2024 Christmas Cookies - anyone else started yet?

[pepperhead212]

I'm a little late this year, probably because of being outside longer this year. But I've got everything set up, all the ingredients in place, I lightly toasted the sesame seeds, and some of the nuts I'll be using, and wrote up the list of recipes I'll be making. I'll be starting tonight!

Early today, I went to lidl, to get some things for my pantry; they have some sales on sugars, and other things for baking, and even though I didn't need any more, I would have used most of what I had. And I had eggs? on the list, and was pleasantly surprised that they were down to $2.15/lb, so I definitely got those! They have been almost $4 at Aldi (you don't want to know what the supermarkets are!) and I have figured I was going to have to bite the bullet, and buy some for the cookies.

And if anyone has a lidl they shop from, here's something I recently got there - their brand of unsweetened cocoa, Dutch processed, which I only know from the ingredients stating that it is "processed with cocoa". And today, I refilled the cocoa container with a lb of Guittard Rouge Dutch cocoa (always a favorite), and opened this 12 oz lidl box, to compare, and it looks, and smells promising! Darker than the Guitard, and, though the smell of the Guttard is better, it is darker, and still has a great smell! I'll be making some of those cocoa cookies with both, to compare them. Here are those two cocoas - I put a pinch of the lidl in with the Guittard, showing the darkness:
Refilling the cocoa container, the light colored cocoa is the Guittard Dutch, and the dark one the new one I got at lidl. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Maybe I'll start with those tonight! I also bought 4 lbs of oranges, for zesting a few, to add to chocolate!

I'll list what I'm making a little later - I won't be making quite as many, but still a lot!

[bower]

Mmmmmm!!! Nice cocoa! I just love oranges with chocolate, it is made in heaven...

I finally got the Christmas cake baked a couple of days ago. Had a cup of dried apricots left over, and since the apricot squares recipe called for two cups I put in a cup of chopped apple from our own trees instead. That filling has been in the fridge and I finally made crumbs for it and baked it tonight. It's not really for Christmas - I doubt it'll last that long but will get me in the mood.

[rxkeith]

no cookies here.
not making any.

blood pressure.

sugar has an inflammatory effect on the arteries, alcohol too.
i ate far too many cookies and such like growing up because my mom was always
baking. she never had the luxury of cookies, and sweets as a child growing up with poor
immigrant parents, so she kinda went over board as an adult. so, now i am still trying
to clean up the arteries. i will more than likely consume a few knowing me. taking meds
does not solve the underlying problem. don't want to go that route. bad time to be towing
the line diet wise, but thats where i'm at.


keith

[worth1]

I might make my Scottish Short bread cookies because they aren't loaded with sugar as much.

[pepperhead212]

I used to make the Scottish shortbread all the time, until I started making the sables - another low sugar cookie, similar, but made into an icebox cookie. The Scottish SB I have the recipe for was unique, in that it used half flour and half cornstarch (I always used tapioca starch, since that's what I always have for Chinese food), and powdered sugar, instead of granular sugar, giving a very fine texture to it. I never thought about trying these things in the sables, but it probably could be done.

Here are the ones I have on my list to make, the first list the "icebox cookies" - the ones I make into logs, and store in the freezer.

Cocoa Sables
Wienerstube
Chocolate Coconut Nut
Tennessee Icebox, reg and brown butter
Oatmeal IB, and Barley IB, reg, and brown butter
Sesame IB
French Vanilla Sables

And these are the ones I make in the mixer, making softer dough, before chilling:

Snickerdoodles
CC Oatmeal Snickerdoodles, which I will also try the rolled barley in, instead of oats
Star Anise Snickerdoodles
Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles

Oh, and how silly of me - I almost left out the Habanero Gingersnaps! Probably the most asked for cookie every year!

[Sue_CT]

Yup. Already delivered cookie plates to my Drs and nurses at Yale. Made my usual chocolate chip, the same but substituted white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and pecans, Chocolate coconut pecan cookies (basically macaroons with chocolate chips and pecans mixed in), and Christmas Cranberry Cookies with fresh cranberries. Need to start all over again now, lol.

[GoDawgs]

I finished up yesterday and Cookie Santa will be delivering them to a few departments of my former co-workers. Rangers, double chocolate, my aunt's butterscotch cookies, Blue Ribbon cookies (slightly lemon flavored sugar cookies), ginger snaps and Scandinavian almond cookies. There is room in the freezer for NOTHING else! I need to make two kinds of biscotti to send to my brother and to have here for friends but the cookies have to leave first.

[bower]

no cookies here.
not making any.

blood pressure.

sugar has an inflammatory effect on the arteries, alcohol too.
i ate far too many cookies and such like growing up because my mom was always
baking. she never had the luxury of cookies, and sweets as a child growing up with poor
immigrant parents, so she kinda went over board as an adult. so, now i am still trying
to clean up the arteries. i will more than likely consume a few knowing me. taking meds
does not solve the underlying problem. don't want to go that route. bad time to be towing
the line diet wise, but thats where i'm at.


keith

There are quite a lot of delicious dessert ingredients on the list of foods to reduce blood pressure.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322284
Any fruit rich in potassium (most of them?)... nuts.... oats... cinnamon... even a little dark chocolate.
Olive oil (light or 'pure' yellow variant) can be substituted 1 for 1 for butter or other saturated fats in most cookie or cake recipes. For cake or muffin you can also reduce the amount of oil and make it up with milk or other liquid.
Recipes made with less sugar are sometimes even better than the original too. Try reducing the recipe sugar by 1/4, see what you think.

Whether you bake this year or not, I hope you do enjoy a few - without stressing. Stress is much worse than a cookie of any kind, enjoyed in peace.
Get a BP machine and use it for testing out your routines to see what is stressing you most and driving it up, and what brings it down.
Some people's BP shoots up in the doctor's office! No joke. 'white coat hypertension'.
Take your time. Hope your holiday is wonderful!

[pepperhead212]

Today I browned 1½ lbs of the butter, and did what I always do, to make it so I can use it just like I use regular butter in a cookie recipe - I add milk to the butter, to bring the weight back up to 24 oz, and whisk it, until almost cooled, then pour it into some containers, in 4 or 8 oz amounts, then chill it. I'm thinking of using some of the buttermilk I have, to add that 20% back into the browned butter, to see if it might add some of that "cured" flavor, like in European butter. I'll only try it on one stick, just to see.

I got 6 logs of cookies made today - 3 of the cocoa based recipes, using the two cocoas, to see how they compare. You can see how dark those ones made with the lidl cocoa are!
6 of the cocoa based cookies, 3 types, testing the two cocoas, in otherwise identical recipes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[bower]

You can never have too many chocolate cookies.

[pepperhead212]

I got 8 more recipes of cookies in the freezer today. Maybe 5 more tomorrow, before I start the snickerdoodles.
The 3 logs of habanero gingersnaps, ready to go into the freezer. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One regular and two browned butter Tennessee icebox, and two sesame icebox logs. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I got 8 more recipes of cookies in the freezer today. Maybe 5 more tomorrow, before I start the snickerdoodles.
The 3 logs of habanero gingersnaps, ready to go into the freezer. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One regular and two browned butter Tennessee icebox, and two sesame icebox logs. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

6 more recipes in the freezer today (I don't know where any more could be fit in!). I made one of those oatmeal icebox cookies, and two of the same recipe, but using rolled barley, and browned butter. The other 3 those French Vanilla Sables - a recipe I've been using for several years, in place of shortbread, as the proportions are almost the same. Something I changed, to use an idea from the best Scottish shortbread recipe I always used, was the sugar to powdered sugar, and used tapioca starch in place of some of the flour. This made the texture of the shortbread even finer, so I assume this will be the same.
3 French vanilla sable recipes, and an oatmeal, and 2 barley icebox logs, made with browned butter. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[rdback]

@pepperhead212, I read this article and thought of you.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/most-popula ... newsletter

So, how's those Sprinkle Cookies coming along? lol.

[pepperhead212]

No sprinkles on cookies here - too messy. And all the cookies are sugar cookies.

[pepperhead212]

I made the last 5 recipes today I had on my list - the 3 types of snickerdoodles, which are always the messiest, since they are made in the mixer. I was apprehensive about using that mixer - the first time I used it for several recipes in a row, after I did that "tune-up" on it a few weeks ago, and it didn't slow down at all, and didn't heat up much, after the 5 recipes in quick succession. The star anise one I saved for last, so I didn't have to clean the mixer, in between batches. Baking soon...
5 recipes of snickerdoodles, 2 CC oatmeal, 2 cream cheese, and one star anise. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I baked 11 of those cookie logs today - I saved the 6 chocolate and 3 habanero gingersnaps for tomorrow, and the 5 snickerdoodles for Saturday.
Some of the first of 11 recipes of cookies baked, 12-19. I have to put some away in the tins, before baking the last two recipes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The last of those two recipes, the barley icebox cookies, that are almost like toffee, once cooled. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Today I baked those 6 cocoa based cookies, 3 kinds, using the 2 different cocoas, to compare. The Wienerstube are on another cooling tray. The lidl cocoa is the darker one, but I'll wait a couple of days to sample.
The chocolate sables, with orange zest, on left, and a little expresso powder, on right. The dark user the cocoa from lidl. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

All of the 3 recipes of habanero gingersnaps, baked in 2 batches. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Today, I finished the cookies, all the snickerdoodles, which I had to roll into balls, flatten slightly, and toss in the cinnamon sugar mix, before lining up on the sheets. The cream cheese snickerdoodles were the stickiest, as usual, even though I added a little more flour, than usual. The oatmeal version was hard, as usual, and I didn't have to wash my hands, except when I had to remove the sheets from the oven. And I don't know why those star anise snickerdoodles flattened - it wasn't sticky at all, and I weighed the flour, which normally, if anything, adds a little more.
The single recipe of the Star Anise snickerdoodles, which, for some reason, flattened, when baked. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The 2 batches of Cream Cheese snickerdoodles. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The 2 batches of CC Oatmeal Snickerdoodles. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here's something else I did, before cleaning up - I milled some rye flour, so I can start baking some more rye bread.
A little over 5 lbs of rye flour, milled before cleaning up after all those cookies. Now I can make some more bread! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[karstopography]

IMG_5223.jpeg

Toll house chocolate chip cookies with pecans. I’m in charge of QC, great gig!