On the Third Day of Christmas.

Ugh, Dear Reader, this is another doozy of a post so brace yourself!

Today I'm talking about Cookies. My feelings towards cookies is summed up in one word. A few years ago I had a plate of my Martha Stewart's favorite Cakey Chocolate Chip cookies laying around the kitchen. I had made them that day or the day before and in my grandmother's house, that's a long life for baked goods thanks to the daily revolving door of family and friends. I was hoping there would be a few waiting for me after my run and when I got home I was sorely disappointed. The culprit? My father. When I confronted him he quoted a famous loved one, the Cookie Monster. Dear old Dad looked contrite and said "Cooooooookies!". The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and those are my sentiments exactly.

I had been feeling not too involved in the season because we had been moving and running a marathon in Tucson {which will have it's day in these twelve} and working 40+ hours a week so my goal for the few free days before leaving for Arizona was to bake. And Bake I did. 

I started with the store-bought slices of sugar cookies that have a holiday design in the center. I did this because I LOVE the flavor of these little devils. I don't care about the food coloring or cop-out-ness of buying pre-sliced and ready-to-bake pieces of cookie dough; they just taste dang good. I didn't get any pictures of them, though. 

My second batch was said Cakey Chocolate Chippers and those were eaten before any pictures could be taken. Just kidding. They did go quickly though.
I moved onto another perennial favorite and quite possibly my father's love-language; the Hershey's Peanut Butter Blossoms.
At the store I once found a bag of the Kisses already peeled but that hasn't happened since and I kind of like sitting and taking off the wrappers. 

These are basically peanut butter cookies rolled in sugar. After you bake them you stick in a naked Hershey's Kiss in the center. The heat from the cookie makes the kiss melty so these need to cool for what feels like forever before they're ready for transport. Or you can just eat them right away. The real recipe is at the above link {the words in different colors}. Mikey-Wikey doesn't care for peanut butter so as long as my pops stays away these are mine to enjoy.

I then moved onto the Raspberry Thumbprints. The recipe I originally used years ago came from a book of my grandmother and I didn't have it with me so I looked up a few random ones and made my own changes here and there. This is what I kind of came up with.

Raspberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies. 

This is not a comprehensive recipe and has been written with the assumption that the Reader is aware of basic oven functioning and safety practices. If you are a youngin' please ask for adults to help you out.

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2. Cream a stick of butter {salted or unsalted; I've never been able to tell the difference though some people say only unsalted is appropriate} with 1/4 cup of sugar {the white stuff though I've seen recipes that ask for the brown stuff}; this means mix it together until it's, well, good and mixed. 

Butter and Sugar...SO GOOD!

I use my counter top standing mixer since it's strong like bull and mine weak arms can't git-er-done on their own but however you can do it, just do it. Don't melt the booder, though, that just won't work; I usually cut mine into one or two inch pieces and let it set out on the counter for the time when I'm getting out the rest of the ingredients and getting everything ready to soften it up. This is maybe five minutes total or a bit more/less.

3. Add in two egg yokes {save the whites in a separate bowl, you'll need them for later} and 1/2 a teaspoon {or a whole one depending on your taste preference} of vanilla {try to use the good stuff and not the fake stuff, no offense to those who do. The real stuff includes alcohol so some are hesitant to use it but the booze actually bakes off in the oven soooo...} and continue the creaming/mixing until it's even more good and mixed, about another minute.

4. With the mixer going-at-it-still, slowly add in 1.5 cups of flour and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. I use plain white flour and don't suggest experimenting with "healthy" flours {such as whole wheat, for example} unless you want a less cookie-like cookie.

5. At this point I create an assembly line of sorts that is, from left to right, the dough, a bowl of egg whites, a bowl of chopped up pecans {finer is better than chunkier though this year I bought the pre-chopped out of laziness; they're pretty big pieces and still worked well} and the cookie sheet; this picture is not accurate according to the order I mention above.

6. Make one inch balls of dough, roll them in the egg whites and then the pecans and place them two or so inches apart on the sheet {I left cookie sheets unlined though some use parchment paper [not to be confused with wax paper which doesn't bake well] or a baking mat like Silpat [mine doesn't fit on our old cookie sheet]; using something means your cookies might bake more evenly or not stick. Not using something, in my case, doesn't ruin the experience.

7. With your thumb {hence thumbprint cookies!} or the back of a spoon make an indentation in each cookie.

Some people bake the cookies for five or so minutes, take them out, fill the dent with some raspberry jam and then finish off the little dudes for another seven minutes. I just do the jam and bake them all at once {10 to 12 minutes} and my jam has never caramelized or anything bad like that.

8. Let the cookies cool on a rack for a while and then ENJOY!

Like I mentioned, my preferred combination is raspberry jam with chopped pecans but you can feel free to go hog wild and try all sorts of combinations. Apricot and almonds might be tasty and you could use almond extract in place of vanilla...any suggestions?
 

I finished off with snickerdoodles for my snickerdoodle; they're his favorites. These recipes and plentiful and abundant but I'll provide for you Ms. Maw-thuh's since I've enjoyed them before. Again with the assembly line but this time it's just a bowlful of sugar mixed with cinnamon {yum!} that comes between the dough and the cookie sheet. 

A well loved needs to be cleaned cookie sheet.

Watch yo self when it comes to these guys since they're most definitely not just sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon/sugar and they also NEED cream of tartar to give them that snickerdoodly taste and texture so don't skip out on that step just because you don't have that ingredient around the house; make the trip to the store because it's totally an essential part of the recipe. Or just buy some already made snickerdoodles.


I had intentions of making spritz cookies but that didn't happen due to time restraints, very sadly so since I love making these the most. An added challenge to the whole endeavor was that on my second day of baking the water in our building was shut off for repairs. I used a lot of paper towels and some bottled water, I can tell you that much! I'll explain the spritz cookies in another post on another day. 

All in all my baking had the desired effect and I definitely felt more a part of the season and ready to celebrate family and togetherness. I really was craving some down time for myself where I could get lost in something. Considering the time of year what I wanted to lose myself in was sugar, butter and flour in varying quantities and with a variety of adornments. I managed to gift a few containers of these sugar bombs to those around us {neighbors and some family} which not only lets others know we're thinking of and care for them but has the added benefit of preventing us from eating them all.
How did you get yourself festive this year? Are you prolonging the season like I'm trying to? What's your favorite holiday cookie or dish?
xoxo, natty ♥