Buckingham Palace Gingerbread Cookies

Photo: Royal/UK

There are Christmas cookies I make every year. Gingerbread cookies are not one of them. Often we bought Lebkuchen dipped in dark chocolate from a German bakery, so there was no need to make gingerbread cookies. Our confections tended to be cookies we could make better ourselves at home. But I do like to try new recipes. A British Facebook friend gave me this Christmas cookie recipe, and they are very simple to bake:

Buckingham Palace Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

7/8 cup self raising flour (I will  substitute 7/8 cup of all-purpose flour, adding 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt because I do not buy self-rising flour.)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice (includes cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)

Photo: McCormick

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup soft dark brown sugar
2 tablespoon granulated sugar for dusting
3/8 cup milk (= 6 tablespoons)

Directions: 

1) Add the ingredients, one-by-one, to a mixing bowl and incorporate.

2) Chill the dough in the refrigerator for up to 1/2 hour.

3) With a rolling pin, roll out the dough flat. Eyeball it, not too thick or thin. 

4) With cookie cutters, cut your dough into shapes. Dusk with a little sugar.

5) Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

Royal Icing to decorate the cookies:

Wilton.com

Ingredients: 

2 pasteurized egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Optional: Food coloring of your choice; or leave the frosting white

Directions:

Mix and decorate your gingerbread cookies however you like. If you don't have a special icing tool, cut one corner off of a plastic sandwich bag to fill and squirt out the icing to decorate. The cookies that look like the work of a first grader, get eaten quickly!

What surprises me is, there is no call for an egg in the recipe, a fact I didn't know about gingerbread cookies.

As readers are aware, not only do I feature recipes in order to share them, but so I can return here to remember how to make them again!  Lately cooking and baking requires grabbing an iPad. Oh, what a digital age we live in!

For very busy people, Voorman is a small cookie company on the East coast. Their cookies are nearly as good as homemade and available at Rite-Aid and Target for about $3 for a 14 ounce bag. There is no shame in buying a bag!

Enjoy!


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Homemade Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Although Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies still exist, I can't find them at my supermarket nor at Target. A customer can buy a very expensive bite-size pack at CVS Pharmacy, but I'd like more than 1 ounce, especially if I'm paying nearly the same price as I would for the 15-16 ounce missing family size. 

So after a dozen+ trips of coming home empty-handed, I decided to make a batch at home. How hard could it be? Not very ... as it turns out. Here's the recipe I came up with for 18 single -- 9 stacked sandwich cookies:

Homemade Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients for the cookies:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup peanut butter

a pad of butter (= 1 - 1.5 teaspoons - I eyeball it.)

1/3 cup of brown sugar syrup + 2 tablespoons of dry granular brown sugar - I make and stock brown sugar syrup for pancakes. You can substitute either 1/3 cup of water with 1/3 cup of brown sugar, or use any pure syrup you have at home -- maple syrup, golden syrup, etc.

1 teaspoon baking soda

a pinch of salt

🥄🍽🥄

Butter to grease the baking sheet

Extra all-purpose flour if needed to work with the cookie dough.

Directions for the cookies:

All for you readers I ate 2 cookies. Testing.:)

1) In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, peanut butter, and butter together. 

2) Stir in the syrup, extra brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.

3) At this point use your hands to fold and mix the dough until you get a solid texture that is no longer sticky. Sprinkle a tad of flour on your hands and the dough to help with the task. [If you go up to an extra 1/4 cup of flour as you mix, the taste and texture of the cookies will still be fine.]

4) Form into 18 round balls by rolling them with your palms. Dip out about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Flatten and place each round ball on a buttered cookie sheet.

5) I don't shape the cookies into peanuts like the store-bought Nutter Butter cookies, but here's how to make the peanut shapes: Divide one round ball of dough in half; flatter each round half; lay the 2 halves side by side, then seal the adjacent sides of each circle that are touching.) I'm fine with circle cookies. [My mom was always the cookie fuzz pot, making cookie shapes and decorations. I simply aim for a good taste for the piehole, neat in appearance, cute optional. Hey in a cookie, you can always make ugly disappear!😋]

6) With a fork, score the tops of each cookie horizontally than vertically.

7) Bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees F oven for 10 - 12 minutes until slightly brown.

7) Let cool while you make the Peanut Butter Filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

1/3 cup of peanut butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar

a pad of butter

Drops of milk (or cream)

Directions:

1) Mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter together until combined. Use the drops of milk to get the consistency smooth, creamy, and spreadable.

2) Spread the filling on a cooled Nutter Butter Cookie and top with a 2nd cookie for one sandwich cookie. 

In the recipe, you can get away with omitting the 2 pads of butter and extra 2 tablespoons of brown sugar for a less in calories cookie, but adding them makes a tastier, richer, sweeter cookie ... without oversweetness. This recipe for homemade Nutter Butter Cookies has fewer ingredients than the commercial ones, but is very peanut-nutty and tastes much like the original. Enjoy!

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Scottish Shortbread

Photo: Nikki

When I was a teenager, I began helping my Mama make Christmas cookies. Mostly, we worked separately, not together. One person might peer into the kitchen to see how it was going, but the cookie baker did her own thing, while the other person walked in and out. Over the years, some cookies fell to my Mama to make, and she would ask me to make certain varieties I hit upon that she liked. 

My Mama made the best butter cookies, and I don't know how to make them since she always did it. Plus, I don't have the patience to decorate them. The cookie varieties I make are done the moment, I pull a tray out of the oven. After I bake a cookie, it's annoying to have yet another step before they are ready to eat. I've mixed, laid out the dough, baked, washed bowls ... I mean, the work is done. Mom can handle starting over to decorate baked cookies. Her butter cookies are festive and delicious. What a fancy-pants, fusspot ... going back to decorate done cookies.😊

Well, this year for first time, I made a butter cookie for Christmas. But bah humbug, I'm still not going to decorate it. Therefore I made Scottish Shortbread. Same ingredients, but no colored icing, no sprinkles, no chocolate chip eyes. Just a good traditional butter cookie. Here is the recipe:

Scottish Shortbread

Photo: Gooseberry Patch

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (= 4 ounces)
1/4 cup sugar (= 2 ounces)
1 cup all-purpose flour
a sprinkle of salt
Extra flour for the rolling surface.

Optional: I add 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 1 egg and 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds (none are in traditional Scottish Shortbread). 

I can't get the dough to form a ball without the egg. My mom never makes butter cookies without vanilla, and my friends like the ground flax seeds, so lately I add some to all the white flour recipes I make. (For authentic Scottish Shortbread, leave these optional ingredients out.)

Directions:

1) Cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg if desired.

2) Combine the flour and salt. Toss in 2 tablespoons of optional ground flax seeds.

3) Add the dry to the wet ingredients until you produce a dough. 

4) Knead for 5 minutes. If the dough gets soft, refrigerate it for a few minutes, then knead again for a minute before rolling the dough out flat on a surface. Aim for 1/2 inch thickness.🎄👑🐫

5) Cut into 1-inch width rectangle stripes. Eyeball it. Place on an ungreased baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Prick the cookies with a fork.

6) Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 20 - 25 minutes.

Sometimes there's nothing better than a simple butter cookie. I will enjoy making these Scottish Shortbread cookies for Christmas (and teas during the year). If you must be a fancy-pants, fuss-pot (Mom) dip half of each shortbread cookie in melted dark chocolate mixed with a bit of cooking paraffin.

For a Christmas batch, I tossed in 1/4 cup of ground walnuts and 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds.

Double or triple the recipe for Christmas cookies. A single portion is the perfect amount to bake for teas. Tastier than most store-bought cookies and easy!

Photo: Mother Earth News

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Making Springerle

Photo: CookieRecipes.com - This is what store bought Springerle look like.

This Christmas I baked German springerle for the very first time. Easy and inexpensive to make, the cookies originate from Southern Germany. As an adult, I prefer Christmas cookies that are less gooey and sweet. Springerle fits the bill. The taste of anise (a spice also used in candy) is unique. Here is the recipe:

Springerle

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
3 cups confessionary sugar (If out of confessionary sugar, substitute 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar.)
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon of anise oil (or 3 teaspoons crushed anise seeds, or 1 1/2 teaspoons of anise extract)
3 cups all-purpose flour

In no way do my springerle look like the pros, but they are as delicious. 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon salt

Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not in the traditional cookies)

Extra flour to knead and roll the dough.

Directions:

1) Cream together the butter, sugar and eggs.

2) Add the anise (and optional vanilla).

3) Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add it. Next, combine the flour and salt into the mixture.

4) Form into a ball. Sprinkle with the extra flour to be able to touch and work with the dough. Turn out onto a flat surface and knead until elastic (about 5 minutes). Sprinkle with flour to keep the dough from sticking.

5) Using a rolling pin, roll flat about 1/2 inch thick.

6) With a springerle mold/cutter cut the cookies and press an image into the dough. (You will then get those beautiful cookies on top↑.)

Note: Unfortunately, I don't own real springerle molds, so I use a cookie cutter that has 3 reversible winter templates (i.e. stamps)↗ to press an image into the cookies. If I run across springerle molds, I'll buy them for next year. 

If you lack a mold or stamp, try curving an image (recessive, not a protruding design) into a raw potato half to press an image onto the cookies. Another option is to cut the dough into diamond shaped cookies without the traditional designs. (Some of the charm is lost, but they taste the same. Sprinkle powder sugar on top to dress up the diamonds.)

7) Lay the cookies on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on a cookie sheet. Let the unbaked cookies sit and dry for 12 - 24 hours. This is necessary for the image to set and not bake away.

8) Pop the trays into a 250 degree F oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until the dough becomes a cookie. The finished cookies should be white, not golden brown.

I think of a springerle as an adult Christmas cookie. Anise is a sophisticated flavor, and despite the cookie having enough sugar, it doesn't taste super sweet. I like the cookie's moist, soft texture and aromatic, anise spice. Plus, you get a big cookie!🎁



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Peace, Love & Joy!

The Adoration of the Shepherds, c.1650, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain - Images 1 and 2 by Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Some people get upset if the historical accuracy of Jesus' birth is questioned, but when the Gospels were written, the people they were written for had a different sensibility and way of reading texts than we do today. Gospel writers crafted their stories to make points about who they thought Jesus was [to paraphrase Matt Baker, Ph.D. in theology]. Modern scholars tell us that fact-for-fact-accuracy or historical record was secondary, which was accepted by the audience, who didn't expect factual reliability. This can rattle some contemporary believers who do.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1618 - 1682) was a Baroque Spanish painter. Orphaned at 11 years old, the artist became a ward of his older sister and brother-in-law, in a close-net family, and lived with them until he married in 1647. The painter, famous for his religious work, also painted everyday life giving us an insight into the 17th century. He was the father of 10 children. 

The Holy Family, c.1660-70, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Murillo created warm images of Mary and Joseph playing with their happy baby, the man Catholics proclaim as fully human and fully Devine (a hypostatic union in the incarnation). The painter left us with depictions of the Holy Family as a close-net loving unit. St. Joseph is an appealing devoted father.😍

Here's a Victorian drawing of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and 5 of their 9 children surrounding their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle where the royal family celebrated Christmas. Prince Albert was also known to be a loving, involved father, adored by his children. The Prince Consort popularized Christmas trees in Great Britain, a tradition he brought from his native Germany. Unlike Prince Albert, Queen Victoria was not a natural parent, but she was a mother who loved her children and they loved her. She put a ton of time into raising them, and they grew into 9 decent adults. Let's look at one of the royal couple's homes ...

The 2022 Christmas trees are up at Osborne on the Isle of Wight which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought as a private home in 1845 to get away with their brood from court life. Queen Victoria used Osborne House for 50 years to entertain family, foreign royals (many were also family), as well as, government ministers. After Prince Albert's early death in 1861, it became her favorite home. Her son, King Edward VII, wasn't as fond of it (as it was far from London) and after his mother's death, donated the Osborne estate to the British people. It is open to the public for tours, giving us a glimpse into the private lives of Queen Victoria and her family.

Another longtime Christmas tradition is (of course!) baking cookies. My family bakes the same cookies every year and I posted some of the recipes previously. Pictured above you see (in order): Pecan cookies👇, Russian Tea Cakes, Coconut Macrarooms, and Scottish Short Bread. Other varieties of cookies are scattered throughout THE SAVVY SHOPPER. My mother always requests that I make Mini Pecan Tassies and she always makes butter cookies at Christmas and Easter. Golly, decorating cookies after pulling them from the oven is not my thing! Starting over is a hassle!! Eating is my next step (which now you know is the reason I bake Scottish Short Bread instead of butter/sugar cookies.:) 

(Here is our recipe for) Pecan Cookies 🐫

Ingredients:

20 ounces ground pecans
4 large egg yolks
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (you decide how sweet)
a sprinkle of cinnamon

Optional: A little flour for your hands to help form the cookies.

Directions:

1) Using a fork mix the ingredients in a bowl.

2) Dip your hands in all-purpose flour to help form the cookies and drop in a parchment paper lined, or greased cookie sheet. If your cookie dough is too wet to handle, just add additional ground nuts (a tad more sugar for the addition) until you can handle the cookie dough.

3) Bake for 10 - 12 minutes in a preheated 350-degree F oven and remove to cool.

We always make pecan cookies and coconut macaroons at the same time since the former requires egg yolks while the latter, egg whites.

Photo: Macy's

My Dear Readers ... thank you for spending another year with me, and I welcome you who joined us recently. Here we're one global human family sharing our collective knowledge, humor, interests, tips, and holidays with acceptance of all cultures. I can't do it alone, so bring your uniqueness! Everybody is valued on THE SAVVY SHOPPER, and I love hearing from you!🌍🌎🌏 

May the Spirit of Christmas find you!🎄

xoxo💋

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Laura Bush's Texas Cowboy Cookies

Photo: New New Times

These cookies, brought to the public's attention by First Lady Laura Bush in 2000, are delicious! Brown sugar gives them a caramel taste. Here are the steps to get the texture right, crispy on the edges and soft in the middle without being underbaked and doughy.

Get out two mixing bowls and portion the following ingredients into each one:

Ingredients

Dry --
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Stir together in the 1st bowl.

Photo: stayathomechef

Wet --
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
12 tablespoons melted and cooled butter
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk (Toss the 2nd egg white into tomorrow's omelet.)
Whisk together in the 2nd bowl. 

More dry ingredients --
1 1/4 cups of Old Fashioned (or Quick) rolled Oats
1 cup chopped and toasted pecans
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Combine the dry ingredients (bowl #1) into the wet ingredients (bowl #2) until just incorporated.

2) Next add the rolled oats, chopped pecans, shredded coconut and chocolate chips to the batter.

3) Texans use a 1/4 cup scooper to portion out the batter to make huge cookies (because "everything grows big in Texas,") but you can make smaller cookies unless you long to be huge yourself.😊 I use a tablespoon. Drop the batter for each cookie onto a buttered, or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Leave spaces in between the batter for the cookies to spread regardless of the size you make.

Photo: TX Governor's Mansion

4) Bake the cookies for 17 minutes -- rotating the cookie sheet midway (after about 8 minutes). The cookies will brown on the edges, yet remain soft and seemingly not done in the centers.

5) Pull the tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest on the hot-hot-hot cookie sheet for another 5 minutes to set. After 5 minutes you can take them off the cookie sheet to cool completely.

In the presidential campaign of 2000, Laura Bush's Texas Cowboy Cookies beat Tipper Gore's Ginger Snap Cookies in the annual cookie recipe contest for Family Circle magazine. And now everyone make them.

Enjoy your cookie baking/eating weekend! See you on the other side.🍪

Post Script 9-30-20: Readers, are you wondering what happened to recipe.com? Lately googling the longtime website ends up in an error message. It has gone AWOL! Rachel Cook, editor of Slateberry.com/StayAtHomeChef sent me an article explaining its disappearance. Read it here.


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Homemade Monster Cookies

Search Amazon.com for baked new frontiers in baking

Saturday was a chilly and cloudy afternoon.  But the nippy weather was my motivation for turning on my oven to satisfy a cookie craving.  The recipe I chose to make comes from "Baked: New Frontiers in Baking," by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Rightfully called "monster cookies," they are one part chocolate chip, one part peanut butter and one part oatmeal.  The next time I'm asked to bring cookies to a pot luck dinner or tea party, I'll make these again without altering a single ingredient.  Saturday's version was delicious too -- a tad healthier and less sweet -- and I certainly had no trouble eating too many of them.  But you just know that LOTS of butter and M&M's make cookies all the more divine.  You just know it!  Below is the original recipe, with my changes, outlined in blue notes.

Monster Cookies
-Ingrediants:

½ cup all-purpose flour


1 tablespoon baking soda


Pinch of salt 

5 ¾ cups rolled oats


1 ½ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes. [I reduced the butter (from 12 tbsp) to 2 tablespoons and used drops of water for moisture when mixing.]

1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar


1 ½ cups granulated sugar


5 large eggs


¼ teaspoon light corn syrup  [I used honey.]


¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract


2 cups creamy peanut butter

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup (6 oz) M&M's [I omitted the M&M's and substituted unsalted peanuts to make a peanut nutty batch that was less sweet.]

Directions (from the cookbook):

1. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add the oats and stir until the ingredients are evenly combined.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth and pale in color. Add the sugars and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not over mix. Note: I mixed the ingredients by hand.

3. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth (about 20 seconds) and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and beat until just incorporated.

4. Scrape down the bowl and add the peanut butter. Mix on low speed until just combined. Add the oat mixture in three additions, mixing on low speed until just incorporated.

5. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the chocolate chips and M&Ms. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 5 hours. [I put it in the freezer until I could work with the dough. I didn't have 5 hours.]

6. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Use an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to scoop out the dough in 2-tablespoon-size balls onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until the cookies just begin to brown. Let cool on the pans for 8 to 10 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. [I scooped the dough in 1 tablespoon sized balls and was careful not to handle them too much.]

8. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  Yields 40 cookies [or 70 smaller]. Enjoy!

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