Baking Ideas For The Holidays-Cookies
These cookies have many names. Snowball Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies and Russian Tea Cakes. They are very popular during the holidays because of the copious amounts of white powdered sugar that is used to roll them in to create a snowy look. Interesting tidbit about the origin of this recipe. They have roots from the Middle East where ghee or clarified butter is used instead of butter. This creates a melt in your mouth texture.
The other cookie I’ve included is a Pan Banging Ginger-Molasses Cookie. This cookie you have to make this season. It is so much fun because you literally have to bang the cookie sheet on the counter to make the cookie spread as needed for a gooey center and crispy edges. It is fun entertainment in the kitchen.
Snowball Cookies
Ingredients for cookies:
½ cup pecan halves
1 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ tsp vanilla salt
1 cup unsalted butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
Sugar for Tossing Cookies:
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
Directions:
Put pecans, 1 cup of the sugar and salt in food processor and blend until nuts are ground fine. Cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces and add it to nut mixture with processor running. Process until smooth. Add vanilla extract. Add flour and continue blending, using pulse button of processor.
Scrape dough into a bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Scoop dough with tablespoon and form 1-inch balls by rolling dough between palms (lightly flour hands, if necessary). Place balls 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 15 minutes or until the cookies barely begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes. Use small spatula to lift cookies from sheets. Roll the cookies in the remaining 1 ½ cups sugar.
Pan Banging Ginger Molasses Cookies are a must for this baking season. We adapted this recipe from Sarah Kieffer author of 100 Cookies, The Baking Book For Every Kitchen.
Pan Banging Ginger Molasses Cookies
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla salt
3 tsp Gingerbread Spice Blend
12 Tbl unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
2 Tbl mild molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla, and mix on low to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and using a spatula, make sure the molasses is completely combined into the dough and that the dough is a uniform color.
Form the dough into 2-ounce balls. Roll the balls in granulated sugar to coat. Place 4 balls an equal distance apart on a prepared pan.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake 8 minutes, until the cookies are puffed slightly in the center. Lift the side of the baking sheet up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down against the oven rack, so the edges of the cookies set and the inside falls back down.
After the cookies puff up again in about 2 minutes, repeat lifting and dropping the pan. Repeat 3-4 more times to create ridges around the edge of the cookie. Bake 13 to 16 minutes total, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown but the centers are much lighter and not fully cooked.
Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack; let cool completely before removing the cookies from the pan.