Lemon Crinkle Cookies

I absolutely love to bake - the problem is that I also like to eat it all (but I didn't say of what... it doesn't matter.)   See when I cook I tend to think my efforts yield a sub par result.  My taste buds by the time I'm done with a main course are not salivating but are often underwhelmed by all that effort that was just put in.   That is not the case when it comes to baking.  Maybe it's the high contents of sugar and butter involved, but any way you go about it I love to bake and consume what is baked.  

I am always looking for something new to try and whip up when I find the time.   Between a lack of sleep and a lack of motivation derived from sleep deprivation baking is often on the back burner (ha!) of life.    Every now and then I come across a motivator (often found on Pinterest) that gets my creative juices flowing and I head to the kitchen. 

Yesterday that was a lemon crinkle cookie.   After the kids went to bed I got to work.  For a brief moment I thought that I had run out of sugar and while I searched the cupboard for some I laughed at the thought of having to go to the neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar.   Eventually I found my massive bag tucked in the back and refilled the easy access container that lives on the counter top. 

Next I started to zest a lemon.  I have to say I find zesting to be a really fun activity.  Don't ask why, I don't really know... but I love it.  With all the ingredients out and measured - the mixing began!  With two sleeping children - that often don't sleep with any duration or regularity I find having everything premeasured before beginning the mixing process works great.  This way if I am interrupted I can either ask the husband to dump stuff in OR more likely, I won't be distracted and dump in tablespoons of salt when teaspoons were asked for.  

For this recipe I looked at several different ones around Pinterest and ended up doing my own adaptation of ingredients and amounts of them, but as far as directions I followed Lauren's Latest

Ingredients (makes about 2-3 dozen):
½ cups butter, softened
1 C. sugar
1 t. Vanilla Extract
1 egg (room temp)
1 organic* lemon zested (about 2 T. worth)
2 T. fresh lemon juice
¼ t. salt
¼ t. baking powder
⅛ t. baking Soda
1 ½ C. flour
Powdered Sugar

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the mixer using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet, squish it down a bit (I know totally a technical term!)  and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. If using a non stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

This recipe made 29 cookies... by the time they were cooled and ready to be put away for the night there were 18 remaining.   They were delicious, lemony, and soft (my favorite!) The lemon wasn't over powering and it wasn't "lemon scented" as one friend of mine described about some store bought lemon cookies the other day.     YUMMY!  I actually went and bought more organic lemons so I could make more later this week.

Ok one more picture of my cookies with a lemon...because it's the thing to do.

One last thing!

* You want to use organic anything if you are putting the outer shell of citrus into whatever it is you're cooking.   The pesticides that are used on non-organic lemons (oranges, grapefruits, etc..) are not held to a edible standard by the FDA because that part of the fruit is not consider part of the edible fruit.  Therefore, no amount of 'mild soap scrubbing' is worth the what-ifs associated with what else you're zesting into your cookies.  Bleck!   Buy organic, at least for zesting if not for other reasons.  :)

Cranberry-Chip Cookies

More Christmas cookies! These were a random recipe I pulled out of one of my holiday craft books and I'm so glad that I did! They are dangerously delicious! I've already made two batches of these and would not be surprised if I made them again.

Ingredients:
1 1/8c of flour
1/2 c quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate chips (I used the swirl ones)
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c butter
1 egg
1 t of vanilla

Directions:
Mix all the dry ingredients together and use a fork to mash up the brown sugar clumps. Then add butter, eggs, and vanilla.
A rounded tablespoon for about 12-14 minutes (2 doz)
A rounded teaspoon for 8-10minutes (3 doz)
Bake at 350 degrees
I used vegan butter since I made them for a lactose intolerant friend, that same friend made them with regular butter and said that they didn't turn out as well - so it might make a difference. Haven't tried it with the regular butter yet. But what an excellent excuse to make another batch! Merry Christmas!!!

Swedish Christmas Cookies

I love to bake! I really do. I honestly prefer to bake than to cook meals. I just find butter, sugar, eggs and flour more compilable and willing to work with me rather than against me. :) This Christmas cookie time of year always yields Christmas Cookie Exchanges - a time to try out large recipes to see if these cookies will be delicious. Swedish Christmas Cookies was a home run! They are also very conducive to freezing the dough and simply cooking a few at a time when you get a hankering for them. I original obtained the recipe from here.



These cookies were created in a two step process and using a new spice that I had never worked with before. Cardamom, it is delicious - and I don't know how I've missed it all these years!



Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), at room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Colored sanding sugars or chopped toasted pecans





Directions:

Whisk the flour, cardamom, and salt in a bowl.



Combine the butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add in the egg, vanilla, and lemon zest until combined. Add the flour mixture and blend all together. The dough should be butter and smooth.



After completing the dough, create two logs in plastic wrap. Place the logs in the refrigerator for 30 minutes in order for the dough to get firm enough to work with. Take the dough out and roll it into more even logs about 8 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours but best to refrigerate overnight.


I used an egg white and water wash to coat my logs, but I think any variant of an egg wash would be fine. In my oven I found 20 minutes to be perfect. The only thing I might try next time is to egg wash the tops of the cookies to give them a little more browning to them. They were a little bland ontop when they were out. So presentation wise they were a little underwelming on top compared to the fancy and festive sides. No complaints on the taste. The cardamom spice was yummy. Some describe it as lemon-y, others say peppery - so use it cautiously. I also added a dash of cinnamon into my recipe!



Preheat the oven 325'.
Take the logs out of the freezer and use an egg wash to coat the logs and roll the logs in the sugar. Slice into about 24 cookies from each log at about 1/4 inch thick. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

Christmas Sandies

Tis the season for baking cookies! I always like to try new recipes - which can sometimes be dangerous if you plan on feeding them to other people. However, this round actually worked out pretty well. I obtained the original recipe here. I adapted it mildly simply by adding a little extra lemon peel and cranberries.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped dried cranberries*
2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
White, red, and green nonpareils

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Blend the butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and mix in well. Stir in cranberries and lemon peel and slowly add in flour. If the mixture is crumbly simply remove from the mixing bowl and kneed it into compliance.

Shape mixture into 1/2-, 3/4-,or 1-inch balls. Roll dough balls in nonpareils. Arrange balls 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes for about 1/2-inch balls, 13 minutes for 3/4-inch balls, or 15 minutes for 1-inch balls, or until bottoms of cookies are light brown. Transfer to wire racks and let cool. Makes about one hundred forty-four 1/2-inch cookies; seventy-two 3/4-inch cookies; or thirty-six 1-inch cookies.

*Tip: Place dried cranberries in a food processor. Cover and process until finely chopped. Or finely chop cranberries by hand.