Baking for Dummies Read online

  2Cream together the butter and both sugars until well blended. Stir in the eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt.

  3Drop the dough by the teaspoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with the tines of a fork, if desired. (To keep the fork from sticking to the dough, dip it in sugar prior to flattening.) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to the wire rack to cool.

  Vary It! If you want to go a little wild, throw in 1 cup chocolate chips for that peanut butter cup flavor.

  Per serving: Calories 150 (From Fat 74); Fat 8g (Saturated 3g); Cholesterol 19mg; Sodium 107mg; Carbohydrate 17g (Dietary Fiber 1g); Protein 3g.

  Crisp Sugar Cookies

  I like these cookies because you don’t have to roll them out. You just roll the dough into balls and press them with the bottom of a glass. Try to make all the cookies the same shape to make sure that they bake evenly.

  Preparation time: 20 minutes

  Baking time: 10 minutes

  Yield: 4 dozen cookies

  1 cup (2 sticks) butter

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  1 egg, beaten

  2 1/2 cups flour

  Sugar, for dipping

  1Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

  2In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and creamy. Add the baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla, and mix to blend. Then add the beaten egg and flour.

  3Shape the dough into balls the size of a small walnut and place them on a baking sheet.

  4Dip the bottom of a glass into additional sugar; press on each cookie, flattening to about 1/4-inch thickness. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly brown. Cool on a wire rack.

  Per serving: Calories 73 (From Fat 36); Fat 4g (Saturated 2g); Cholesterol 15mg; Sodium 39mg; Carbohydrate 8g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g.

  Gingersnaps

  Not only do these cookies make a great snacking treat, but you also can save a dozen or so in the freezer and use them the next time you want to make a crumb crust for a cheesecake. They’ll last up to six months frozen.

  Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus 1 hour for chilling

  Baking time: 8 to 10 minutes

  Yield: About 5 dozen cookies

  1 cup sugar

  3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

  1/4 cup molasses

  1 egg

  2 1/4 cups flour

  1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  1/2 teaspoon cloves

  1/2 teaspoon ginger

  1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

  Sugar, for rolling

  1In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light, about 1 minute. Add the molasses and egg and continue beating until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Cover the bowl and chill for 1 hour.

  2Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  3Place about 1/2 cup of sugar on a plate; add more sugar if needed. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in sugar and place them on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

  Per serving: Calories 56 (From Fat 22); Fat 2g (Saturated 2g); Cholesterol 10mg; Sodium 43mg; Carbohydrate 8g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g.

  Lemon Cookies

  Lemon cookies are a favorite of mine because they’re a little different than your average cookies. Kissed with lemon and almond, they’re perfect with tea or as an afternoon snack.

  Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus 1 hour for chilling

  Baking time: 9 minutes

  Yield: 7 dozen cookies

  1 cup butter, softened (margarine is not recommended)

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

  3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  1 egg

  4 cups flour

  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

  1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

  1In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars. Add the lemon juice and egg and beat well.

  2Sift the flour and baking soda together and add to the butter mixture. Add the lemon zest and nuts and mix until well blended.

  3Shape into 4 rolls, 2 inches in diameter, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

  4Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the dough into 1/8-inch slices and place them about 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

  Per serving: Calories 56 (From Fat 24); Fat 3g (Saturated 1g); Cholesterol 8mg; Sodium 4mg; Carbohydrate 7g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g.

  Apricot-Date Half-Moons

  These definitely win for cuteness — their name sounds like after the date half-moons. They’re so chubby and plump that I find them rather irresistible. Adding cottage cheese to a cookie recipe may sound kind of funny, but it was all I had in the fridge at the time, and it really makes these cookies yummy. For the filling, I find dates and apricots difficult to cut into small pieces, and you don’t want a lumpy filling, so I just simmered them for a while in some brandy and sugar and then gave them a few whirls in the food processor until I liked their consistency.

  Preparation time: 15 minutes to make; 20 minutes to fill; 2 hours for chilling

  Baking time: 10 to 12 minutes

  Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen cookies

  1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

  3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

  3/4 cup small-curd cottage cheese

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  1 3/4 cups flour

  Pinch of salt

  1/2 cup chopped dates

  1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

  1/4 cup sugar

  2 tablespoons water

  2 tablespoons brandy

  1 egg, beaten (optional)

  1In a large mixing bowl, cream together the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and cottage cheese (it will not get completely smooth like only butter and sugar would). Add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla. Add the flour and salt and continue mixing until the dough just comes together. Gather the dough into a ball and chill for 2 hours.

  2When the dough has almost finished chilling, combine the dates, apricots, sugar, water, and brandy in a small saucepan and cook, stirring frequently, over low heat until thickened. Transfer to the bowl of a small food processor and pulse several times to blend (it will be thick and sticky). Stir in the vanilla.

  3Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Divide the dough in half and roll out one of the halves to about 1/4-inch thickness. Using a drinking glass or a cookie cutter, cut out 2 1/2-inch round circles. Place about 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the center of the dough, fold it in half, and pinch closed. Repeat with the remaining dough. Brush each half-circle with the beaten egg, if desired.

  4Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

  Vary It! You can use straight apricots or go wild with dried cranberries, blueberries, or even raisins — whatever you please.

  Per serving: Calories 99 (From Fat 44); Fat 5g (Saturated 3g); Cholesterol 13mg; Sodium 27mg; Carbohydrate 12g (Dietary Fiber 1g); Protein 2g.

  Poppy Seed Thumbprints

  Here’s a twist on the classic. Poppy seeds add a great flavor to this cookie. I suggest using raspberry jam, but you can use whatever flavor you like.

  Preparation time: 25 minutes

  Baking time: 20 minutes

  Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen cookies

  1 cup confectioners’
sugar

  1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

  1 egg

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 cups flour

  3 tablespoons poppy seeds

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1/2 to 2/3 cup raspberry preserves

  1Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

  2In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour, poppy seeds, and salt.

  3Drop the batter by the teaspoonful onto a baking sheet. Gently press your thumb in the center of the dough to form a depression (do not press all the way through to the baking sheet). Fill each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon of preserves.

  4Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until the edges turn light brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool.

  Per serving: Calories 120 (From Fat 61); Fat 7g (Saturated 4g); Cholesterol 24mg; Sodium 44mg; Carbohydrate 14g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g.

  Russian Tea Balls

  These tea balls are also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes. If you use an electric mixer, don’t crank up the speed too quickly. Otherwise, you’ll be left in a puff of confectioners’ sugar.

  Preparation time: 20 minutes

  Baking time: 10 minutes

  Yield: 4 dozen cookies

  1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

  1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 1/4 cups flour

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

  Additional confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

  1Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

  2In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, salt, and chopped nuts.

  3Roll into l-inch balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until set but not brown.

  4While the cookies are still warm, roll them in additional confectioners’ sugar; let cool on a wire rack. Roll in the powdered sugar again.

  Tip: Finding cookie dough sticking to your hands? Wet your hands with cold water first, and you’ll find that they won’t be as sticky.

  Per serving: Calories 72 (From Fat 46); Fat 5g (Saturated 3g); Cholesterol 10mg; Sodium 25mg; Carbohydrate 6g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g.

  Anisette Biscotti

  These cookies are easy to make and so satisfying, with their distinctive flavor of black licorice. The logs get a bit wider and flatter as they bake, so compensate for this by making them a little narrower before they go into the oven. Using parchment paper is best, but waxed paper will also work, and although it may smoke or steam a bit in the oven, it won’t affect the biscotti.

  Specialty tools: an electric mixer

  Preparation time: 25 minutes

  Baking time: 30 minutes, then 30 more

  Yield: 2 to 3 dozen biscotti

  3 eggs

  1 cup sugar

  1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

  2 teaspoons anise extract

  3 cups flour

  1/4 teaspoon salt

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or almonds, optional

  1Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.

  2Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs on high speed about 2 minutes, until light and frothy. Keep the mixer on high speed and slowly add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and drizzle in the melted butter. Add the anise extract.

  3Reduce the speed to low and add the flour, salt, and baking powder, and mix just until blended (the dough will not be stiff, but rather glossy from the melted butter).

  4Divide the dough in half and form the dough into 10- to 12-inch logs, 2 to 3 inches high. If the dough seems sticky, dust your hands with flour. Place the logs on the baking sheet (they should both fit sideways). Bake for 30 minutes, until firm but not hard. Remove from the oven.

  5Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.

  6Let the logs cool for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing them on the diagonal into half-inch slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet (you will need two sheets for all the slices) and return to the oven for 30 more minutes, or until they’re dry and crispy.

  Note: The biscotti will bake all the way through after 30 minutes, and you don’t have to re-bake it if you don’t want to. It is a lovely, tender cookie baked just once.

  Per serving: Calories 89 (From Fat 28); Fat 3g (Saturated 2g); Cholesterol 25mg; Sodium 54mg; Carbohydrate 14g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 2g.

  Pressed Cookies

  Pressed cookies are a holiday favorite. You can make a large amount of pressed cookies in a short amount of time, so they make holiday baking a breeze. What is a pressed cookie? It’s made using a cookie press, which is a device that forces dough down a hollow tube and through a die-cut disk, resulting in shaped cookies. You can come up with many variations by using one standard recipe and simply decorating the cookies in different ways or changing the pressing disk. Shop for a cookie press that’s easy to use and clean and that comes with several disk attachments.

  Basic Cookie Press Cookies

  This is a basic recipe, which I welcome you to embellish to suit your tastes. This dough usually passes well through a cookie press. If you find it too thick, stir in a tablespoon or two of milk. If it has no body to it and doesn’t hold its shape, stir in a tablespoon or two of flour. The dough changes quickly, so don’t add too much flour or milk at any one time.

  Preparation time: 20 minutes

  Baking time: 12 minutes

  Yield: 6 dozen

  1 cup (2 sticks) butter, very soft

  3/4 cup sugar

  1/3 teaspoon salt

  2 egg yolks

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 1/3 cups flour

  1 egg, beaten

  Decorating sugar or colored sprinkles

  1Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the yolks and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour gradually, beating the dough until just combined well. The dough will be soft.

  2Pack the dough into a cookie press fitted with the disk of choice and press about 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Gently brush the cookies lightly with the beaten egg and sprinkle with decorating sugar.

  3Bake the cookies until the edges are pale golden, for about 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on sheets for 2 minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely.

  Vary It! Divide the dough in half or in thirds and color with a few drops of food coloring. Add a teaspoon of almond or lemon extract to the dough. Decorate your cookies with bits of chocolate, candied fruit, poppy seeds, cinnamon dots, dollops of jam, or sprinkles of sugar before you bake them, if you like.

  Per serving: Calories 52 (From Fat 25); Fat 3g (Saturated 2g); Cholesterol 16mg; Sodium 10mg; Carbohydrate 6g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g.

  Rolled Cookies

  When making rolled cookies, you need something to cut the dough with. You don’t need cookie cutters. You can use a glass or a clean tuna can with both sides cut out, or you can just cut the dough with a knife. Traditionally, cookie cutters are used to make the job quite easy and fun. When choosing a nontraditional shape, avoid those with intricate designs or lots of “fingers.” You run the risk of burning the thinner part of the cookie before the bigger parts have fully cooked.

  Making your cookies look mag-ni-fique

  Cookies make the perfect gift for special occasions. Whether you’re taking them to an informal work function or they are decking the halls at holiday time, there will be times when you will want your cookies to shine a little more than usual. Here are some super-easy tips to dress those masterpieces up when the need arrives:

  If you’re going to a picnic and decide to bring cookies for a portable dessert or snack (which is always a good idea),
jazz up the presentation by lining the container with clean linen napkins or bandanas.

  Personalize your basic sugar cookie or gingerbread cookie recipe by decorating the dough with cinnamon hearts, chocolate chips, colorful candy-coated chocolates, chopped nuts, or raisins (or even chocolate-coated raisins!) before baking.

  Melt some chocolate and dip half the cookie into it. Set the cookie on a rack until the chocolate hardens. You can even sprinkle some colored sprinkles or finely chopped nuts on top of the chocolate before it hardens.

  Sandwich a scoop of ice cream between two homemade cookies and watch them disappear. (Who doesn’t like ice cream sandwiches?)

  Buy some tubes of frosting in the baking aisle in the supermarket and use it to frost your cookies. Any cookie looks good wearing a bit of frosting.

  Press your thumb into the center of each cookie to make a little depression and then fill it with chocolate chips or jam before baking.

  Decorate the plates or trays you serve the cookies on with colorful napkins or pretty doilies.

  Dust the tops of chocolate brownies with confectioners’ sugar. Powdered sugar not only makes the brownies look more appetizing but also covers up any imperfections.

  Place a brownie square in the bottom of a bowl, top with ice cream and your favorite sundae toppings, and serve. Brownie sundaes are always a hit.

  Rolled cookie dough is much like pastry dough, and it follows many of the same baking principles. Rolled cookie dough usually requires some chilling time to re-harden the butter and to let the dough rest, so it’s easier to roll out. When you chill the dough, divide the dough in half or in thirds. Take out a piece of the dough to work with, and leave the remaining pieces in the refrigerator so they stay nice and chilled.

  Rolling out cookie dough can be quick and easy if you follow these steps. Make sure that the dough is the right temperature. If it’s too cold, it will crack and fall apart. If it’s too warm, it will stick to everything in sight. Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before you plan to use it. That will take the chill out of it, but leave it with firmness to give your cookies good shape. The more you practice with rolled cookies, the better you’ll become.