'Tis the season to bake cookies....

I have to admit, spending the last 8 holiday seasons working in the culinary and retail worlds has sort of taken the...I won't say joy, let's say fascination out of the holiday season and all its assorted hoopla. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the holiday decorations, listening to Christmas music, and I watch the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life", every year. But, for every customer who leaves the store with a smile of joy and relief and thanking me for all of my help in finding Auntie the perfect present, or leaves the kitchen with confidence that they CAN successfully cook Christmas dinner, there's at least ten who have me gritting my teeth and beating my head against the wall. 

(No, we don't have a secret stockpile of your desired item "in the back".....I'm sorry we sold out of your desired item last week, it's not my fault you didn't choose to shop until the last minute....No, we don't carry that item/color/brand, that's our competitor, let me show you on THEIR website....No, it really isn't easier for me to handle your transaction on the phone so you don't have to drive all the way to the mall...Yes, "dropping it in the mail" is no different than shipping, and yes, you still have to pay....Grrrrr.....)

So, I decided this week that I wanted to try and embrace the holidays again, and in effort to get into the spirit of the season, I spent my day off baking cookies. Christmas cookies were a big tradition in my house growing up. Mom went a little crazy every year, baking dozens and dozens of cookies. She'd pack them into Tupperware containers and fill the freezer. We'd have cookies for weeks. Even now that I'm all grown up, Mom still sometimes mails cookies to me at the holidays.

I decided to bake a combination of my favorites from childhood and a few of my more recent favorites and recipes I've been working on. My favorite from growing up was Russian Teacakes. They're spherical butter cookies with pecans rolled in powdered sugar. Mom would always tint the dough with food coloring--a LOT of food coloring--so that when you bit into them, you'd reveal the brightly colored dough inside. I also made a variation on Mom's chocolate chip cookies, using dark chocolate, pistachios and dried cherries. I've been playing around with nut butters, so I tried an almond butter cookie as a reinterpretation of the peanut butter cookie I grew up with. Finally, I made chocolate and vanilla checkerboard cookies--with some amusing results as you'll read below.

Tomorrow, I'll pack up the cookies and take them to work. After all, the best part of baking the cookies is sharing them with my friends and coworkers. Maybe it will help everyone at work have a little more fun and holiday spirit. If nothing else, they can eat a cookie instead of beating their head against the wall!

Russian Teacakes

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

These were my absolute favorite cookie at the holidays when I was growing up, especially because of the brightly colored dough hidden by all that powdered sugar. Mom used liquid food coloring to tint the dough, but I prefer gel coloring. You can get a much more vibrant result without incorporating too much additional moisture into the dough.

1 cup (2 sticks), unsalted butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Gel food coloring (optional)

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon Kosher salt

¾ cup finely chopped pecans

Additional powdered sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat the oven to 400°F. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until thoroughly blended, light and fluffy. Add gel food coloring until the desired tint is reached.  In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and salt.  Add the flour to the butter mixture and mix in.  Add the nuts and mix in.  Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill. 

Roll the dough into 1” balls and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool slightly, but while still warm, roll the cookies in powdered sugar to coat.  Allow the cookies to cool completely, then roll in powdered sugar again.  Store in an airtight container.

Dried Cherry, Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen

Those of you who have been reading my blog from the beginning may remember that my Mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe is what set me on my eventual path to becoming a chef. I make many variations on her original recipe, this is one of my favorites for the holiday season. 

1 cup vegetable shortening

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cup light brown sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

3 eggs

3 ¾ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 cup pistachios, chopped

1 cup dried cherries, chopped

2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the shortening, butter and sugars until pale in color and light and fluffy in texture. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Place the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix in. Mix in the nuts, cherries, and chocolate. 

Drop small rounds onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the sheet pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. 

Almond Butter Cookies

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorites. Nowadays, you can find all kinds of nut butters in the grocery store, so I decided to experiment. In this recipe, I not only swapped out the peanut butter for almond butter, I also used a mixture of butter and shortening. The original recipe used all shortening, resulting in a soft, chewy texture. By substituting some of the shortening for butter, the cookies ended up spreading more and baking up with a crisper texture. 

½ cup vegetable shortening

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup almond butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur (optional)

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

whole roasted Marcona almonds for garnish

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream shortening, butter, almond butter and sugars until pale in color and light and fluffy in texture. Add the eggs and amaretto and mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix in.

Roll the dough into balls the size of large walnuts.  Place balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Gently flatten the balls with a spatula, the base of a drinking glass or measuring cup, etc., and press an almond into the center of each cookie.  Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the sheet pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. 

Chocolate and Vanilla Checkerboard Cookies

Makes about 6 dozen cookies

I've been making these cookies for a couple of years, folks are always fascinated by the fact that they have two different flavored doughs and wonder how I do it. It's essentially a slice and bake cookie, but this year I wanted to experiment with making a spiraled version of the cookie instead of the traditional checkerboard. As you can see in the picture above, the dough didn't cooperate very well. After rolling the chocolate and vanilla doughs into thin sheets, I attempted to layer them and roll them up. The dough kept breaking, and as you can see, the spirals are a little sad. I also tried stacking the layers with mixed results. Eventually, I just went back to the traditional checkerboard. 

For the vanilla dough:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

For the chocolate dough:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

Preheat the oven 375°F.

To make the vanilla dough: In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until pale in color and light and fluffy in texture. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix in.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a clean dry counter. Bring the dough together into a cohesive mass and shape into a flat square about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill.

To make the chocolate dough: In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until pale in color and light and fluffy in texture. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the melted chocolate. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix in.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a clean dry counter. Bring the dough together into a cohesive mass and shape into a flat square about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill.

Unwrap the dough squares and cut them into 1 inch wide “sticks”. Take two chocolate and two vanilla sticks and assemble them into a “log”, alternating flavors. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill.

When ready to bake, unwrap the logs and cut the log into ¼ to ½ in thick slices. Arrange the slices on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the sheet pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.