Year of Cookies - December

Hi Ladies!

So the 2015 has come to an end. It certainly was an incredible year! 

Christmas was great, but very busy! Besides the holiday hustle and bustle at work, we did a bit of travelling to see all of our family over the 6 short days we took off for Christmas. We headed to Port after work on the 22nd, celebrated my sister's birthday on the 23rd, did Christmas with my family Christmas Eve (complete with making cookies for Santa - or supervised as Talia made cookies for Santa), and took the last ferry home that night. We spent Christmas morning just the two of us relaxing at our place, before hitting the road to Princeton. We spent a couple snow-filled days at Corey's parents' house with his sisters, before heading back to the city. Then we spent the 28th at home all day to recoup after an exhausting week.

Here are a few photos from our white Christmas…

And now for the last instalment of the Year of Cookies!

Cranberry Shortbread Bars, Gingerbread Cookies,

Peppermint Sandwich Cookies, Whipped Shortbread, Rugelach

Week 48 - Cranberry Shortbread Bars, via Fork vs Spoon - baked for 22 minutes, cut into 12 bars
I was hunting for a good cranberry orange shortbread recipe when I came across these bars. They turned out great! The perfect kick off to the holiday season - a little sweet, tart, citrusy, nutty & oaty! I subbed in pistachios for the walnuts, thought they would be a bit more festive. I will definitely be making these again… especially since Corey ate 3 bars the day I made them!

Week 49 - Gingerbread Cookies, via Pastry Affair - baked for 7-8 minutes, made 64 cookies (mixed sized cookie cutters)
I haven't tried many gingerbread recipes, mainly because the ones I have tried turned out dry and crunchy. these have quite a bit of molasses, so they remained a bit chewy. We decorated them simply with some white icing and a few gold sprinkles.

Week 50 - Peppermint Sandwich Cookies, via Joy the Baker - baked for 11 minutes, 18 sandwich cookies

This recipe was a bit of a flop. In theory it should have worked great, but it just didn't come together the way I expected. I didn't use all my dough, it started to get too warm, yet crumbly, and rolling was becoming impossible. I'm not sure why she specifies not to chill the dough before rolling. I think it would have worked better after being chilled. I had to let my filling cool for almost 2 hours for it to thicken up. That being said, the flavours in these cookies were great - closest cookie I've ever made to an Oreo. And the filling has a nice peppermint flavour and isn't too sweet. But, the process of making the cookies was enough to make me not want to make the again.

Week 51 - Whipped Shortbread, via Corey's Amma - baked for 10 minutes, made 40 cookies 
This is Corey's Amma's (his Mum's Mum) recipe, and has been a staple for him at Christmas his whole life. When we started dating I had some his Mum made, and I immediately asked for the recipe. I have made them every Christmas since - for the last 9 years. And they have now become known as "Sha-oh's Special Shortbread", by my nieces anyway. This is a very simple recipe, only 4 ingredients, but is one I would recommend having a stand mixer for. The first few years I made these Corey's arm got quite the work out helping me whip the dough.

1 cup Butter
1 cup Maragine (you can not substitute this for more butter, it won't turn out the same)
1 cup Icing Sugar
1/2 cup Cornstarch
3 cups Flour
Mix all ingredients together in stand mixer.
When you first start the mix the dough it will become crumbly, keep mixing it will come together, until the dough becomes light and fluffy - almost resembling whipped cream. 
Drop by tablespoonful onto a lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until bottoms are just becoming golden.


Week 52 - Rugelach, via Food 52 - baked for 15 minutes, made 48 cookies 
this is a traditional Jewish cookie, and perfect for the holidays. the dough is more of a pastry, with equal parts butter and cream cheese. you can be creative with the filling, I followed the recipe for half of the dough - filling with a mixture of ground nuts & honey. Then I tried fig jam in one quarter of the dough, and raspberry jam and shaved dark chocolate in the last quarter. Some other ideas for fillings include different combos of nuts or dried fruits, chocolate & peanut butter, or nutella.


So, I did it. Challenge complete!
52 cookie recipes. Countless bags of flour & sugar, pounds of butter and cartons of eggs.
3 bottles of vanilla. 2 new oven mitts. 1 oven light bulb.

The ones that disappeared the fastest…
Dark Chocolate Pistachio & Smoked Sea Salt Cookies
Breakfast Cookies
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed
Cranberry Shortbread Bars

I'm trying to think of another culinary goal for 2016 - besides my usual bucket list of new recipes and techniques to try. Committing to once a week was a bit of a challenge this year, so maybe once a month. Pies, cakes, ice cream, bread? Or something savoury? I'll keep you posted.

We're spending our New Year's Eve in our traditional way - lots of movies and lots of snacks! Relaxing on the couch, just the two of us. We think it's the perfect way to wind down after the chaos of Christmas, and ring in the New Year.

Wishing all of you a wonderful year ahead! Happy New Year!

Sending love,

Xo, A