Cookie Kisses

Another of holiday stand-by, these are always some of the quickest to go. There are many recipes for these out there; this one is my favorite. It comes from Maida Heatter's Cookies. Her printed version includes variations for food processor and more finicky details than I ever bother with. (Who in the world pre-divides their cookie dough?)

One note about the number of Kisses called for -- I like to make these smaller than the recipe recommends, in order to achieve what I consider the correct balance of cookie to chocolate. Although it's not a large recipe by the ingredients, I have gotten up to 60 cookies from this. Plus, of course, any nearby "helpers" will probably eat a few Kisses before they can be used in a cookie. So have some extra on hand.

Ingredients

48 (or more) Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses, unwrapped
1 3/4 c AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp milk
4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c smooth peanut butter

Additional granulated sugar for rolling the cookies

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. (But see step 6.)
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
3. In a small bowl, mix the egg, vanilla, and milk. 
4. Place the butter and peanut butter in a mixer bowl and beat until soft.
5. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the butter mixture, and beat until well combined. 
6. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then the egg mixture, then the remaining dry ingredients. Beat until thoroughly mixed. 
7. (The recipe does not include this, but I find it helpful to chill the dough a bit before trying to handle it--it can be very sticky. So cover the bowl and chuck it into the fridge for an hour or so if you have the time. Don't leave your oven on the whole time. :) ) 
8. Place additional granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. 
9. Scoop out rounded teaspoons of dough and roll them into balls, roll them in the granulated sugar, and place them on a cookie sheet. Leave a couple of inches between cookies. 
10. Bake 12-13 minutes, until the edges are just showing a bit of color. 
11. Immediately upon removing from the oven, place a chocolate kiss (point up) in the center of each cookie and press down firmly. Then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. The chocolate will stay soft for quite a while, so make sure they are quite cool and solid again before packing them. 

These cookies freeze well. I make a batch early in the holiday season every year and pack them a dozen or so to a freezer bag, and usually have to make another batch later in the month. 

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Martha has yet to steer me wrong, at least when it comes to food. These are incredibly good, with a delicate texture and a rich flavor that means one cookie is really all you need. On the other hand, they're small, so who's counting?

Do use really good baking chocolate for these; you won't regret it. These are always among the last cookies I bake for the holidays, since the confectioners sugar coating means you can't freeze them afterward.

Ingredients

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring. Set aside, and let cool. 
3. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
4. Mix butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. 
5. Mix in eggs and vanilla, and then the melted chocolate. 
6. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk. 
7. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
8. Divide each piece into 16 (1-inch) balls. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then in confectioners' sugar to coat. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake until surfaces crack, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers up to 3 days.

New England Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

Another standard member of my repertoire ever since it was published, lo these many years ago. These are, quite frankly, amazing, and the recipe is large. I usually only make one batch of these every holiday season, and dole out a few in every box of cookies I give away.

They freeze very well, although be careful of the shapes you choose if you're planning to do that -- I love making these in snowflake shapes, but they tend to lose a point or two. 

Here is a link to the source.

Cookie Ingredients

6 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 large egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Water
Food coloring (optional)
Decorations (such as colored sugar crystals)

Instructions
These are the original instructions, to which I have only added numbers for readability. Personally, I do not fuss around with waxed paper, nor do I have the fridge space to tuck sheets of cookies away while they await their turn in the oven. My cookies have never seemed to suffer for this shoddy treatment.

1. Combine 5 1/4 cups flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in medium bowl; whisk to blend well. 
2. Using electric mixer, beat butter and shortening in large bowl to blend. 
3. Add 1 cup sugar, molasses, and lemon peel and beat until smooth. 
4. Beat in egg and buttermilk. 
5. Stir 2 teaspoons water and baking soda in small cup to blend; beat into butter mixture. 
6. Beat in flour mixture in 2 additions. Stir in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until slightly firm dough forms. 
7. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Shape each into disk. Wrap disks and chill until firm enough to roll, at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften slightly before rolling out.)
8. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between sheets of waxed paper to 16x12-inch rectangle, occasionally lifting paper to smooth out wrinkles. Using 4- to 5-inch cutters, cut out boy and girl gingerbread people. Pull away excess dough around cutouts; flatten, wrap, and chill excess dough. Slide rimless baking sheet or inverted baking sheet under waxed paper with cutouts and chill until firm. Repeat with remaining dough disks, refrigerating cutouts on waxed paper on baking sheets. Roll out excess dough and make more cookies, using all of dough. (Cutout cookies can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)
9. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using thin metal spatula, lift chilled cookies off waxed paper and transfer to baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until darker at edges and just firm to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely. Bake remaining cookies, 1 sheet at a time.

For icing:

1. Sift powdered sugar into medium bowl. 
2. Mix in lemon juice and corn syrup. Mix in enough water by teaspoonfuls to form smooth icing soft enough to pipe but firm enough to hold shape. Divide into 3 or 4 portions and tint with food coloring, if desired.
3. Spoon icing into pastry bag (or bags if using more than 1 color) fitted with small (1/16- to 1/8-inch) plain tip. Arrange cookies on work surface. Pipe icing onto cookies in desired patterns. Apply decorations as desired. Let cookies stand until icing is dry. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Store cookies airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.)

Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

This is the other recipe I make from Mrs. Fields. Lemon and poppy seeds are one of my favorite flavor categories for baking. These cookies are light, not too sweet, excellent with a cup of tea, and add visual interest to any baked goods platter. (Yes, I sometimes get fancy enough to think about that kind of thing. Sometimes.)

Ingredients
2 c AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 tsp ground coriander
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
3/4 c salted butter, room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. 
2. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour through poppy seeds). Mix well with a wire whisk. 
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the bowl. Make sure to really thoroughly mix the butter in; pockets of butter in this dough will be obvious in the finished cookie. 
4. Add the egg yolks, egg, and lemon extract. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. 
5. Add the flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined. 
6. Drop rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets, leaving about two inches between them. You can round them by hand if you want them to look more regular. 
7. Bake 23-25 minutes, until slightly brown along the edges. Immediately transfer cookies to a rack to cool. 

Mrs. Fields Sugar Cookies

Are mail-order book clubs still a thing? I belonged to several back in the 90s. You would get five books for $5, and have to buy a book every so often after that. Also they would send you catalogs forever. For a kid living in small towns and cities where there was no decent bookstore, this didn't seem like a bad deal, and even after I moved to Boston, those initial offers successfully tempted me.

One of the books I got this way was the Mrs. Fields Cookies Book: 100 Recipes from the Kitchen of Mrs. Fields. Come to think of it, are Mrs. Fields cookies still a thing? I have used this book so much that the pages are falling out, and I know this particular recipe by heart. I often double it, and every year during the holidays end up making six batches of these easy cookies. These days that means decorating them with the kids.

Note that this calls for salted butter, unlike most baking recipes. 

Ingredients
2 c AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 salted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients and set aside. 
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together. 
3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. 
4. At low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. 
5. Gather the dough, flatten into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour until firm (you can keep it like this for a couple of days, but it may need to sit out for a bit to soften before rolling). 
6. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes and transfer to a baking sheet. 
8. Bake for 13-15 minutes (don't let them brown - I start checking at 11 min). Let them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes (otherwise they'll break when moved), then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

I use a simple icing of milk and confectioners sugar to decorate these, but you can get all fancy if you like. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

After two weekends spent mostly away, last weekend I buried myself in my kitchen. Among the results were these peanut butter cookies. The recipe comes from Joanne Chang's Flour -- one of the things I miss about working in Cambridge is easy access to the branch there. Their cookbook is gorgeous, but I haven't had much chance to make anything from it.

I've never been a huge fan of peanut butter cookies, but these might be my new go-to.

Note: This dough includes a three-hour "rest" phase.

As with all baking recipes, pause once in a while to scrape the mixer bowl with a spatula and make sure everything is evenly incorporated.

1/2 c unsalted butter at room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
1 c packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 c chunky peanut butter (I used Jif)
2 2/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt

In a mixer bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy (around 5 minutes with a stand mixer). Beat in the eggs and vanilla on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly combined. On medium-low speed, beat in the peanut butter for another 2 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add this mixture to the butter-sugar mixture on low speed. Mix just until everything is evenly incorporated.

For best results, scrape into an airtight container and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least three hours and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Drop the dough in 1/4-cup balls onto a baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball slightly. Use a fork to make the traditional cross-hatch pattern (dip the fork in water to keep the dough from sticking).

Bake cookies 18-20 minutes or until just brown around the edges and still soft in the center. Cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.