Coconut Macaroons- 2010 holiday cookie of the year.

Coconut Macaroons...not really a macaroon, per se, but people seem to know what we mean when we call them that, so there you go. These are so gooey and sweet and SIMPLE (and gluten free! YAY!), they are the perfect addition to your holiday cookie list. They are so popular this year we have had a hard time keeping them in the case!

1/2 cup sugar
4 cups sweetened coconut
3 egg whites- beaten lightly
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt

Beat egg whites while slowly pouring in the sugar. beat til just barely holding a peak when whisk is removed. Fold in remaining ingredients.
Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Use fingers dipped in water to neaten the shape.
Bake in 325 dgree oven for 10 minutes or until slightly browned.
cool well before moving. To totally guild the lily, drizzle melted chocolate in a fancy design on top.
Yield 24 to 36 cookies, depending on how big you make them.
Keeps in airtight container 1-2 weeks. perfect for mailing.

Pistachio Thumbjams with raspberry filling

It's no denying the time for holiday baking is upon us...too soon you say? Never too soon around here, where we began making our little cookies a couple of weeks ago. We'll be in full swing with them by the end of next week. To get myself warmed up I decided to take on the Holiday Cookie Challenge put forth at ruhlman.com by Emilia Juocys. As we all try to get through this time with no Gourmet Magazine (thank goodness for my stack of back issues!) this will be a fun diversion. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make and finally decided to use the bakery's very first holiday cookie recipe, pecan thumbjams, and give it a festive makeover. So here we have rolled the brown sugar dough in ground pistachios and used my homemade raspberry jam (perfect for it's bright red hue) to create one very merry cookie!

 

Pistachio Thumbjams with raspberry filling

yield 2 1/2 dozen 2" cookies

ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 cup of ground pistachios*

1 cup of raspberry jam- seeded

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. 

Add the flour, salt and lemon zest and mix until fully combined. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll each ball in the ground pistachios. place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and press your thumb into the center to make a well for the jam. Spoon a bit of jam into the dent and bake at 325 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way to ensure even browning. Cookies are done when edges are slightly browned. Let cool completely before eating...be carefull, the jam is HOT! These will keep for quite a while (4 weeks) in an airtight container, hidden away (this part is very important if you have a husband with a sweet tooth). Otherwise they are soo good, they won't last at all!

*the pistachios, I have to admit, were a little fussy. I could not find shelled nuts anywhere in my little town, so I shelled, then blanched, peeled, toasted, cooled and THEN ground them in a food processor. Good thing it is a holiday cookie, right?!

Lavender Shortbread

This most popular cookie of 2009 is also the most requested recipe of the season, so as a gift to all of you...here it is!
Lavender Shortbread
1 1/2 cup unsalted butter...softened
2/3 cup sugar- granulated
2 Tablespoons dried lavender flowers
2 teaspoons fresh mint
Cream all above ingredients until fluffy
Combine in separate bowl:
2 1/3 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Stir into butter mixture until well combined.
Press into 9x13 inch pan greased and lined with parchment, and chill thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and score the shortbread with a sharp knife into the desired size pieces.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until browned around edges and no longer opaque in the center.
Let cool to just warm and recut score marks. Cool completely before dipping.
To dip: Melt white chocolate over just simmering water until smooth. Dip one side of cookie into chocolate and scrape off excess on side of bowl. lay on clean parchment on small sheetpan. cool until chocolate is hard.
Then enjoy your trip to cookie nirvana!

Maple Butter Cookies

I never much liked sugar cookies. They just weren't very exciting and seemed to me to purely be a medium for decoration, the cookie dough itself had no real taste so you had to sugar it up. I discovered this recipe many years ago...it was, in fact, one of my first 'holiday' cookies and remains our standard dough for making cut-outs. The maple flavor gives these cookies an unexpected depth...I love watching peoples faces the first time they try one...they think it's going to be another cardboard tasting sugar cookie...but no! there's actual flavor in there...can I have another one of those?

Maple Butter Cookies

1 cup Butter-soft
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Maple syrup...the real stuff
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour

Cream together butter, sugar and maple syrup
Add egg yolk...mix well
sift flour and salt gether and stir into above
wrap tightly and refridgerate 1 hour
roll out on floured board and cut out as desired.
for the cookies above use two heart cutters of different sizes
and fill the center with crushed hard candy.
Bake at 325 for 10 - 12 minutes.


Commenter CorgiMan just sent me his version of these cookies...so cute! I'm glad you had fun, Skip!

Pumpkin Cookies

One of our favorite Homer gardners, Dave Schroer, is notorious for many things...starting the local golf course (for which my husband is very grateful!) and his amazing sweet pea bouquets at the farmers market, most of all, though, when you mention his name to a longtime local they talk about his pumpkin patch. How he used to let the kids run through and scratch their name in a pumpkin early in the season and collect them up again come harvest time. His lovely wife Beth threw him an 80th birthday party this summer and we were honored to help her with the food. As a tip, Dave dropped off some pumpkins...with his grandkids names scratched in the side. First thing we did was roast them up for...Cookies!

Pumpkin cookies...the best part, besides eating them, is they make your house smell great!

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup white flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teasppon salt 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, beat well, then add pumpkin puree and vanilla...stir to combine.
in another bowl mix together all dry ingredients and toss well to combine thoroughly.
Stir dry into wet until well blended. drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
and bake until center is firm to the touch, 12-15 minutes. Let cool a bit while you mix the glaze.

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons soft butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup pureed pumpkin
mix with whisk, or even better in a cuisinart or blender
spread on slightly warm cookies
We like to use colorful sprinkles to jazz them up...kids
will pick a cookie with sprinles every time!
Chocolate chips are very popular also...!
enjoy!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES!

Every year at holiday time we make cookies...LOTS of cookies, a few dozen kinds, every year the list changes, we rotate out the least popular or difficult. By the end of the holiday season...we are so done with those cookies! This is one cookie, though that we (and everyone else) loved so much that we decided to let it grow up and become a real, year round part of our bakery case. I've had a special request for the recipe in time for mothers day...so here it is!
Now get baking Daddy-o!

This is a larger than normal batch...you'll be glad.

1# unsalted butter...soft
1/4 cup fresh ginger, grated
2 cup brown sugar
2 cup light molasses
6 1/4 cup flour
5 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup cocoa powder
4 tsp baking soda
2 Tblsp boiling water
28 ounces chocolate chips (sometimes we add 1/2 white chocolate chips)

preheat oven to 325 dgrees.
cream butter, fresh ginger, brown sugar and molasses.
Sift flour and spices and salt, Mix 1/2 into butter mixture
dissolve baking soda in water and add to above, then stir in rest of flour mixture
and chocolate chips. Chill dough....roll into balls and dredge in granulated sugar
bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 12- 15 minutes...um, depending on the size of your balls.
if you make a larger sized cookie like we do, flatten slightly before baking.

Green Tea shortbread

Green Tea Short bread

2 c all purpose flour
2 T green tea powder or lavender flowers
1/2 T sea salt
1 c butter...soft
1/2 c confectioners sugar
sift dry ingredients together...cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy add dry and mix to smooth dough. flatten on parchment to 1/4 inch thickness...chill til firm cut to score and bake at 350 degrees until center is opaque and not shiny. cool and recut scored lines. For a festive touch dip one side in melted white chocolate. Elegant and delicious!