Spritz Cookies

It has been years since I made spritz cookies, but I had the opportunity to make some when my son had to make something handmade for their gift exchange. He wanted to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, which I bake almost every week, but I was able to convince him to make spritz cookies instead so we can make some Christmas tree cookies. He agreed, but only if we added some chocolate chip morsels to the cookies.

He measured the ingredients, mixed them, then after I put the dough inside the cookie press, he made the first batch for his classmate (photo below), while I finished the rest.


I made other kinds of shapes, such as these flowers.


We then packaged the cookies like a candy roll. And since the theme of their Christmas party was Scandinavian, I made the heart basket, which is a common fixture in Swedish Christmas trees.




Recipe:

1-1/2 cups butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 400F. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract; beat well. Stir together flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough. Do not chill. Place dough into cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6-8 minutes, remove cookies from sheet; cool on rack.
Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Asian Pan Sauce

This is simple and delicious with fish. I'ved used it as a sauce for baked salmon and as a poaching liquid for tilapia fillets.

1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons catsup
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup water

Put all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat to boiling while stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute.

Kitchen Misadventures

I've been cooking regularly for almost two years and while I've cooked several dishes that didn't quite make the grade or what I consider disasters, I've had a couple of what I consider kitchen misadventures. Twice, I cooked rice in a rice cooker, only to discover after an hour when the chime goes off that I didn't put water with the rice, ie I made toasted rice. Thankfully, I usually cook rice early enough to be able to rectify the error and have cooked rice ready in time for dinner. My other misadventure of recent past is making a vegetable dish and just before serving it, I tasted it and realize that instead of adding cornstarch, I added baking soda, which made the dish very bitter.

Mini Pan de Sals

It's been years since I made bread and my son has been wanting to make bread for weeks and since he was off from school today due to a snow storm, I thought what a perfect way to spend the day.

I have never been good at breadmaking, my taking a class in Bakery Management notwithstanding, but that hasn't stopped me from trying. I think it's the smell of the dough that does it for me.

Here's a photo of the dough after the first rising.


Here are the mini pan de sals waiting for the second rising, just before baking.


Mini pan de sals waiting to be eaten.

Recipe:
1-1/2 cups warm water (110 deg F)
1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 pack)
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat flour)
Breadcrumbs

Put the warm water in a mixing bowl and add the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar; stir to dissolve. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining sugar and the oil and mix until smooth. Add the salt, 1 cup of flour and the yeast mixture; stir well. Add the remaining cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, supple and elastic, about 10 minutes. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in it and turn to coat the dough with oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Form each piece into a cylinder and roll out until the log is 1/2 inch in diameter. Using a knife, cut each log into 1/2 inch pieces. Roll in breadcrumbs and place the pieces, flat side down onto two lightly greased baking sheets. Gently press each roll down to flatten. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes.