The other day as it was snowing – our first big snowfall of the year
with 12 inches, I was mindful that those kinds of days are great to
spend baking cookies; however I’ve already baked mine for the season.
Memories
flood my mind of days past when families gathered to spend a day
together baking, talking and sharing among themselves. It’s a good way
to carry on traditions from the past. Christmas cookie baking represent
friends, family, comfort and tradition and recipes handed down from one
generation to the next.
When I bake my cookies in December, I like to make several differing kinds for variety.
My
recipes have not yet been put into an organized system, except for an
old tattered book entitled “Christmas Cookies”, into which I stuff all
the best of the best recipes that I have made. They may be on old
yellowed pieces of paper, recipes handed down from my Mom, newspaper
clippings, from friends, or recipes gotten from a magazine while sitting
in a doctor’s office.
I begin by sorting the recipes and making a
list of the ones that I would like to bake. I look over the recipe and
note what ingredients I will need to buy so that I need not stop for
supplies after I have started.
Cookie baking can be works of art –
from drop cookies, bar cookies, cut-outs, filled cookies, iced cookies,
to pinwheels. Each holiday season, I make many of the same cookies, but
like to try some new ones too. And there may also be some mistakes,
forgetting to add something or some that burn because you left them in
the oven too long.
This
year I baked with my grandchildren helping – putting the candy kisses
on the cookies, dipping the cookies in chocolate, or decorating the sand
tarts. It became an assembly line baking but in 2 hours we had 42 dozen
--- and lots of fun, good memories, and cookies for giving and
sharing…and plenty to serve our guests who come to the Bed and Breakfast over this Holiday Season. I am including one of my favorites.
Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies
¼ cup butter
2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
¾ cup flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Combine
butter, unsweetened chocolate and ¾ cup chocolate chips in a large
saucepan. Cook over low heat till melted. Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
Gradually add flour, b. powder, and salt, beating well. Add chocolate
mixture. Stir in remaining ¾ cup chocolate chips and pecans. Drop onto
parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
Submitted by Ruth Harnish, Flowers & Thyme Bed and Breakfast
No comments:
Post a Comment