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| Festive holiday basket, filled with salted oatmeal, classic gingerbread cookies, gingerbread cake (FAVE), and chocolate sables |
Basic...
Basic Sugar Cookies
Alison Roman
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups/508 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups/341 grams (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups/250 grams granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Frosting, glaze or royal icing
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, and beat until everything is well combined, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Add dry ingredients all at once, and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
- Scrape dough out of bowl and divide it in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 5 days.
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough, one disk at a time, on lightly floured parchment paper or work surface until it's about 1/8 inch thick. Create shapes, using a lightly floured cookie cutter. (Alternatively, using a knife, cut the dough into squares, rectangles or diamonds.) If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any dough scraps and combine them into a disk. Roll and repeat the cookie-cutting process, chilling as necessary.
- Place shapes onto parchment-lined baking sheets 1 inch apart and bake until cookie edges are lightly browned with sandy, pale centers, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Cool the cookies on a rack, if you have one. Otherwise, let them cool on the pan. Decorate with a glaze, royal icing, frosting or whatever you'd like. Don’t forget the sprinkles.
Fruit-filled...
Raspberry-Hazelnut Macaroons
Luisa Weiss
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole hazelnuts
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400° and line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Spread the hazelnuts in a pie plate and toast until the skins split and the nuts are fragrant, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel and rub together to release the skins. Let the hazelnuts cool completely.
- In a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts until finely chopped. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites with the salt at medium speed until foamy, 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted, 5 to 7 minutes. Fold in the hazelnuts.
- Using a 1-ounce ice cream scoop or a soup spoon, scoop 1 1/2-inch rounds of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned; rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Remove the cookies from the oven and, while they’re still hot, carefully make an indentation in the center of each with the back of a teaspoon.
- In a small saucepan, boil the raspberry jam for 30 seconds, until slightly thickened. Carefully spoon about 1 teaspoon of the hot jam into the center of each cookie. Let the jam set and the cookies cool completely before serving.
Chocolate...
Melty Chocolate-Truffle Cookies
Joy Wilson
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (about 3 oz) chopped dark chocolate
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375° with racks in center and upper third. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using). Rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in chocolate.
- Whisk together egg and vanilla. Add egg mixture to chocolate mixture; stir with a fork until mixture is slightly moistened. Form dough into a ball; wrap in plastic; refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Shape dough into tablespoon-size balls. Roll each in powdered sugar to coat; place on sheets 2" apart. Bake until just set but still slightly undercooked, about 10 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Serve warm.
Happy baking!
