New Year Resolution Cookies

Do you make New Years Resolutions?  I usually do not because they are really hard to keep.  And while everyone thinks that it would be great to do this, or do that, I realize that we all simply do what we can do.   I eat as healthy as I can (could be healthier).  I go to the gym as often as I can (could be more often).  And I’m sure you do as well.

I made these cookies because I thought they were a creative way to express the top resolutions each year.  I also got to use my new food colour printer. I’m going to tell you all about it next year – which is really soon;)

Last year I did say that I wanted to have a blog entry at least four times a month.  I’m very proud to say I ALMOST did it!  This is my 46 entry for 2011 which means I am two short, but feeling very good about it.  I hope you learned as much as I did from this little blog – got some ideas, recipes and maybe even a little inspiration.

I hope 2012 is a wonderful year full of hope and promise, health and peace.

Happy New Year!

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Christmas is a holiday full of tradition.  And tonight I’m sure lots of people are taking off their Christmas sweaters, putting on PJs, reading “The Night Before Christmas” and putting out cookies and milk for Santa.  I love the tradition of putting milk and cookies.  Not sure if it because it involves cookies or because it involves believing in something.  Everyone needs to have faith in something and a jolly guy in a red suite who brings presents to all who believe is still a good thing.   

I made these cookies in September and kept thinking they would be great as a letter to Santa in case the letter sent to the North Pole got lost.  I supersized this letter to Santa and made it out of a gingerbread cookie.  I used the side of the house of the Wilton Gingerbread House Cutter Set – it is about 5”x 7”.  I flooded the cookie with white royal icing (as always I use Ateco meringue powder) and blue and red for the lines on the paper.  The cookie dried overnight.  I used black AmeriColor Food Colour Markers to actually write the note.  Pete wanted a white Christmas, which I’m not sure will be happening in Toronto this year, so I included a snowflake sugar cookie too.  This letter can be personalized as you wish or your kids can actually write or sign their own letter. 

What kind of cookies are you leaving for Santa? 

Merry Christmas!

My Mom's “Secret Ingredient” Latkes

It is Hanukkah this week.  The first candle was on Tuesday and this festival of lights lasts for eight nights.  It is traditional to cook foods in oil on this holiday and not because just about anything fried is yummy.  The oil used in the cooking is symbolic of the drop of oil from the Hanukkah story that kept the Second Temple of ancient Israel lit with a long-lasting flame that is celebrated as a miracle.  We eat latkes, in Israel every bakery if full of jelly donuts.  In the days of low fat, low carb, low everything, it is a miracle that we can even discuss latkes in such an open fashion.

When my Mom is cooking the yummiest latkes in the world, you can smell them frying three blocks away.  Now that being said, I think when anyone is making latkes you can smell them miles away because they have got to be one of the smelliest things to cook.  Here are a few tricks to minimize the smell: boil cinnamon sticks, burn a pure beeswax candle and throw EVERYTHING you are wearing into the laundry right after cooking. 

Latkes are a labour of love.  If you are opening your heart and your kitchen to frying latkes, it means you must really love the people you are cooking for.  My Mom has made hundreds of pounds of potatoes over the many years of cooking latkes – she really loves us, not to mention sharing her recipe and method.  I really think my Mom’s latkes are extra special.  They are solid and fluffy at the same time.

Now I know this blog is really about baking but it is Hanukkah so I thought I would throw in this recipe to see if anyone would notice.

Ingredients

2 cups grated raw potatoes – she likes red potatoes best for latkes

2 – 4 tbsp grated onion

2 eggs

2 tbsp pancake mix – THE secret ingredient

salt & pepper to taste

--

This recipe can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled depending on the number of latkes you need.

Directions

Peel potatoes -- if you are not using right away put in ice water so they potatoes don't turn grey.

Grate potatoes – my Mom likes them quite mushy but if you prefer a bit more stringy, go for it a lot of people like the stringy edges which end up being quite crispy.

In a clean tea towel or cheese cloth, press excess moisture until potatoes are quite dry.

 

Potatoes before being pressed

Pressed or "dry" potatoes

Combine potatoes, eggs, pancake mix, salt and pepper.

Drop by tablespoons onto a hot, well greased skillet – if you are making lots use two fry pans.  Please remember to never leave the hot oil unattended.

Cook over moderate heat for about 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown.

Drain on paper towel.

I think they are best served straight out of the fry pan but I also know that this is not always realistic.  If you are serving them the same day, put on a parchment lined cookie sheet and heat up when you need them.  If you are making them in advance, freeze them on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and once frozen put in a freezer bag or container.  To re-heat frozen latkes place on parchment lined cookie sheet and put in 400-425 hot oven for 30-40 minutes.

Serve with sour cream or apple sauce or whatever you can think of.

My Dad ate his latkes with vinegar.  I have an uncle who uses sugar and another who uses ketchup. 

Let me know if you have a favorite topping.

Enjoy!

Reindeer Noses - Last Minute Idea

I have always had a soft spot for Rudolph.  Not sure if it was because all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names (those other reindeer were really like mean girls) or because he was just so darn adorable – red nose and all!  I think these cookies provide a nice tribute to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and are pretty cute too.  And the best part is that they are super simple.

I know everyone is scrambling for last minute holiday “stuff”, so this easy peasy idea is sure to bring a smile to many -- including you because, did I mention, simple, easy and relatively effortless?

Using whatever size circle cookie cutter, bake 9 round cookies.  Just so you don’t waste precious baking time trying to figure out all of the other reindeer names they are: 1. Dasher 2. Dancer 3. Prancer 4. Vixen 5. Comet 6. Cupid 7. Donner and 7. Blitzen.  I made the Rudolph noses out of sugar cookies with red icing and red decorative sugar and all of the other reindeer (you know the mean ones;) out of my chocolate sugar cookie recipe.  I actually also made these all out of sugar cookies of which 8 were decorated with brown icing and brown sugar and because it was so popular I also did them in plain gingerbread.  So your choice – the gingerbread and chocolate sugar cookies do not need to be decorated at all.

This is a fun, kid friendly baking idea even on a foggy Christmas day (which is what the weather outside in Toronto looks like right now).

Let me know if you make these -- send me a note or better a picture –- I love seeing how your creations work out.  Happy baking!  And, in this case if you sing along, that is perfectly acceptable.

Gingerbread Heaven

The "BOYS"

The "GIRLS"

The "MEN"

Why is it that when we think of Christmas we think of gingerbread cookies?  I mean gingerbread has to be some of the yummiest cookies and why most people make them only at the festive holiday season really does not make any sense at all. 

For those of you who have been following my baking you may have noticed that I will never succumb to this December gingerbread fetish – I make ginger cookies throughout the year.  In March, I made gingerbread Purim masks  and in July I shared a Ginger Doodle recipe.  Maybe, subconsciously, I want that holiday feeling all year long.  The feeling of peace on earth and goodwill towards our neighbors – not to mention the sweet smell of gingerbread baking.

Here are some sweet gingerbread cookies I made recently.  These cute gingerbread boys, girls and men, were inspired by Bakerella, and a lot of sprinkles.  Sitting down to the great smell and a ton of sprinkles allowed my mind to go and my creativity to fly.  They were as fun to make as they were to eat.


Wishing you a holiday season full of joy, Santa and gingerbread.

My Favorite Things Giveaway

I’ve been blogging and Facebooking (yes, it can be a verb) for just over a year and I thought we should celebrate.   Bakerella was a huge baking inspiration to me and she still is for even more reasons.  Last year I had the fun opportunity to meet her and give away a signed copy of her CAKE POPS book.  So I though in keeping with that spirit, this year I would include her fabulous CAKE POP KIT – but that is not all.

Oprah, Martha, Julie Andrews (as in brown paper packages tied up with string)… they all have their favorite things and, so do I.  My favorite things in this giveaway include:

* Bakerella’s Cake Pop Kit

* 3 mini spatulas (which I seriously could not live without)

* “I Can Bake Vanilla Sugar Snowflakes” sugar cookie mix with snowflake cookie cutter (I love making snowflakes sugar cookies are so fun to bake because they are all different and festive)

* Wilton Mitten Comfort-Grip Cutter (what says winter like a mitten?)

* 2 squeeze bottles with tips that can be changed

* 1 container (5 oz.) Ateco Meringue Powder (which I have said over and over again tastes like marshmallows) – not in photo but definitely one of my favorites so I had to include.

I love this giveaway because it gets you all set up to bake for the holidays – cakepops and cookies.

Are you excited?  I am!

So what else do I need to tell you?  You need the details on how to get involved in this awesome favorite giveaway -- which are as follows…

1. Make a comment at the bottom of any blog post from now until December 4, 2011 telling me about your favorite cookie, what you will be baking for the holidays or a cute holiday baking story and include that you want to win.

2.  Click on the facebook “like” button to press Flour Child.  Comment on Facebook letting me know you want to win.  

3.  Get a friend to “like” Flour Child on Facebook and let me know.

So that is 3 ways to get your name in the random draw to win My Favorite Things giveaway (yes if you get ten friends to like Flour Child, you get 10 chances to win – so you can have multiple chances -- but lets say up to 12 entries per person to give everyone a fair shot).

The contest closes 7 pm on Sunday December 4, 2011.

Good Luck!

With Peace & Cookies

Shelly

P.S. This giveaway is offered and sponsored by me.

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Pretzel Shortbread

I love the sweet/salty combination so when I saw this recipe for Pretzel-Shortbread Bars in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living I had to try it.  It just sounded too good to be true the sweet the salty the perfection – I would no longer need to be torn between those two contrasting and favorite tastes because it was going to be all in one cookie.

I ran out to The Main Course (one of my favorite kitchen stores in Toronto) to buy a 4¼” x 13 ½” fluted tart pans with a removable bottom which the recipe calls for but totally does not need because you can make it in an 8” or 9” square or circle pan.  Martha never tells you these kinds of details so you end up with a lot of pans that you really don’t have room for – because few of us have multiple huge kitchens like Martha.  That being said, I do see that this fluted tart pan will be a useful pan for brunch tarts and making this recipe over and over again. 

And then, I made the recipe as directed.  It was good, really quite nice, but (did you hear that coming…) I just felt it was missing something.  I sampled it around to some friends and everyone liked it but (see that word again…) a few discerning friends agreed that it could be even better.  Carol and Shari suggested chocolate chips which I though was a really good idea and was going to go down that path until I had a very serious discussion with my friend Alan who mentioned that he does not really like pretzels unless they are chocolate covered – LIGHT BULB -- and I adapted the recipe. 

This really great shortbread will satisfy a multiple of flavour cravings in a single morsel so no need to bake anything else.

Ingredients

1½ cups mini pretzels in any shape (this is going to be ground into ½ cup of “pretzel flour”

1½ cups chocolate covered pretzels (this makes the crumble pretzels – I think even the pretzel M&M’s would be great but if I keep adapting this recipe I’ll never get it posted)

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

Directions

Preheat oven to 325^O

Coat a 4¼” x 13 ½” fluted tart pan with removable bottom with cooking spray (TIP:  remember you can use 8” or 9” square or circle pan // ANOTHER TIP:  When baking I use a baking spray with flour -- specifically I use Pillsbury Baking Spray with Flour).

Pulse 1½ cups pretzels in a food processor until powdery (this is what I’m calling “pretzel flour” – you need ½ cup of this so you may need a bit more or you may end up with a little extra (save this for the next time you make this recipe.  Martha says to discard any extra but I think you will want to make this again so save it.  Transfer ½ cup of pretzel flour to a bowl.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  

Crush the 1½ cups of chocolate covered pretzels – make different sizes to give the cookies some dimension – some can be more coarsely chopped than others.  I used these Rold Gold because they are delish and come in a great size bag -- can probably make two batches with this but I ate the ones I did not use because they are sweet and salty (did I mention I really like that flavour combo?).

Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and beat in egg yolk, followed by pretzel-flour mixture, until combined.  Hand mix in chocolate covered pretzels.

Press dough evenly into pan. 

Bake shortbread 20 to 25 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack.

Remove cooled shortbread from pan and cut into nice size pieces that work for you.  I cut mine into rectangles because 1. I bought the pan and 2. Martha told me to.

So I learned a thing or two in making these cookies.  I learned that it is OK to play around a great recipe base and make it your own.  And I learned (well this one I already knew) that sharing with friends makes everything better – I had lots of taste testers on this cookie because getting it just right to share took a few flopped batches. 

If you try this recipe or add your own special ingredient please let me know how it turned out.