John and I traveled to Springfield on Sunday for his cousin Brian’s basketball game, and I knew that a sporting event for a group of 10-year-old boys would be a great excuse to bake some Toll House cookies.
It turns out it was also a great excuse for me to eat around a 1/3 cup of raw cookie dough.
Bar cookies are my favorite of the cookie family. I have a tiny apartment oven and I am prone to clutter. This means most varieties of cookies are not ideal because I can’t fit as many in the oven at once, can’t see them cooking, and can’t find enough clear surfaces to cool them on once they are done….provided I haven’t burned them.
None of this matters with bar cookies. In they go, out they come. Cool, lift, cut.
I love weddings, I love the holidays, and I love classic New England…so this past weekend in the White Mountains for Greg and Courtney’s wedding was a total home run.
It started with the three plus hour drive up to Jackson, New Hampshire. We knew we were getting close when the view outside started to look more like this:
The Wildcat Inn and Tavern couldn’t have been more cozy and charming, and everyone was in such high spirits because we were there to celebrate something so joyful. There was snow, lights, trees, and wreaths everywhere.
I started to feel that happy, glowing feeling inside.
John and I are headed up to the Wildcat Inn and Tavern in Jackson, NH this weekend for Greg and Courtney’s wedding (yay!) so I am giving you a photo-laden post today to tide you over.
Last weekend I was delighted to hostess my 2nd annual Drop in and Decorate cookie donation party.
I knew it was going to be a long night on Friday because I needed to make cookies, frittata, coffee cake, and holiday bark. I also needed to clean up and do laundry.
I had a bad start when my raspberry pecan coffee cake burned, so I had to add scones to my menu as a substitute. The inside of the cake was unblemished, so I am not ashamed to admit that I began breaking it apart and eating hunks of it after 1:00 AM when I started to get cranky and tired.
Oh boy, do I love pecans and raspberries.
The scones came out great, thank goodness.
So did the Trader Joe’s “potato puffs”. I have a strong aversion to the phrase “tater tots” so I will go with the phrase I grew up with at Hurd Elementary in Wakefield, MA…though both are terrible.
A few scoops of TJ Mulling Spice in some water was set to simmer on the stove, making my whole apartment smell amazing.
Felt penguins (I made them from a $2 kit at Target) were tucked into my wall Bundts.
Festive gumdrops were put out.
And the “scary elf” ornament was added to my wayward pine bough centerpiece.
Completed cookies were stacked and ready.
Royal icing was made. Starting, of course, with the beautiful sight of a bowl of perfectly sifted powdered sugar.
White icing was divided into cups.
And colored to perfection with colored gel paste. Ziptop bags helped get them into the squeeze bottles.
Beautiful spoons!
Beautiful sprinkles.
Beautiful brunch!
My scone was slathered with butter and Courtney’s homemade raspberry jam, and the delicious vegetable frittata, that I forgot to photograph because I was running around like a crazy woman, is hiding in the back.
On to decorating with the ladies! Jessica O, Teresa, me, Sarah, and Gretchen.
Same group, but with Courtney swapped in for me. I am standing on the couch taking this one.
Sarah’s lovely blue tree and my IRL tree.
Jessica’s miniature candy cane on a cookie, decorated…
…and tweeted.
Gretchen and I made some non-traditional cookies.
And when we were done, Courtney announced the big prize winner. This was the person that guessed the closest number of cookies we had decorated.
Teresa won the prize – some holiday Jelly Belly’s and the Betty Crocker Cookie Book!
We decorated 106 beautiful cookies.
I donated them to the Cambridge Senior Center in Cambridge, MA. Their food service manager, Julie, was beyond nice and even sent me a follow-up email letting me know how much the seniors enjoyed them.
And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
Extra special thanks to Courtney, who came early and stayed late to help me set up and clean up.
One of my favorite cookie combinations is a tart, dense dried fruit paired with a rich, buttery shortbread. In a nutshell, these cranberry shortbread coin cookies.
I wanted to send some Delicious Mail to my cousin Jaime in Mississippi, so I needed a cookie that would hold up for the journey. Shortbread is great for that, if you have made it correctly and it’s not too crumbly.
I used some amazing dried cranberries I picked up at the Sherman Market from Willows Cranberries out of Wareham, MA. I love Sherman for supplying me with fresh, local eggs for all of my baking, but sometimes I allow myself a little extra browsing – and it always pays off. On my last visit I picked up these cranberries and some horseradish. I haven’t tried the latter yet, but the former were terrific. They were dried, but also plump and juicy. Willows are doing it right.
A little edge of sanding sugar and these coins were ready to bake.
And stack.
And eat a little. They were so delicious!
Today’s featured ornament is a vintage (made in Japan) porcelain bell we had on our tree when I was growing up. There are two of them but I like this one the best because of the fancy “Merry Christmas” script. It has a little ringer inside and the tattered green ribbon has never been replaced, which is just how I like it.
I also like knowing that I am personally responsible for at least a few angels getting their wings each holiday season thanks to my bell duo.
For today’s Cup of Cheer, I have to show you a picture of my little tree. It’s actually around 6 feet tall, but it seems smaller because it’s a slender thing. Since it is my first solo tree, I decorated it the way I have always dreamed…with the large old-fashioned bulbs and a strand of homemade popcorn and cranberry garland. That garland took me 4 episodes of “Veronica Mars” on Netflix to make (don’t judge, it’s mighty entertaining)…but it was worth it.
Do you have any “rules” for your tree? I find that most people do…and I bet it somehow speaks volumes about personality.
Also, a big thank you and congratulations to my four Three Sisters contest winners! Ashley Mac, Ashley G-W, Lisa, and Fatima all have coupons coming their way!
The original name of these cookies in the book I found them in was “White Christmas White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies” but even I agree it’s too early to start decking the 7-word cookie halls. Just barely… I definitely started my gift shopping last month and have already begun to collect fun gift bags, napkins, and festive sprinkles for my holiday baking.
Also, thanks to the lovely Jen (from JenLovesKev) I will be doing some Christmas card shopping this year at Tiny Prints! I spent at least an hour yesterday looking at all their designs and still couldn’t decide. They have so many great photo-card options it makes me wish I had a cute baby (for example, see Jen’s new baby girl Rowan!) or perhaps a pet to splash all over my card. I love sending mail period, but holiday cards are in a whole other class. I go whole hog. Stamps, labels, stickers, new inky pens…these are happy things. Mail is a happy thing.
So are oatmeal cookies, so let’s get back to those. As the title implies, this variety was made even more tasty with the addition of dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. The butter was also browned, giving the cookies a nuttier flavor and chewier texture.
In the battle between “homemade with help” and “homemade from scratch” I make every effort to fight on the scratch side. It’s clearly superior in taste, nutrition, and personal gratification…however…sometimes I gladly accept a little help.
Don’t we all?
Sometimes you don’t want to haul out the digital scale and cake flour. The paddle attachment. The measuring spoons. You’re out of eggs. You’re out of cinnamon. You’re out of time. You just got home from work and it’s already 7:00 and you’re supposed to bring a dessert somewhere and suddenly Betty Crocker is winking at you…and at only $1.29 a box!
Hello, Betty. Have a Diet Dr. Pepper with me before we start.
Cake mixes were first introduced during the late 1920’s…the latest in a line of convenient dry-mixes that included custards, gelatin, biscuits, and pancakes.
It took until the post-WWII years for cake mixes to catch on. Sales were slow in the beginning because the mixes honestly just seemed too simple. There was a feeling that you couldn’t trust a cake that only required the addition of water. Betty Crocker market researchers paid attention and responded by removing the powdered eggs from the mix so the home cook would have to add them herself. This slight modification made a big difference in the overall feeling of “freshness” in the finished cake, and sales soon skyrocketed.
These Cool Whip cookies are a perfect example of the enduring versatility of the cake mix. They are a quick and easy treat for someone who doesn’t want to be the hostess, but still wants to go to the party. All you need is a cake mix, an egg, a container of Cool Whip, and some powdered sugar. I got the recipe from Melissa, who got it from Matt and John’s cousin Shannon. Since then I have given it out twice. It’s easy to do this when you don’t even need to write anything down!
I have had both lemon (thank you Melissa!) and spice versions of these. Both were soft and chewy and yummy. I decided the next batch would be strawberry, because I have also been wanting to make something pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is rapidly coming to a close.
I have to say the strawberry version is my least favorite of the bunch so far, but it might have been the “deluxe” mix. Who knows. Just keep recipe in the back of your mind for those “help” moments – these cookies are a hit!
Cool Whip Cookies
Proud participant in the Beantown Baker “Power of Pink” Challenge!
My dear friend Jessica recently received the exciting news that she is going to have a baby girl, and since I know she loves cookies I figured whatever is inside her would probably love them too. Jessica is from Michigan and stubbornly insists it has qualities superior to Massachusetts (go easy on her, she’s just loyal like that), so I thought her cookies should include that traditional New England staple…cranberries!
Cranberries are one of the few fruits native to North America, where Native Americans used them as a staple as early as 1550. They ate them fresh or mashed with cornmeal and baked into bread. Maple sugar or honey was used to sweeten the berry’s tartness. By 1620 European settlers had learned the Native American way with cranberries, though they originally called them “crane-berries” because the blossom resembles the head and neck of a crane. They were first cultivated in Dennis, Massachusetts in 1816 and are still widely grown and harvested here today…and in Wisconsin.
So I knew I was using cranberries, but because Jess likes her food on the healthier side, I turned to the KAF website for a recipe with whole grains and less butter and sugar than most cookie recipes. My friends, they did not let me down.
Sparkling Cranberry Gems
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
1 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (I used a bag of Craisins)
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pats
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup coarse white sparkling sugar
The overall message of these cookies was:
The Apron Archives 