Christmas Cookies

I really enjoyed the recipes for December, thanks Laura! I hope all of you have had a chance to make at least one of them amid all of the holiday celebrations. I made sugar cookies for Christmas parties and shared the leftovers at work. They were great! Find the rest of my post at the Lovely Lady Baker!

TMM: Pizza and Holiday Cookies

December is over already! I can't believe it. I love December because there is so much opportunity to spend time in the kitchen- and no distractions in the form of beaches, parks and bikes to drag me outside.

I found time this month to make both of December's recipes... sort of.

I followed the recipe for Cheesy Zucchini & Red Onion Flatbread, opting to make the crust myself. I can always taste the preservatives in pre-made dough. This recipe was a huge hit with my husband so I'm sure I'll be making it again soon.

As for the cookies- I've been looking for a reason to decorate with royal icing, and Christmas cookies (or in our case 'Holiday Cookies') are perfect.

Not too shabby for a first timer, if I do say so myself.

As always you can read more about these two recipes on my blog.

Zucchini & Red Onion Flatbread
Cookies With Royal Icing

Mom made pie, and we pretended to stir things.

Sorry to so blatently ignore this month's recipes, all, but there was the promise of pies made by mom. So we made pies, but they were the recipes of old and not those recommended. Sorry! We did blog about it though, and you can read all about it here.

December Recipes have Arrived!

I hope you all enjoyed the pies from November. I asked Laura to pick this months recipe (remember it is more or less based on the order you joined the club). She picked two as the majority of you have and I'm very excited for both of them. Here is what Laura had to say....


"Oh the pressure of having to choose a recipe for December!  For this month I am torn between tradition and something new.  I have decided on two options since the recent months have offered more than one recipe choice.  One leans far traditional, the other is not your typical holiday baking.

    My traditional recipe is not something new to me, (Sorry, Christina, for breaking the rules.) but it is tried and true in my kitchen at Christmas time.  They are the absolute best sugar cookies!  The sour cream makes them extra moist and the cream cheese frosting make a tasty combination.

    The second option, Zucchini & Red Onion Flatbread, is a recipe I came across in a recent Bon Appétit issue.  To me it sounds like a great light meal with a nice salad in this season laden with cookies, fudge, candy, chocolate....  I'm anxious to try it and hear what you all think!

Happy Baking!"

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

Cookie Dough:

Mix ingredients in this order, adding one at a time.

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 c. margarine

2 egg yolks

1 t. vanilla

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 c. sour cream

5 c. flour

Make dough and chill at least 2-3 hours or over night.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut with cookie cutters.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes, depending on how soft you like sugar cookies.  I tend to bake and average sized cookie cutter 9 to 10 minutes.

After the cookies are completely cool, decorate with the icing recipe below.

Icing Ingredients:

2 lb powdered sugar

1/2 c. margarine

8 oz. cream cheese

1 T. vanilla

water, to desired consistency

food coloring, if desired

Humble Pie

For my November baking adventure, I chose Emily Luchetti's pumpkin pie and Elton Brown's crust. Instead of dashing off to the grocery store in search of missing ingredients, I substituted. I used maple syrup and bourbon instead of light corn syrup and rum in the pie filling. My crust had shortening instead of lard. I liked the pumpkin pie because it was nice and straightforward - not too sweet. I was more than pleasantly surprised by the crust. I have a crust recipe that I'm partial too and I wasn't expecting a "wow factor". The crust was very flaky. I will use this crust recipe again and again. Other notes, I made the crust first and then put it in the fridge while I made the filling. I also pre-baked it. I'm curious to try it with the lard...

It's All About The Crust

For me- pie is all about the crust! I used to be nervous about making crust, and it never turned out quite right, not light enough, not flaky enough. Well this weekend I discovered the magic ingredient, and I'll never buy a frozen, pre-made again.



I'd had my fill of pie on Thanksgiving- Josh and I buy our pumpkin pie from our favorite bakery, Lovely in Wicker Park in Chicago, IL; instead I made these "Toaster tarts" from Karen Soloman's book Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It. They are really just homemade pop tarts, but man, are they about a million times better.



The dough for the crusts is rolled out thin, and pinched shut around a little filling, I used some cherry preserves I had in the fridge. The tarts are baked just until they are mostly done, then finished off in the oven or toaster right before you eat them.



They are sort just little pies that could fit in your pocket, they're light on the filling but they're a great recipe to showcase an outstanding crust.

About that crust; I'd been looking for an excuse to make some lard for a while, and this baking challenge gave me just such an opportunity. You can read all about the lard making process here, and it is a process, about 2 days worth of work, but let me tell you that it is worth every minute.

Chocolate Pecan Pie - The Lady Baker

Is everyone full yet? I hope not... I am sure there are lots of leftovers for you to polish off... If you do not think you can handle looking at recipes for pie you should STOP READING NOW.... if you think you can power through it check out my post at the Lovely Lady Baker for Chocolate Pecan Pie.

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!