Cookies We Love: Galletas con Chochitos (Mexican Butter Cookies with Sprinkles)

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past!  So excited!!! 

Special thanks to Courtney of Coco Cooks for organizing us again this year!

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past!  So excited!!! 

This year's challenge will feature a minimum of four types of cookies, spread out over four weeks ~ all chosen from Saveur's Smart Cookies: Favorite Holiday Treats From Around the World feature. As in years past, each of us will choose our cookies at random, independently from one another. We may post the same cookies on the same weeks, or we may all post something different. In any case, it will be fun to see everyone's take on the same set of recipes. I know I'm looking forward to it!

Who's involved in this completely fabulous baking group? Here's a complete list:

• Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes
• Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
• Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
• Judy of No Fear Entertaining
• Kelly of Sass & Veracity
• Michelle of Big Black Dog
• RJ of Flamingo Musings
• Tiffany of The Nesting Project
• Courtney of Coco Cooks
• Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Be sure to visit each of these blogs weekly and see what the other baking bloggers are up to!

My very late cookies for this week are…

Galletas con Chochitos (Mexican Butter Cookies with Sprinkles)

These are so cute and we all loved them!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp. unsalted butter,
   softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract, preferably
   Mexican
3 egg yolks
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Multicolored sprinkles, for
   decorating

Directions:

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a mixer, beat together sugar, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Add yolks one at a time; beat. Add dry ingredients; mix. Roll dough into a 12"-long cylinder. Cut cylinder into 3 pieces; roll each into a 12"-long cylinder. Cut each cylinder into twelve 1"-long pieces. Roll each into a ball; transfer to a lined baking sheet. Flatten each into a small disk; using your finger, poke a hole in center of each disk. Chill for 1 hour. Heat oven to 300°. Brush each ring with egg white; dip into sprinkles to coat. Return to baking sheets; bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

MAKES 3 DOZEN

Cookies We Love: Caramel Crumb Bars

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past! So excited!!!

Special thanks to Courtney of Coco Cooks for organizing us again this year!

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past! So excited!!!

This year's challenge will feature a minimum of four types of cookies, spread out over four weeks ~ all chosen from Saveur's Smart Cookies: Favorite Holiday Treats From Around the World feature. As in years past, each of us will choose our cookies at random, independently from one another. We may post the same cookies on the same weeks, or we may all post something different. In any case, it will be fun to see everyone's take on the same set of recipes. I know I'm looking forward to it!

Who's involved in this completely fabulous baking group? Here's a complete list:

• Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes
• Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
• Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
• Judy of No Fear Entertaining
• Kelly of Sass & Veracity
• Michelle of Big Black Dog
• RJ of Flamingo Musings
• Tiffany of The Nesting Project
• Courtney of Coco Cooks
• Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Be sure to visit each of these blogs weekly and see what the other baking bloggers are up to!

For my first and very late cookie I decided to make the quickest one I could find. Lucky for me it was fast and delicious too…

Caramel Crumb Bars

In New Zealand, these shortbread bars are actually baked throughout the year, but the sheer extravagance of their double-layered topping,rich caramel and a crumbly butter streusel,makes them a perfect holiday treat.

This recipe uses butter. Lots and lots of rich delicious butter and did I mention they are fast to make?

More to come…

12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This wonderful event is the brain child of Andrea of Andrea's Recipes. How I got asked to be involved with this incredible group is beyond me but all the thanks goes to Kelly of Sass & Veracity. There are 7 of us that have decided to do The 12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza. We will be choosing, baking, tasting, blogging and sharing with you a cookie a day for the next 12 days of December.

These cookies are coming from Gourmet's Favorite Cookie Recipes: 1941-2008. They’ve published a lot of cookie recipes in their 68-year history, many of them around the winter holidays. This season they decided to choose the very best from each year.

These are my partners in crime. We will all be choosing different cookies and surprising each other. How fun is that???? Be sure to check out their selections for the day!

Jerry - Cooking...by the seat of my Pants
Sandy -At the Baker's Bench
Courtney - Coco Cooks
Kelly - Sass & Veracity
Claire - The Barefoot Kitchen
Andrea - Andreas Recipes

Day 3 of The 12 Days of Cookies features Cranberry Turtle Bars!

This recipe falls into the category of “cult favorite;” it has steadily gained a passionate following since it was originally published. Layers of fresh cranberries suspended in a candied-pecan topping sit on a buttery crust and, as if that weren’t enough, the whole is streaked with melted chocolate. It’s an unexpected—and unexpectedly delicious—combination. Gourmet.


Cranberry Turtle Bars - November 2001 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

For base

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

For topping

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (not thawed; 6 3/4 oz), coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups pecans (12 oz), toasted and cooled, then coarsely chopped

For decoration

• 2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), very finely chopped

• Special equipment:

  a candy thermometer

Make base:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line a 15- by 10-inch shallow baking pan (1 inch deep) with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the 2 short sides. Butter all 4 sides (but not bottom).
• Blend flour, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor, then add butter and pulse until mixture begins to form small (roughly pea-size) lumps. Sprinkle into baking pan, then press down firmly all over with a metal spatula to form an even layer. Bake in middle of oven until golden and firm to the touch, 15 to 17 minutes, then cool in pan on a rack.

Make topping:

• Melt butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Boil over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel registers 245°F on thermometer, about 8 minutes. Carefully stir in cranberries, then boil until caramel returns to 245°F. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, then stir in pecans until well coated. Working quickly, spread caramel topping over base, using a fork to distribute nuts and berries evenly. Cool completely.

Cut and decorate bars:

• Lift bars in foil from pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 6 crosswise strips, then 6 lengthwise strips to form 36 bars.
• Melt half of chocolate in top of a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and add remaining chocolate, stirring until smooth. Transfer chocolate to a small heavy-duty sealable plastic bag. Seal bag and snip off a tiny piece of 1 corner to form a small hole, then pipe chocolate decoratively over bars. Let stand at room temperature until chocolate sets, about 1 hour.

Cooks’ note: Bars keep in an airtight container (use wax paper between layers) 1 week.

Don't they look nice and festive? Pecans, cranberries and chocolate!

I love these bars. I love the tartness of the fresh cranberries mixed with the pecans. Just a wonderful flavor explosion. They also look so festive and seasonal.

Will I make these again? Oh yes without a doubt and I don't think I would change a thing! They are both tasty and pretty! These ones are being frozen and given as Christmas gifts!