12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas 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 10 of my 12 Days of Cookies features Dutch Caramel Cashew Cookies

This recipe came out of a tour that one of our writers took to a Dutch tulip farm. Streaked with cashews and crunchy caramelized sugar, the cookies were, in the editors’ opinion, every bit as appealing as the flowers. When we made them recently, however, we used roasted, salted cashews instead of raw ones, which transformed the cookies into something even more spectacular.-Gourmet

Dutch Caramel Cashew Cookies - March 1972 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Cashew Praline:

1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup finely chopped raw cashews (I used roasted, salted ones and they rocked!)

In a heavy skillet cook sugar with water and a pinch of cream of tartar over moderately high heat, washing down any undissolved sugar that clings to the sides of the skillet with a brush dipped in cold water, until the mixture is a light caramel. Stir in quickly finely chopped raw cashews. Pour the praline onto a buttered piece of foil and with a buttered spatula spread it into a thin sheet. Let it cool until it hardens and chop it coarsely.

Cookie:

1 stick or 1/2 cup butter softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk (oops I added a whole egg)
1/2 tsp vanilla (I added 1 tsp by mistake:))
1 cup flour
2/3 of the chopped praline

In a bowl beat butter with sugar until it is creamy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour and two-thirds of the chopped praline and form the mixture into a dough. Form the dough into cylinders 2 1/2 inches long and 3/4 inch wide and put them about 2 inches apart on a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cylinders with the remaining praline and bake them in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for about 1 minute and with a spatula remove them to a rack to cool completely. Makes about 18 cookies.

See how nice and gooey the praline is once it bakes up? This is one yummy cookie!

I really liked this cooked the only thing that I was very sad about was that it only made about 18 cookies. Not nearly enough of something really good.

I ended up inadvertently changing some of the recipe around.:

I did use roasted and salted cashews for the praline. Good thing too there is no salt in this recipe at all!

I added a whole egg and I think that gave a nice puffy cookie.

I added 1 tsp of vanilla instead on 1/2 tsp.

I had no idea what they were trying to tell me to do when shaping these things - Form the dough into cylinders 2 1/2 inches long and 3/4 inch wide and put them about 2 inches apart on a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cylinders with the remaining praline and bake them - what in the world does that mean????? I used a small scooper and made them that way. I flattened the top to allow for more praline to be sprinkled on.

Would I make these again? Oh yes and next time I would double or triple this to give me more!!! See how nice and gooey the praline is? This was after it was baked. Before it was just crisp and delicious! I LOVED these cookies!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This wonderful event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas 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 9 of the 12 Days of Cookies features Rugelach!

This very homey recipe for rugelach was handed down through 4 generations of food editor Melissa Roberts’s family; though rugelach is typically rolled, then sliced and baked, these are scored first, baked, and then broken into individual cookies afterwards, for a wonderful variety of textures from top to bottom.-Gourmet

Rugelach - May 2004 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup plus 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup apricot preserves or raspberry jam (I used raspberry jam)
• 1 cup loosely packed golden raisins, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups walnuts (1/4 lb), finely chopped
• Milk for brushing cookies

Directions:

• Whisk together flour and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined well. Add flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, then flatten (in wrap) into a roughly 7- by 5- inch rectangle. Chill until firm, 8 to 24 hours.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of a 1- to 1 1/2-inch-deep large shallow baking pan with parchment paper.
• Cut dough into 4 pieces. Chill 3 pieces, wrapped in plastic wrap, and roll out remaining piece into a 12- by 8-inch rectangle on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment, then transfer to a tray and chill while rolling out remaining dough in same manner, transferring each to another sheet of parchment and stacking on tray.
• Whisk 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon.
• Arrange 1 dough rectangle on work surface with long side nearest you. Spread 1/4 cup preserves evenly over dough with offset spatula. Sprinkle 1/4 cup raising and a rounded 1/4 cup walnuts over jam, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar.
• Using parchment as an aid, roll up dough tightly into a log. Place, seam side down, in lined baking pan, then pinch ends closed and tuck underneath. Make 3 more logs in same manner and arrange 1 inch apart in pan. Brush logs with milk and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon of remaining granulated sugar. With a sharp large knife, make 3/4-inch-deep cuts crosswise in dough (not all the way through) at 1-inch-intervals. (If dough is too soft to cut, chill until firmer, 20 to 30 minutes.)
• Bake until golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool to warm in pan on a rack, about 30 minutes, then transfer logs to a cutting board and slice cookies all the way through.

See how moist and tender these look? They really were!

I really liked these cookies. Their flavor reminded me of something from my childhood. It reminds me of our Christmas dinners at my Grandma's house but I can't quite put my finger on what it was. I don't think it was these exact cookies but...

They called for golden raisins and for some reason I could not find them so I used regular raisins. They probably are a bit stronger flavored but they were still delicious. T. does not like raisins so I made one log with just the nuts and the sugar. Those were good too.

Would I make these again? Probably but only for someone really special. Not that they were hard or anything but they seem really special for some reason. Could that just be the memory attached to it? Not sure.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

The 12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas 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 8 of my 12 Days of Cookies features Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies)

Utterly simple, these buttery bites have a flavor all their own, thanks to the inclusion of orange liqueur and ground almonds in the dough; the crowning touch is a single clove on top of each cookie. The original recipe calls for you to cream butter with sugar for an hour, but thankfully today’s mixers will do the job in about 8 minutes. The result is a cookie that almost sings Noël when you take a bite. - Gourmet

Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies) - April 1974 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

4 sticks (2 cups) of butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg yolk (yes more egg whites in the fridge)
1 Tbsp orange flavored liqueur or brandy
4-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
clove
powdered sugar for dredging

Directions:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter, softened, at low speed for 1 hour, or until it is almost white.
• Add confectioners’ sugar, sifted, 1 tablespoon at a time, egg yolk, and orange-flavored liqueur or brandy and blend in flour and finely ground blanched almonds, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough. (If the dough seems sticky, chill it, wrapped in wax paper, for 1 hour.)
  
• Form the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and stud each ball with 1 clove. Put the balls on baking sheets and bake them in a preheated moderate oven (350° F.) for 15 minutes, or until they are pale golden.
  
• Transfer the cookies to a rack, let them cool for 2 minutes, and dredge them in sifted confectioners’ sugar.
• Makes 48 cookies.

This is what happened to them if you held them normally. I crushed a bunch trying to dredge them in sugar!!!

I hated this recipe. I almost quit baking cookies with this one. I swear I have never had a recipe for cookies (sugar people!!!!) turn out this bad. If not for the fact that I am incredibly stubborn and determined I would be hanging up my hat and baking no more of Gourmet's top pick of cookie recipes in the history of their magazine! WTH Gourmet- do you need recipe testers??? I'm pretty good at it by now!

Anyway, these turned out dry and incredibly flavorless. I am going to save then and try and make a tart crust with them or something. I took them with me and I met one of my girlfriend's and asked her to taste it. I thought she was going to gag. It was almost to dry to swallow!

Would I make these again? No way in Hell would I ever do this again! Felling pretty strongly about this one. There are no redeeming qualities to these cookies. Please don't make them!!!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

The 12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This wonderful event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas 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 7 of the 12 Days of Cookies features Coconut Bars!

When Miss Hope Austin wrote in to request a recipe for cookies “made with coconut and sprinkled with powdered sugar that have cake-like bottoms and chewy tops,” Gourmet’s cooks responded with these very easy coconut bars. Studded with chopped walnuts and shredded coconut, they are like blondies with a tropical flair. Lining the pan with parchment or wax paper makes them easier to remove.- Gourmet

Coconut Bars - October 1953 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1- 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sifted flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut (tossed with 2 Tbsp flour)
pinch of salt
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

• Cream butter and gradually add 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and beat until smooth.
  
• Stir in flour and spread the batter in the bottom of an 8 " square pan. (this is when I knew it was going bad for me...see photo below!)
  
• Bake in a 375° oven for 20 minutes.
• Beat eggs and the remaining 1 cup of brown sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla, chopped walnuts and coconut (coconut tossed with flour) and a pinch of salt
• Spread the batter over the baked crust and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Allow to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into bars
• Makes 24 cookies

So this is when I knew it was going poorly...they called for the bottom to be spread into the pan. No way that this was going to be spread.

Even once I got this all pressed into the pan and it was cooking, the timing was way off. I think I only cooked it about 15 minutes. Poured the topping on and cooked for another 15.

I only just now realized that I could have made my life easier by lining the pan with parchment and it says in the italics part of the description. What is with these recipes????

Cutting it was next to impossible. I had to wait until T. got home to cut it. He finally just lifted the whole thing out of the pan and cut it with the huge knife!!!

Would I make this again? Maybe. I think there are a lot of things that could be done better but overall everyone liked these. There was a yummy gooey layer between the crust and the top that was wonderful. Nice and sweet. my oldest daughter thought it was honey! Even T. who "hates" coconut was munching away on them!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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 6 of The 12 Days of Cookies features Biscotti di Regina (Queen's Biscuits)!

You may have forgotten about this Italian take on sesame seed cookies, but their cakelike texture and sweetness will remind you why they’re an old favorite.- Gourmet

Biscotti di Regina (Queen's Biscuits) - November 1955 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (I used unsalted butter *sigh* lol!)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
5 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 pound sesame seeds

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450°
  
• Cream butter and1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.
  
• Beat in egg and add gradually milk and vanilla extract.
  
• Sift together into a bowl flour, salt, and baking powder. Make a hollow in the center and gradually work in the butter-sugar mixture. If the dough seems too dry, add more milk.
  
• Shape the dough into a ball and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Wash and drain well sesame seeds.
  
• Break off pieces of the chilled dough the size of walnuts and flatten them slightly between the palms. Roll the biscuits in the sesame seeds and bake them on a cookie sheet 1/2 inch apart in a hot oven (450° F.) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden. Makes 5 dozen biscuits.

I LOVE these...now I'm not sure if it was them or the fact that I was sooooooo tired of mocha and coffee and chocolate! No really. I LOVED these. They are so Italian cookie tasting. I wanted to just drown it in an espresso but alas I only had hazelnut coffee!

They are sweet and cake like and covered with wonderful toasted sesame seeds and on top of all of that they are so easy to make. I made the dough the day before and then in the morning used the 450° oven to warm my kitchen and bake these little bits of goodness!

Would I make these again? OMG yes and maybe next week...

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

A quick break in our 12 Days of Cookies...

Go the The Adventures of Kitchen Girl and vote for my Arugula Pesto and Wild Mushroom Pizza! You know it was good!

Jo has made it real simple. Nothing to join just vote!

Thanks!!!

12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas 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 5 of my 12 Days of Cookies features Mocha Toffee Bars

The country went wild for the combination of buttery toffee and chocolate in the 1980s. These chewy bars with bits of roasted cashews epitomize exactly that over-the-top quality that we all craved.-Gourmet

Mocha Toffee Bars - December 1987 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
8 oz semisweet chocolate (melt the chocolate!)
3/4 cup salted roasted cashews, chopped

Directions:

• In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter, add the brown sugar, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the yolk, add the vanilla and the espresso mixture, a little at a time, beating, and beat the mixture until it is combined well.
  
• Add the salt and the flour, beating, and beat the mixture until is combined well.
  
• Spread the batter evenly in a jelly-roll pan, 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 by 1 inch, and bake it in the middle of a preheated 350° F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it pulls away slightly from the edge of the pan.
  
• Spread the chocolate, melted, evenly over the baked layer and sprinkle the cashews over it.
  
• Let the mixture cool in the pan on a rack, cut it into 48 bars, and chill it for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm.
  
• Makes 48 cookies.

Mmmmm! These were really good! They taste very adult like with the espresso flavor coming through just enough to enhance the chocolate and the nuts...oh the nuts, the nice salty nuts with all that rich sweet chocolate!!! I am really liking the bar cookies of this series. Not only are they a bit less time consuming but I haven't really had too much trouble with them!

Would I make these again? Not sure. I liked them but there are a million more cookies that I want to try. I like these flavors together but maybe a cookie with all of them mixed together or a brownie?