
• Cookies -
  • White Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies
  • Roll Out Cookies

Before we get cooking, here’s a little entertainment for you. Presenting Mr. Leo, Mr. Spane, and Miss Noelle doing their rendition of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Amber and I are backup singers (seriously, we’re off camera).

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So, this morning, I got a while hair up my rear. Whilst thinking about making waffles for breakfast, I looked in my pantry and spied a jar of peanut butter, a can of Spanish peanuts in their skins, and a box of Dark Hershey’s cocoa. Reese’s peanut butter cups jumped to mind.

The choice of peanut butter is important in this recipe. Don’t go for the extra cheap peanut butter that has no flavor. Since the recipe has Spanish peanuts, you will want to use creamy style peanut butter, Jif is my favorite.

Recipes in this Post

• Pope’s Hats
• Broccoli Soup
• Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It was cold in Glendale, and Accuweather said that it might even snow on Saturday, so I thought it would be a good idea to have soup for dinner on a cold rainy night. It was Friday, so that also meant no meat. I also wanted something fun to eat with the soup, and wontons sounded like a plan.
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May 12, 2010 was Spane’s last day in Catechism for the year. It was also the May Crowning at our parish.

Maria had asked me weeks ago if we were going to have anything special for the children, like we did for Christmas. Last week when I saw Sandra, and she mentioned that she was going to BUY cookies for a gathering after class. I told her to not buy cookies, that I would happily make cookies and bring them. Since I knew it would be the May Crowning, I thought that flowers would be appropriate.

I am obviously a glutton for punishment, but I really do enjoy baking, and my good friend Amber loves to bake and decorate as well. Plus, I had the new “toy” to play with, the Wilton Cookie Press that I had used when I went crackers. Both of us remembered working with an old style metal cookie press that was just a disaster. I assured her that this was a really good one, and she agreed to come over and help me.

We made two kinds of cookies, Spritz cookies and Roll-Out cookies. I thought that Amber was going to fly through the roof when she saw how easy the new cookie press was.

Amber had told me that it one could make one’s own colored sugar, and I had looked at recipes on the Internet, but I still didn’t get it. So, when I told Amber that I needed yellow sugar, she simply put some sugar in a bowl, added some food coloring, and started to mix it. I grabbed it from her, went to the little food processor, put the sugar in it, and whirred it. It made yellow sugar in the blink of an eye. Then I decided that I needed Marian Blue, I decided to try using the blue pastel gel from Wilton instead of liquid food color. It worked like a charm! Now I can make any color I want. Yes! Thank you, Amber, again and again!

Amber had brought part of her collection of cookie cutters. That’s the thing, once you start collecting them, you don’t stop! I probably have about 30 cookie cutters, she has many, many more. Heck, she even has a Noah’s ark cookie cutter!

Since the theme was flowers, I made spritz flowers, and discovered that pressing them out in a hot room is not a good idea. Putting the dough in the freezer to cool it off made pressing that much easier. Amber rolled out all her cookies, and baked them, then it was time for decorating.

Amber has the best eye for decorating. Anything she does is stunning. Her cookies are always get eaten first, and I love that!

Oh, wait a minute, we had to go and pick up our children at school, so we left the cookies out to cool. One of our friends was treating his daughter and friends to MacDonald’s because she had done well on her test. So, there was the issue of trying to get Spane to leave for Catechism. Finally, Amber just picked him up like a sack of potatoes, put him in the car, and I brought the shoes he refused to put back on his feet.

We drove back to the house, got the cookies, and Amber was nice enough to help me bring in the cookies. Sandra had brought in ice cream, so with the help of another mother and a great student, we served one cookie with one scoop of ice cream per child.

For those of you who would like to make these cookies, here you go. Good luck and good baking!

Spritz Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400? F. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; beat well. Stir together flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough. Do not chill.

Place dough into Wilton Spritz Cookie Press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. You can sprinkle with colored sugar, or other small decorations at this time if desired.



Roll Out Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400F. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. wide and 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.