Tag Archives: cookies

Sugar & Spice Holiday Cookies

22 December 2016

Leave a comment

The holidays are fast approaching and all we want to do is hibernate with our new kittens and eat cookies. Fortunately, we’re wise enough to know that when we make batches of things like cookies, brownies, blondies, and other goodies, we either need to give them away, or freeze them and eat them judiciously throughout their lives (we rarely have frost bitten treats).

Gingerbread is classically Christmas. The warmth of ginger and the earthiness of the molasses are ideal for warming you up. While looking for gingerbread inspiration, we came across this nice, lightly spiced cookie recipe from King Arthur. Short a few of the ingredients, but adequately supplied with substitutes – like honey for molasses, coconut oil for shortening, and a little white whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose – to make them “healthy” sugar cookies – we decide to jump into the recipe.

Day-light savings time really sucks when you’re an afternoon baker attempting to make anything you might want to photograph. This recipe was no exception. At 4:00pm, with less than an hour of sunlight left on a gloomy SF afternoon, we got started. The dough needs to rest in the fridge so after Jason got Steve’s afternoon cookie and tea hopes up, we had to wait another day so that we could capture the finished product in daylight.

A quick and easy smear of chocolate (dark and white) makes for a delicious finishing touch. And be sure to dunk them in your favorite warm beverage. They’re extra delicious after a quick soak in coffee and tea.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Sugar and Spice Cookies
Adapted from King Arthur flour.

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice or ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, sugars, baking powder, spices, and salt until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and molasses, and beat well.

Mix about half of the flour into the butter mixture. When well combined, add the cornstarch and the remaining flour.

Divide the dough in thirds, flattening each half slightly to make a disk. Smooth the edges by rolling the disk along a lightly floured work surface. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour (or longer), for easiest rolling.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator, and flour a clean work surface, and the dough.

Roll it out as thin or thick as you like. For slightly less crisp cookies, roll it out more thickly. We like to roll these cookies 1/8″ to 1/4″inch thick. Use powdered sugar under and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking to the table or rolling pin.

Alternatively, place the dough on parchment, and put a sheet of plastic wrap or another piece of parchment over it as you roll, pulling the plastic or parchment to eliminate wrinkles as necessary when rolling; this will keep dough from sticking without the need for additional flour.

Transfer the cookies to parchment-lined or silpat baking sheets.

Bake them just until they’re slightly brown around the edges, or until they feel firm, about 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size and thickness.

Remove the cookies from the oven, and let them cool on the baking sheet for several minutes, or until they’re set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Happy 420, y’all!

Featured

In honor of San Francisco’s delightfully naughty 420 culture, we present these, um, “green” cookies for your enjoyment. Of course, there is a little “something special” in this recipe that we simply cannot suggest a source for, so we’ll defer to your cleverness to sort that out.

We appreciate that writing about baking pot cookies may be too personally revealing, even shocking, to some. But those who know and love us best will not be surprised by the following recipe. These cookies get much of their nutty character from the herb at issue. That will come as a surprise to some, but in this recipe, we’ve used the “spent” herb from a vaporizer which leaves us with a brown but not burnt byproduct that we cheerfully save for this recipe.

The toasted weed is less potent than the green stuff, but it contains enough of the good stuff to do the trick. So even though it’s a little late to whip up a batch of these cookies to celebrate 420, it’s not too late to start saving your toasted herb for next year’s celebration.

Cheers!
And pass the bong…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Brown Sugar Pot Cookies
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
yield 36-48 cookies

These cookies have been made using both an all butter recipe, as well as a mix of butter and coconut oil; light or brown sugars; and half all purpose flour along with other non traditional flours (barley, graham, whole wheat, etc.). They’re very adaptable.

14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 ounce “spent” 420
2 cups (14 ounces) packed brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 2/3 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon very good vanilla

In a small slow cooker, steep the butter and “spent” weed about 4-6 hours (we usually do this overnight and just unplug after a few hours of sleep). Strain through a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth and gently squeeze.

Add the melted butter to a mixing bowl along with the brown sugar and salt, mix until all the lumps are out, 2-3 minutes, stopping the mixer and scraping down the bowl when needed.

In a mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Briefly whisk together and set aside.

When all the lumps are out of the brown sugar, lower the mixer speed and add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Scrape the bowl again.

With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour 1/4 to a 1/2 cup at a time. Mix until well incorporated, scraping the bowl as needed. Scrape off the beater and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before proceeding.

When the dough is firm, use a small sized ice-cream scoop to form balls of dough, about .75 ounce. Place scooped dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet as you work. Gently roll each of the cookie dough scoops between your hands to form smooth, round dough balls. Cover the cookies with plastic wrap and place the sheet in the freezer for at least 10 minutes or until dough balls are completely firm. The cookie balls can be stored in a plastic bag in the freezer for 6 months or more.

To get baked: Preheat oven to 325 degrees (we’re keen on the Breville Toaster Oven for baking just a couple at a time). On a parchment lined baking sheet, place frozen cookie balls in a single layer, leaving about an inch between each ball. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until just crisp on the edge and soft in the center.