Cutting Cookies

 This is my latest awesome cookie cutter - little scissors! I was so smitten I paid a full 3$ for it. Hey, I'm a vintage thrifter. That's a lot for old cookware. But how could I resist? I am a seamstress after all...

I used my usual basic butter cookies with a few tasty add-ins.
1 cup butter
1 cup honey
1/2 cup ground flax seed
A handful of lemon balm, crumbled fine between your palms.
baking soda (probably about 1 tsp. I never measure too hard)
~3 cups flour, to make a soft dough. I used a blend of white flour and whole wheat pastry flour.

 It took a long time to roll out all the cookies, since the cutter is funny shaped there's a lot of scraps at the end of each sheet. I added the jam dots mostly for looks, I was worried that the scissor shape wouldn't be obvious without them! That's just peach jam, pureed to be smooth.

I worried too much, the little scissors are definitely cutting and cute. Do you have a favorite odd cookie cutter? What shape do you make for your crafting group? Do I sound like a prim 50's housewife yet?

Sandwich Cookies

Also known as "Wow, I have a lot of Jams stored away in my cabinets. No wonder there's not room for anything else!" Cookies.
I'm planning to meet with many different people this weekend, and share cookies with them of course! So I made a big batch of dough, three sicks of butter! Other than cinnamon I left the cookies pretty basic, no need to have too many competing flavors! My shape of choice today was round, I actually used a jam jar lid, it was a perfect size. I recently bought some sets of little tiny cookie cutters that are perfect for this purpose!
The key here is counting, One wants to have an even number of top cookies and bottom cookies! I tried to split each tray evenly to keep things right.

Put a nice layer of jam on a solid cookie (The weird looking tray side, not the nice top!) and stick a decorative top cookie on it. Simple, easy, done! Unless you make really chunky jams, and it's hard to spread them evenly... Colorado Cherry, and Palisade Peach Cookies. A perfect way to eat local fruit in the winter.
One could also make chocolate cookies, or use nutella inside, or a ground nut filling... Lots of choices! Just be sure you make a big batch, you will want to have plenty to share.

Harvest Time Cookies

As part of my lovely Thanksgiving week, I naturally worked hard to move thru the pounds of pumpkin puree in the freezer. There was pies naturally, and a bread or two, but one of the most fun to make was Pumpkin Hazelnut Cookies.
Butter, sugar and honey creamed, then an equal measure of pumpkin. Don't forget all the spices - cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.
Leavening and whole wheat pastry flour, I then sifted the fine bits out of my roasted hazelnuts. Whenever I use my food processor to chop nuts I end up with both nearly whole pieces, and very fine flour. Putting it in the cookies gave a subtle nutty flavor, but kept them from getting lumpy.
I rolled it out pretty thick, I like squishy cookies not burnt ones. And I'm not afraid of big cookie cutters either! I made both oak leaves and these odd turkey (?) shaped ones. No matter how fast I roll I rarely can keep up with the oven...
Have you been making seasonal yummies? Try something new, and it may become a common occurrence...
UPDATE - These cookies were brought to craft night at the local coffee house, and shared with the barista a few weeks ago. Last week he had a special request "it's my birthday next week, will you make me some of those cookies?" This "recipe" is officially part of the repertoire!

Yummies...

Now I have always regarded my mother as a master cookie baker. She can easily turn out 10 dozen delicious pieces in a single evening, and her toffee bars are legendary. As I have entered upon my Journeyman stage in baking training (where one goes out into the world to try it without support from your master) I was delighted when we found a cookie press at an estate sale - now I can make the family favorite Spritz cookies!
My mother always relied on her perfect cookies to speak for themselves and does little to dress them up besides a sparkle of colored sugar, but I was less optimistic. I made three different flavors, the green is Macha, the Pink are Sesame, and the middle ones are plain dotted with a little bit of apricot jam. Not quite the masterpieces of my childhood, but my roommates have already devoured most of them so they must be good enough...

Shortenin' Bread!

Actually, shortbread cookies...
These classic flaky pieces of yum are quick and easy, I combined them with homemade jam for super yummy amazingness. Take 1 cup butter and beat until soft, add 1/2 cup sugar and cream together until really soft and smooth. Add 1 and 1/2 cups flour (I mixed whole wheat pastry and whole wheat bread flour). You can also add spices like nutmeg or allspice at this point. Mix until just past sticky, you may need to add a little more flour...
Let the dough chill in the fridge for an hour. Heat oven to 350F. Drop little piles in a baking sheet and press them flat. A nice rocks glass dipped flour is perfect, but be sure it's not the glass you have your drink in. (You are sipping a lovely cocktail while you work right?). The cookies will spread a bit so space them generously.

Bake 10 or so minutes, they shouldn't be left to get brown at all, so once the shine is starting to disappear pull them out! Let them cool 10 minutes or so. They should slide easily off the sheet and be still a little soft, so lay them flat.

Add a good layer of yummy jam, sandwiched between two cookies. If you're stacking them put a layer of paper between your cookie pairs (learn from my mistake!). Take them to craft night, and watch them disappear! Magic...
If these aren't decadent enough, follow my mother's lead and dip one half of the sandwich in chocolate!