Everyone has his or her special foods that make the December holidays special. In the Long Beach Food Examiner household, it happens to be favorite Christmas cookies. Here is a list of the top five Christmas cookies from one local household and a few hints about baking or buying each kind.
Shortbread cookies: Shortbread cookies are wonderfully delicate and melt in your mouth. They are very rich with butter, which is what gives them such a lovely texture. They are available in most Long Beach grocery stores. Lorna Doons are fine. Walker's shortbread is better.
If you plan to make your own, there are good recipes in just about any standard cookbook. In addition to following the recipe, you might try these baking hints; be sure you use unsalted butter and try to find a recipe that calls for superfine or berry sugar. The combination of these two ingredients yields a particularly delicate shortbread. If you cannot find a recipe for superfine granulated sugar or it is not available, a recipe with confectioner's sugar will suffice.
Snickerdoodles: These are vanilla cookies topped with cinnamon and sugar. Whoever first thought of vanilla and cinnamon together was a genius because the combination creates a wonderful taste and aroma. Snickerdoodles are a chewy rather than crisp cookie and last a while in your mouth, allowing the eater to enjoy the flavor longer.
Store-bought snikerdoodles tend to taste as if they were made with coconut extract instead of vanilla. They are very easy to make, so it is wise to make your own at home. The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook has a very good recipe for them or you can find one on Sacramento Couples Cooking Examiner. The most important thing is to remember to use fresh cream of tartar. It gives snickerdooles their unique texture. Be sure yours if fresh. If it is more than six months old, through it out and replace it.
European Kolacky cookies: European Kolacky cookies were created by Solo foods as a use for their canned cake fillings. It is based on an Easter European sweet bread made from yeasted dough and baked with a dollop of fruit in the middle.
Kolacky cookies are made with baking powder and the dough is based on butter and cream cheese. When the dough has been rolled out and cut into circles, the back of a spoon is pressed into the center of each cookie. The hollow is filled with a bit of Solo cake filling (cherry and almond are the flavors preferred at Long Beach Food Examiner). Here is a variation of the kolacky cookie from the Raleigh Cooking Examiner.
The recipe can be found all over the Internet, but the bast source is the Solo Foods website.
Gingerbread people (animals and shapes, too): Gingerbread cookies are a long-time Christmas staple. It is quite a favorite to leave Santa with his milk by the tree.
Store-bought gingerbread cookies lack the desired texture. By its nature, a gingerbread cookie should be bready, not stiff or hard. Fortunately there are excellent recipes all over the Internet. Be sure to choose one that uses molasses for the right texture and flavor.
Here are some baking hints for gingerbread breaking. Roll the dough out to at least 1/8 inch thick. If you roll it out any thinner, the cookies with be ginger crisps instead of gingerbread. Be sure to use a recipe that includes molasses. It is also a factor in the texture. Above all, do not over bake them. They should appear to be a bit under baked when removed from the oven. This is just right.
Pfeffernusse: This is German for pepper nuts. The are a small, round cookie flavored with anise, pepper, and other warm spices. They are shaken in powdered sugar when still warm from the oven or iced with a powdered sugar and milk glase.
Trader Joe's in Long Beach carries excellent pfeffernusse cookies. Fresh & Easy recently had some very good ones as well. If you choose to make your own, however, there are hundreds of recipes on the Internet. However, if you want the true pfeffernusse experience, be sure to choose a recipe that includes fresh ground pepper, anise, and cardamom. The combination of these three spices is what creates that unique pfeffernusse experience in your mouth.
What is your favorite Christmas cookie? Please write to me about it and I may use your E-mail on Long Beach Food Examiner. I cannot publish the recipe unless it is uniquely yours, but I will be glad to share the source of it with my readers if you share it with me.
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