Christmas Crack

 This is such a great treat to have in the house.  It gets its name from how tasty and addictive it is. It is a lovely addition to a cookie box around the holidays. 

Ingredients: 

• 40-45 salted saltine crackers (approx. 1 sleeve)
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• salt
• 1 pkg (300 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Additional toppings:
• chopped walnuts
• candy sprinkles
• toffee bits
• white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Lined a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper and grease with cookie spray.
2. Place crackers side by side on the lined pan; set aside.
3. In a large saucepan combine butter and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
5. Pour the mixture over the crackers, making sure all crackers are covered.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 3-5 minutes.  Be careful not to burn the caramel!
7. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.  Let stand for 3-5 minutes and then spread the melted chocolate over the crackers and caramel using an offset spatular.  If the chocolate is not melted enough, you can always put the tray back in the oven for a few minutes to melt it.
8. Sprinkle the chocolate with salt and whatever toppings you'd like.  I love adding chopped walnuts and candy sprinkles.  You can always melt white chocolate and drizzle over top. 
9. Cool completely in the fridge for at least 2 hours, then break into pieces.
10. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
    
    

The Christmas Crack is around the outside.

Tea Cookies

These cookies come together rather quickly and are fairly easy to make; plus they taste great.  I always get compliments when I make these cookies.  The butter gives it a flaky texture and the nuts give it a nice crunch!  They are a great addition to any holiday baking tray!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
dash salt
dash baking powder
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (or other nuts)
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. In a bowl beat together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.

2. Add vanilla.

3. Blend together flour, salt and baking powder. (Don't forget it's just a dash!)

4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, blending well.

5. Add the chopped nuts; combine well.

6. Roll the dough into two balls.  Wrap each ball in plastic wrap an chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

7. Flatten dough out and cut into 15 or 16 equal size pieces.

8. Shape into small marble-sized balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

9.  Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes until firm not brown (one cookie sheet on each rack).  About halfway through baking, rotate the baking sheets to the one that was on top is now on the bottom and the one on the bottom now on the top.  Watch closely that the cookies don't brown too quickly and burn!

10.  Cool the cookies on a rack while still on the tray.  While still warm, dust with powdered sugar.

11.  Let cool completely.  Roll again in powdered sugar.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Cookies rolled and ready to bake.

The final product!

Smarties Cookies

This cookie recipe comes together pretty easily and makes about 2-2.5 dozen cookies (depending on your size).  You can substitute the Smarties for chocolate chips if you like.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups Smarties
1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4  tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a large baking sheet, or line it with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer until creamy.  Beat in vanilla and eggs.  Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoons on to baking sheet, about 2-inches apart.  Flatten cookies slightly and press 4-5 Smarties into the top of each.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden brown but center is still soft.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing them to a rack to cool completely.

5. Cookies can be stored in an airtight bag or container for up to one week.

Holiday Baking: Sugar Cookies

Baking is one of my favourite things, and I especially love holiday baking.  Besides fudge, sugar cookies are probably my most favourite thing to bake at Christmas time.  It's probably because of all the different cookie cutter shapes and fun decorations that can be used.  The part that I don't like is how much time it can take to make them: chilling the dough, rolling the dough, decorating and so forth.

While I've played with various sugar cookie recipes over the years, there's one that I always go back to.  Of course this year, excited to make sugar cookies with my 4 year old, I couldn't find the recipe I wanted to use.  And of course, with a baby in the house, time got the best of me.  So I turned to this great little recipe that also makes delicious sugar cookies.  The only difference is that there is no chilling time - you press the dough into moulds and bake away!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly spray the pan cavities with cookie spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Beat in egg and extract; mix well.

3. Combine flour and salt; add to butter mixture.  Beat until well blended.

4. Press dough into cavities, filling 2/3 full.  Bake 9-10 minutes or until light brown around the edges.  Cool in pan 5 minutes.  Turn pan over to remove cookies.  Cool completely on cooling rack.

5. Decorate as you wish: dust with icing sugar, sprinkle with sugar crystals, colour with icing.

Note: To add to the festive nature of the season, I like to mix in red and green sugar crystals with the dough before baking.  It gives the cookies a nice pop of colour and they look lovely even without any decorations.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Holiday Baking Part 2: Sugar Cookies & Shortbread

I love baking sugar cookies and it has only become more fun (and a little more stressful) since my little one likes to help me make them.  It's easy to roll out the dough and cut  out the shapes, but I have to learn to give up some control when I bake with my little one otherwise it becomes very stressful.

Shortbread is another great recipe and really easy to come together because you can just press the dough into the pan instead of letting it rest as you would with the sugar cookies.

Sugar Cookies:
I've played around with different sugar cookie recipes, and this was the one I turned to today: from my Williams Sonoma cookie cookbook.

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter until fluffy and pale.  Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on low speed for 2 minutes after each addition. Beat the egg yolk and vanilla into the butter mixture until well blended.

The cookies got a little darker than we liked,
but they still tasted good!

2. Sift the flour and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until blended.

3. Scrape the dough onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal portions.  Shape into disks, wrap into plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with with parchment paper.

5. Remove the dough disks from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.  Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out between 2 sheets of waxed paper to a thickness of about 1/8-1/4".  Using cookie cutters, cut into shapes.  Repeat with remaining dough portions, then gather up the scraps and re-roll.  If the scraps of dough have become sticky, refrigerate for 10 minutes before re-rolling.

6. Transfer the cookies to the prepared pans.  Sprinkle with coloured sugar.  (If you are dusting with icing sugar or drizzling with chocolate, wait till the cookies are baked.  Sprinkle with sugar while still warm.)

Traditional Shortbread

7. Bake the cookies until they are lightly golden on the bottom, 10-12 minutes.  Let the cookies cool briefly on the pans on wire racks before transferring them to the racks to cool completely.

Shortbread:
Today I tried a new shortbread recipe, from Anna Olson's book Back to Baking.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown or white rice flour
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 375F and grease an 8" square pan.

2. Beat the butter for 2 minutes to make it fluffy and light.  Add the icing sugar and sugar then beat again for 2 minutes, until fluffy, then beat in the vanilla.

3. Sift the flour, rice flour, and salt, then add to the wet ingredients, stirring until evenly blended.

4. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and press it flat into the bottom of the pan.  Use a fork to dock the shortbread at 1" intervals.  You can also score the dough to make it easier to cut if you like.

5. Bake the shortbread for about 25 minutes, until the outside edges have browned a little.

6. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares.  Allow the cookies to cool completely before lifting them out of the pan to store.  The shortbread will keep in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

You can also drizzle the shortbread with some melted semi-sweet chocolate for an extra flavour boost.

The finished product: cookies, shortbread and fudge
ready for our many holiday visits!