Cooking with Margaret: Holiday cookies to cheer up roommates and friends
By: Margaret Musgrave
Issue date: 12/7/09 Section: Features
By MARGARET MUSGRAVE
Christmas cookies are the common currency of the holiday season. Whether you bake them fresh for end-of-the-year parties, gift baskets, dessert or a snack for Santa, scrumptious cookies are a must-have.
Now is the time to experiment with new recipes and leave the chocolate chips for the rest of the year; don't be afraid to take risks with distinctive flavors like mocha or lime.
Have your own favorite recipe? Mix it up this year by adding new ingredients such as chopped Andes mints, walnuts, lemon or ginger. However, if you can't bear to stray from your tried-and-true cookies, try stamping them with designs instead of shaping the dough yourself - even simple sugar cookies become an edible festivity when you stack star-shaped cookies on top of one another, and then drizzle sweet stripes of white frosting over them.
All bona fide bakers know that the key to baking great cookies is size; if you want crunchy, yet chewy combination, make the cookies at least two inches in diameter. When it comes to cookies, always remember that bigger is better, as the outside ring will get crunchy, while the inside will remain chewy. With this bigger cookie size, be sure to put no more than six cookies per sheet.
The following recipes contain the secret to having a stress-free, successful holiday season. Because the dough can be frozen for up to two months, you can make dough now, leaving time to spend the other type of dough on last minute gifts. These cookies are so tasty they'll fly off the plate faster than you can bake them.
-Musgrave is a junior from Evansville, Ind. majoring in classical studies who has won blue ribbons for baking while involved in 4H. She is The DePauw's cooking columnist.
features@thedepauw.com
Christmas cookies are the common currency of the holiday season. Whether you bake them fresh for end-of-the-year parties, gift baskets, dessert or a snack for Santa, scrumptious cookies are a must-have.
Now is the time to experiment with new recipes and leave the chocolate chips for the rest of the year; don't be afraid to take risks with distinctive flavors like mocha or lime.
Have your own favorite recipe? Mix it up this year by adding new ingredients such as chopped Andes mints, walnuts, lemon or ginger. However, if you can't bear to stray from your tried-and-true cookies, try stamping them with designs instead of shaping the dough yourself - even simple sugar cookies become an edible festivity when you stack star-shaped cookies on top of one another, and then drizzle sweet stripes of white frosting over them.
All bona fide bakers know that the key to baking great cookies is size; if you want crunchy, yet chewy combination, make the cookies at least two inches in diameter. When it comes to cookies, always remember that bigger is better, as the outside ring will get crunchy, while the inside will remain chewy. With this bigger cookie size, be sure to put no more than six cookies per sheet.
The following recipes contain the secret to having a stress-free, successful holiday season. Because the dough can be frozen for up to two months, you can make dough now, leaving time to spend the other type of dough on last minute gifts. These cookies are so tasty they'll fly off the plate faster than you can bake them.
-Musgrave is a junior from Evansville, Ind. majoring in classical studies who has won blue ribbons for baking while involved in 4H. She is The DePauw's cooking columnist.
features@thedepauw.com
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