Hiding fandom in the underwear drawer since 1977

for BroadlyBrazen on Tumblr


Better Homes and Gardens Ginger Cookies -- I don't make them huge as the recipe calls for.  It's an enormous recipe but the dough freeze beautifully, so I make a dozen, rolling them in Wilton Sugar crystals and baking them on parchment.  I freeze the rest in rolls and have cookies reading in 15 minutes as long as the dough lasts.

Another recipe, also from BHG, with no picture, alas, is Salted Caramel Chocolate Thumbprints.  They are one of the best cookies in my repertoire.  My family loves them.

For a wonderful chewy sugar cookie, I really recommend the King Arthur Flour Essential Chewy Sugar Cookie recipe, printed here.

One of the first really serious cookies I started making was from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Christmas Cookie's book.  I think it's out of print now but an enterprising person on Tumblr walked through the whole, complex recipe for Caramel Chocolate Chews here.

I really love Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, too.  (With cake flour!)



King Arthur Flour's Dried Cherry and Pistachio (Cranberries work too) Biscotti


I haven't really talked about the yummy aspects of this.  I love cookie baking.  I'm a bit intimidated by a co-worker who makes GORGEOUS things that are always perfect.  Mine are not.  All of the above have several things in common -- they are not piped, they are not sandwiches, they are not meringues.  Some are more involved -- especially the biscotti and those caramel bars.  I don't even make the caramel bars anymore because they are just too rich.  I cooked from Joy of Cooking's cookie recipes first as a child (Angel bars, lemon bars, sugar cookies, and ginger thins).  From there I graduated to Rose's book and some of her recipes I do still use.  I have a great recipe from that book for pecan tassie tartlets, where the pecan filling has added chocolate.  And then, a few years ago, I discovered the glories of the Better Homes and Gardens special publications, the slow cooker collection, Fall recipe collection and the holiday cookie magazine.  I have many sets of them now, all batter stained.  I've enjoyed King Arthur too, but I find the BHG is just really, REALLY good.  I've never had a bad batch.  I used to do between oh....  5 and 10 different Christmas cookies a year.  I've scaled back a bit.  it takes a huge amount of time and we in the household really don't want to eat THAT many cookies.  I've hosted cookie decorating parties too.  I've got Meringue powder, a hundred cutters, paints, dyes, and things but in the end, my cookies taste wonderfully but are not usually beautiful.  I've never been able to paint or pipe frosting decoratively.  That lack of skill makes me sad.  I hope you enjoy these!  It's a great way to start the December meme!

So, here we go, the recipe exchange.  In selecting a few things to get going, I went to those items that are fixed in memory, either fondly or in horror.  The two I offer I’m pretty certain are unique enough to have not been much seen before but they are also part of holiday traditions for me. Here is the opportunity to share with others the peculiar and special and memorable food traditions of your family and country.  The things you love and make over and over and the things you really would never make but must be shared and cherished.

Where possible I have added metric measures, but you'll probably want to check.  I use a kitchen scale myself.  Also, I have to ask what is the metric equivalent of the standard US 9X13 baking pan?  Do you call it the 23 X 33 baking pan?

In comments, please feel free to add your own or link and to answer questions that others have about things like equivalents. I'd make a banner to cut and paste and icons but I don't know how to do that sort of thing. 
 
( Lime Jello Pretzel Salad with added 7-Up )
 
 
( Caramel Chocolate Death Bars )