Cookie Party 2012

I almost didn’t make a sweater for this year’s cookie exchange, because really how many Christmas sweaters does a girl need? But at very nearly the last minute I decided to make a Totoro-yoked sweater, which is festive without being so holiday specific.

I’m dreaming of a Totoro Christmas

I based the colorwork on the charts for these mittens and the yoke shaping on the Elizabeth Zimmerman percentage system. The sweater was a big hit at the office and at the party. Now what will I make next year…?

On to the cookies!

I got the idea for this recipe at the Dicken’s Faire, where my sister got some lackluster hot buttered rum. I actually made a version last year to give out for Christmas presents, and they were really addictive even though they didn’t taste very much like the drink that inspired them. Stupidly, I did not write down the recipe and had to recreate it from memory this year. In honor of them still not being very hot buttered rumish, I’m calling this version

Spiced Rum Cookies

2 ¾ cup flour [add ¼ more if you plan to make cut-out cookies]
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
⅛  teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup softened butter
1 ½ cup sugar [a mix of white and brown is nice]
1 egg

1/4-1/2 cup dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix together dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars, then mix in the egg.
Mix in half the dry ingredients, then the rum and vanilla, then the rest of the dry ingredients.
Roll into balls and coat with sugar (a 2-1 mix of granulated and turbinado is nice).
Bake for 10-11 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Let stand 1 minute before removing to cooling rack.

Replacing the rum with apple sauce or apple cider makes a very pleasant non-alcoholic version, although be sure to cut the sugar down by at least 1/2 cup if you do so. I cut 1 whole cup, and the cookies were still plenty sweet.

A note about shortening: The texture of the rum cookies is quite different when using shortening vs. butter. The shortening dough comes out a little more like bread dough than cookie dough, and the resulting cookie is like a scone hybrid. The apple sauce/cider version doesn’t have this issue.

 

Cookie Party 2011

It’s cookie exchange season! I wanted to make another Christmas sweater this year, and while I started in good time, I got a little off track. First, I knit the sweater way too large. Luckily that let me figure out how many stitches to reduce by for the second attempt. Then I got side tracked by knitting a hat to replace the one I thought I lost. The hat was just hiding in the back seat of the car, which was a good thing because I didn’t like any of the hats I made. But by the time I refocused on the sweater, I only had a few days left before the party. Could I finish it in time?! Would the weather be too warm for a wool sweater anyway, rendering my hard work moot?! Yes and no, in that order.

Taken at work. One day I will put up the color chart.

And now for part three in my beverage cookie series (#1 Eggnog, #2 Hot Chocolate, #3 Champurrado):

Horchata Chewies, or Inverted Snickerdoodles

Horchata Cookies
makes about 4 dozen

1 cup sweet rice flower
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup butter, soft
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and mix well. Add the dry ingredients in two batches.

Roll the cookies into 1/2 inch balls and place 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. I found 9 minutes to be the perfect time. Let cool for about 30 seconds before removing from the cookie tray or the cookie will be too soft to transfer easily. But don’t leave the cookie on the sheet too long, or it will continue to spread out and loose it’s nice dome. Cool on racks.

They taste vaguely like horchata, but not as strongly as I’d like. I think it’s because the flavor of the butter is fairly dominant. But they still taste good, like a different type of snickerdoodle.

 

Cookie Party

This is pretty late, I know. Partly because I got distracted by the holidays and partly because we still don’t have internet in the new apartment.

When I was younger, I knew I would be an adult when I was invited to the cookie party. Every year my mom would bake a mega-batch of some delicious cookie, disappear for a few hours, and return laden with a marvelous melange of treats. My sister and I had our favorites, which we put dibs on as quickly as possible. I looked forward to the cookie party every year, even though I wasn’t allowed to attend until I was in college.

This year, in accordance with the sweater project, I decided that I would knit a sweater to accompany my cookies. I chose the Perfect Christmas sweater and remarkably remembered to buy the yarn in time to finish it. Yay! I forgot to take any pictures at the party, but pictures were taken of me. I’ll post some if I even track them down. In the meantime, here’s me on New Year’s.

Kona Club, New Year's Eve 2010.

I’ve been enamored of beverage-themed cookies for the last three cookies parties: eggnog, then hot chocolate, and now champurrado. Champurrado, for those not in the know, is a Mexican hot drink made with masa and flavored with chocolate and cinnamon. It’s a variation on the traditional Aztecan atole drinks, and is very warming and very filling. The cookies were a huge hit, at least between me and my sister. I don’t think my friends liked them very much, but it’s recently become clear to me that there are certain textures in Mexican sweets that are harder to appreciate if you didn’t grow up with them. Anyway, these are now on my list of holiday favorites.

Galletas de Champurrado