Gingerbread Boys, Girls, and Babies

   I believe firmly that all of us need the perfect gingerbread cookie recipe in our back pocket.  Here's a secret, I have it!  Here's another secret, I am sharing it with you!

    I promise you that this recipe is super simple to pull together and that the dough will not end up a sticky mess on your counter.  It truly is perfect.  Just try it once and I think you are going to have to agree with me.  It isn't very heavy on any one spice, so any little ones you share the cookies with will probably love them to.

    My own little ones that live in my house get so excited when I tell them that it is time to make gingerbread boys, girls, and babies, but it is my little buddy Benjamin who is the reason I make them multiple times during the holidays.  The first year he tried the little baby ones, he was hooked.  From then on I have been making Benjamin his very own bag of gingerbread babies each year.  I also send a bag for his sister, Olivia, so that neither one has to share.  It makes me so happy to give them to him because I know how much he loves them.  This year, Angela, his mom, threatened to buy a little baby cutter for her family to have and I begged her not to.  I like being his supplier and have visions of mailing them to him at Harvard in about fourteen years.

    My friend Sarah was the one who gave me this recipe years ago.  I commented that I was looking for a good recipe to use with my gingerbread boy and girl cutters and that all of the ones I had tried in the past stuck to the counter.  She presented me with a copy of her Ginger Kids recipe from an old Southern Living cookbook and I went to work.  Sarah was exactly right that this was the best recipe.  I have passed it on to many a friend and am happy to share with you!

   If you are a decorator, by all means, decorate away with these cookies.  I am NOT a decorator, so mine are always unadorned.  You could, however, make these look very special with just a little royal icing and in fact, my friend Rachel did just that!

   Enjoy and maybe think about sharing with Santa . . .

Gingerbread Boys, Girls, and Babies (click on title for a printable version)

1/2 C. butter, softened
2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour (White Lily for me)
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. molasses
1 egg
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. ground cinnamon


In a large bowl, beat the butter briefly just until it is slightly whipped.  Add one cup of flour into the mix.  Next, add sugar, molasses, egg, soda, and spices.  Mix together until very well combined.  Add in  remaining flour and beat just until combined.

Divide dough into two halves and place on sheets of plastic wrap.  Shape into discs and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a well-floured counter or board, roll each disc out to about 1/4" thick or slightly less if you desire a more crispy cookie.  Using floured cutters, cut out various shapes.  Place on baking sheet at least 1" apart.

Bake for 5 - 7 minutes depending on how large the shapes are.  Bake just until the edges are set but DO NOT LET THE COOKIES BROWN.

Cool cookies completely before attempting to decorate.

Delicious Sugar Cookies

   
If I had to identify my one signature baking item, it would have to be these cookies.  I have been making them for years and years and years and if I am honest, I have to say that I think I have the recipe perfected.  Since the birth of my first daughter, 8 years ago, not one birthday party for her or for my 2 year-old has happened without these cookies serving as part of the take-home goodies.  I am not even a huge fan of sugar cookies, but for some reason, these are different.

    As with many of my recipes, this one was found by either my mom or my grandmother.  We have been making them for so long that I truly don't remember which one it was.  No matter who found them, we are ALL grateful! 

   I remember many a Christmas where we would gather together in my grandmother's kitchen to churn out batch after batch of these sugar cookies.  My Uncle Bryan loves them and so for many years, my mom would fill up this giant tin with cookies just for him.  One year, when Uncle Bryan worked for the Forestry Service, he had the honor of escorting the White House Christmas Tree through at least part of Virginia.  Mom worked for hours to bake pan after pan of Christmas tree cookies for his special tin.

   My mom is the one who first had this recipe published in a hometown cookbook and it was there that she named them "Delicious Sugar Cookies."  The title needs nothing more.  They are simply delicious.

   I have multiple boxes of cookie cutters for every season that I have dragged from many an apartment to townhouse to our own first house because these cookies are so perfect for any occasion.  I love to gather around my island with my girls to make them and in fact, my littlest one and I just made a batch this past week so that she could share them with her friends at school.  She is becoming quite the sugar sprinkler!

   Be very, very, very careful not to cut these too thinly or to bake them too long.  They should not be brown at all but rather the sides should be set.  They will continue to set up while they cool.

   I am including the recipe for the glaze, but I generally just sprinkle colored sugar on top of them before baking them and skip the glazing part.  They are delicious both ways, but in the interest of time, I go for the sugared approach. 

   On a parting note, these are perfect for leaving out for Santa . . .

Delicious Sugar Cookies  (click on title for a printable version)

3/4 C. salted butter, softened
1 C. sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs

2 3/4 C. all-purpose flour (Always and only White Lily for me)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

Glaze:

1 C. sifted powder sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt together.  Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until well combined.  Add eggs and vanilla and continue to cream until light and fluffy, about 3 - 4 minutes.  Slowly add flour mixture and mix just until combined.  Be careful to not overbeat.

Chill dough for at least one hour.

On a flour-lined counter or board, roll out dough to no less than 1/4" thick.  Using cutters dipped in flour, cut cookies into various shapes and place them on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with decorating sugar or bake as they are and glaze when they are cool.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or just until sides are set.  DO NOT LET THEM GET BROWN!

Cool completely if you are planning to glaze the cookies.

For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together until smooth, thinning with more milk if necessary.  You can tint the glaze with color if you desire.  Dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze.

Chocolate Filled Raspberry Almond and Orange Hazelnut Thumbprints

 

    The third week of December can only mean one thing at my house . . . it's Cookie Swap time!  All of my grown-up life I have dreamt of hosting a cookie swap and so, finally, last year my dear friend Angela (of the famousAngela's Chili and Magic Mix recipes) and I decided to co-host one at my house.  I will always treasure the memory of that inaugural event and how warm and filled with laughter my house felt.  Not only do we swap cookies and recipes, but we also swap the stories behind the cookies and if you have learned nothing else about me from this blog, you certainly must know that I love to share the origins of recipes!

     Angela and I can always be easily identified by our semi-matching aprons that we don especially for this occasion!  These were created by our dear friend Carla who is an amazingly talented seamstress. She has such an eye for beautiful fabric designs and pairs them together perfectly.  You can find her Fresh Cut Creations on Facebook.  Angela commissioned Carla to sew mine several years ago and I immediately fell in love with it.  I get so excited when the December baking season begins because this means I can break out my treasured apron.  Carla presented Angela with her very own as a hostess gift for Angela's annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party so now there is no question about what to wear to the cookie swap!

    Earlier this week, we gathered again to share our cookies and to just simply enjoy being with one another during this busy time of the year.  We greatly missed our friends who could not join us for various reasons, but we fully embrace loving the ones we are with.  I have a decent sized island in my kitchen which inevitably ends up being the gathering place.  We always serve a punch or two, and in fact this year we added a delightful old-fashioned Percolator Punch that I will be sharing with you in another post, along with coffee, and, because we are good Southern girls, sweet tea!  It usually takes us a good half an hour or more of enjoying our drinks in the kitchen and making new friends to find our way into the dining room where we fill up our plates with sample cookies.  Eventually we end up in the living room for serious catching up!

    While I usually love to bake and share family recipes, this year I decided to go outside my comfort zone and create some new recipes.  As a precautionary measure, I had Peanut Butter Blossom ingredients in the pantry ready to go in case I failed in my endeavor!  Luckily, I can just save those for later because my cookies worked!

    Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to receive a box of fabulous extracts, spices, food coloring, and decorating supplies from McCormick who helped spsonsor the 2013 Mixed Conference.  The box was full of all kinds of goodies to use for baking so I decided to experiment with these for my cookie swap cookies this year. 


    I started with a fairly basic thumprint recipe and then added some of the McCormick Pure Almond Extract along with a few finely chopped, toasted almonds.  Since I love and adore chocolate and raspberry together, I also used the McCormick Raspberry Extract.  I can't wait to find more uses for this one!  For color I turned to these really fun McCormick Neon Food Colors and was so pleased with how they looked.

    Since I also love and adore chocolate and orange flavor, I decided for my second batch that I would try the McCormick Pure Orange Extract along with chopped, toasted hazelnuts.  I used the traditional McCormick Assorted Food Colors.  These turned out just as pretty and tasty as the raspberry ones did.

   Instead of the traditional preserves I usually use for thumbprint cookies, I used a chocolate filling that I found on The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe for Chocolate Thumbprints.  This proved to be the perfect choice!

   If you still have a last minute cookie swap to attend, consider trying these little gems.

Chocolate Filled Raspberry Almond Thumbprints (click on title for a printable version)

1 C. salted butter, softened
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. McCormick Pure Almond extract
1/2 t. McCormick Raspberry extract
2 C. all-purpose flour (as usual, I always use White Lily for my cookies)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 C. toasted slivered almonds, chopped finely
pink and blue McCormick Neon food coloring (2 drops of blue and 12 drops of pink)

Chocolate Filling:
4 T. butter
1/2 C.  semi-sweet chocolate chips (Hershey's are my favorite)
1 1/2 t. light corn syrup

Orange Hazelnut version:
Replace the almond and raspberry extracts with 1 t. McCormick Pure Orange Extract.  Replace the almonds with 1/4 C. toasted hazelnuts (skins removed by rubbing with paper towel after toasting), chopped finely.  Replace the Neon food colors with yellow and red McCormick food color.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and powdered sugar together until well mixed.  Add vanilla and flavorings.  Slowly add flour and salt until incorporated.  Fold in nuts.  Add food coloring.

Roll one tablespoon of dough at a time and place on baking sheets 1" apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and using your thumb, a spoon, or the back of a melon baller (my choice), press an indentation into each cookie.  Return to oven and bake for 7 minutes more.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Prepare filling by placing ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave in 30 second increments, stopping to stir each time, until completely melted.  Fill each cookie with about one teaspoon of filling.  Allow cookies to set before storing.


******Disclaimer:  I was supplied with these McCormick products as part of the 2013 Mixed Conference; however, all recipes, thoughts, and opinions are my own.*********

Sugared and Spiced Pecans

   

     I must really be feeling in a bit nutty lately since this is my second post in a row featuring nuts!  Truthfully, I just love them at the holidays.  Often during the month of December I realize that I have really only eaten snack foods all day long and feel like if I have nuts mixed in there then I have at least eaten some protein.  This is great logic, right?  Right?  I am working towards a balanced diet, after all!

    One of the best things that has happened to me this year is that along with my friend Angela (of the Angela's Chili and Magic Mix Fame), I co-founded a new United Methodist Women's circle at our church.  If you aren't familiar with UMW, this organization of close to 1 million women has been busy for years spreading goodness and light.  I was a member of a circle in Atlanta that was filled with women who were truly making a difference not only in their own community but also around the world.  I had been feeling for awhile like it was time to find a circle in my own church but hadn't quite found one that worked with my schedule.  Angela had been feeling the same way so we decided to just try to start one that would work for not only us but hopefully for other women our age who were feeling the same way.  The first time we all met together there was a feeling of excitement and joy to have finally found one another.  

   Since that first meeting, we have spent one evening a month together and this group of women has become so very special to me.  I honestly feel like I have known these girls my whole life and I treasure every moment we spend together.  Our main goal was to ensure that this circle would be a "no guilt" space and while we love it best when we are all together, we never pressure any member to make every meeting.  We usually laugh together until we cry.  We support one another and have made it our mission to support other women and their children in a variety of different ways.  I can't imagine not having this group in my life now that we are together.  The members that have joined us since that first meeting have all fit perfectly into our circle and as my friend Lisa realized early on, these are the women I want to grow old with!

   For our December meeting,  I wanted to make something special for my Susanna Wesley girls so I turned to this delicious recipe for Sugared and Spiced Pecans.  The name is perfect because these friends are most certainly sugary and spicy!  When I started this blog and was looking for a name that wasn't taken, The Sugared and Spiced Kitchen just seemed perfect because not only can I not pick a favorite between baking and cooking, I like to think of myself as sugary and spicy all at the same time and it turns out that my best friends are the same way.

    I am also using these nuts as teacher gifts both at my daughters' schools and my own school and will probably whip up another batch this week because they are so easy to make and the yield is plentiful.

I feel certain you can find some very deserving recipients to pass them along to if you try the recipe!

    The original recipe can be found as Sugar Coated Pecans on allrecipes.com.  Since I rarely leave a recipe alone, here is my version! One of the big changes I made was to use my Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus.  Again, if you haven't ordered any yet, it's time to do so!  Since that has a bit of a citrus taste to it, I decided to up the flavor by adding in fresh orange peel.  You could certainly add more to the recipe but I didn't want it to be too overpowering.  The result was fabulous.  I also always double the original recipe (which called only for one pound of pecans and half the other ingredients) because it just makes sense to me to do so.  If you decide to just make one pound of pecans, simply use one egg white.  

Sugared and Spiced Pecans (click on title for a printable version)

3 egg whites

2 T. water

2 lb. pecan halves

2 C. white sugar

1 1/2 t. salt (I use Morton's table salt for this recipe)

1 t. cinnamon (again, the magic in mine was the Cinnamon Plus)

1 t. orange peel

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment, Reynold's Release Foil, or regular foil that has been very, very generously sprayed with non-stick spray.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites and water until they are frothy but not too stiff.  This will only take a minute or two.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and orange peel.

Fold the pecans into the egg mixture gently but very thoroughly.  Add the sugar mixture to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

Pour half the mixture on to each of the prepared baking sheets and place one on each rack of the oven.  

Bake for 1 hour making sure to stir well every 15 minutes and to rotate the pans each time you stir.

Remove the nuts from the oven and allow them to cool.  Be sure to stir them as they cool.

Spiced Rosemary Bar Nuts

****** Disclaimer!  This is NOT my picture above.  My very talented sister with her fancy-pants camera got some great shots of our meal this year!


    Given the huge number of recipes for appetizers and hors d'oeuvres that show up daily on my Pinterest feed, I feel certain that I am not alone in my love of small plates.  In fact, I think I could completely subside on these and desserts.

    For Thanksgiving appetizers, I always serve up Patsy's Cheeseball, my Slice and Bake Crackers, and these fantastic Spiced Rosemary Bar Nuts that will knock your socks off!  I almost took them off the menu this year thinking that we just end up with too many appetizers every year for just eight adults.  Luckily I didn't because we ended up eating all of them while we waited for the turkey to finish.  My sister requested that I never entertain this thought again.

   Now that the holiday season is in full gear and I have several events to attend, I will be taking these bar nuts along with me to more than one party.  Hopefully you will find these to be as easy and tasty as my family does.

   I originally came across the recipe while watching the Food Network one day.  Nigella from Nigella's Bites was talking about how much she loved the bar nuts from Union Square Cafe in New York.  Apparently, these nuts come out of the ovens every day at 4:45 at the bar and don't last long.  I can see why; they are the perfect combination of salty and sweet.  You can find the original recipe at the Food Network site.

   My advice is to not serve the nuts right out of the oven.  I have found that if you let them sit a little while (about 20-30 minutes) they get a little crunchier and taste a little better.  You can vary what types of nuts you use, but after making this recipe for several years, I like my combination below the best.

Spiced Rosemary Bar Nuts (click on title for printable version)

1/2 C. pecan halves
1/2 C. walnut halves
1/2 C. roasted, unsalted cashews
1/2 C. raw almonds
1/4 C. raw hazelnuts
2 T. chopped, FRESH rosemary
1/2 t. ground cayenne pepper
2 t. brown sugar (dark works best)
2 t. Kosher salt
1 T. salted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread all the nuts on a baking sheet and roast for 12 -15 minutes or until the nuts are golden brown.

While the nuts are baking, melt the butter in a large microwavable bowl.  Add rosemary, cayenne, brown sugar, and salt.

Remove nuts from oven and pour them into the bowl.  Stir completely and allow to sit for a bit before serving.  Serve still warm or at room temperature.