More Holiday Desserts
Since Christmas is next Monday, and we're getting near the end of the holiday season, here are some More Holiday Desserts. Check out the Easiest Peanut Butter Fudge, the Technicolor Cookies, and the rest of today's yummy desserts. Enjoy!
OLD-FASHIONED CHOCOLATE FUDGE
This is from AllRecipes, and begins, "This 5-ingredient chocolate fudge recipe makes over 60 mini fudge squares! These rich, creamy, and delicious fudge treats are perfect for special occasions or holiday dessert tables. Customize these chocolaty fudge squares by adding 1 cup of add-ins (like chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or mini candies) when you add the butter. Be sure to use a candy thermometer for best results."
Prep Time: 20 minutes; Cook Time: 15 minutes; Additional Time: 50 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes; Yield: 64 (1-inch) squares
To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9420/old-fashioned-chocolate-fudge/. You might want to read through the notes posted before the actual recipe, as it has a lot of interesting info, such as the difference between fudge and chocolate, as well as how to make, store, and freeze fudge.
Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced and softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Gather ingredients.
Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
Place sugar and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan; pour in milk and stir until blended. Set heat to medium-high and stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and place a candy thermometer in the pan. Let the mixture simmer without stirring until the temperature reaches 238 degrees F (114 degrees C) when measured with a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.
If you don't have a candy thermometer, drop a small amount of the mixture into cold water; if it forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface, it's ready.
Remove from the heat. Allow to cool to 110 degrees F (43 degrees C), 50 to 70 minutes. Do not disturb fudge as it's cooling.
Add butter and vanilla to the fudge. Beat with a wooden spoon until well incorporated and fudge loses its sheen; do not under beat.
Pour fudge into prepared pan and press to flatten. Let cool at room temperature or in the refrigerator before cutting into 1-inch squares.
Enjoy!
EASIEST PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE
This is from Angie Hammond at AllRecipes, and begins, "Peanut butter fudge is a delicious treat and great for sharing at parties or work! This is the easiest and best recipe for creamy peanut butter fudge I have ever used."
Prep Time: 15 minutes; Cook Time: 5 minutes; Additional Time: 1 hour; Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes; Servings: 32; Yield: 1 (8x8-inch) pan
To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22724/easiest-peanut-butter-fudge/. Be sure to read the interesting info before the actual recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 (16 ounce) package brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Directions
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat; stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove the pot from heat; stir in peanut butter and vanilla.
Place confectioners' sugar in a large mixing bowl. Pour in peanut butter mixture and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
Pour peanut butter mixture into an 8x8-inch dish.
Chill until firm before slicing, about 1 hour.
Enjoy!
TECHNICOLOR COOKIES
This is from Samantha Seneviratne in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this yummy recipe, Samantha wrote, "Cookies artfully decorated with royal icing are a holiday classic, but their fine details and beautiful colors can take hours to achieve. Not with these gorgeous cookies. Once the icing is made and stained, it takes only a few minutes to decorate. The icing is simply poured over the cookies, a technique inspired by the one used to pour swirly colors of mirror glaze over smooth cakes. (For a quicker alternative to royal icing, simply dip or drizzle the cookies with melted chocolate.) No two cookies will be the same, and that’s a big part of the charm. Underneath the exterior is a crisp, satisfying shortbread flavored with heaps of bright orange zest and quintessential winter spices."
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 7 hours chilling and setting; Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 7 hours chilling and setting; Yield: About 48 cookies
To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024779-technicolor-cookies.
Ingredients
For the Cookies
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or 1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest (from about 2 large navel oranges)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
For the Royal Icing
6 cups powdered sugar (1-1/2 pounds)
6 tablespoons meringue powder
4 different colors of gel food coloring
Preparation
Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, granulated sugar, orange zest, vanilla extract and egg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and beat until combined.
Set a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a work surface. Set the dough on top and cover with another piece of parchment. Roll dough into an even 1/4-inch-thick rectangle, squaring off the edges. Set the dough, still sandwiched in parchment, on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until very cold and firm, about 30 minutes.
Prepare the royal icing: Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 2/3 cup water and beat with an electric mixer on medium until thick and glossy, about 7 minutes. Check the consistency of the icing: When you drizzle the icing over itself, it should take 10 seconds to reincorporate. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time as necessary, to reach that consistency.
Separate icing into 5 bowls and tint 4 as desired, leaving one white. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Pull the dough from the fridge, and, working quickly, cut dough into 1-by-2-1/2-inch rectangles. If dough is still cold, separate rectangles and place on prepared baking sheets 1/4 inch apart. If the dough has gotten warm, chill (or freeze) it until cold before baking.
Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Set the rack over a parchment-lined sheet and line up the cookies, sides touching, in rows of 8.
Set another rack over a parchment- lined sheet. Into a small (4-inch- diameter) bowl, spoon some of each color so you have several parallel bands of colored icing. (Cover any unused icing.) Pour icing in thin ribbons over the cookies moving left to right, then right to left and back again, filling in holes, until you run out. Repeat with more icing. Immediately and carefully separate cookies, one by one, with an offset spatula and transfer to the clean rack.
Let the cookies stand at room temperature, uncovered, until set, at least 6 hours.
Tip
Make the dough and refrigerate it, well wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 1 month. Alternatively, you can freeze the baked cookies, without icing, well wrapped for up to 3 months.
PEPPERMINT STRIPE COOKIES
This is from Susan Spungen in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this really yummy cookie recipe, Susan wrote, "Inspired by a series of brushstroke paintings by Ellsworth Kelly, these sugar cookies are meant to be lined up in a tight grid, painted with bold red stripes and arranged randomly. To paint on cookies, they must be first coated with royal icing and allowed to dry, preferably overnight. Luster dust and petal dust, colored powders used in cake decorating, are mixed with peppermint extract (or lemon extract, if you prefer) as a medium. (The dusts are available from cake-decorating stores, craft stores or online.) Make sure the peppermint extract you use is primarily alcohol, which evaporates immediately, leaving the pigment behind, and not primarily peppermint oil, which might stain the cookies. Flat, soft art brushes work best to apply the color, and a plastic paint tray with wells is best for mixing them."
Total Time: 1 hour, plus at least 4 hours' drying; Yield: About 2 dozen cookies
This was featured in "12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know," and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020646-peppermint-stripe-cookies.
Ingredients
For the Royal Icing
2 cups unsifted confectioners’ sugar, plus more if needed
2 egg whites (or 2 tablespoons meringue powder and 4 tablespoons water)
A few drops of glycerin, if desired to create more of a sheen (optional)
For the Cookies and Decorating
1 recipe Basic Sugar Cookies, dough flavored with 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (omit the vanilla extract), cut into 3-inch squares and cooled
Red and pink petal dust and luster dust
Preparation
Prepare the royal icing: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, combine the confectioners’ sugar, egg whites and glycerin, if using. Combine on low speed, then raise speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer, and test some of the royal icing on a cookie: If it doesn’t spread out to a smooth finish within 10 seconds, it’s too thick. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water as needed to thin the mixture, whipping it by hand using the whip attachment. If the royal icing runs off the edge of the cookie, it’s too thin, so you’ll need to whisk in more sugar to thicken. You should have 1-1/2 cups royal icing.
Transfer to a small airtight container and refrigerate. It can be left out for 1 or 2 days, but you’ll need to refrigerate for longer storage. (The icing will keep, refrigerated, for several weeks.)
Decorate the cookies: Pour the royal icing into a wide bowl. (The icing can be used cold, but it may separate, so it needs to be whisked, and may need to be thinned out with water or thickened with confectioners’ sugar.) Holding a cookie by the edges, with the top-side down, dip into the icing, moving the cookie around a bit to make sure the icing coats the whole surface. Gently shake the cookie from side to side to let the excess icing drip off.
Use a small offset spatula to stop the flow of icing, gently scrape cookie against edge of bowl, and flip the cookie over. Use the spatula to spread the icing to pop any air bubbles, and make sure it goes all the way to the edges. It should quickly smooth out on its own. If not, thin it out a bit until it does. Use your fingers to wipe away any icing on the outside edges. Repeat with all the cookies. Place on a cooling rack set over a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet to dry completely, preferably overnight (or at least 4 hours).
When dry, set up the cookies on a baking sheet or other flat surface in four rows of five cookies (you may have a few extra cookies), so they are abutting one another with no spaces. Mix the petal dust and luster dust with enough peppermint extract to make a very loose “wash” and, using brushes of different widths, make continuous brushstrokes in a few different widths across the entire surface. If you run out of pigment as you’re brushing, dip the brush again, and continue the line, allowing the brush texture to show in places. When dry, rearrange the cookies on a platter so the lines no longer match up. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
BEST SUGAR COOKIES
This is from Susan Spungen in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Susan wrote, "This easy sugar cookie dough is perfect for rolling and cutting and bakes into cookies ideal for frosting. It holds its shape well during baking, tastes great, and the flavor can be changed according to whim: Swap out the vanilla and try adding orange zest, lemon zest, finely chopped rosemary or almond extract. You can also give these cookies a radical makeover by decorating them with icing. A few drops of gel food coloring turn them into Color-Field Cookies; red stripes transform them into Peppermint Stripe Cookies; or a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and pistachios create Abstract Art Cookies. Rubber spacers on your rolling pin are especially helpful here: They’ll help you roll the dough to an even thickness, resulting in beautiful, uniform cookies."
Total Time: 1 hour; Yield: 2 dozen cookies
This was featured in "12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know," and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020651-best-sugar-cookies.
Ingredients
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping the bowl as needed.
Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and fold a few times to make sure everything is well combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough 1/4-inch thick. Use 3-inch floured cutters to cut out cookies, and transfer to two parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1-1/2 inches apart. Reroll scraps as needed, chilling as needed until firm before rolling and cutting again. Freeze until very firm, about 10 minutes.
Bake until golden brown at the edges, 12 to 14 minutes.
Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, or frozen up to 3 months.
CRANBERRY-LIME PIE
This is from Ann Redding & Matt Danzer from the November 2016 issue of Bon Appetit. The recipe begins, "The spirit of a Key lime pie in the guise of a luscious cranberry curd. The contrast between the snappy press-in crust and the tart filling in this recipe is pure genius." Makes 8 servings.
To view this online, go to https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cranberry-lime-pie.
Ingredients
Crust
4 ounces gingersnap cookies (about 16 if using Nabisco)
1 cup pecans
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
Filling and Assembly
1 12-ounce package fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries, plus 4 ounces (about 1-1/4 cups) for serving
2-1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest, divided
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Pinch of kosher salt
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
Whipped cream (for serving)
Preparation
Crust
Preheat oven to 350°. Pulse cookies in a food processor until very finely ground (you should have about 1 cup). Add pecans; pulse until finely ground. Add butter and brown sugar; pulse to combine. Transfer to a deep 9" pie dish. Using a measuring cup, press firmly onto bottom and up sides of dish. Bake until firm and slightly darkened in color, 10–15 minutes. If crust slides down sides, gently press back up. Let cool.
Do Ahead: Crust can be baked 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.
Filling and Assembly
Bring 12 oz. cranberries, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high. Reduce heat; simmer until cranberries burst and most of the liquid evaporates, 12–15 minutes. Let cool. Purée in a blender until very smooth.
Cook purée, eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest, lime juice, salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. lime zest in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (bowl should not touch water), stirring with a rubber spatula and scraping down sides of bowl often, until curd thickens and coats spatula, 8–10 minutes. Let cool until just warm.
Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat curd, adding butter a piece at a time and incorporating after each addition, until curd looks lighter in color and texture, about 5 minutes. Scrape into crust and chill until firm, about 2 hours.
Bring 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add remaining 4 oz. cranberries and cook until barely starting to soften, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cranberries to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Chill until no longer sticky, 20–30 minutes.
Toss remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp. lime zest in a small bowl. Toss cranberries in lime sugar. Top pie with cranberries; serve with whipped cream.
Do Ahead: Pie (without topping) can be made 2 days ahead. Cover once filling is firm and keep chilled. Let sit at room temperature 2 hours before serving.
OLD-FASHIONED CHOCOLATE FUDGE
This is from AllRecipes, and begins, "This 5-ingredient chocolate fudge recipe makes over 60 mini fudge squares! These rich, creamy, and delicious fudge treats are perfect for special occasions or holiday dessert tables. Customize these chocolaty fudge squares by adding 1 cup of add-ins (like chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or mini candies) when you add the butter. Be sure to use a candy thermometer for best results."
Prep Time: 20 minutes; Cook Time: 15 minutes; Additional Time: 50 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes; Yield: 64 (1-inch) squares
To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9420/old-fashioned-chocolate-fudge/. You might want to read through the notes posted before the actual recipe, as it has a lot of interesting info, such as the difference between fudge and chocolate, as well as how to make, store, and freeze fudge.
Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced and softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Gather ingredients.
Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
Place sugar and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan; pour in milk and stir until blended. Set heat to medium-high and stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and place a candy thermometer in the pan. Let the mixture simmer without stirring until the temperature reaches 238 degrees F (114 degrees C) when measured with a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.
If you don't have a candy thermometer, drop a small amount of the mixture into cold water; if it forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface, it's ready.
Remove from the heat. Allow to cool to 110 degrees F (43 degrees C), 50 to 70 minutes. Do not disturb fudge as it's cooling.
Add butter and vanilla to the fudge. Beat with a wooden spoon until well incorporated and fudge loses its sheen; do not under beat.
Pour fudge into prepared pan and press to flatten. Let cool at room temperature or in the refrigerator before cutting into 1-inch squares.
Enjoy!
EASIEST PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE
This is from Angie Hammond at AllRecipes, and begins, "Peanut butter fudge is a delicious treat and great for sharing at parties or work! This is the easiest and best recipe for creamy peanut butter fudge I have ever used."
Prep Time: 15 minutes; Cook Time: 5 minutes; Additional Time: 1 hour; Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes; Servings: 32; Yield: 1 (8x8-inch) pan
To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22724/easiest-peanut-butter-fudge/. Be sure to read the interesting info before the actual recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 (16 ounce) package brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Directions
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat; stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove the pot from heat; stir in peanut butter and vanilla.
Place confectioners' sugar in a large mixing bowl. Pour in peanut butter mixture and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
Pour peanut butter mixture into an 8x8-inch dish.
Chill until firm before slicing, about 1 hour.
Enjoy!
TECHNICOLOR COOKIES
This is from Samantha Seneviratne in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this yummy recipe, Samantha wrote, "Cookies artfully decorated with royal icing are a holiday classic, but their fine details and beautiful colors can take hours to achieve. Not with these gorgeous cookies. Once the icing is made and stained, it takes only a few minutes to decorate. The icing is simply poured over the cookies, a technique inspired by the one used to pour swirly colors of mirror glaze over smooth cakes. (For a quicker alternative to royal icing, simply dip or drizzle the cookies with melted chocolate.) No two cookies will be the same, and that’s a big part of the charm. Underneath the exterior is a crisp, satisfying shortbread flavored with heaps of bright orange zest and quintessential winter spices."
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 7 hours chilling and setting; Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 7 hours chilling and setting; Yield: About 48 cookies
To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024779-technicolor-cookies.
Ingredients
For the Cookies
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or 1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest (from about 2 large navel oranges)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
For the Royal Icing
6 cups powdered sugar (1-1/2 pounds)
6 tablespoons meringue powder
4 different colors of gel food coloring
Preparation
Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, granulated sugar, orange zest, vanilla extract and egg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and beat until combined.
Set a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a work surface. Set the dough on top and cover with another piece of parchment. Roll dough into an even 1/4-inch-thick rectangle, squaring off the edges. Set the dough, still sandwiched in parchment, on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until very cold and firm, about 30 minutes.
Prepare the royal icing: Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 2/3 cup water and beat with an electric mixer on medium until thick and glossy, about 7 minutes. Check the consistency of the icing: When you drizzle the icing over itself, it should take 10 seconds to reincorporate. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time as necessary, to reach that consistency.
Separate icing into 5 bowls and tint 4 as desired, leaving one white. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Pull the dough from the fridge, and, working quickly, cut dough into 1-by-2-1/2-inch rectangles. If dough is still cold, separate rectangles and place on prepared baking sheets 1/4 inch apart. If the dough has gotten warm, chill (or freeze) it until cold before baking.
Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Set the rack over a parchment-lined sheet and line up the cookies, sides touching, in rows of 8.
Set another rack over a parchment- lined sheet. Into a small (4-inch- diameter) bowl, spoon some of each color so you have several parallel bands of colored icing. (Cover any unused icing.) Pour icing in thin ribbons over the cookies moving left to right, then right to left and back again, filling in holes, until you run out. Repeat with more icing. Immediately and carefully separate cookies, one by one, with an offset spatula and transfer to the clean rack.
Let the cookies stand at room temperature, uncovered, until set, at least 6 hours.
Tip
Make the dough and refrigerate it, well wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 1 month. Alternatively, you can freeze the baked cookies, without icing, well wrapped for up to 3 months.
PEPPERMINT STRIPE COOKIES
This is from Susan Spungen in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this really yummy cookie recipe, Susan wrote, "Inspired by a series of brushstroke paintings by Ellsworth Kelly, these sugar cookies are meant to be lined up in a tight grid, painted with bold red stripes and arranged randomly. To paint on cookies, they must be first coated with royal icing and allowed to dry, preferably overnight. Luster dust and petal dust, colored powders used in cake decorating, are mixed with peppermint extract (or lemon extract, if you prefer) as a medium. (The dusts are available from cake-decorating stores, craft stores or online.) Make sure the peppermint extract you use is primarily alcohol, which evaporates immediately, leaving the pigment behind, and not primarily peppermint oil, which might stain the cookies. Flat, soft art brushes work best to apply the color, and a plastic paint tray with wells is best for mixing them."
Total Time: 1 hour, plus at least 4 hours' drying; Yield: About 2 dozen cookies
This was featured in "12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know," and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020646-peppermint-stripe-cookies.
Ingredients
For the Royal Icing
2 cups unsifted confectioners’ sugar, plus more if needed
2 egg whites (or 2 tablespoons meringue powder and 4 tablespoons water)
A few drops of glycerin, if desired to create more of a sheen (optional)
For the Cookies and Decorating
1 recipe Basic Sugar Cookies, dough flavored with 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (omit the vanilla extract), cut into 3-inch squares and cooled
Red and pink petal dust and luster dust
Preparation
Prepare the royal icing: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, combine the confectioners’ sugar, egg whites and glycerin, if using. Combine on low speed, then raise speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer, and test some of the royal icing on a cookie: If it doesn’t spread out to a smooth finish within 10 seconds, it’s too thick. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water as needed to thin the mixture, whipping it by hand using the whip attachment. If the royal icing runs off the edge of the cookie, it’s too thin, so you’ll need to whisk in more sugar to thicken. You should have 1-1/2 cups royal icing.
Transfer to a small airtight container and refrigerate. It can be left out for 1 or 2 days, but you’ll need to refrigerate for longer storage. (The icing will keep, refrigerated, for several weeks.)
Decorate the cookies: Pour the royal icing into a wide bowl. (The icing can be used cold, but it may separate, so it needs to be whisked, and may need to be thinned out with water or thickened with confectioners’ sugar.) Holding a cookie by the edges, with the top-side down, dip into the icing, moving the cookie around a bit to make sure the icing coats the whole surface. Gently shake the cookie from side to side to let the excess icing drip off.
Use a small offset spatula to stop the flow of icing, gently scrape cookie against edge of bowl, and flip the cookie over. Use the spatula to spread the icing to pop any air bubbles, and make sure it goes all the way to the edges. It should quickly smooth out on its own. If not, thin it out a bit until it does. Use your fingers to wipe away any icing on the outside edges. Repeat with all the cookies. Place on a cooling rack set over a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet to dry completely, preferably overnight (or at least 4 hours).
When dry, set up the cookies on a baking sheet or other flat surface in four rows of five cookies (you may have a few extra cookies), so they are abutting one another with no spaces. Mix the petal dust and luster dust with enough peppermint extract to make a very loose “wash” and, using brushes of different widths, make continuous brushstrokes in a few different widths across the entire surface. If you run out of pigment as you’re brushing, dip the brush again, and continue the line, allowing the brush texture to show in places. When dry, rearrange the cookies on a platter so the lines no longer match up. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
BEST SUGAR COOKIES
This is from Susan Spungen in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Susan wrote, "This easy sugar cookie dough is perfect for rolling and cutting and bakes into cookies ideal for frosting. It holds its shape well during baking, tastes great, and the flavor can be changed according to whim: Swap out the vanilla and try adding orange zest, lemon zest, finely chopped rosemary or almond extract. You can also give these cookies a radical makeover by decorating them with icing. A few drops of gel food coloring turn them into Color-Field Cookies; red stripes transform them into Peppermint Stripe Cookies; or a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and pistachios create Abstract Art Cookies. Rubber spacers on your rolling pin are especially helpful here: They’ll help you roll the dough to an even thickness, resulting in beautiful, uniform cookies."
Total Time: 1 hour; Yield: 2 dozen cookies
This was featured in "12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know," and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020651-best-sugar-cookies.
Ingredients
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping the bowl as needed.
Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and fold a few times to make sure everything is well combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough 1/4-inch thick. Use 3-inch floured cutters to cut out cookies, and transfer to two parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1-1/2 inches apart. Reroll scraps as needed, chilling as needed until firm before rolling and cutting again. Freeze until very firm, about 10 minutes.
Bake until golden brown at the edges, 12 to 14 minutes.
Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, or frozen up to 3 months.
CRANBERRY-LIME PIE
This is from Ann Redding & Matt Danzer from the November 2016 issue of Bon Appetit. The recipe begins, "The spirit of a Key lime pie in the guise of a luscious cranberry curd. The contrast between the snappy press-in crust and the tart filling in this recipe is pure genius." Makes 8 servings.
To view this online, go to https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cranberry-lime-pie.
Ingredients
Crust
4 ounces gingersnap cookies (about 16 if using Nabisco)
1 cup pecans
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
Filling and Assembly
1 12-ounce package fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries, plus 4 ounces (about 1-1/4 cups) for serving
2-1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest, divided
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Pinch of kosher salt
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
Whipped cream (for serving)
Preparation
Crust
Preheat oven to 350°. Pulse cookies in a food processor until very finely ground (you should have about 1 cup). Add pecans; pulse until finely ground. Add butter and brown sugar; pulse to combine. Transfer to a deep 9" pie dish. Using a measuring cup, press firmly onto bottom and up sides of dish. Bake until firm and slightly darkened in color, 10–15 minutes. If crust slides down sides, gently press back up. Let cool.
Do Ahead: Crust can be baked 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.
Filling and Assembly
Bring 12 oz. cranberries, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high. Reduce heat; simmer until cranberries burst and most of the liquid evaporates, 12–15 minutes. Let cool. Purée in a blender until very smooth.
Cook purée, eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest, lime juice, salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. lime zest in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (bowl should not touch water), stirring with a rubber spatula and scraping down sides of bowl often, until curd thickens and coats spatula, 8–10 minutes. Let cool until just warm.
Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat curd, adding butter a piece at a time and incorporating after each addition, until curd looks lighter in color and texture, about 5 minutes. Scrape into crust and chill until firm, about 2 hours.
Bring 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add remaining 4 oz. cranberries and cook until barely starting to soften, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cranberries to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Chill until no longer sticky, 20–30 minutes.
Toss remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp. lime zest in a small bowl. Toss cranberries in lime sugar. Top pie with cranberries; serve with whipped cream.
Do Ahead: Pie (without topping) can be made 2 days ahead. Cover once filling is firm and keep chilled. Let sit at room temperature 2 hours before serving.
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