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Posts with tag butter cookies

Butter Cookies and Rocco DiSpirito - The NY Times in 60 Seconds

Butter Cookies - Gift of the Day

glazed butter cookies
The holiday season can be a hectic and overwhelming time of the year, but it's always nice to take a couple of hours to make up a batch of roll-out butter cookies. They're a little fussy in the making, but frosted with a quick powdered sugar glaze (powdered sugar dissolved in a little water and flavored with a dash of vanilla extract), they make an elegant addition to a holiday table and are sure to delight anyone you give them to.

I posted my favorite sugar/butter cookie recipe last year and it's the one I use for these types of cookies. I like to use smaller cutters for cookies that I'm going to give away, because them mean that you can get more cookies out of each roll and they look more delicate and appealing. To glaze, I make a small bowl of the frosting I described above and then quickly dip the top of the cookie into it. Let the glaze harden completely before stacking, otherwise they'll stick together and will lose the beauty and elegance you've worked so hard to create.

gift of the day badge

Surprised by Entenmann's Holiday Butter Cookies

Entemann's holiday butter cookiesLast night, my boyfriend came home with a box of Entenmann's Valentine's Day-themed Holiday Butter Cookies. In recent years, as I found my footing as a baker, I've become scornful of mass-produced, packaged cookies, assuming that anything I could make in my own kitchen would be better than the stuff available at CVS, Shop Rite or Wawa. So I looked at this pink and white box of heart-shaped cookies sitting on the dining room table with a raised eyebrow.

Noting my skepticism, Scott stated that these were his very favorite cookies and that on more than one occasion he has eaten an entire box in a single sitting. Getting excited, he explained to me that Entenmann's brings them out at every holiday, sometimes frosting them in chocolate (he believes that the St. Patrick's Day shamrock shaped cookies have a bottom coat of chocolate). He then opened the box and offered me one. One bite in, I had to eat my scornful words along with the rest of the cookie, because darn if that thing wasn't terrific. Reading the ingredient list, I was surprised to discover that they are fairly high-quality cookies, with all the ingredients you'd expect in a butter cookie (flour, butter, sugar) and and not a drop of high fructose corn syrup in sight.

While these aren't cookies I would recommend indulging in on a regular basis, they are quite wonderful as an occasional treat.

Vanilla Cutout Cookies, Christmas Cookie of the Week

By now, with all of our Christmas cookies recipes - Gingersnaps (two ways!), Cranberry, Orange & Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Peppermint Drops - your cookie plate is going to look very appealing when you put it out with a nice variety for Santa on Christmas Eve. But Christmas just isn't quite right unless you get to spend some time decorating cookies. Not only is it a great creative outlet, but you get to eat the results.

Rather than opt for the traditional gingerbread men with royal icing, especially in light of the fact that I made gingery cookies last week, I opted to make some of my favorite Vanilla Cutout Cookies. These cookies are soft, but not cake-like, and are very easy to make. They use both butter and buttermilk in dough, both of which add a richness to the cookie, and vanilla extract with a touch of almond to keep the flavor bright. As always, I recommend using a very high quality vanilla extract or something even more vanilla-y, such as vanilla bean crush or vanilla paste to boost the vanilla flavor.

Continue reading Vanilla Cutout Cookies, Christmas Cookie of the Week

Apple, Arugula, and Almond Cake: The Boston Globe in 60 seconds

Food Porn: Vanilla Salt Cookies

Salt is used in baking, and with food in general, to enhance other flavors. A pinch of salt makes plain foods taste more interesting and makes sweet foods, like watermelon, taste a little bit sweeter by comparison. In most baked goods you cannot taste the salt as a distinct flavor; it simply blends into the background. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and sometimes having a little extra salt is a good thing. The Vanilla Salt Cookies from Umami are topped with a small sprinkle of coarse pink Himalayan salt, which accentuated both the vanilla flavor and the butteriness of the cookies. The original recipe called for a sprinkling of coarse sugar, not salt, but the change made the cookies both original and even more addictive. Just imagine it with a sprinkle of both sugar and salt...

WSJ tests butter vs margarine

Some people have to avoid butter in their diets and to the die-hard butter fans, this seems like a sad thing. There are many valid reasons to do this, though, such as a doctor's orders to reduce cholesterol intake. There are also some people who simply prefer the taste of margarine, but though it might make an acceptable substitute on toast, margarine can't really compare to butter in baked goods - particularly in a butter cookie. Or can it? The Wall Street Journal baked up a few batches to find out.

The butter cookies made with real butter, the Land O'Lakes Ultra Creamy, came out on top. Land O' Lakes stick margarine came in second place, with a reasonable approximation of the taste and appearance of the real cookie. Unfortunately, the Land O' Lakes tub margarine did not fare as well, and though it had a similar texture to butter, the taste was nowhere near the real thing. Promise stick margarine did not do well, either, producing a cookie with little butter flavor.

I have actually had good results using Earth Balance "buttery spread" when baking, but the clear the solution is to stick to butter - not margarine - when it comes to baking.

Valentine's Day Cookies: Hand-shaped Sugared Hearts

nic's sugared heart cookies

 As Sarah pointed out, not everyone has a heart-shaped cookie cutter to help them make Valentine's Day Cookies. While the use of a cookie cutter can turn just about any cookie into something appropriate for the holiday, it certainly isn't your only option. These Easy Sugared Hearts are formed by hand, rolling and pinching the soft dough into a heart shape. The dough is easy to work with, so your kids can even help you shape them. The cookies are dipped into both red and plain granulated sugar before baking, which adds extra sweetness and beautiful color. The cookies are light and crisp without being crunchy. Not too sweet, despite the sugar coating, there is also a hint of butter and vanilla in them. They go perfectly with a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate.

Continue reading Valentine's Day Cookies: Hand-shaped Sugared Hearts

Valentine's Day Cookies: Heartbreaker Butter Cookies

nic's heart butter cookies

Because frosting cookies, even for a special occasion like Valentine's Day, sometimes to require more of a time commitment than we are able to make, it is nice to have a simple decorating stick up your sleeve. Or in this case, in your kitchen drawer. All you need to make these heartbreakers is a heart shaped cookie cutter and a knife. After punching out the heart shape, simply use a small, sharp knife to cut a zig zag line into the cookie. Pull the edges slightly apart so the line doesn't seal itself up during baking. You can roll them in sugar, as I did here, or simple leave them plain.

Continue reading Valentine's Day Cookies: Heartbreaker Butter Cookies

Tip of the Day

Drying fruit is easy, mostly hands-off and yields a sweet and healthy snack.

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