these for both my wonderful hairdresser Christina, my favourite teacher V, and the Exxon group's Christmas (or holiday, to be politically correct, *cough*) gifts this year. The Exxon "party" is on Wednesday (yay, more sushi lunch!) and since I'm always bringing them so many "not-so-healthy" treats I figured I could redeem myself a bit. Maybe? Ah well, I know I won't score any points with the Holiday purists who would rather scarf batches of shortbreads (not that it's a bad thing, come on, butter IS better!) but these are some good, flavourful eats anyway.First up are some crispy, delicious whole-wheat brown sugar cookies. Ever-so-slightly crisp, they're deliciously caramel-flavoured and extraordinarily beautiful. If you are going with the DIY Christmas gift thing this year (as many people are, and I love that idea!), a decorated bag of these is such an excellent touch! If you (or those around you) have a major sweet tooth though, you may want to liberally frost these with royal icing or dip them in chocolate - these aren't incredibly sweet alone.
Caramelized Christmas Cookies
Makes 12
1/4 cup margarine (you can use soft, but not light), softened
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp almond or maple extract
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp water
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat or spelt flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the margarine and brown sugar.
- Beat in extracts and water.
- Separately, whisk together flours, baking powder and cornstarch.
- Slowly blend flour into the creamed mixture. Mix until well blended.
- Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 week.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Roll out dough fairly thin (about 1/8") on a floured surface.
- Cut with cookie cutters and place 1" apart on cookie sheets (tip: flip sided sheets upside down for more even browning).
- Bake 10 minutes, and cool completely on sheets.
Calories: 84.2
Total Fat: 3.4 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 34.8 mg
Total Carbs: 12.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.8 g
Protein: 1.2 g
This second recipe is a veganized, semi-healthified and scaled-down version of an old Crisco recipe (aren't back of the box recipes great?). It's great for making cut-outs that are rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking like snickerdoodles, or icing afterwards with royal icing (like I did). They are tender and crumbly due to the rice flour (which I disc
overed while trying to shift cookies from sheets to racks... losing 2 to the floor and being forced to repair 3 others with gratuitous icing), but my dad said they were delicious, perfectly sweet and toothsome, with a nutty backnote from both the oat flour and the almond extract. These may need more flour, depending on the humidity in your kitchen, I have made batches before that were super-soggy and others that were perfect. Go with the flow!
1/2 cup shortening
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp golden, corn or maple syrup
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Cream sugar and shortening.
- Add water, syrup and extracts and beat until well blended.
- Combine remaining ingredients in another bowl, gradually beat them into the creamed mixture.
- Roll out dough on a floured board to a little thicker than 1/8" and cut out desired shapes.
- Bake on ungreased cookie sheets about 6 minutes. Do not overbake!
- Cool 2 minutes on sheets, then remove carefully to a wire rack.
Love your little cookie people Sarah in all their finery!!!
ReplyDeleteYeh! I love that you submitted a vegan cookie, Sarah. Thanks for two more tasty treats. It sounds like you dad is enjoying this event too! :)
ReplyDelete-Susan