Second Annual Cookie Baking Party

The Finished Product

This past weekend, we held our second annual Holiday Cookie Baking Party.  Last year’s efforts were focused on quantity, but this year we shifted our focus to quality, and invested in pretty packaging so that we could easily use our baked treats as hostess gifts, Christmas presents, or stocking stuffers.  We focused on 5 recipes: one loaf, one decorated cookie, truffles, one bar, and a freezer log.

Everyone arrived at the shop by noon.  Yael brought her good china teacups, in keeping with our ‘Sunday Tea’ theme, and we started to bake.  We tackled our recipes in pairs.

Chocolate ‘Freezer’ Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or shredded coconut

Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar then add eggs and stir in.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Form dough into a log, roll in crushed candy cane or coconut and freeze until ready to use.  When ready to bake, thaw log slightly and cut into 1/4″ rounds. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 5-7 minutes, or until edges are set and centres are still a bit soft.

Justine thought these cookies would make the perfect base for an ice cream sandwich using Pascale’s Egg Nog ice cream!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Base
10 regular size chocolate chip cookies (Robin made hers from scratch)
1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (according to Robin, it must be Kraft)

Topping
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup (you could substitute honey or maple syrup)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (we used cocoa camino chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 325.  Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.  In a food processor turn the chocolate chip cookies into crumbs then add melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are wet.  Pat into the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Beat together the butter, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.  Beat in all the sugar.  The mixture will be stiff.  Pat this mixture on top of the base and place in the fridge.

Combine the chocolate, butter and syrup in a metal bowl over simmering water and stir until melted.  Pour over the top of your pan and smooth. Refrigerate until firm and slice into bars.

Sugar Cookies

2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp orange zest
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
4 tsp milk
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar orange zest and vanilla until pale yellow. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the milk.  In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix until well combined.

Divide the dough in two. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Grease a cookie sheet. Remove one disk from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to approx 1/8 inch thick. Cut out desired shapes (I used trees that were around 4-inches.) Place cutouts on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges. Allow to cool, then decorate with Royal Icing (recipe below.)

Yield: 3 dozen 4-inch cookies

Royal Icing

1 egg white
2 cups icing sugar
juice of one lemon
1-2 tsp water
food colouring (optional)

In a small pot, bring an inch or so of water to a simmer. Place a small bowl over the pot and add egg white. Beat egg white until stiff but not dry.  Remove from heat and add icing sugar and lemon juice, beating until well combined. The icing should be slightly runny so that when you drop a spoonful back into the bowl it melds with the rest easily with only a slight resistance. If your icing is too thick, add one teaspoon of water at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

Add food colouring if desired, mixing well. Fill a pastry bag with icing and pipe on cookies to decorate, starting by outlining the cookie and then filling it in. The icing should run together to fill in the gaps. Use different coloured icings to make patterns.

Allow to dry for 2 hours before storing cookies.

Gingerbread Cake

Bring ¼ lb butter and 1 cup molasses to boil in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Whisk 1 cup sour cream and 2 teaspoons orange zest together in a small bowl.

Sift the following dry ingredients into a large bowl.

2 ½ cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons dry ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon salt

Whisk together the cooled molasses mixture with the sour cream mixture.  Add this to the sifted dry ingredients along with 1/3 cups diced crystallized ginger and ½ cup diced dried figs.  Stir only until all dry ingredients are moistened – do not overmix.

Pour into greased loaf pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Truffles

450 grams of good quality dark chocolate, chopped (we used cocoa Camino)
300 ml of whipping cream
100 grams of butter
100 grams of chopped candied ginger
100 grams of grated fresh ginger

Coating

200 grams of the same chocolate, melted in a double boiler

Place chocolate ingredients in a metal bowl.  Melt cream and butter and bring to a simmer and add fresh ginger.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes to infuse.  Re-heat and add to chopped chocolate.  Stir with a spatula, being careful not to mix in any air.  When the mixture is smooth, fold in the candied ginger.  Cover with plastic wrap and let set in the refrigerator for 2 hours.  Remove from fridge and roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter using your hands.  Lay on baking sheet covered in parchment.  Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.  Dip truffles in melted chocolate to coat using a fork and place on clean parchment.  Decorate with a piece of candied ginger.

We made three kinds of truffles – Ginger, Orange and Tia Maria.  It’s pretty simple to change the flavour by replacing the ginger with grated orange peel and reduced orange juice, or some Kahlua.

Filed Under:  Entertaining, Recipes, Uncategorized