Holiday baking, 2019 (part 2)

It's almost time to hang up the oven mitts and get down to the business of properly relaxing (at least for a couple of days)!  I hope it's been a sweet holiday season despite the inevitable stress and time crunch that comes along with it.    

I've had a lot of fun cocooning myself up in the kitchen and baking up a storm this holiday season.  I think we'll be finding sparkling sugar and bits of nuts and chocolates around the kitchen for a while yet.  So while I continue the cleanup, I'd love to share the final (part 2) recap of my recent holiday baking whirlwind.  

First up - I finally gave "the" cookies a try.  If you're on social media and into baking, you'll likely have heard of Allison Roman's "Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies", which were so popular, they essentially went viral and became dubbed "the" cookies.  I saw these cookies on my Instagram feed repeatedly for ever so long and have kept them in the back of my mind.  Since Christmastime is a great time to make shortbread cookies, it was time I gave them a try.

I can tell you the salted chocolate shortbread cookies are mighty tasty and they were not as tricky to make as I feared.  In my mind, you can't go wrong with adding chocolate to most things and inserting them into salty, buttery shortbread certainly works.  The salt stands out here; don't forget to add the flaky sea salt on top before baking...the extra bite of salt intensifies the flavor.  The edge of crunchy turbinado sugar not only brings a touch of glamor, they add a lovely sweet crunch.  It's a great holiday shortbread to bring to the party.

In addition to Allison Roman's salted chocolate shortbread, I made the vanilla sablé cookies that I made last holiday season.  This is going to become a holiday tradition because my family and I really, really adore these simple vanilla recipe by Dorie Greenspan.  They are a beautiful balance of sweet and slightly-salty, crisp and sandy yet tender, with that extra skirt of crunchy, sparkly sugar that adds to their elegance (and deliciousness). 

Holiday (cookie) season, 2018 - Part 2

It's almost Christmas!  The baking is essentially done and we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our preparation.  I hope your holiday season has been sweet.  

I'm happy I checked off everything on my to-bake list and even had room to improvise a little along the way to the finish line.  Following my previous post, I made the requisite batch of sugar cookies.  The kids in my life adore sugar cookies and they seem to have to make an appearance at Christmas.  These sugar cookies, with mugs of hot chocolate, make for a sweet finale to our family Christmas party.  

And what's not to love about sugar cookies...they're classic for a reason.  They're sweet (obviously) and always festive and eye-catching decorated however you like.  I'm not very creative but some kids tell me that when it comes to decorating sugar cookies, the key is lots of sprinkles.  I may need to up the sprinkle quotient on my sugar cookies next season! 

Aside from sugar cookies, I loved the simple vanilla sables (recipe from Dorie Greenspan) I baked this year.  The wonderful sandy texture, with the simple yet delectable flavor of the vanilla butter cookies, made me forget my love and commitment to chocolate for a moment.  I will be making more slice-and-bake cookies during the next holiday season!

Playing with my sugar cookies

Every Christmas I like to make sugar cookies.  It's just one of those classic treats that's a must-have at Christmas, particularly if you have children.  I don't make roll-out cookies that often during the year but come December, it's time to dig out the star, tree, gingerbread man, and assorted holiday cookie cutters.  And like my husband likes to say (and I agree), sugar cookies may not be something you crave but once you eat one, you're reminded of how simply delicious they are.  I love making room to revisit them every Christmas.

I wasn't planning on posting about my sugar cookie-making adventure but I did a couple of fun new things that I wanted to share! 

Breaking a little from routine, I tried something very simple that might change the game as far as sugar cookie-decorating goes for me.  Typically, I decorate my sugar cookies with sprinkles or sanding sugar.  On occasion, I'll use royal icing (more on that later).  But last year, I read an article from Alice Medrich that suggested a genius idea that's totally up my alley: use straight up chocolate to decorate your cookies!

Decorate your holiday cookies with chocolate!  Needless to say, it's delicious!

Hello, I'm a chocoholic - why hadn't I thought of that!  I didn't get a chance to test out this idea last Christmas but I did it with this year's batch of sugar cookies.  Oh boy - it's easy, it's delicious, and it's something I'll be doing from now on!  

I used dark chocolate but you could certainly try white chocolate if you prefer.  I simply melted a bit of chocolate in the microwave, put it into a plastic sandwich bag, nipped a small corner, and went at it.  It was surprisingly easy to handle and frankly, melting some chocolate is a lot easier than making royal icing.  And if you (or your kids) like to go crazy with decorating and tend to pile on the icing, your cookies are still sure to taste delicious because you're loading them up with pure chocolate.  It's a genius little idea and I hope you give it a try!  This is my public service announcement for the holiday season.  : ) 

Having a little more fun with my cookies...I also took an idea I saw just a few days ago from Sweet Paul magazine's instagram feed for 3-D Christmas tree sugar cookies. Using my usual sugar cookie dough - the same recipe I've been using for years - I simply took a plain round cookie cutter to cut a round that serves as the base for the tree.  Then use a paring knife and cut a rectangle or slot in the middle of the round (before baking) to make a place for the tree to "stand" in.  

How fun is that!  I love finding simple ideas that don't take much extra effort but allow you to put a fun new spin on an old routine.  It's a neat little trick to wow the kids and it's fun to plop one of these in the middle of your cookie platter.  

I had fun playing with my batch of sugar cookie dough this year.  If you are planning to roll and cut cookies this holiday season, maybe you'll try one of these little fun twists.

Gingerbread men vs. Sugarbread men

Do you prefer sugar or spice?

In one corner, I offer you the traditional gingerbread men.  On the other side, we have the ever irresistible, and what I call, sugarbread men. 

Excuse the use of "men"...I should say gingerbread/sugarbread people but I'm just keeping things simple.  And all kidding aside, I feel like sugar cookies are a must for us during the holiday season.  Despite my occasional whining about rolling out cookies, I'm starting to get used to it, particularly during these cooler temperatures when handling the dough is a lot easier.  And I think I've discovered the "secret" to a great sugar cookie dough: mix in just a little bit of milk at the end and the dough comes together beautifully, is more moist, and rolls out smoothly. 

I've been making what I call "sugarbread men" cookies during Christmas for a few years.  Every time I make and taste sugar cookies, I'm reminded of how delicious butter and sugar are together. 

I have to say I prefer sweetness to spice.  For as long as I've been making cookies from scratch (which actually isn't all that many years), I've made sugar cookies for the holidays, in various holiday shapes.  I actually never made gingerbread cookies until last year around this time.  And it started because each year, we'd pick up one of those ready-to-go gingerbread houses to decorate at home with our son and usually, the house would come with a couple of gingerbread people and he'd ask to eat one.  Of course, I'd shriek "no, you can't eat that!  Who knows how long those cookies have been in the box!"  And so finally, I appeased the little guy by saying I'd make him some gingerbread cookies myself.

Look, there's gingerbread snow-man too!

So I'm making these gingerbread men cookies last year thinking this is going to be a waste of time.  The boy is not going to like them.  Personally, I don't particularly like them and my husband isn't a big fan either.  I've never been into strong spices (in a cookie) and I'm thinking there's just no way the kid is going to like all that ground ginger, cloves, and such.  Of course, you know where this is going.  The boy liked them...quite a bit.  Maybe not as much as chocolate cake but he liked them.  I was surprised.  So it's a new tradition to make gingerbread cookies around here and it's fun to decorate them and leave them around the house for decor.  I prefer to just use sanding sugar or nonpareil sprinkles on the sugar cookies since they're sweet enough alone, and save the royal icing treatment for the gingerbread cookies.

So I guess I could say there's sugar, spice and everything nice in our house?

Our little guy is six!

Remember when you were young and really looked forward to your birthday?  That's how it should be for all of us, every single year.  Children's birthdays are so exciting - it's all about celebration and what a special day it is for the child.  Getting older is actually a good thing for them! 

I love my Jalen (aka, "our little guy") so much.  He just turned 6 and it was such a joy to watch his little face light up when everyone sang "happy birthday" to him.  That's my favorite part of a child's birthday party.  That moment when everyone stops and sings for the birthday boy or girl and it's all about the child for that moment.  I've been known to stop the song midway and demand everyone sing louder...happily, this year's crowd was quite rousing and didn't require that.

We had a bowling party to celebrate - so much fun!  For the all-important birthday cake, he passed up on anything I offered to make (I thought I could handle some cupcakes) and preferred a commercial "hot wheels" cake.  He's been feverish about cars since he was an infant and has picked a car-related cake in the last 3 years where he's been old enough to choose for himself.  This cake was bright and colorful (healthy, it is not), a whole lot better-looking than anything I could attempt!  I may make  a lot of sweets and desserts but fanciful cake decorating is definitely out of my realm.  The cake had 2 layers, plain/vanilla and chocolate, with chocolate pudding in the center.  I knew I'd get in trouble for that plain layer and sure enough, I got an ear-full from the now 6-year old.  I had to explain to him that there are kids and people in this world who do not like chocolate.  I think he was taken aback by this but accepted it.

Not to be totally outdone, I made some sugar cookies for the party.  I also made that little ice cream "cake" you see at the beginning of this post for the occasion and we enjoyed it a bit more quietly on our own on his actual birthday after the festivities with friends and family.  Well, I should say I assembled an ice cream cake since I didn't make the ice cream myself.  I put together this ice cream cake using chocolate and mint chocolate chip ice cream, two of our little guy's favorite flavors.  The cake may be a bit homely looking but it was made with lots of love. 

In addition to having this cake on the actual big day, he chose to go to "Legal Sea Foods" for dinner so he could have eat...their hot dog!  He loves their hot dog...I think it's the buttery bun he falls for.  It's ironic, I know, but it's his day and he can do what he likes (within reason).

A big thank you to all the family and friends who celebrated with us!  It's amazing how quickly times flies and it just seems to quicken even more with kids in the picture.  I guess in some ways, birthdays are a reminder to stop, celebrate, and appreciate what you have.

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday is coming up in just a few days.  In our house, my little guy is very eager for this holiday because it means the Easter bunny will come and leave him a trail of eggs to find in the backyard.  He is very curious about when the Easter bunny actually comes and whether he talks or knows how to drive a car.  He can't wait to open up those plastic eggs and see if the Easter bunny remembered to leave him a few of those matchbox cars he loves so much. 

This is a beautiful time of year, when the grass starts to turn green and flowers begin to jut out from the ground.  Despite battling the allergies that come with this, it feels like the world is waking up from the long, cold winter's sleep and everything goes from black and white to color.  I'm glad to say goodbye to all that snow we had this year!  So how ever you are celebrating Easter and what it symbolizes for you, here's to the start of something new.  

I thought I'd mark the holiday by making some classic sugar cookies and cutting them out into some Easter theme shapes.  I decorated a few with some royal icing but this is definitely not my area of expertise!  But hey, it's all about having fun and learning in the kitchen.