So, it's the Sunday night before Christmas (err...Monday morning...). Most people fall into one of two categories right now: relaxed, everything is purchased, maybe some things are even wrapped. Or: you find yourself frantically scouring Amazon for toys in certain age ranges, but only ones that are eligible for Prime high-speed shipping, and cursing the ones that meet that criteria but still have "out of stock" in small-but-deadly red font. I actually fall into both of these categories simultaneously, but that's for another day. Here's the thing, people: you need sustenance. And maybe you need some cookies for that cookie swap you totally forgot about. Or maybe you just want the room to smell like something baked and delicious instead of desperation and smoking credit cards. Either way, I've got a recipe for you.
Last weekend, I went on a baking spree. And I do mean spree. I made somewhere around 400 cookies (three different kinds). The impressive stats: I went through 2 dozen eggs, 12 pounds of flour, 8 pounds of sugar, and 4 pounds of butter. My home smelled amazing, my kitchen looked like a bakery bomb went off, and I learned a few more recipes. Two successes, one not so much (gingerbread men were quite a bland disappointment). What follows are the stories of two great cookies.
For those of you oddballs with time on your hands...I give you: Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. A number of years ago, in a phase of unemployment, I gave no Christmas gifts beyond my parents. Instead, I baked. For everyone. I was living with my parents at the time, and how my mother let me go that haywire in her kitchen for that long I don't really know. But I learned something very, very important...nothing is more valuable in this world than a serious KitchenAid stand mixer. They're pricey (at least the big solid ones) but they are worth every penny. This recipe was a prime example. It's not super complicated - dump ingredients in, let mix, bake, cool, slice, bake again - but doing that first bit with a hand mixer sounds nightmarish, given how thick this dough gets. Anyway: I made these, although with pecans, and wrapped in pretty boxes with the recipe included - not super complicated. No joke, people started calling me Martha Stewart. I think I got better reactions to those cookies than to most actual gifts I'd given in past years. So, I share this with you in that spirit. The particular fruit and nut combo is up to you, although you probably don't want to go to far astray unless you're also removing/substituting the almond extract.
Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Source: Real Simple
Makes 40 cookies
Hands-on Time: 15m
Total Time: 1hr 30m
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup shelled roasted pistachios
[note from your blogger: as mentioned before, I think any fruit and nut combo would work here. I haven't tried other dried fruits but have yet to actually use pistachios. I tried hazelnuts this year - tasty (and local!) but fair warning: BUY THEM CRUSHED if you don't own a serious food processor. I was afraid those hard nuts were going to damage the blades of my little chopper attachment to my stick blender.]
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350º F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until just smooth. One at a time, beat in the eggs. Mix in the almond extract. Add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Mix in the cranberries and pistachios.
3. Divide the dough in half and shape into two 10-by-2-inch logs. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until just golden around the edges and firm to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes [Note from your blogger: don't rush this step - it needs the full cooling.]
4. Reduce oven to 300º F. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs into ½-inch-thick slices. Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake until dry and crisp, 15 to 18 minutes per side.
For those of you with somewhat less time (although you'll still need some), I'll direct you to Lemon Shortbread Sables. This has minimal actual prep time, but does need to spend a decent amount of time in the fridge. The longer the better, it seems. Also, once you are actually cooking them they need to be turned halfway through baking (which is 5-6 minutes). So: make the dough, put in fridge, go to bed. Sometime the next day, bring your laptop into the kitchen and get baking (it's just slice and bake at that point). This way, you can shop and bake at the same time. These cookies are so wonderfully light that they cool in minutes on the rack, so you can get into a little rhythm as they keep coming out of the over, and you end up with a lot of little cookies (they should be about the size of a Nilla wafer, maybe smaller) fairly quickly. The cookie itself is an amazing just-right treat - light, delicately crumbly, salty and sugary and a little teeny bit crunchy. Delicious.
Full disclosure on the sables...this is now two posts in a row with a recipe from Amanda Hesser. This probably means, for fear of a lawsuit, I will have to stop posting her recipes now. Although it should be noted this is actually an adaptation, found on another site entirely.
Meyer Lemon Sablés
Source: the wonderful Orangette, where they are adapted from Amanda Hesser’s Cooking for Mr. Latte
Makes ~70-80 cookies, depending on your dough-snacking tendencies.
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs finely grated Meyer lemon zest (from about 2 good-size fruits) [note from your blogger: I used two fairly large regular lemons, and they were great.]
¾ tsp coarse sea salt or Kosher salt
4 large egg yolks
¼ cup coarse Turbinado sugar, for rolling logs of dough
In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, and whisk to mix thoroughly. Set aside.
Put the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl). Beat (with the paddle attachment, if you’re using a stand mixer) on medium-low speed until the butter is creamy; then add the confectioner’s sugar and beat for a minute. Add the granulated sugar, and beat for a minute more. Sprinkle the lemon zest and salt into the bowl, and mix briefly to just combine. Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing briefly to incorporate after each addition. With the mixer on low, add the flour in three doses, mixing just until the flour is absorbed. Use a rubber spatula to do any last scraping and stirring; do not overmix. The dough will be quite thick and dense and sticky.
Divide the dough between two large sheets of wax paper. Using the paper as an aid, smoosh and roll and shape one blob of dough into a rough log about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Roll up the log in the paper, and twist the ends to seal it closed. Repeat with the remaining blob of dough. Chill the two logs until the dough is cold and firm, at least two hours and up to a couple of days.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and set a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Put a large sheet of parchment paper on the counter, and pour the Turbinado sugar onto it, making a ridge of sugar approximately the length of the dough logs. Remove a log from the fridge, unwrap it, and roll it lightly in the sugar to press the crystals into its sides. Coat the log as thoroughly as you can; then slice it into ¼-inch-thick slices. [I found that a thin paring knife works well.] Lay the slices on the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Refrigerate the remaining dough.
Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes or until just golden around the edges, rotating the sheet 180 degrees halfway through the baking time. [Keep in mind that the cookies will continue to brown a bit after you have removed them from the oven, so it’s best to err on the pale side.] Cool them on the silicone mat or parchment paper on a wire rack [note from your blogger: the parchment is crucial: remember, you're dealing with a lot of butter here. This keeps the cookies from getting gridded on the bottom]. Repeat with remaining dough.
Store the cookies in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to three days, or freeze them in a Tupperware, with a sheet of wax paper between each layer.
SO MANY COOKIES!! : )
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