Mexican Wedding Cakes: day 9 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

The cookies I picked for day 9 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies are the Mexican Wedding Cakes. I had never tried these and read rave reviews about them all over the Internet.

I decided to give this recipe from Joy of Baking a try. My cookies turned out great: these feel really light and fragile and look so pretty topped with the confectioner's sugar!!

Mexican Wedding Cakes

adapted from Joy of Baking

2/3 cups of toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts) (I used pecans)

1 cup butter at room temperature

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 bakingsheets with parchment paper. Set aside

Toast nuts: place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool. Once the nuts have cooled completely, place them, along with two tablespoons of the flour from the recipe, in your foodprocessor, fitted with a metal blade , and process until they are finely ground (but not a paste). Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.

Form the dough into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls and place them 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. (Mine needed 12 minutes) Remove from oven and pleace on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, line another baking pan or tray with parchment or wax paper. Sprinkel about 1/2 cup of the confectioner's sugar on the bottom of the pan and then place the slightly cooled cookies on top of the sugar. Place the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a fine strainer or sieve and then sprinkle the tops of the cookies (or you can just roll the cookies in the sugar, that's what I did).

Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Covered Cornflakes: Day 8 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

Sugar Glazed Almonds: Day 7 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

Butter Pecan Slice and Bake Cookies: Day 6 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

68 pieces

World Peace Cookies: Day 5 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

So, now on to my favourite chocolate cookie ever!!! For the fifth day of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies I decided to make World Peace Cookies. We made these for Tuesdays with Dorie in february 2009 and this is another cookie that my coworkers keep requesting me to bake again!

Not only are these cookies delicious, but I also think the name is soooo good and appropriate: I mean, doesn't everybody wish for World Peace around Christmas?

The reason why Dorie Greenspan decided to rename these cookies (originally these cookies were called Pierre Hermé's Korova Cookies) after a neighbour claimed that 'a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness'.

This recipe made 48 cookies and it can be found here.

White Chocolate Madacamia Nut Cookies: Day 4 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

Today's cookie was picked especially for my mom. My mom was really good this year: she lost a lot of weight and restrained from eating sweets and cookies and such. Now she's off the diet and back to eating normally I wanted to put something in my Christmas Cookies that she would absolutely love.

My mom's favourite chocolate is white chocolate and her favourite nuts are macadamia nuts, so I went, googled and found the perfect cookie over at My Tasty Treasures.



Again: another easy to make, scoop & bake cookie. I baked them for 12 minutes and got 54 cookies out of this recipe. My mom got to test them and said that they were the 'bestest' cookies she ever had!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
(adapted from My Tasty Treasures)

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts

2 cups white chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
• Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside
• Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a bowl with an electrical mixer until creamy
• Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just mixed
• Stir in the macadamia nuts ans white chocolate chips by hand
• Drop by the spoonful onto a greased or lined baking sheet
• Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until edges look golden brown (I baked mine for 12 minutes)
• Cool on the cookie sheet for at least 4-5 minutes so the cookies can set.
• Remove to rack to cool completely
• Enjoy
  
  

Americans are NOT stupid - WITH SUBTITLES

Oh my God, they must have picked the stupidest people to answer these questions!!!

Snickerdoodles: Day 3 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

Welcome to day three of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!! The star of today's post is the amazing Snickerdoodle!!!!

My mom asked me why these cookies had such a seedy name: 'snikkel-doodles'..... You see 'snikkel' is Dutch slang for penis.... I quickly made sure she knew the right name!!

About two years ago I made these for the first (and only) time, I loved how simple it was to make these cookies and how wonderful they tasted and smelled. This was probably because of the cinnamon as my two most favourite smells are vanilla and cinnamon!
This time I used the recipe that I found over at eat me, delicious., the original recipe is by Martha Stewart.


Again, another cookie that is very quick and easy to make! As I love my cinnamon I made two batches of the 'topping'. It tastes great, nice and fluffy and cinnamonny!! This recipe is supposed to make 20 cookies, 40 when you make very small balls. I used my small icecream scoop and got 56 Snickerdoodles out of this recipe, after baking they had a diameter of 6 cm....






Snickerdoodles (as adapted from eat me, delicious)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (I always use salted butter as it is way cheaper than unsalted butter.... I haven't tasted a huge difference so far!)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs

2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
(I had to double this sugar and cinnamon because I had so many cookies!!)

• Preheat the oven at 35o F.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
• Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a bowl and mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
• Mix in eggs.
• Reduce speed to low; graually mix in flour mixture.
• Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl (I doubled the amounts for this step).
• Shape dough into 20 (1 3/4 inch) balls; roll in cinnamon sugar (I simply scooped and dropped the scoops in the cinnamon sugar, then rolled them around).
• Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes (12 minutes were perfect for mine!).
  
  

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops: Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

So today is the second day of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. For today I picked Dorie Greenspans Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops. We made these a while ago for Tuesdays with Dorie and the friends I shared them with loved them so much that they kept requesting me to make them again.

Photo's are from the last time I made these because I totally forgot to take pictures while baking them. One recipe made 32 cookies for me.

The recipe can be found at Confessions of a Tangerine Tart as she was the one who picked this recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie. This time I got 30 cookies out of the recipe.

M&M Cookies: Day 1 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies

On my search for 12 delicious cookies for my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies to give away for Christmas I found a recipe for M&M Cookies over at Blisstree that sounded really appealing to me.



These were supereasy to put together, one batch made 49 cookies. I baked them for 12 minutes and they turned out perfect: the edges were crunchy whereas the middle stayed nice and chewy: yum!!



Don't you just love my new nail polish? This is 'Smitten with Mittens' by OPI, it's part of the Holiday 2009 collection and it's a gorgeous shimmery red with red/golden glitters in it!
(Sorry guys, I know this is offtopic, but I'm really loving this colour right now!!)



The bottom of these M&M cookies are sooooo cool, the colour of the M&M's sort of rubbed off on the cookies a bit, aren't they 'groovy'?


Here's the recipe, adapted from Blisstree:

M&M Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown suger
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 12 oz package M&M's baking bits (I used a 260 gram bag regular size M&M's)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) (I skipped these)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; blend into creamed mixture. Stir in M&M's and walnuts it you are using them
• Drop by heaping tablespoons about two inches apart apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes (12 minutes wa perfect for me) or until edges are lightly browned and centers are still soft. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute, then transfer to wire racks.
• Makes about 3 dozen cookies (I got 49 cookies out of this recipe)
• Enjoy!!
  

Giveaway winner!!

So the winner of my giveaway is Steph of Obsessed with Baking. Steph could you please leave me a message or send me an email to let me know which Rookworst you would like me to send you?

Steph is an amazing baker, I have seen loads of great recipes on her blog and tried some too (e.g. these Cranberry Orange Scones I served at my 30th birthday party) I love her New Moon-inspired Werewolf Cupcakes, go check them out: aren't they the cutest???

This means that the 12th cookie for my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies is the NYT Chocolate Chip Cookie!!

Giveaway-update, 12 Days of Christmas Cookies and Cinnamon Sweet Potato Cookies

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Here in The Netherlands we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but I really enjoyed looking at all the tastylooking dishes that everyone made!

With the help of my mom I was finally able to narrow down the 25 recipes I really liked for my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies to 11. Yes, that's right: 11. As I already mentioned here I would like your help to pick the 12th cookie! If you'd like to win a Rookworst, please go to this post and leave a comment telling me what cookie you think I should bake! Deadline of the Giveaway is November 30th!!

So without further ado, I now present you the cookies my mom and I picked for 12 Days of Christmas Cookies in no particular order:

1. World Peace Cookies
2. Snickerdoodles
3. Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
4. Mexican Wedding Cakes
5. Brutti ma Buoni
6. Chocolate Crinkles
7. Stained Glass Christmas Cookies
8. Butter Pecan Slice and Bake Cookies
9. Chocolate Cornflake Cookies
10. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
11. M&M Cookies
12. ?????

So I had some sweet potatoes laying around, waiting for me to do something with them..... But what to do??? I had a craving for cookies and went looking on the Internet. Over at One Frugal Foodie I found one particular cookie that used cinnamon. This recipe was vegan and that intrigued me as I never made a vegan cookie before.


I was very curious as to how these would turn out as the recipe is vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free and nut-free. The cookies were a bit sticky and had a cakey feel to them, they were soft. As for the taste: I was pleasantly surprised!! The cookies were really good, my coworkers gobbled these down so fast that I wasn't even able to salvage one for my parents to try! The recipe can be found here, Alisa even gives several options for toppings and add-ins!

Rookworst Giveaway + recipe for Banketstaaf

So, it's time for another giveaway! Nothing to big, but it is typically Dutch: Rookworst!!! (source: wikipedia)

Rookworst ("smoked sausage") is a type of Dutch sausage in which ground meat is mixed with spices and salt and stuffed into a casing. Rookworst is a traditional ingredient in stamppot.

Contrary to what the name suggest, the modern rookworst is rarely smoked. To achieve the smoked flavour typical to the product, smoke aromatics are added to the product alongside the spices. The genuine old-fashioned rookworst is smoked over woodchips.

There are two types of rookworst:

1. Raw rookworst, which contains raw meats and has to be prepared properly. With the raw rookworst there is a distinction between coarse and fine variants
2. The most common form of rookworst is a vacuum packed cooked sausage. This sausage leaves the factory already cooked and only needs to be reheated in boiling water. This comes in three variations: Gelderse rookworst (porc), rookworst light (porc) and runderrookworst (beef).
   
   

I'm going to give away one of the nr.2 rookworst (250/275 gram) of choice: Gelderse rookworst, rookworst light or runderrookworst. All you have to do to to have a chance to taste this dutch meat is...... Tell me what cookie I should definetely bake for my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, tell me in a comment under this post about rookworst and banketstaaf or just tell me what you think of the rookworst and banketstaaf! Deadline for this giveaway is November 30th, on this day I will pick a winner and I'll post about the winner on December 1st. This giveaway is open to all international contestants!

Now on to Banketstaaf: the banketstaaf is a traditional Dutch pastry made of almond paste (amandelspijs) and puff pastry usually served at Sinterklaas and Christmas. This time I used storebought amandelspijs, but you can find a recipe to make almond paste here.

Banketstaaf

360 gram puff pastry
300 gram amandelspijs (almond pastry)
1 lemon, zested
2 egg yolks
apricot jam or orange marmalade

Preheat the oven at approxiamately 392 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius)

Defrost the puff pastry, I used 8 pieces of 45 grams

Mix the almond paste with the lemon zest and one egg yolk.

Stack the puff pastry

Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangular shape


Take the almond paste,


wet your hands and shape it into a log

Put the almond paste on the puff pastry and wrap the pastry around the paste

Tuck in the ends and apply some pressure so they will stay in place

Brush the banketstaaf with the second egg yolk and bake for 45 minutes.

When the banketstaaf is almost done, warm some apricot jam (for a sweet layer) or orange marmelade (for a bit more bittersweet layer) in a pan.

Take the banketstaaf out of the oven and brush the warm jam/marmalade on top of the banketstaaf. Let it cool down and cut it into pieces.