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Section: In the Kitchen
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice:
Holiday Cookies
By Annemarie Jason
Our English word “cookie” comes from the Dutch koekje, a diminutive of koek, the Dutch word for cake. Cookies used to be like little cakes, but today are more like small pastries. Just walk down the aisle of any grocery store and you’ll see how beloved they are to the American sweet tooth. One of the oldest cookies may have been a form of what German bakers today call lebkuchen. These honey and spice cakes were enjoyed by the ancient Mesopotamians. Much later, Native Americans shared the gifts of vanilla and chocolate with European invaders. Until then, our two most favorite flavorings had been unknown outside of the Western hemisphere. That’s why they are absent from early cookie recipes (see the DUTCH HEARTS below).
Because immigrants brought their treasured cookie recipes to America, we get to taste a smorgasbord of ethnic delights when we sample the bounty of December’s kitchens.
Many holiday recipes contain nuts as either part of the dough or as a filling. Included are Austrian linzer, Hungarian kifli, Greek kourabiedes, Jewish rugelach, Mexican wedding cakes and Italian amaretti. Honey endures as a sweetening in many old recipes such as Polish piernicki, Middle Eastern fenikia and French pain d’epices. Some cookie dough is pressed into decorative molds (Swiss springerle) or cut into special shapes, like German and Scandinavian ginger and butter cookies. But it is the spices that make holiday homes smell so special, whether it’s the cinnamon in Finnish star cookies, the cardamom in Swedish butter cookies or the nutmeg, cloves and white pepper in German pfeffernuesse. Homemade cookies are a treat for the senses this season, so if you like to bake, fill your home with heavenly aromas, grab a cup of tea or coffee and get ready for some holiday munching.
COCOAMINTS
Dough:
1 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
4 cups flour
6 tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
2/3 cup (about 30) peppermint candies, crushed in blender/food processor (divide in 1/2 & reserve 1/2 for frosting).
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
Frosting:
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup (half of the reserved) crushed peppermint candies
about 1 1/2 tsp. milk
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. For dough: In bowl, blend sugar into melted butter.
3. In measuring cup, dissolve vanilla in milk. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add alternately to sugar mixture with milk.
4. Add 1/3 cup crushed peppermints.
5. Form dough into balls (about 1 1/2 in. in diameter) bake on cookie sheet for 5 minutes (lower rack in oven) 5 min. (on upper rack). Cool on wire racks.
6. For frosting: Cream butter & sugar. Add milk till spreadable consistency. (Correct by adding more sugar or milk if frosting is too thin/thick.) As you finish frosting each cookie, dip into remaining 1/3 cup of crushed peppermints.
LEMON WREATHS
4 cups flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
grated zest & juice of 1 lemon
confectioner’s sugar, for rolling
lemon zest strips, for garnish
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift flour, baking powder & salt onto waxed paper.
3. Cream butter & sugar in lg. bowl until light & fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon zest & juice, gradually beat in flour mixture.
5. Knead dough briefly on a lightly floured surface. Add flour if necessary to form a dough that is easy to handle.
6. On the floured surface, roll walnut-size pieces of the dough with your hands to form ropes that are about 1/4 - 1/2 in. wide. Form ropes into circles, twisting the ends over at the top.
7. Place wreaths 2 in. apart on greased cookie sheet, bake for about 20 min. until pale golden brown. Cool on wire racks. When cool, roll wreaths in sugar. Garnish with zest if desired.
DUTCH HEARTS
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tbsp. sour cream
2 cups flour (plus extra at hand for rolling)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream butter & sugar. Blend sour cream with egg. Stir soda into flour & add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream mixture until well blended. If dough is too sticky to handle, knead flour (in sm. amounts only) just until it does not stick to your hands. Chill dough.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough thinly & cut into shapes with heart-shaped cookie cutters. Bake for 3-5 min., until very lightly browned.
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