Anyway, I baked up another fabulous batch of Christmas cookies this year and they were all SO YUMMY.
Baklava Thumprint Cookies
(Source: Taste of Home)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs, room
temperature
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose
flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
TOPPING:
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
In a large bowl, cream
sugar and butter until blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and extracts. In
another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed
mixture. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate until firm enough to form into
balls, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°. For
topping, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Shape dough into 1-in. balls;
refrigerate again if dough becomes too warm. Place 2 1/2 in. apart on
parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 8 minutes. Press a deep indentation in
center of each cookie with the back of a rounded teaspoon. Fill each with honey
and walnuts; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Return to oven and bake until edges
begin to brown, 7-9 minutes longer. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove to wire racks
to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies
(Source: Food Network)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose
flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, room
temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
extract
1 package toffee bits
1 cup coarsely ground
almonds
4 ounces milk chocolate
1/2 tablespoon vegetable
oil
Preheat oven to 300
degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and
salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on
medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla
and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the
flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not
over-mix. Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using hands, roll balls of dough
into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie
sheets several inches apart. Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer
cookies to a cooling rack.
Melt the chocolate with
the vegetable oil in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering
water. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. Place cookies on a cookie
sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set.
Praline Rugelach
(Source: Southern Living)
1 (8-oz.) package cream
cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed
light brown sugar, divided
3 teaspoons vanilla
extract, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt,
divided
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, melted and
cooled
2 tablespoons cane syrup
(I used Steens Cane Syrup)
2 tablespoons whipping
cream
1/2 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
2 cups finely chopped
toasted pecans
Parchment paper
1 large egg, lightly
beaten
Beat cream cheese,
softened butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1/2 tsp. salt at
medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 2 to 3 minutes or until
creamy. Gradually add flour, beating until smooth. Divide dough into 4 equal
portions; flatten each into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill 2 hours.
Stir together melted
butter, next 3 ingredients, and remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp. vanilla,
and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt.
Unwrap 1 dough disk, and
roll into a 10-inch circle (about 1/4 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface.
Spread about 3 1/2 Tbsp. butter mixture in a thin layer on dough circle, leaving
a 1/2-inch border around edges. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans over butter mixture,
pressing to adhere. Cut circle into 12 wedges, and roll up wedges, starting at
wide end. Place, point sides down, on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Chill 20 minutes. Repeat procedure with remaining dough, butter mixture, and
pecans.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Whisk together egg and 1 Tbsp. water. Brush each roll with egg mixture. Bake 18
to 22 minutes or until golden brown, switching baking sheets halfway through.
Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes; transfer to wire racks, and cool.
Linzer Cookies
(Source: New York Times)
3 cups/435 grams all-purpose flour
1 cup/156 grams raw, skin-on almonds (or 3/4
cup/75 grams almond flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I omitted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups/341 grams (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups/250 grams granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup/290 grams raspberry jam
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Pulse together flour and
almonds in a food processor until the almonds are very finely ground. Add
cinnamon, baking powder and salt, and pulse to blend. (Alternatively, whisk
together flour, ground almonds or almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and
salt in a large bowl.)
Using an electric mixer,
beat butter and sugar together on medium-high until the mixture is light,
fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in
eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and
beat until everything is well combined, again stopping to scrape down bowl as
necessary.
Add in dry ingredients all
at once and mix on low speed, just until incorporated.
Divide dough in 2 equal
pieces, and wrap each piece in cling film, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk.
Chill at least 2 hours, up to 5 days ahead.
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment
paper so it's about 1/8 inch thick. (Because of the almonds, the dough may
crack in places while you’re rolling it out. This is O.K., just patch it up
with scraps.)
Using a round cookie
cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out as many circles as possible. Take half
of these circles and cut out a 1-inch circle from the interior of the larger
circles, creating a doughnut shape that will become the top of the cookie. 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 scraps of dough, combine them and roll
them out, chilling as necessary. Transfer dough circles to a parchment-lined
baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart and bake until the edges are golden brown, 12
to 15 minutes.
To assemble the linzer
cookies, spread about a teaspoon of raspberry jam onto the flat sides of the
larger circles. Dust the tops of the cutout circles with powdered sugar and
place on top of raspberry jam.
Chocolate Turtle Cookies
(Source: America's Test Kitchen)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted
butter (1 stick), softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated,
plus 1 egg white
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped
pecans
14 soft caramel candies
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Adjust oven rack to
upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2
baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl.
With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy,
about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Refrigerate
dough until firm, at least 1 hour.
Whisk egg whites in bowl
until frothy. Place pecans in another bowl. One at a time, roll dough into
1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place balls 2 inches
apart on prepared baking sheets. Using teaspoon measure, make indentation in
center of each ball. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating
sheets halfway through baking.
Meanwhile, microwave
caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2
minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently press existing indentations
with teaspoon measure. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 5
minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely.
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