Sugar Cookie Variations

So it's almost that time of year again: Christmas/Holiday cookie time! And because I had two days off in a row, I decided to do some experimenting on the sugar cookie front.
I have grown up using my Grama's sugar cookie recipe, which is absolutely delicious. However, because the dough isn't chilled, it spreads like crazy and all the pretty shapes that we cut out end up looking like they got run over by a bulldozer. If this isn't something that is important to you (like if you're just cutting out circles), then by all means use your old recipe. But I wanted something that would hold the sharp edges and maintain its shape.
So, I turned to Pinterest. Don't get me wrong, most of the recipes I use are from other sources or from my family. But in this case, I had been seeing this one recipe posted over and over again: no spread sugar cookies from Sweetopia. I gave it a try, and my mom has declared these her new favorite cookies. Ever. Out of all of the delicious, amazing, complicated cookies I've made, these are her new favorites.

And that's what's great about these cookies. They are simple, they are easy, and they hold their shape. But they are also pretty darn good. Especially if you use the fancy vanilla (you've read my rants about how much I love that stuff). This is THE recipe I will use from now on. And the best part is, there is a chocolate version!

So below I've written up these recipes for you, and I've included a separate (non-related) brown sugar spice roll-out cookie recipe that I tried today and loved.

But before we get to the recipes, let me give you some hints for making these cookies as pretty as they can be:

1. Many cookie recipes call for whipping the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This incorporates a lot of air into the dough, which causes the dough to spread when baked. Instead, I beat the butter and sugar together until just combined.
2. Both the plain sugar and the chocolate cookie recipes originally had baking powder, but I left it out (Sweetopia tells you to do this because the baking powder can cause the dough to spread), The brown sugar spice cookies originally had baking powder AND baking soda, but after some research, I left the soda out and reduced the baking powder by half. Turns out, baking soda causes the dough to spread and baking powder causes it to rise. 
3. CHILL YOUR DOUGH. I cannot stress this enough. Believe me, I have tried to take shortcuts with roll-out dough and it never ends well. It's harder to work with and they won't maintain their shape. Chill the dough for an hour before cutting out shapes, and then chill it for an hour afterwards. You won't regret it.
4. Bake cookies of the same size together so everything bakes evenly. I've also tried to take shortcuts here and ended up with unbaked cookies on the same pan as overdone ones. Now I only bake cookies of the same shape together.
5. Watch your cookies carefully, but open the oven door as little as possible. The more you open it, the more heat gets out, the slower your cookies will bake.
6. Sift your dry ingredients so you don't end up with a pocket of flour/cocoa powder/cinnamon in the middle of your cookies. Ick.
7. This last one isn't for appearances, but for taste: use quality ingredients. I know you hear it all over the place, but you really can taste the difference. If you use cheap imitation vanilla, it just won't taste the same as quality vanilla. And make sure everything is fresh.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla

5 cups AP flour

1 t salt

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for a few seconds more. Do not over mix the butter and sugar in this step, it will incorporate too much air into the dough. 
2. Add eggs and vanilla slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. Add all of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is extremely important to not over mix the dough.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Cut out cookie shapes and place on parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
6. Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
9. Once out of the oven, leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
10. Eat.

Source: Sweetopia

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla

4 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

1 t salt

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for a few seconds more. Do not over mix the butter and sugar in this step, it will incorporate too much air into the dough. 
2. Add eggs and vanilla slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. Add all of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is extremely important to not over mix the dough.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Cut out cookie shapes and place on parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
6. Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the center of the cookie no longer looks wet. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
9. Once out of the oven, leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
10. Eat.

Source: Sweetopia

Brown Sugar Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups AP flour

1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t allspice
Pinch nutmeg

1/4 t salt

3/4 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup dark brown sugar (firmly packed)

1 egg

1 T molasses

1 T heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for a few seconds more. Do not over mix the butter and sugar in this step, it will incorporate too much air into the dough. 
2. Add eggs and molasses slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. Add all of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is extremely important to not over mix the dough. Now add the cream and mix until incorporated.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Cut out cookie shapes and place on parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
6. Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes or until the center of the cookie no longer looks wet. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
9. Once out of the oven, leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
10. Eat.

Source: The Art of the Cookie

Walnut Baklava

So the other day my mom and I got take out Afghani food, and they had baklava on the menu. If you don't know what baklava is, it's a Mediterranean dessert made with many layers of phyllo dough and pistachios* and a lemony honey syrup. As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting as many recipes recently because I have been wayyy too lazy to just recopy the recipes I use, but in this case, I combined two recipes and I need to write down what I did so I can remember!
The recipes I combined were Michael Symon's Baklava and The Kitchn's Baklava. I was originally going to use Michael Symon's, but when I was at the grocery store, I could not find the Zwieback crackers it called for. I decided to just use the alternate bread crumbs, but when I got home, I discovered that all I had were Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. My mom stopped me from using panko (probably not a good idea) and told me that her baklava recipe didn't use breadcrumbs. Sure enough, most of the baklava recipes I could find did not.
So, I turned to the Kitchn. I used their recipe for the most part, but changed the layering order and added lemon to the syrup. I also cut the baklava into the diamond shape from Symon's recipe. The end result was delicious and beautiful, and my family can't stop eating it.
Tips for using the phyllo dough:

• Defrost it completely in the fridge overnight. I was impatient and unrolled it as it was defrosting on the countertop, and it cracked.
• Cover the phyllo dough with a damp towel while you are not using it. Remove one sheet at a time and then recover it with the towel.
• Rips and tears are okay; they're just more difficult to work with!

*I used walnuts because I could not find unsalted pistachios at Safeway and I didn't want to go through the trouble of shelling them.

Amanda's Walnut Baklava

 Ingredients:

16 oz walnuts (coarsely ground)

1/4 cup sugar

1 t cinnamon

3 sticks unsalted butter

1 package 16 sheets frozen phyllo dough (thawed)

For the syrup:

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup of the mixture.
2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter is mostly melted, remove it from the stove and let the residual heat finish melting it.
3. Carefully unroll the thawed phyllo dough, leaving the plastic sheet underneath the phyllo sheets. Cut the sheets in half lengthwise (make sure the phyllo matches the dimensions of your pan). Cover the sheets with a damp tea towel (not too wet!)
4. Using the pastry brush, brush a thin layer of butter all over a 13x9x2" pan. Make sure to get all of the bottom and the sides. Fold back the tea towel, carefully remove one sheet of phyllo dough and place it on the bottom of the pan. Butter the top of the phyllo lightly, making sure you are going out all the way to the edges. Repeat with layering 9 more sheets to total 10 sheets of phyllo, buttering the top of each sheet of phyllo before placing the next. Be sure to re-cover the remaining phyllo with the tea towel each time you remove a sheet.
5. Sprinkle a quarter of the nut mixture over the dough. Layer 4 pieces of phyllo on top, brushing each with butter before adding the next; sprinkle with another quarter of the nut mixture. Add 4 more phyllo pieces on top, brushing each with butter, then add another quarter of the nut mixture, 4 more pieces of phyllo with butter, and the remaining nuts.  
6. Place a phyllo sheet on top of the nuts and brush lightly with butter. Repeat, layering 9 more sheets of phyllo, with butter between each layer, to total 10 sheets.
7. Cut into the baklava to make strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Then make diagonal slices, about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create a diamond pattern.
8. Bake the baklava for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the pan once while baking to ensure even browning.
9.  Remove the baklava from the oven to cool and recut the squares to make sure they are cut all the way through.
10. To make the syrup, combine the water, sugar, and honey in a sauce pan and stir to combine. Boil for 10 minutes and then add the lemon juice. Boil for two more minutes and remove from heat. Carefully pour over the baklava, making sure to coat each piece.
11. Sprinkle some of the reserved walnuts on each piece. Cover the baklava and let it sit for several hours or overnight at room temperature.
12. Eat.

Orange Sorbet

Ingredients:
1 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
1 T Grand Marnier (I used Triple Sec)

Instructions:

1. Place the water and sugar in a pan over medium heat. Cook until all sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally, about five minutes.
2. Remove the syrup from heat and stir in the orange juice and liquor.
3. Refrigerate the mixture until completely chilled.
4. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
5. Eat :).

Creme Brulee

Creme brulee (sorry yes I know that it's supposed to have a bunch of accents and whatever but I don't know how to type those) was the dessert part of my New Year's Eve extravaganza. It's my dad's favorite dessert, and although it seems complicated, it just takes a little bit of care and other than that it's simple and fun. You will need ramekins, a large casserole pan, and a torch.
My mom bought the torch we have for my dad years ago, but we never actually used it until I made creme brulee. You need butane gas for it, so don't forget that! The torch is for caramelizing the sugar on top of the creme brulee, which gives it a nice hard "shell" or "crust". I've been able to do the same thing with the broiler in my oven, but it's much fussier and it heats up the custard, so you have to cool it back down again. The torch is much easier.
As for the ramekins, make them all the same size. I didn't, and while most turned out okay, the medium sized ones didn't bake correctly and remained mostly liquid. I took the smallest ones out first and left the rest in for a little while longer, which worked for most of them. You'll notice that I didn't have enough ramekins, so I used some small glass bowls. The smaller one turned out well, but the medium ones (about the same size as the medium ramekins) had the same liquid fate.

Keep in mind that these have to chill for about 3 hours, so make sure to leave plenty of time in advance of when you need them. The cooked custards can be kept in the fridge for up to three days after you bake them, and just caramelized as needed.
One of my favorite sounds in the world is the sound of a spoon cracking the burned sugar top of a creme brulee.

Also PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use high quality vanilla for this. I used my Madagascar vanilla and my mother, who doesn't normally like creme brulee, loved it. It really showcases the vanilla so the better vanilla you use, the better it will turn out. And save the egg whites to make an angel food cake!

Creme Brulee

Ingredients

4 cups heavy cream

1 T vanilla

10 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1 T sugar for each ramekin (for the top)

Instructions

1. Pour the cream and the vanilla into a sauce pan and simmer over medium-low heat.
2. Whip the egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow and thick.
3. Whip yolks while you very slowly drizzle in one cup of the warm cream. Once the first cup is added, slowly add the remaining cream.
4. Place ramekins into a large casserole pan. Pour custard mixture into ramekins (I poured the mixture into a large measuring cup for this). Pour water into the bottom of the casserole until it comes halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until just set. Do not allow to get brown (I generally find it easier to take out the ramekins individually rather than trying to remove the whole pan. Leave the pan in the oven as it cools so that the water cools down and it becomes safer to handle).
5. Cool ramekins on countertop, then chill for at least 2-3 hours, covered in plastic wrap.
6. To serve, sprinkle 1 T of sugar over each ramekin of custard. Use a torch to quickly and carefully brown the sugar. There should be a thin, crisp surface of burned sugar on the top.
7. Eat.

Source: The Pioneer Woman

Scallion Pancakes

So I saved all of my blog posts for when I got back to school, to take up all of the time that I'm just sitting around. I didn't want to spend my whole break on the computer, you see. But now I'm back in Boston, so prepare for a ton of recipes!
Like I said in the Hong Kong Style Chow Mein post, I made the noodles and scallion pancakes for New Year's Eve dinner, along with creme brulee for dessert.

Scallion pancakes are one of my favorite things when I get take out, and they're fun to make as well. If you don't know what scallion pancakes are, they are savory pancakes with chopped up green onions (scallions) in them. They're good with a soy sauce-based dipping sauce.

It took me a couple tries to get these right. Make sure you let the dough sit for enough time, even more than what is specified. Also make sure you are using plenty of oil in the pan when you cook them.

Scallion Pancakes

Makes 2 Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (plus more for rolling)

1/2 t kosher salt

1 T shortening

1/4 cup water

2 T milk

1/2 cup scallion rounds (finely sliced, green part only)

1 T vegetable oil (I used sesame oil)

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, stir together the flour and salt.
2. Combine water and milk in a small measuring cup. Warm in microwave at full power for one minute. Pour into flour and stir with a fork until the dough comes together. I used my food processor for this, it was a lot easier but you can do either.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead for a minute. Divide dough evenly into two pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and let rest, covered by a barely damp paper towel, for at least five minutes.
4. On a lightly-floured surface, using a generously floured rolling pin, roll out one of the balls into a 9" circle. Using your fingers, smear half of the shortening over the dough circle. Beginning at an edge, roll up the dough into a tight log. Then, from one end of the log, roll up the log into a spiral. Tuck the end under and set aside, covered with the slightly damp paper towel, for at least five minutes. Repeat with the other dough ball.
5. On a lightly-floured surface, using a generously floured rolling pin, roll out one spiral of dough into a 9" circle again. Sprinkle half of the scallions evenly over the dough. Beginning at an edge, roll up the dough into a tight log. Then, from one end of the log, roll up the log into a spiral. Tuck the end under and set aside, covered with the slightly damp paper towel, for at least five minutes. Repeat with the other dough spiral.
6. On a lightly-floured surface, using a generously floured rolling pin, roll out one spiral of scallion-filled dough into an 8" circle. Set aside and cover with the damp paper towel. Repeat with the other dough spiral.
7. Heat half of the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Carefully lay one pancake in the skillet, and cook until the underside has brown splotches. Flip and cook on the other side until it is also splotchy (make sure there is enough oil in the pan for the second side).
8. Remove to a plate and cut into triangles. Repeat with other pancake.
9. Eat.

Scallion Pancake Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

2 T soy sauce

1 T rice wine vinegar

1 T Chinese rice cooking wine

Pinch grated ginger

Scallion slices

Instructions:

1. Mix ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. Serve with scallion pancakes.
3. Eat.

Source: Food52

Lemon Shortbread

My mom has been keeping a Google drive folder full of recipes that she has been wanting me to make when I'm home, and since I got home she's asked me several times to make this recipe for lemon shortbread. Finally I made it while I was on another baking spree (another angel food cake, some box mix scones, pizza dough). And oh my goodness, these are good.
It's a simple recipe, although it did break my stand mixer (I accidentally tried to cream frozen butter and the poor thing died). The original recipe called for lemon sugar, which I guess is some sort of lemon infused turbinado sugar. I just used some raw cane sugar because I didn't want to go find that specific ingredient. You can do either.
My mom was telling me that when she was little she used to get shortbread at a bakery nearby, and that she hadn't had shortbread with the same texture until she had these cookies. They're flaky and crumbly and light.
It'd be interesting to try these with other citrus zests.... lime sounds good!

Lemon Shortbread

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup corn starch

1/4 t salt

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

1 T lemon zest

Turbinado sugar (for sprinkling)

Instructions:

1. Sift together the flour, corn starch, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest until just combined. 
3. With the mixer on lowest speed, gradually add the flour and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a flattened disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4". Cut shapes out with the cookie cutter of your choice. Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet at least 1" apart.
6. Bake the cookies at 375 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until very lightly browned.
7. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 1 minute before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Eat.

Source: That Winsome Girl

Hong Kong Style Chow Mein

In China, it is traditional to eat noodles on New Year's Eve, as well as birthdays and other occasions, because long noodles symbolize long life. I made Hong Kong style chow mein for my family for New Year's Eve, as well as some scallion pancakes and creme brulee. It was a feast.

If you don't know what Hong Kong style chow mein is, go to your nearest Chinese food joint and order some. It's one of my favorite dishes. It has thin noodles that are fried so they're crispy, and it's topped with a delicious sauce with bok choy and seafood and whatever else you like.
Oh. That's another thing. I started eating meat again. I'm such a picky eater that dorm food wasn't really working out for me as a vegetarian, and when I fainted at the gym when I took a break from the elliptical, I decided to start eating meat again. I don't eat a lot, but just enough to keep up my iron and protein levels.
This dish has shrimp and chicken in it, but the sauce is vegetarian so if you'd rather use tofu or something else then go ahead.
A few tips: if you have a wok, use it. It will help greatly. Also, prepare everything beforehand because the cooking goes fast. I doubled the recipe, but the amount of noodles was too much to handle, so 1 1/2 times the amount of noodles is fine. We had leftovers for days.

Hong Kong Style Chow Mein

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 16 oz package Hong Kong Style Noodles

1 small chicken breast (sliced thinly)

15-20 small shrimp (peeled and deveined)

1 stalk bok choy (cleaned and cut)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

Oil for sauteeing

Marinade A:

1 t corn starch

1 t sesame oil

1 t soy sauce

1 t oyster sauce

Salt/pepper (to taste)

Marinade B:

1 t corn starch

1 t sesame oil

Salt/pepper (to taste)

Sauce:

1 T oyster sauce

1 T soy sauce

1 cup water

1 t sugar

1 t cooking wine

Thickening:

1 T corn starch

2 T water

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the noodles. They will brown quickly. Make sure they brown evenly by moving them around with a pair of tongs or a spatula. Once they are mostly brown and crispy, plate the noodles and set aside.
2. Marinate chicken with marinade A. Set aside. Marinate shrimp with marinade B. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine ingredients for sauce. In a smaller bowl, combine ingredients for thickening. Set aside.
4. Add oil to the pan and saute garlic until lightly brown. Add shrimp and cook thoroughly. Remove and set aside.
5. Add oil to the pan and cook chicken until done. Set aside.
6. Add oil to the pan and cook the bok choy until done. Add salt to taste. Put shrimp and chicken back into the pan, stir well, and add the sauce mixture. Bring to a boil.
7. Add the thickening and stir. Bring to a boil.
8. Pour everything on top of the noodles.
9. Eat.

Source: Sugarlens