Recipes For Cooking

Children would love to help  you make these festive cookies...

Yields: 5 Doz.
Prep: 10 Mins. |
Bake: 10 to 12 Mins.

Posted by: Sandra at

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine-grain kosher salt

--Red, green, and yellow decorating sugar; each mixed with a pinch of cinnamon

METHOD:

Mix each of the three colored sugars into separate, small bowls; add cinnamon, and toss to combine. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat liner.

With a hand mixer, blend together the butter and granulated sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and mix to incorporate. Sift into another medium bowl the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and kosher salt. Using a wooden spoon, mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, until incorporated.

Roll the dough into 1” balls, and alternately coat the outside of each with the different colored cinnamon/sugars (see photograph above). Place cookies onto a baking sheet spaced 1” apart, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes; remove to a cooling rack, and repeat until dough is gone. – Enjoy!

Ive posted all about the Christmas Fair and Farmers Market I visited yesterday on my other blog HERE

Over at Belleau Kitchen, dear Dom has challenged us with his usual Random Recipe teaser.  However, in my haste, I misread the challenge and instead of choosing a recipe from a cookbook that I received as a gift last Christmas, I thought we were to choose a Christmas Cookbook.  Doh!



I dont have too many Christmas cookbooks, just a couple of Delias and the Home and Freezer books that I blogged about last week.  The original Delia Smiths Christmas was the one that came to the top of the pile and I opened it randomly and was delighted to find myself looking at Christmas Dried Fruit Compote.This version of the fruit compote isnt on Delias website, but I found it published in the Telegraph online.



When I went to my larder, inevitably, I didnt have everything I needed for the recipe, so substituted some different dried fruits.  No figs and no prunes, I could have sworn I had some prunes but must have used them in the instant mincemeat.  I had some lovely Medjool dates from the hamper I got from Olives from Spain and some dried mandarins and cranberries, all lovely Christmassy flavours.


The original recipe calls for a liberal dose of Port, well my husband cant drink Port, it gives him migraines, so I used a couple of tablespoons of Amaretto, one of my favourite liqueurs.  In the book Delia suggests that the fruit compote is served with flaked almonds, well I didnt have any of those either, so for this, by now VERY, Random Recipe, I used some nice green pistachio nuts to add to the festive colours.


I made the compote last night and was sorely tempted to have some on my porridge this morning, but remembered just in time that it was full of booze and I had to drive into town to the hairdressers!  We had it this evening served with Greek yogurt and it was delicious, would be great with vanilla ice cream too.  All in all Im rather pleased that I misread the challenge as I wouldnt have come across this recipe otherwise.

I put up the Christmas tree today, it lives in the kitchen between the cook books and the stove, and is decorated with an eclectic mixture of totally uncoordinated baubles and pretty things I have been collecting since 1980 when we bought our first flat, indeed the coloured lights were a flat warming gift from a friend and they are still working.  I used the tree and lights as a background behind the first photo of the Dried Fruit Compote.  In the spirit of the Random Recipe challenge, here is a Random Christmas decoration from my tree.