Holiday Sugar Cookies

This perfect sugar cookie is easy to make, ready to roll quickly, is very firm so that the icing doesn't soften it, and tastes great.  I originally developed this dough as a service project for the children of our Temple who were going to provide cookies for 1000 needy children.  They are great as is, but also taste and look great when they are decorated with sprinkles or with icing. 

MAKES 50-80 COOKIES

 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter – cool room temperature

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg, room temperature

4 cups ( 520 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups 

up to 4 teaspoons room temperature water, if needed

Vanilla Cookie Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

10-15 tablespoons cream

OR

Royal Icing

Food coloring, sprinkles, etc for decorating

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with shelves in the bottom and top thirds of the oven.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl beat together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract on low to medium speed, just until well blended. 

Break the egg into a small bowl and fork-whisk until blended.  Gradually beat the egg into the butter mixture. 

Add the flour, all at once, to the mixer bowl, and beat on low speed until the mixture comes together into a dough.  If the dough does not form, add the water a little at a time, using just enough to bring the dough together.  Press the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and return 3 pieces to the refrigerator.

Roll the dough to 1/8-inch thick or slightly thinner.  Cut out the dough using cookie cutters of your choice.  Set the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for a total of 13-15 minutes, moving the top cookie sheet to the lower shelf and the bottom sheet to the top after half of the baking time, until the cookies are nicely browned around the edges. 

Slide the parchment onto cooling racks.  Repeat the process using the rest of the dough.

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For the icing:

Sift the powdered sugar into a mixer bowl.  Beat in the vanilla and enough cream to make the icing the texture that you desire, depending on how you will use it.  If it is to be piped you'll want it thick and if it is to be used as "fill", it will need to be thin. Divide the icing into several small bowls and add food coloring of choice to each bowl.  The icing thickens as it sits, so keep the bowl covered until ready to use.  Add a little more cream if the icing gets too thick. 

Here are some decorating examples:

The snowman's hat had some chocolate added to white icing.  It was spread on.  The white body icing  had the outline piped first.  It was allowed to set and then the interior was filled with thin icing that flowed to fill the space.  The scarf and belt were piped. The eyes are chocolate chips and the buttons are star-shaped sprinkles.

The design on this tree was piped on and while it was still wet, green sprinkles were sprinkled on and the excess shaken off.  The balls are tiny red ball-sprinkles, the bubble lights are long sprinkles and the star is a candy-sprinkle.  The garland was sprinkled with petal dust (ordered from www.sugarcraft.com).

For these Chanukah dreidles, the blue icing was spread on, and while wet, the cookies were sprinkled with blue sprinkles.  This dried and then the raised letters were piped on with thick icing. 

To make a harder icing for cookies that need to be stacked or frozen, use this icing

Royal Icing

3 large pasteurized egg whites

3-3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar + 1/4 cup, divided

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon flavoring of choice

Reserve 1/4 cup sugar and mix together all other ingredients.  Beat for 7-10 minutes until the icing holds a strong peak.  Add 1/4 cup more powdered sugar if necessary.  Keep the frosting covered with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out.  To use Royal Icing, outline the cookies and then let them dry.  Thin some icing with water until it is the consistency of heavy cream.  Using a teaspoon or squeeze bottle, fill in from the outline inward to cover the area.  Let the cookies set for 1 hour before adding designs.

The cookies may be stored in a covered container for several days.  They may also be frozen in a covered container, with waxed paper between layers. This way you'll be able to defrost each cookie individually.  They’ll keep frozen for 3 months.  Defrost at room temperature, uncovered, for several hours or overnight.  When the cookies are completely defrosted and at room temperature, they may be iced.

Thanksgiving Desserts

I usually make the same thing every year, although I might vary the apple dessert that I make.  It's part of our tradition that the pies are mostly the same, and it seems that this is what everyone wants.  So, rather than try and come up with something new,  I'm just going to make it easy for you to find the recipes in my blog.  Simply click on the name of the dessert to the recipe.



PUMPKIN PIE
I always make pumpkin pie.  It's one of my husband's favorites and I've tweaked it to where it is just the way he likes it! It was also my father-in-law's favorite, and when I make it, everyone has warm memories of him. It's a little firmer than standard with a very rich, spicy flavor.

CARAMEL PECAN PIE
This is my favorite, so I usually make two at Thanksgiving - one to bring  to our friend's dinner, and one to keep at home just for the family.  It's a little different from Southern-style pecan pie. It doesn't have that gelatinous bottom, has more pecans and is richly flavored like caramel.




THE BEST APPLE PIE
Everyone seems to love apple pie, and this one is my favorite.  You can tweak it to get it exactly the way you like it.







PEAR CRANBERRY TART
My daughter-in-law loves tart desserts, so when they are in for Thanksgiving, I like to plan on having one dessert with cranberries or rhubarb.    This one looks beautiful, and cuts nicely into neat slices.  It seems to be liked by even those who don't really like cranberries.






HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

You can order a magnificent bow, like this, from  www.bccrally.org  an all-volunteer nonprofit that raises money for breast cancer services and awareness. The bows come in 3 sizes to suit all of your needs, from mailboxes, doors, offices, gift packages, backpacks, cars and even as hair bows.  The bows are custom designed and made for BCC Rally, an organization in which I am very involved.  All proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  Honor a loved one, or simply show your support by purchasing your bows now.  


Don't look for any recipes soon - while I'm expending all of my energy to benefit BCC Rally, I'm also on the new Atkins Diet - and you know my recipes aren't compatible with that! 

Pecan Pie Bars

I like pecan bars that are gooey and caramelly, just like my pecan pie, so after much experimenting, I've decided just to go ahead and use my pecan pie recipe!!  It's simple as can be - the most important thing is to line the pan with foil, or you'll never get them out of the pan.  I also think it's important to use a shortbread base that doesn't have brown sugar in it because if you don't have some contrast between the filling and the crust, the bars taste too sweet and a bit boring.  

Shortbread Crust

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling
¾ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1" thick


Filling

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups diced pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F., with rack in the middle of the oven. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan completely with a double-layer of aluminum foil. Leave a good amount of overhang, so you'll be able to remove the whole thing after the bars are baked.

For the crust: Place the flour, sugar and salt into a processor and pulse to combine.  Add butter and pulse-process to coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the crumbs into the lined pan, and then press them down to cover the whole bottom of the pan.  ( I use my flat fingers to press everything down.  Your fingers will also let you know if any part is thicker than another).  It may seem that you have too much crust, but it won't be that thick once you get it tamped down really well, and you need a fairly thick otherwise the gooeyness will seep through.

Bake the dough until just starting to brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Whisk in the sugar. Stir in the corn syrup, vanilla and nuts. Pour the filling over the hot, baked crust.

Bake for 5 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.  Bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the filling is just barely set (doesn't shake).  Cover the pan with foil after 20 minutes if the nuts are getting too brown.  

 

Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely. Refrigerate the bars for at least an hour, or longer.  Cold bars will be much easier to cut.   Lift the foil up to remove the dessert from the pan. You'll be able to remove the foil completely, as the dessert will be quite stiff.

Set on a cutting board.  Cut off 1/4-inch  from the edges all around, and then cut the dessert into bars the size of your choosing.  They are very rich, so keep that in mind when cutting them.

You can serve the bars cold, or at room temperature.  Cold they are on the chewy side, and warmer they are more oozy.

Fresh Heirloom Tomato Sauce, and More Ways to Use Ricotta

I guess until summer ends I'll still be in my Italian phase.  I just can't resist those fabulous heirloom tomatoes and wonderful fresh herbs.  Here is my fresh tomato sauce served over stuffed shells (with my homemade ricotta, but a good packaged ricotta works fine, too), but I also also love it spooned over angel hair or other pasta.    At the end of the recipes, I'll also have some more ideas for using homemade (or not) ricotta and tomatoes.

When I say fresh tomato sauce, I'm not talking about spaghetti sauce - you know the long-cooked type that you find in a jar.  No, this is a barely cooked sauce that tastes like fresh tomatoes.  To start, I use heirloom tomatoes (the big purply ones) that I buy from the Specialty Farmer at Cedar Walk Farmer's Market.  If you've been reading my blog, you know that I love their produce and buy from them all the time.

My friend thought they looked "dicey" - all purply and cracked.  Yup.  They do.  It's because the Specialty Farmer leaves them on the vine until they're practically bursting,  and picks them just before coming to market.  Do not be fooled by the looks.  This results in the most flavorful tomatoes that I've ever eaten in this country.  Head over there if you live in Charlotte!  It's open on Tuesdays from 4-7.

Fresh Tomato Sauce
Serves 4
The first time I made this sauce, I cooked the tomatoes for 10 minutes, as I had seen in so many recipes.  But heirloom tomatoes, especially these cherokee purples should not be cooked that long, unless you want a very mushy, watery sauce.  By grating half of the tomatoes, and leaving half diced and not cooked, you end up with the most flavorful and best textured fresh sauce.

3 pounds heirloom tomatoes (preferably cherokee purples)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil, or more to taste
garlic or diced shallots, optional
2 tablespoons white wine
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (your choice - oregano, thyme, sage, lavender)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Cut off a slice from the bottom of half of the tomatoes.  Use your fingers to pull out the seeds from the little pockets in the tomato.

Using a box grater on the coarse side, gently grate the tomatoes into a colander, set over a bowl.  Grate until you get to the cracked upper part of the tomato, and then discard the rest.

 The remaining tomatoes need to be skinned.   If the tomatoes are not very ripe, you'll want to make an X- cut in the bottom of the tomato.  Very ripe and cracked ones don't need to be cut.

Boil a pot of water and immerse a few tomatoes at a time for 10-15 seconds.  Immediately dip them in cold water to stop the cooking.  The skins will now peel off easily.

Cut off the craggy top of the tomato, remove the seeds and cut out any hard core, and then dice the tomatoes into 1/4-inch dice.  Add the chopped tomatoes to the grated ones in the colander.  If there are any hardish bits of tomato,  add these to the juice in the pot under the colander.  Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over the chopped tomatoes and let them drain for 15 minutes.  You'll now have a potful of chopped tomatoes and a rather large quantity of tomato juice.

If you like garlic or onions in your sauce, add the olive oil to a pot and saute the onions until soft, or the garlic for a minute (I never use either in this sauce).  If not using the garlic and onions, pour the juice and hard bits of tomato into the pot along with the olive oil, wine, vinegar and chopped mixed herbs.  Heat the juice on medium-high heat until simmering.  Cook until the juice is reduced and thickened to a puree-type thickness (a matter of taste as to how thick it should be, but when you add the chopped tomatoes the sauce is going to get thinner as the tomatoes lose some of their liquid), about 10-15 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat and add the chopped tomatoes.  Stir in sugar and remaining salt.  Taste, and adjust the sugar, salt and vinegar to get the taste you like.  Stir in the chopped basil (or you can add the chopped basil directly to the pasta).  Use immediately over pasta.

For Stuffed Shells
Makes 16 shells

16 large pasta shells
2 cups homemade or Polly-o Full-Fat Ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, or a mixture of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a baking dish with heavy-duty foil, and then place a sheet of nonstick foil in the bottom (NO Cleanup!).

Put a very large pot of water up to boil, mixing in 1 teaspoon of salt.
Add the pasta shells and cook for 1-2 minutes less than the box calls for.  Immediately rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking.  Sprinkle on a little oil to keep them from sticking.

While the shells are cooking, combine all of the filling, except for 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, in a bowl, and stir to mix well.

Spoon 1 well-rounded tablespoonful of filling into each shell.

When all of the shells have been filled, spoon on the sauce, and top with the remaining mozzarella.

You can leave the shells uncovered, or cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes, just until the filling is hot.  If the shells were covered, you might want to low-broil them briefly to slightly brown the cheese.  Watch carefully, however.  If you don't like any part of the pasta crusty, don't broil at all.

Tip
Fresh herbs are really hard to cut when they're wet.  I like to chop them first, then put them in a small strainer, wash them and then dump them onto a paper towel to dry thoroughly before adding to my dish.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti and Mixed Italian Cheeses