xmas cookie boxes 2013
When I was in college, I used to open my door during final exams and find a box of cookies underfoot. This meant that Jessica had been hard at work, somehow baking off hundreds of cookies in between studying for and taking exams. For the record, getting a surprise box of cookies delivered to your door is kind of like getting asked to prom, or winning the lottery – I never knew why I made the list, or what made me a good enough friend to deserve cookies. I was just happy to find them – there’s nothing quite like starting your day with cookies that someone else made for you. Jessica’s cookies were all handed down from her German grandmother, and were so good that I would begrudgingly share them with my family, lest they miss out on truly excellent cookies. This brings me to the truism of cookies: they’re meant for sharing.
I always regretted that I was unable to return the favor – by the time I had enough baking skills to pull of any kind of gift in the guise of cookies, I had started taking studios and all semblance of free time had disappeared. All throughout grad school, especially when the going got tough, I promised myself that when I finished grad school, I would make time for regular routines of daily life, like making holiday cookies and sending out holiday cards.
Of course, I don’t really know how to do things like normal people do. My first attempt at holiday cookies, which involved maybe four or five different kinds of cookies, distributed in oblong white bakery boxes to eleven special recipients, has now ballooned to a frenzied two-week process of baking and packaging thousands of cookies that go out to a list of recipients that numbers nearly fifty. Many of you know me to be a little overly detail-oriented; what I can tell you is that the Regional Rate A box is the perfect USPS box to ship a 6″x6″x3″ bakery box, properly padded with bubble wrap.
Figuring out what goes in the boxes is a carefully calculated enterprise; every year I switch out about half of the varieties from the previous year. What cookies will survive being packaged (in airtight containers) for a week before going out in the boxes? What cookies will survive another two weeks after that without going stale, in order to allow the recipients to receive and eat the cookies? Are the cookies sturdy enough to be mailed across the country? Is there a good variety of flavors of cookies? Are there any cookies for the gluten-free recipients? For those with nut allergies? What did people like the previous year, and what didn’t they like? What new cookies have I discovered in the past year? What combination of doughs and cookies can I feasibly make in the two weeks I’ve allotted myself for production? Do I have time to make another rolled and stamped cookie, or should I do another slice-and-bake dough? And so on.
This past year, I kept five sweets from the previous year: the apple cider caramels, chocolate crisps (aka “chocolate hearts” from the 2012 box), gingersnaps, thai tea shortbread, and whole wheat vanilla bean cookies. I had been looking to add a citrusy cookie, and had tested recipes sporadically throughout the year before settling on a butter cookie amped up with a whole lot of grapefruit extract – so much so that the cookies made your tongue tingle if you ate too many of them. I added the honey shortbread on a whim; I had tested the recipe and liked it, but it wasn’t transcendent until I made them as a rolled cookie, rather than a shortbread. Somehow these cookies bake up invariably flaky, to the point that Keith dubbed them “croissant cookies” for their buttery flakiness. Having completely shut out the gluten-free at that point, I added the chocolate macaroons as a flourless cookie option. The latter were a wildcard; I had made them once before, but didn’t know how well they kept over the course of a few weeks. Accordingly, I made them last in my rotation of baking, in order to give them the best chance of staying fresh for this year’s boxes.
This year was fairly successful, but there’s still room for improvement. I’d like to replace the grapefruit cookies with some kind of shortbread that uses pulverized freeze-dried fruit to amp up the flavor of the cookie (there might be some freeze-dried raspberries burning a hole in my cupboard as they await their place in cookie testing). I tweaked the whole wheat vanilla bean cookies this year, adding more vanilla bean, and thought it was much improved – I had only included them because people liked them last year. I know many of you filled out the survey that I sent you – results forthcoming! For now, here are the recipes.
Chocolate Crisps (these are just the cookie part of the TKO recipe)
Chocolate Macaroons
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped, divided
2/3c (4 2/3 oz) granulated sugar
1/4c (3/4 oz) cocoa
3 egg whites
1/4t salt
1 1/2t dark rum
2 1/2c unsweetened flaked coconut
1. In microwave or in bowl set over pan of barely simmering water, melt 5 ounces chocolate until smooth. Cool slightly.
2. In large bowl, whisk sugar with cocoa until combined. Whisk in whites, salt, vanilla, and coconut extract. Whisk in chocolate mixture until smooth. Fold in coconut and remaining 2 ounces chocolate (see note). Chill until firm enough to scoop, about 30 minutes.
3. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or preferably a non-stick baking liner. If using parchment, lightly grease.
4. Using scoop or tablespoon, portion batter by two tablespoons each, spacing evenly onto pans (about 8 cookies per pan). Gently form into mounds.
5. Bake until set and center doesn’t look raw, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cookies cool on pan 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.
[makes about 40 1-inch cookies]
Gingersnaps
4c (560g) flour
1T baking soda
1t salt
4t cinnamon
1T ground ginger
1t freshly ground black pepper
22T (300g) butter
1 1/3c (260g) sugar
1t dark rum (optional)
1/2c (160g) mild-flavored molasses
2 eggs, at room temperature
1. In a large bowl, beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides of the bowl.
2. Stir in the vanilla, molasses and egg. Add the spices and salt and mix well. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.
3. Line an 8″x8″ pan with plastic wrap so you have an overhang of at least 8″ along one axis and 2″ on the other (basically two lengths of plastic wrap, overlapped). Press the dough into the pan, packing it carefully to avoid too many bubbles in the dough. Fold the plastic wrap over the dough so it’s completely covered and flatten the top into as level a surface as possible. Place in the freezer to chill overnight.
4. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Cut your block of dough into rectangular logs (I usually make four, but you can make the cookies whatever size you want). Slice off rectangles of cookie dough, 1/8″ thick, with a sharp knife. Place the cookies (before they start thawing!) on your baking sheet, leaving an inch between the cookies. The cookies will spread a little as they bake, but not a lot at only 1/8″ thick.
5. Bake for approximately 12 minutes. The cookies will puff up a bit while baking, then settle down when they’re done. Bake slightly less time for softer cookies, and more for snappier ones. I prefer them to be crispier, as they stay good for longer; also, the reason why these cookies are so wonderful is because they’re crisp without being hard.
6. Let the cookies cool two minutes, then pull them off the pan. Store in an airtight container for up to four weeks, though obviously these are best when fresh.
[Makes about 180-200 1.5″x2″ cookies; you can halve this recipe for a less copious bounty of cookies]
Grapefruit Punitions
6c (750g) flour
1t (8g) salt
2c (454 g) butter
2c (400 g) sugar
2 eggs
3T grapefruit extract
1/4t fiori di sicilia
1. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and pale, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the grapefruit extract and fiori di sicilia and mix well. Add flour and salt, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.
2. Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter.Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 1″ thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough. Chill both discs of dough for at least 45 minutes. When chilled, roll dough to 1/4″ thick.
3. To bake, preheat your oven to 325F. Remove your dough from the fridge and roll to 1/4″ thick. Use a cookie cutter of your choice to cut the cookies from the dough, re-rolling the dough from the scraps. Place the cookies on your baking sheet with 1 1/2″ between them. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Cool sheets on wire racks for 10 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling.
[Makes about 80 2″ square cookies; these will make your fridge smell like grapefruit, even when wrapped twice in plastic wrap and sealed in a heavy duty ziplock bag!]
Honey Shortbread
3¾c flour
½t salt
¼t baking powder
1½c butter
¾c dark brown sugar
1/4c strongly flavored honey (I used buckwheat honey)
1. Whisk together 3¾ cup of all-purpose flour, kosher salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
1. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the honey and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. Add salt and baking powder and mix well. Add flour and mix until just combined (it will be a soft dough, but not sticky). Bring the dough together into a ball, flatten into two discs, and wrap in plastic. Allow the dough to chill for at least 45 minutes in the fridge.
3. To bake, preheat your oven to 350F. Take one disc of dough and roll to 1/4″ thick. Use a cookie cutter of your choice to cut out the cookies, and place on your baking sheet with 1 1/2″ between cookies. You can re-roll your scraps without impugning the texture of these cookies! Bake for 11-13 minutes, until golden and set – the cookies should be browned on the bottoms. Allow to cool before removing from cookie sheets. As with all of my Xmas cookies, these keep well for a good long while.
[Makes about 100 1.5″ round cookies]
Thai Tea Shortbread
1c flour
1/4c sugar
1/4c powdered sugar
5T Thai tea, ground fine in a spice or coffee grinder, and sifted to remove any large pieces left
1/4t salt (I tend to be a bit more generous with the salt, which provides a nice counterpoint to the sweet in this cookie)
1t water
1/2c butter
1. The easiest way to make this dough is to use a food processor, especially if you’re making a lot of cookies. You can do this with a wooden spoon, though. Pulse together all of the dry ingredients until the tea leaves are pulverized.
2. Add water and butter, and pulse together until a dough forms. The dough will be on the wet side of a shortbread dough. Dump the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, and form it into a log about 2-3″ in diameter. Wrap the plastic wrap around it, and chill for 1 hour or overnight.
3. To bake, preheat the oven to 375F. Slice the log into 1/4″ thick cookies and place 2″ apart on your baking sheet. If you chill them longer, they will retain their edges better and not spread quite as much. Bake 10-14 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Let cookies cool on the baking sheets for five minutes so they can firm up, then transfer to a plate to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.
[Makes about 24 3″ to 4″ cookies]
Whole Wheat Vanilla Bean Shortbread Cookies v2
1/2c powdered sugar
3T sugar
1 1/2 vanilla beans, ends trimmed if tough
1/2t salt
8T butter
1/2c flour
1/2c whole wheat flour
1. Cut the vanilla bean into pieces with kitchen shears or a knife, and pulse with the sugars in a food processor until the bean is almost completely pulverized (in my experience, there isn’t enough sugar to get the bean to be ground up completely). Add the butter and pulse until the butter is creamy and light (past just combined – you’ll be able to tell by how easily the butter mixture moves around the bowl; when it’s right the butter won’t move too much because it’s nice and light). Add the flours and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball.
2. Scrape the dough out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten into a disk and wrap securely; chill the dough for at least an hour – longer will allow the vanilla to better permeate the dough. I typically let this dough sit at least overnight.
3. To bake, preheat your oven to 350F. Roll the dough to about a quarter inch thickness (or slightly less) and go to town with your cookie cutters. Place on your cookie sheets 1″ apart, and bake about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough until it’s all used up, gathering up scraps and re-rolling them. Let the cookies cool, then store in an airtight container for up to three weeks.
[Makes 40-50 1.5″ round cookies]