My mom, the queen of Christmas cookies (even years after her loss of life), made dozens and dozens of types yearly. To get the bounce on Christmas, most individuals purchased electronics on Black Friday; my mother, then again, purchased butter, sugar, and nuts. A few of my earliest cookie recollections had been of her Christmas snowballs. Buttery and nutty and melt-in-your-mouth tender, they had been scrumptious! What actually intrigued me was the creamy-sugary glaze hiding beneath the powdery dusting of confectioner’s sugar that gave them their identify. It appeared inexplicable how every cookie was neatly and evenly glazed—that’s, till my mother shared the key. She rolled the nice and cozy cookies in confectioner’s sugar, which melted right into a glaze from the residual warmth. Then, to get that traditional snowball look, she rolled them once more when cool. Hers had been fairly superior, in order that was an inexpensive start line for me to dig deep.

What I appreciated about hers was the buttery, almond-y taste and creamy glaze. What I needed to enhance was the feel, and I tackled that in three particular methods: baking time, dealing with the dough, and the components.

Testing Totally different Strategies

Relating to baking time, Mother’s recipe (and a number of other others I cross-referenced) suggested in opposition to over-baking, saying that quarter-hour was lengthy sufficient. The feel at that time was a bit pasty and lacked crunch, so I upped it to 22 minutes, which was a step in the suitable path, however not fairly sufficient to do the trick.

By way of the dough, my thought was that the cookies would unfold and flatten if too comfortable. I chilled the dough after mixing, however I discovered that made the dough brittle and tough to kind into balls—they saved falling aside in my arms. So I scooped degree tablespoons of the softened dough, gently rolled them into balls, and froze them for 10 minutes earlier than baking. It helped management spreading.

I additionally tried utilizing a tablespoon-size ice cream scoop (inherited from my mother) with out rolling, pondering that the rolling would compact the dough and make the cookies dense and hard, but it surely turned out to not have an effect on the feel considerably. I retained the rolling step to offer the cookies a nicer form.

Forms of Nuts

As for the components, the nuts particularly, the unique recipe referred to as for uncooked almonds, which I discovered made the cookies somewhat gummy. So I toasted the almonds, which not solely boosted the flavour but in addition added a pleasant crunch. The toasting evaporated a number of the water, permitting the fats to crisp up the nuts, however the texture was nonetheless dense and pasty.

Subsequent take a look at: I used a fattier nut—one with the next proportion of fats to protein—pondering the additional fats (and fewer water) in pecans would make the cookies gentle and crisp. I toasted the pecans, too, to get a nutty taste enhance. They had been scrumptious and fewer pasty, however since almonds are conventional, I nonetheless needed to discover a option to make them work. (I’ve used almonds right here, however you need to use pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts—toasted, after all!)

Enhancing Texture and Taste

Remembering my go-to recipe repair for dense, cakey gingerbread males (and different cookies, muffins, fast breads, and biscuits), I added somewhat baking soda. It imparts lightness and crispness, which is precisely what I needed in these cookies. A half teaspoon was sufficient to offer them a little bit of a snap and a few airiness, with out altering the character of those traditional cookies (baking powder would’ve made them cakey). Texture solved!

Lastly, I added a pinch of salt. It’d sound like nit-picking, however including somewhat salt offers steadiness and leaves a tiny prick of curiosity in your tongue. It is what I at all times search for in one thing candy.

My mom should still posthumously be the queen of Christmas cookies, however perhaps I will take into account taking a run on the crown some day.

December 2015

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