Cookie Time
Of all the traditional baked confections we associate with the holidays, probably none is more popular than the cookie. For weeks during the season, old recipes are pulled out, or special orders are placed, for a staggering and beautiful array of cookies in all sizes, shapes, colors and flavors. America is a melting pot, and there is no time when it is more evident than the holidays. Cookies from every country from around the globe make appearances at family celebrations or as gifts for friends and neighbors.
If you follow the cookie trail in the United States, it will take you back to colonial times when there was first record of a recipe for a “Christmas Cookey.” The ingredients listed in the American Cookery recipe of 1797 note flour, sugar, butter, milk, powdered coriander and pearlash, a leavening agent made by soaking fireplace ashes in water to produce lye. It was a jumping off point to what has become a long held and much loved tradition.
Cookies were brought to our country by the Europeans who settled here. Christmas cookie trees were a German invention. Highly decorative, shortbread or sugar cookies are a gift from the Dutch. As America grew, so did her immigrant population. Today, the cookies we bake during the holidays reflect not only our own family traditions, but those of a vast culinary history from all over the globe.
Looking at the origins of the cookie, we can start with a basic recipe for a sugar cookie or tea cake. Many other cookies recipes from around the world have evolved. from these simple ingredients. It is believed that a few hundred years ago sugar cookies resulted from the process of testing a cake recipe. Small spoonfuls of batter were baked to check for flavor and consistency. Shortbread cookies began life in ancient times as slightly sweetened biscuits. From there, with the additions of butter, fruits and chocolate, sprinkles and colored sugar--things went wild. Modern cookies are an unlimited variety of textures, and flavors from bacon to candy corn. Try this recipe for THREE IN ONE DROP COOKIE DOUGH which uses the basic recipe for sugar cookies to create three different flavors.. You can make 45 cookies (15 of each flavor) using the simple, delicious ingredients below. Happy holidays!
THREE IN ONE DROP COOKIE DOUGH
Makes 45 cookies (One batch of dough, 15 of each flavor- Sweet Citrus, Oatmeal Raisin, and
Chocolate Chip)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
For Sweet Citrus Cookies:
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1/2 lime
Zest of 1/2 an orange
!/4 cup sugar for sprinkling on top
For Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies:
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons raisins
For Chocolate Chip Cookies:
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Line three baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of mixer (or using a bowl and a hand-mixer), set on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy-approximately 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue to mix one minute. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and continue to mix until well combined.
Divide the dough into three equal parts in three separate mixing bowls. Add the flavoring ingredients—the citrus zest in one bowl, reserving the sugar to sprinkle on top; the oatmeal and raisins in the second bowl; and the chocolate chips in the last bowl. Mix the ingredients in each bowl with a rubber spatula until well combined.
Spoon teaspoon-sized drops onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the Sweet Citrus cookies with the sugar.
Bake each batch of the cookies for 5 minutes and rotate/turn the pan to bake the cookies evenly. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and are slightly soft in the center. Let cool at room temperature.
