It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

    Christmas is only a few days away, and our family is in full holiday preparation mode, which means baking several batches of cookies a day. We have already made peanut butter blossoms, lime- macadamia nut shortbread, caramels, chocolates with caramel and nuts (peanuts, cashews and pecans), and these cut-out cookies. Needless to say, it's a fun time of year, but good luck fitting into your pants after it's over. I'm posting this recipe because I think it's overall, the most popular type of cookie at the holidays (if there are others you want to see, let me know and I'll try to post it in the next couple of days). And, it's also a lot of fun to decorate them with family and friends. Most people don't have piping kits at home to decorate with, but we just use a ziploc bag with a small hole in it to pipe the icing.

The arm broke off this poor cookie while we were transferring it, but Cory found a way to make it look like we'd done it on purpose. I suggested dressing him in a hospital gown...

     This cut-out recipe is from my grandma, and we've been making them for Christmas for years. Using powdered sugar instead of conventional granulated sugar makes these cookies very soft and delicate. We usually get together to decorate the cookies together. My mom, my sister and I try to make them look pretty, while my dad's technique is to put lopsided smiley faces on most of the cookies. The last couple years, Cory has also joined us for cookie decorating and has made some entertaining additions, including a gingerbread man with a broken arm and a Christmas pirate (see below).

 Cut-Out Cookies

-1 cup butter at room temperature
-1 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 1/2 cup flour
-1 tsp soda
-1 tsp cream of tartar
-1/4 tsp salt

Buttercream icing
-1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
-1 lb powdered sugar
-3 Tb of milk
-1 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring

for cookies:
-Cream butter in a mixer and sift in sugar until fluffy.
-Add egg and vanilla, and beat well.
-Sift in flour, soda, cream of tartar and salt.
-Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
-Roll out the dough on a floured surface (to 1/8 of an inch). Cut out the cookies and place on a cookie sheet prepared with parchment paper. Parchment paper isn't required, especially if you have non-stick cookie sheets, but it makes it easier to remove the cookies from the sheet without breaking them.
-Bake at 400 F for 6 min.
-Place the baked cookies on a cooling sheet. They will be very delicate, so you may want to allow them to cool a little before removing them from the tray.
-Allow cookies to cool completely before icing.

How to hold a piping bag

for icing:
-cream butter, sugar and milk together, Add vanilla and add a small amount of food coloring to color the icing. Pipe icing onto cookies by placing icing into ziploc bags and cutting out a small piece of the corner of the bag. You can also use piping bags, but this method requires no equipment.
-Get creative and have some fun! 

My dad did quite a few on this tray- can you figure out which ones? :-)

A Family Tradition

    As long as I can remember, my family has made cookies and homemade caramels the Friday after Thanksgiving. This cookie recipe has been passed down in the family for several generations (my grandma, who is now in her 80's, used to make them with her mother as a child). It is based on the traditional German cookie, Lebkuchen, but it has evolved over the years to become it's own entity. We make them as Christmas cutout cookies, but they can also be made in other shapes or rounds. They are similar to gingerbread cookies or molasses cookies. You can decorate them with icing, but they are pretty and delicious without any decoration at all! Every year, there's a discussion about what shapes to make- my uncles prefer the "wise men," but one looks like a conehead and another looks like Bart Simpson.

     These cookies are best when they are rolled out thicker than typical cut-out cookie, making them too thin will make them crisper and more cracker-like. We use hickory nuts in the cookies, but these can be hard to find and expensive because they aren't grown commercially. Pecans would work well, too, but the flavor will be a little different. This makes a large batch, so you may want to start with 1/2 or 1/4 batch to see if you like them first.

"Lap" Cookies

-4 c molasses
-2 c sour cream
-2 Tb soda
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 lb brown sugar
-1/2 c shortening, softened
-1/2 tsp cloves
-4 cups hickory nuts or pecans
-flour

-Mix molasses, sour cream, shortening, brown sugar, soda, cinnamon, cloves until well blended.
-Add in nuts.
-start adding flour, stirring in as much as you can.

Cookie dough before kneading in the last bit of flour.

-scoop out the dough in workable batches (about 2-3 large scoops). Knead in just enough flour that the dough can be rolled out and becomes easier to work with. Adding too much flour will make the cookies tough.
-Roll out the dough so that it is a little less than 1/4 of an inch thick. It will be thicker than traditional cut-out cookies.
-Cut out rounds or any shape you like. It's best to put shapes of about the same size on each cookie sheet, so that they bake evenly.
-Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes. Make sure you take them out of the oven before they start to brown- bake them just enough to set. Transfer them from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack before they cool completely to prevent them from sticking.
-Make sure you try some right out of the oven and stay tuned for other holiday recipes :-).

A Tale of Two Pies

    A couple of weeks ago, Cory's parents gave me a lovely pie pumpkin from their garden. They had a yield of 3 pumpkins, so I felt pretty special that they have one to me :). Pumpkins are very versatile, and can be used in a variety of dishes, including main dishes, soups and desserts. You can also use almost every part of the pumpkin and it can be used for a fall decoration prior to cooking, so it is a very cost-effective squash as well. From this pumpkin, I was able to make 2 pies, pumpkin custard, 2 jars of pumpkin butter and and caramelized spicy pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin pie is Cory's favorite, so after I made a pie to share with my family (to celebrate my sister's engagement!), I made one to bring down with me when I visited him. It didn't stand a chance- I don't even think his roommate got to try it :-). If you're not in the mood to clean a real pumpkin, this pie recipe can also be made with store-bought pumpkin.

The final product, finished off with butter-crust leaves

    There are multiple ways to prepare pumpkin puree for pumpkin pie and pumpkin butter. The two main ways are to steam or roast it, but both methods can be done with either peeled or unpeeled pumpkin. I think the fastest and easiest way is to steam it with the skin on (as described below). Once the pumpkin is cooked and cooled, the peels comes off very easily and you don't have to waste time trying to peel the raw pumpkin. I like steaming because it is faster and allows the pumpkin to retain its natural moisture. Stay tuned for the pumpkin butter and caramelized pumpkin seed recipes!

This slice was too small and required a second helping...

Perfect Pumpkin Pie (adapted from Martha Stewart)

-1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (from sugar pumpkin) or solid-pack canned pumpkin (one 15-ounce can) 

-4 large eggs (3 for pie, 1 for egg wash)

-4 teaspoons heavy cream (2 for filling, 2 for egg wash)

-3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

-1 tablespoon cornstarch

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon ground ginger

-3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

-1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

-1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
-white sugar for dusting crust

-Whipped cream/topping, for serving

For crust:
-use 1/2 of the basic pie crust recipe
For pumpkin puree:
-Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and loose pulp. Then, cut pumpkin into large chunks. Place them in a steamer basket with a cup or so of water. Place on a burner at medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes.
-allow pumpkin to cool, and scoop flesh from the skin with a spoon. Place in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

For pie:

-after preparing the crust, place it in the pie pan, crimp, and place in the freezer till frozen solid, about 15 minutes.

-Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, 2 Tb cream, brown sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, salt, cornstarch, and 3 eggs (beaten). Set aside.

-Remove crust from the freezer, line the inside with foil and fill with pie weights (or uncooked rice or beans). -Mix the egg wash using 1 egg and the remaining 2 Tb of cream. Brush over the edge of the pie crust and sprinkle with sugar. Return the crust to the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to baking.

-Place the crust in an oven preheated to 375 F. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove weights and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the crust is set, but not yet browned.

-Cool the crust completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F.

-Fill crust with filling, and bake pie at 350 F for about 60 minutes. The pie is done when only the center of the pie jiggles when the pie is moved. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill prior to serving.

-Garnish the pie with whipped cream and leaves made from extra crust, if desired.

*Note 1: To make the leaves shown on this pie, use some of the extra dough. Roll it thin, cut out shapes with a butter knife. The veins of the leaves were made with the edge of a butter knife and they were washed with the egg wash, sprinkled with white sugar and baked at 350 till golden brown. After the pie was baked and cooled, they were placed around the edges. 

 

*Note 2: Pumpkin custard may be made by heating the leftover filling in a saucepan, over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat after it has reached the consistency of wet scrambled eggs. It's great if you can't wait to try the pie!

Mel and Ty. Pie makes everyone happy, but being engaged made these two even happier!