Rose's Baking Basics

Holiday Cookies

Makes Twenty-four 3 inch cookies

Oven Temperature: 350°F/175°C

Baking Time: 8 to 12 minutes for each of two batches

Baking Equipment: Two 15 by 12 inch cookie sheets, no preparation needed, or lined with parchment

Cookie cutters

Optional: a wooden skewer

This is the ideal dough for rolled decorative cookies for gifting and hanging. It is strong enough to roll thin but also crisp, tender, and flavorful, and keeps well at room temperature.

Makes 340 grams dough

unsalted butter	85 grams	6 tablespoons (¾ stick)
bleached all-purpose flour	160 grams	1⅓ cups (lightly spooned into the cup and leveled off)
fine sea salt	.	⅛ teaspoon
lemon zest, finely grated	3 grams	1½ teaspoons, loosely packed
½ large egg	25 grams	1½ tablespoons (22.5 ml)
pure vanilla extract	.	½ teaspoon (2.5 ml)
sugar	75 grams	¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons

Mise en Place

▪ Thirty minutes ahead, cut the butter into ½ inch cubes. Wrap and refrigerate.

▪ In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

▪ With dish washing liquid, wash the lemon. Rinse, dry, and zest it into a small bowl (see Baking Ingredients).

▪ Into a 1 cup measure with a spout, weigh or measure the egg. Add the vanilla.

Make the Dough

1. In a food processor, process the sugar with the lemon zest until very fine.

2. Add the butter and pulse until all the sugar disappears. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

3. With the motor running, add the egg mixture and process until uniform. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. Add the flour mixture and pulse just until the dough begins to clump together. Pinch a little of the dough and if it doesn’t hold together, pulse in a few drops of water.

5. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Use it to knead the dough together. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and flatten it into a thick disc.

6. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If refrigerating for longer than 3 hours, you will need to allow it to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften enough for rolling.

Preheat the Oven

▪ Twenty minutes or longer before baking, set an oven rack at the middle level. Set the oven at 350ºF/175ºC.

Roll the Dough and Cut the Cookies

7. Set the dough on a lightly floured dough mat or sheet of plastic wrap. Lightly flour the dough and cover it with plastic wrap. Roll the dough ⅛ inch thick.

8. Before cutting the first cookie, run a small ball of dough along the edges of the cutter so that the flour will adhere. Dip the cutter in flour every few cuts to prevent sticking. (See Solutions for Possible Problems.) Cut out the cookies and use a small metal spatula to transfer them to a cookie sheet, 1 inch apart.

9. To paint the cookies with edible tempera color before baking, see Make This Recipe Your Own. Royal Icing decorations (see instructions) can be added after baking and cooling (see Gingerbread Folks). If you are planning to hang the cookies, make small holes with the blunt end of a wooden skewer.

10. Gather up and press together the scraps to reroll. Wrap and refrigerate.

Bake the Cookies

11. Bake the first sheet of cookies for 5 minutes. If you have made holes and they become too small as the dough bakes, set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and reopen them with the end of the wooden skewer. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheet halfway around. Continue baking for 3 to 7 minutes, or until pale gold and the edges deepen slightly in color.

12. While the first batch is baking, roll and cut the scraps to make the second batch.

Cool the Cookies

13. Set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and use a thin pancake turner to lift them onto another wire rack to cool completely.

14. Bake and cool the second batch.

Store Airtight: room temperature, 3 months.

Baking Pearls

Rolling the dough with plastic wrap on top prevents cracking.

If the dough softens, refrigerate the cut cookies before lifting them off the rolling surface. If using a dough mat, set it first on a cookie sheet. If your refrigerator is too small, roll smaller batches on plastic wrap and slide each onto a cookie sheet of the appropriate size.

Make This Recipe Your Own

Tempera Food Coloring

This method of painting dates back to ancient Egypt. It works brilliantly for cookies, as the color magically deepens and brightens on baking. You will need about 2 large egg yolks/37 grams/7 teaspoons/35 ml for 5 colors. Put about 1 teaspoon/5 ml egg yolk into each of 5 egg shells set in egg cups, or put the egg yolk in small bowls. Mix in the following liquid colors from the color chart below:

Colors using liquid food color

RED: ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml)

GREEN: ¼ teaspoon (1.2 ml)

YELLOW: ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml)

BLUE: ¼ teaspoon (1.2 ml)

BLACK:

Green: 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml)

Red: 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml)

Blue: 5 drops

Use a clean small paintbrush to paint the cookies before baking.

Making Holiday Cookies