Where it all began...

Apparently I make good cookies. Not just good cookies but awesome cookies. Not my words, the words of my family and friends. Don't get me wrong, I can follow a recipe. But I'm not really sure what makes them so delectible. I almost feel as though I am cheating my family, mostly my husband, out of the tastefulness of life when I make cookies from premade dough or pour them out of a box. They even have their own name: Shari Cookies. These "Shari Cookies" have become the only request of my family as Christmas presents and are a requirement at family parties. It all started Christmas 2005 when I tried to get a cookie exchange going. I made hundreds of cookies in my college apartment all by hand (I didn't yet have a mixer), in an oven that barely fit one pan. My roommate awoke to masses of baked goods covering each and every surface of our living space, save her bedroom and our tiny bathroom. I boxed them all up, well most of them, wrapped them in holiday flare, and placed them under the trees of my unsuspecting family members. With visions of sugar plums fleeing their dreams, they awoke to the sugar spender that has now become the traditional holiday staple. My goal is to get some practice this year. Not that I'm rusty. I absolutely adore baking. However, it seems as though I always go into the holiday cold, without the proper shoes, stretch and warmup. Not this year. This year I plan to outdo all the rest, which will be hard to do, for sure. And so, "The Cookie Project" was born. Each week I plan to make one type of cookie. It must be from scratch and have all the love and tenderness of warm homemade cookies and the subsidial milk, sans the slobber of my husband's spit on the spoon. So, one homemade cookie a week. This can't be good for our waistlines, but he's not complaining...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Xmas cookie #5

Snowy Bon Bons
Yields 36 cookies
Recipe from BettyCrocker.com

Ingredients:
Bonbons
1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2  tablespoons milk
1/2  teaspoon vanilla
1/2  package (7- or 8-ounce size) almond paste
White candy sprinkles, edible glitter or coarse sugar
 
Almond Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
4 to 5 teaspoons milk

Directions:
Heat oven to 375ºF. In large bowl, beat flour, butter, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and the vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Cut almond paste into 1/2-inch slices; cut each slice into fourths.
Shape 1-inch ball of dough around each piece of almond paste. Gently roll to form ball. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes or until set and bottom is golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
In small bowl, mix all Almond Frosting ingredients until smooth. Dip tops of cookies into frosting. Sprinkle with edible glitter.

Another Christmas staple, these fly off the counter. I have to hide them from my husband before everyone else gets their cookie tins because he would eat them all. I usually make a double or triple batch and each batch makes way more than 36 cookies. I also think that I own every color of edible glitter ever made, if you could imagine that of me. I used the clear and the pink glitter this year to mix it up. You can usually find it at Michael's or anywhere else that would sell Wilton baking essentials. I think I actually found mine at the Wilton tent sale as well as a craft fair. I also bake them for the least amount of time listed so they are moist and yummy. They go by the handfuls!

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