Cookies for the holidays
With so many varieties, it’s easy to choose a few for special Christmas gifts
Remember this: I never claimed to be consistent.
Last week I explored options for saving money on groceries, as Christmas approaches and extra spending for gifts and other seasonal needs and wants is underway. This week I will tell you how I’m using the savings.
I have been using any money saved by careful grocery shopping to pay for more groceries, namely butter, sugar and nuts. Staff members at my favourite grocery and bulk food stores rub their hands in glee and fire up the debit machines when they see me coming in yet again to exchange my carefully saved money for baking supplies.
The reason for the baking frenzy is that we are giving a selection of cookies to several people on our Christmas gift list.
I’ve done my best to choose types of cookies that will stay fresh and travel well. They’ll be packed in plastic bags inside airtight cookie tins, nestled in packing materials to keep them from being jostled around while en route.
I also want the cookies to be varied in shape, colour, texture and flavour. The list keeps changing, but here is the current version: Scottish shortbreads; pecan crescents; snowballs; ginger sparkles and chocolate-pistachio ice box cookies.
To make the Scottish shortbreads, I’ve been using my Aunt Helen’s shortbread recipe, but instead of rolling the dough and using cookie cutters to shape them as my aunt did, I’ve made them into thick rectangular bars. I did some research in cookbooks and online to learn how to create the thick rectangular shapes and did some experimentation to work out the timing.
Here’s the recipe as I’m using it this year.
Aunt Helen’s Shortbread
250 mL (1 cup) butter
125 mL (½ cup) superfine granulated sugar (also called instant dissolving sugar)
500 mL (2 cups) all purpose flour
Line a 20 cm (8 inch) square cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 160 C (325 F).
Mix sugar and butter well. Stir in 250 mL (1 cup) of the flour until combined. Knead in the remaining flour, and continue kneading the dough on a lightly floured surface for at least 5 minutes.
Press the dough into the prepared pan, patting until the corners are filled and the surface is flat and smooth. Using the point of a paring knife, score the surface of the dough, making 6 columns, each divided into 3 equal rows. Pierce each rectangle 3 times with a fork.
Bake in preheated oven for at least 1 hour, until firm and lightly browned. Be sure to bake for long enough, as the interior of underbaked shortbread is doughy and stodgy.
Another of the recipes I’m using for this project is my friend’s Ginger Sparkles. She and her sister researched traditional Island cookie recipes, adapted this one to modern tastes and
ingredients, and featured the recipe in their promotion of Island foods at Old Home Week several years ago.
Ginger Sparkles are not necessarily Christmas cookies in the way that, say, gingerbread people are, but they are popular on P.E.I. year-round, and I think they’ll be enjoyed.
Ginger Sparkles
From Carol Handrahan and Elaine Bulger
175 mL (¾ cup) butter, room temperature
250 mL (1 cup) brown sugar
50 mL (¼ cup) molasses
1 egg
500 mL (2 cups) all purpose flour
2 mL (½ tsp) salt
10 mL (2 tsp) baking soda
10 mL (2 tsp) ground ginger
5 mL (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
2 mL (½ tsp) ground cloves
Prepare cookie sheets by greasing lightly or lining with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Cream together butter, brown sugar, molasses, and egg until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and spices. Stir dry ingredients into creamed mixture a little a time until blended. Shape into balls. (I measure the dough with a small scoop, as it’s the only way I can get cookies of uniform size.) Roll each ball in sugar and place on prepared baking sheet.
Bake until cookies are lightly browned, and surface loses its sheen and looks dry, approximately 8-10 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on the pan until they become firm enough to lift, 5-10 minutes. Move to a rack to cool. Makes 40 cookies