Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are beautiful with their delicate flavor, sweet crispness and their ability to take on any shape you can imagine.  I marvel at the holy trinity of flour, butter and sugar and all the wonderful things that can be created with such a simple base.  The sugar cookie is the ultimate example of simplicity.  A few ingredients mixed together to create a cookie that can be delicate and elegant or playful and commonplace.  Whether you dress your sugar cookie up with icing or glaze in fancy designs or simply sprinkle them with sugar, the sugar cookie warms the heart.

I use a lovely glaze that stays flexible while firming up and does not impart the same dry quality of royal icing.  This icing stands up to the dam and flood method of icing the sugar cookies (see below).

Sugar Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen depending on cookie size

1 cup butter, softened

1 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light in color.

Add egg, milk and vanilla and beat to combine.

With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat until mixture pulls away from bowl.

Divide dough in half, pat into disk and wrap in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight

Preheat oven to 375 °F

Roll out dough on surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar and roll to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

I roll my dough out on parchment paper.  I sprinkle the powdered sugar on the paper and add more to the top of the dough then I cover the top of the disk with a wide piece of plastic wrap and roll to the desired thickness.  I avoid adding extra ingredients to the dough this way whether it is flour or powdered sugar.

Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.

Remove excess dough and re roll chilling the dough as needed.

Note:  I re-roll all of my dough regardless of how “tough” the last roll is.  I change the shape of the cookie cutter so I know which cookies are best for dipping into tea.

Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 6 to 9 minutes until the edges are just beginning to brown. 

I always err on the side of under done for a tender cookie.

Let the cookies cool on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes then move to cooling racks.

Sugar Cookie Glaze

5 cups confectioners' sugar

½ cup milk

½ cup light corn syrup

½ teaspoon vanilla and almond extract or flavor as desired

In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar and milk first.

Add corn syrup just until combined.

Divide to flavor.

Add paste color if desired.

Important to always add the same amount of corn syrup as you added milk.

Move a portion of glaze to another bowl and add more powdered sugar until thick enough to pipe a dam of icing around the edge of the sugar cookie.

Fill piping bag set up with a coupler and #4 or 5 round tip.

Let the piped dam set then flood the cookie with the thinner glaze.

Note: I use a spoon unless the work is finer and a piping bag is required.

Decorate as desired with sanding sugar, sprinkles etc. 

Icing may be layered on top as long as the icing sets before a new layer is added.

Adapted from Toba Garrett

Seeded Crackers

Snack food is expensive especially with hungry teenagers and their friends always looking for something to eat.  Crackers and cheese are a favorite but tasty crackers with wholesome ingredients come in very small boxes with a large price tag.  I decided to make crackers and after looking at recipes I wondered why store crackers are so expensive - the ingredient list is small - flour, water, oil (sounds like french bread but crackers do not require the skill of a baguette). The wholesale prices companies pay for the ingredients, plus the cost of getting a product to a mass market - I figure there must be around a 500% mark up on crackers. At 4-5 dollars for a box of small  crackers at Whole Foods, I could spend $20 and pass the boxes to four teenagers and they would still say "what else is there to eat."

These crackers are so tasty. The pair nicely with hard or soft cheeses, spread with tuna or chicken salad or just plain.  You can get creative and make up your own seed topping - maybe nigella, anise, fennel, rosemary, thyme - there are many combinations. You could chop up fresh herbs like the thyme or rosemary and mix it in with dough as well. This recipe can be mixed up by hand as well.

Seeded Crackers
Makes 3 dozen

Topping
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Enough water and pastry brush to wet rolled out dough before seeds are applied.

Dough
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour - scant
1 teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons olive oil or oil of your preference
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 450F.
Mix seeds in a small bowl and set aside. Do not add the salt at this point as you sprinkle by hand.
In a food processor:
Add the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and table salt and pulse to combine.
Add the oil and 1/2 cup water and pulse until combined and crumbly but comes together when pressed against the side of the bowl.
On a lightly floured work surface gather dough into a uniform mass then separate dough into thirds.
Store dough under a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming.
Roll the first third of dough into a 1/16th inch thick 8 x 14 inch rectangle.
Keep your work surface well floured to prevent the dough from sticking. Your dough should move freely on the rolling surface.
Cut dough with a knife or pizza cutter in half then into rectangles 2 x 4 inches or to your preference.
Brush dough with water and sprinkle with 1/3 of seed mixture and 1/4 teaspoon of the kosher salt.
Press the seeds and salt into the crackers with light pressure so they stay on the crackers.
Transfer crackers to a baking sheet.
Tip:  I roll my dough out on parchment paper minding that it doesn't stick and cut carefully so as not to go through the paper.  I then can move the whole sheet onto my baking pan (rimless cookie sheet), then I just move the crackers slightly to give them a bit of room.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes until browned.
Cool on wire rack (slide the parchment straight onto the rack).
Store crackers in airtight container or zipper plastic bag.







Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking December 2007