Christmas Cookies

Been a while since I posted anywhere, but I thought I would share my Mum's recipe for vanillekipfl. These are amongst my favourite things about Christmas time. These are an Austrian tradition which she picked up from my godparents. Enjoy.

- Magnus

Vanillekipfl

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup ground almonds or hazelnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in flour 1/2 cup at a time. Add remaining ingredients and continue beating until mixture is slightly stiff.
Form into crescents and bake @ 350 about 15 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Remove from oven to racks. Cool 5 minutes, dust with icing sugar and cool again for 15 min.

Better Living Through Chemistry

I stumbled upon this post about scientific themed cookies.
Then this one...

Consider me totally blown away and utterly inspired.
MAN I want to make me some lab cookies right now!!

mee hee...

Surprise cookies

While up at the lake at thanksgiving after many weeks of being busy and stressed we had a snowy cloudy day... and I wanted nothing more than to bake something fun and yummy for everyone.
My Mum had an old Canadian Living magazine and in it was a recipe for Peanut Butter SUrprise Cookies. They looked like a bit of fun and so Yukiho (my brother's exchange student) and I happily whiled away an hour making some of the most delicious little cookies I've had in ages. They aren't too tricky and taste heavenly. I'm not even a peanut butter fan and I loved them. I made them with celiac flour so we all could enjoy them and you couldn't tell at all. I tried out the "food" setting on my new camera. The picture does not lie - they were THAT good...1/2 c unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c smooth peanut butter
1 egg
1 T milk or cream
1t vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
3 T sugar (for decoration)

For filling:
1/2 c smooth peanut butter
1/4 c butter or margarine, softened
3/4 c icing sugar
1 T cornstarch
32 chocolate chips

First make the filling:
Beat the 1/2 c peanut butter and 1/4 c butter until smooth. Blend in icing sugar and cornstarch until well combined. Spoon onto a sheet of plastic wrap, use the wrap to shape the filling into a 1/2" thick log and put in the freezer for 10 minutes. While it's cooling make the cookie dough.

Cookie Dough: Beat the remaining butter, peanut butter, and sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat thoroughly. Sift dry ingredients; stir into butter mixture using a wooden spoon. Mix and chill about 10 minutes in the fridge.

Cookie Assembly: Slice peanut butter log into 32 equal pieces. To make cookies, flatten tablespoons of chocolate dough into thin disks and place a piece of the peanut butter filling in the center. Skooch chocolate dough around peanut butter filling to form a ball. Smooth the edges to seal and roll a bit in your palms gently to round them up. Roll balls in sugar.

Baking: Arrange cookies 1" apart on parchment lined baking sheet (we just had a Bakers Secret pan and it worked fine). Flatten slightly with hands to make them ~1/2 " thick and decorate top with a chocolate chip. Bake in 350° F oven for 10 minutes. Let cool for 1 minute on the pan (so they don't fall apart when you take them off) and then transfer to cooling rack or newspaper with a flipper to cool completely.

Yum...

Eggnog Cookies

This weekend was mostly hibernating and for me hibernating means baking. I did make a pumpkin pie from scratch from a baking pumpkin I've had around for ages, but the crown of my queenly baking on the weekend was trying out a new recipe for Eggnog Cookies.
I know. Eggnog is good. Cookies are good. So I figured it could only be a good thing.
IT WAS...

I baked them on my baking stone and got 3 dozen delicious fluffy, almost shortbread like cookies that taste lightly of nutmeg and are a pretty good match for eggnog.
Definitely on my list of Christmas baking...

I hate to keep the goodness to myself, so give this a try before the eggnog goes away for another year...

Mrs. Field's Eggnog Cookies

2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon (heaping)
1/2 t nutmeg (heaping)
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 c butter, room temperature
1/2 c eggnog
1 t vanilla
2 egg yolks

1 T nutmeg, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 300. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and spices. Mix well with whisk.
In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter with a mixer to form a grainy paste. Add eggnog, vanilla and eggs and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and stir until they are just combined. Do not overmix.
Make ~1 1/4 inch balls of dough ( a large teaspoon full) and place them on an ungreased baking stone (or baking sheet - I prefer stones for cookies) an inch apart. Flatten slightly with a wettened fork and sprinkle nutmeg on top of the cookies.
Bake for 20-24 minutes until the bottoms turn light brown. If you overbake them they'll brown on top and not be so deliciously decadent...trust me, extra care at the end makes them deeeeeeeeeeeelicious.

Merry Christmas!