Monday, December 1, 2014

Holiday Cookies and Confections


"The greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Its like you're giving someone the portion of your life that you can never bring back."

Happy December! Let the madness of the holiday baking season begin. If Thanksgiving is 'all about that bird', then the holidays are 'all about those sweets'. Over the course of the next few weeks as we embark on making cookies and confections for family, friends and all of the Santas in your life as part of the holiday tradition (seriously, what would a holiday be without a platter of cookies?), it is a wonder we don't cause butter, egg and chocolate shortages across the country.

Every year I seek out new cookie and candy recipes to try (this year's must make list is rather long) so I can add to my list of favorites. In sharing my current top ten favorites, I hope I will inspire you to add to yours. The Coconut Balls aka Better than a Mounds Bar was a recipe given to me by a very good friend. If you love coconut and chocolate, these are a must make. With or without the addition of an almond on top, these are insanely creamy and delicious. I am willing to bet you will never eat another mounds bar or almond joy again after you taste them.


The Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark with Sea Salt was inspired by a confection shared by none other than the amazing Ina Garten. This bark couldn't be easier to make. Roasted, salted cashews and pistachios are the nuts I use most often when making this bark, but roasted macadamias or walnuts work well too (just remember to roast your walnuts before chopping and sprinkling on top of the bark). For the dried fruit, my go-to's are dried cherries, dried cranberries, and dried apricots. Sometimes I use just one of them, sometimes a combination and then sometimes I use all of them. But again, use whatever and as many dried fruits that are your favorites. I like using either a dark or milk chocolate when making this bark, but you can also make it with white chocolate. The addition of the sea salt lightly sprinkled on top turns an already great bark into an extraordinary one. A cellophane bag or box filled with this bark makes for a great, memorable gift.


I have to have a little spice on my holiday cookie platter and this White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Molasses Cookie more than satisfies that need. This is one of the cookies I have been making for years. If the holidays are all about decadence, then dipping half of them in white chocolate creates the perfect spicy chocolatey cookie. However, if white chocolate is not your thing, the cookie itself is scrumptious all on its own.


Again I could not leave well enough alone with the Linzer Cookie recipe. As much as I love them sprinkled with confectionary sugar, I love them eve more dipped in white chocolate. Once you taste a White Chocolate Raspberry Linzer Cookie you will understand why.


This might be the only time intensive cookie on the list, but as they say 'nothing worth having comes easy'. The recipe for the Viennese Finger Biscuits came to me from a very talented baker, one whose cookie platters are enough to cause one to drool just looking at them. Make these for the people in your life you really like, the people that you love.


Newspapers are always running holiday cookie contests. Sometimes the 'winning' cookies are chosen because of their taste, but sometimes they are chosen for their 'back story'. These Meltaways fall into the 'chosen for their taste' category. The use of cake flour rather than all-purpose flour creates for a melt in your mouth, tender crumb cookie. On a cookie platter they look like the peaks of snow-capped mountains.


The White Chocolate Dipped Pistachio and Dried Cherry Cookies were also one of those holiday award winning cookies, although the original recipe called for having the rolled in confectionary sugar. The ingenious idea of dipping them in white chocolate came from my childhood best friend. She had brought out a bag of these cookies on one of her visits to my east coast home. It was one of the best hostess gifts ever.


The recipe for the Irish Shortbread came from the same woman who shared her Viennese Finger Biscuits. Made with both butter and margarine these shortbread cookies are addictive. And honestly, it is the best shortbread cookie I have ever had (and I have had many). Weighing out the ingredients seems to matter when making these cookies. 


The Chocolate Dipped Sea Salted Caramels are one of my favorite holiday confection gifts. Dipping these caramels into chocolate takes them to a different level of wickedness.


Last but certainly not least is one of the first cookies I shared on the blog. Amy's Shortbread Cookies are probably the cookie I make the most, even more than chocolate chip cookies. It is one of the easiest 'rolled' cookies you will ever make as the dough needs no refrigeration and is the most forgiving dough you will ever work with (the finished cookies don't lose their tenderness when the scraps of dough are rerolled). Whether you dip either the entire top or one half of the cookie in white chocolate is all up to you, but remember 'more can often be better'. 


In the weeks ahead I will share with you the newest and best 'cookie and confection' recipes I find or am fortunate enough to be given. As I look at the ones shared here with you again I realized half of them came from friends, making them even more treasured. Have a wonderful beginning to the holiday season. May it be filled with much love as well as lots of unsalted butter and chocolate.