Cookies are a fun food. They are small and portable; they are tasty; they make great gifts. There are literally thousands of cookie recipes out there, but for the holidays we barely have the time to decorate the house and buy the presents, let alone make five or six different cookie recipes with all sorts of different ingredients.
To solve this problem, all you need is one basic dough. From this dough come all sorts of possibilities. As a matter of fact, present a platter of all the cookies, and no one will know that they all came from the same dough! Variations are limited only by your imagination, and here is the basic dough as well as six variations to get you started.
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Basic Cookie Dough
3 cups all purpose flour
¾ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ c. sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cream or half and half
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla and dairy. Mix until smooth.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three or four additions, mixing until just combined and the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl.
Finish according to directions in the following variations.
Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Divide dough in two pieces. Roll each piece between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of about 3/16". Stack rolled doughs on a cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm. Peel off top layer of parchment and cut into desired shapes. Place shapes one inch apart, and bake at 350 degrees, F, on parchment-lined cookie sheets for about 10 minutes, or until just browning on the edges. Let cool for two minutes on the cookie sheet, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Ice and decorate as desired.
Lemon-Iced Cookies
Make these changes to the basic dough:
Reduce vanilla to ¼ teaspoon and add ¼ teaspoon of lemon extract plus the zest of two lemons. Roll dough into logs about 1" in diameter. Wrap in parchment and chill at least two hours.
Slice dough about 3/16" thick and place one inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees, F, until just starting to brown around the edges. While still warm, brush on a glaze made from powdered sugar and a pinch of salt with enough fresh lemon juice to make a drizzling consistency.
Chocolate Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Make these changes to the basic dough:
Reduce flour to 2 2/3 cups and add 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. Dissolve ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules in the dairy.
Roll and bake as directed for Cut-Out Sugar Cookies. Decorate as desired.
Spice Cookies
Make these changes to the basic dough:
To the dry ingredients, add ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon allspice (or to taste). Omit the egg.
Roll dough into ¾" balls. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar. Place about 1 ½ inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Press each ball down lightly to flatten slightly, and bake at 350 degrees, F, until edges are just beginning to brown. Let cool on the sheet for two minutes, and then remove to a rack to cool completely.
Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Make these changes to the basic dough:
Reduce white sugar to ½ cup. Add ½ cup of packed brown sugar. Stir in 6 oz. mini chocolate chips.
Follow shaping and baking directions for lemon-iced cookies.
Pecan Crescents
Make these changes to the basic dough:
Reduce white sugar to ½ cup. Add ½ cup powdered sugar. Reduce flour to 2 ½ cups. Add ½ cups of finely ground pecans and ¼ cups of toasted, chopped pecans. Omit the egg.
Form dough into ¾" balls and shape each ball into a crescent shape. Place cookies about 1" apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, and bake at 325 degrees until cookies are firm. Do not let the cookies brown.
While still warm, roll cookies in additional powdered sugar.
Instead of rolling the cookies in powdered sugar, drizzle each cookie (or dip half of each cookie) with some melted chocolate coating or tempered chocolate.
From one basic cookie dough, here are six cookies you can create. And the best part is, nobody never needs to know how easy it was. So, what are you waiting for? Fill that cookie jar or gift baskets with homemade cookies!
Six Ideas For Easy and Festive Holiday Cookies
Jennifer Field spent years as a special education teacher until she left education to pursue a culinary career. After graduating from Orlando Culinary Academy Le Cordon Bleu Program with a degree in Patisserie and Baking, Chef Jennifer worked in professional fine dining kitchens as pastry sous chef and pastry chef. She currently marries her two passions, teaching and baking, through her website.
Pastry Chef Online
View her new blog at http://onlinepastrychef.wordpress.com/
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