We all need special cookies for Christmas, but we want them easy to bake and delicious to taste.
Here a very simple and fun recipe that you could make with all your colleagues, friends or family or even just for you in order to amaze your friends!
We all love cookies, and when we are able to make one of the most famous cookie’s recipe, we must also decorate them with beautiful stars, hearts … Xmas cookies require a specific decoration if we really want to respect the feast spirit.
How to make it? Simply with a homemade topping. You think it’s hard to draw on a cookie?
Oh no, it’s just fun for sure !
Ingredients
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk mixed with ¼ cup water
250g flour -( 2 cups: 240g )
100g butter 15g = 1TBS donc 12TBS = ½ cup ( 120g)
1 teaspoon of yeast
50 g almond or hazelnut powder – ½ cup
125g sugar (- ⅔ cup – ¾ cup )
Choose your flavor such as: Vanilla or spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg or even chocolate chips or dried fruits, citrus fruits such as orange and lemon…
You can also prepare small candies such as smarties to make a deer with the red nose, chocolate eyes and pretzels for the horns of the deer
First step : Christmas cookies confection
Preheat oven to 200° C – 395°F
First mix the flour and yeast, then the sugar and almond powder.
In a bowl put the whole egg and one yolk and beat it to loosen it. (Keep the white to prepare the icing)
Add the beaten eggs to the mixture then add the butter either very softened or melted.
Start mixing everything with a fork, at this point add the flavor you have chosen. The flavor of your cookie is an option. It will be delicious even without adding an extra flavor.
Then by hand make a ball and knead it.
Flour the work surface (flour) and roll out the dough.
With your cookie cutters, cut out the dough.
If you don’t have cookie cutters you can use different glasses or cups to have different sizes.
Arrange your cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Tip: Use a spatula or a knife with a very wide blade to loosen the cookies.
Spread a little egg yolk with cinnamon on the cookies so they are golden brown and bake for 7-10 minutes (watch for this).
Add the yolk on the cookie to make them shine
Bake for 10 min at 200 °.
Second step: prepare the icing to make the decorations on your Christmas cookies
Ingredients:
250 g powdered sugar( icing sugar) 2 cups and an half
1 egg white
Food coloring
Lemon
Make a pipping bag and use your imagination
Possibility to add coconut chips or sugar star
How to store the Christmas sands?
They should be stored in a non-hermetic box (air should be able to circulate). This box must still have a lid. You can use: a non-airtight metal can, a glass container with a lid, a glass candy jar or a plastic storage box.
What a shame to have to devour all your Christmas shortbread at once, when you could save it and make the pleasure last! Check out our tips on how to enjoy these dry cookies for a really long time, without altering their flavor or texture, of course.
1. The right thing to do when you take your Christmas cookies out of the oven
One thing is essential: a poorly cooled cookie will retain moisture and will not keep well. When you take your cookies out of the oven, place them flat on a cold rack. Ideally, raise the rack a bit so that the air can circulate underneath and the humidity does not stagnate.
Place the cookies in a box once they are completely cooled, this way you don’t take the risk of trapping the steam in the box and thus softening them!
Pro Tip:
Don’t neglect the baking, it should be enough so that the cookies have 1% residual water, no more. You can finish baking by lowering the oven temperature so that they dry without burning.
To be totally professional, you can even make real bis – cooked, that is to say, bake the cookies again 5 minutes after a first cooling.
2. How to store dry cookies ?
Dry cookies like shortbread, Breton biscuits, cookies, bredele, shortbread,… must be stored in a non-hermetic box (air must be able to circulate). This box must still have a lid.
You can use: a non-hermetic metal can, a glass container with a lid, a glass candy jar or a plastic storage box.
Ideally, if you have a vacuum sealer, use an evacuated box to store your cookies. This requires re-vacuuming your cookies every time you open the box, but it will keep your cookies crisp for a good month.
Also, don’t forget to place a sheet of paper towel on the bottom of the box and between each layer of cookies.
3. Tips to prevent cookies from going soft!
If, despite the above tips, your cookies tend to get soft, it doesn’t have to be that way! It’s often the weather’s fault. In humid areas, for example, it’s hard to keep your cookies super crispy for very long…
To prevent this, here are 5 things to put in your box, next to the cookies:
– One or two sugar squares to absorb moisture
– A dry bread crouton: they are real sponges! They’re what will soften while your cookies stay crisp.
– Rice grains! It works for salt and for saving a leaky smartphone, so why not for your cookies? Place a few grains of rice in the bottom of the box.
4. How to freeze shortbread to keep it fresh
Shortbread or dry cookies can be frozen before or after baking.
Before baking: Shape your cookies and place them on a baking sheet that will fit in your freezer. Freeze your raw cookies flat, without overlapping them. Once they’re frozen solid, you can put them in a box or freezer bag and store them in the freezer for up to 4 months.
To use them, preheat your oven, place the cookies on a baking sheet, place in the oven and watch.
No time to prepare shapes? Make a pudding with your cookie dough and freeze it. Whenever you want to bake a cookie, simply cut out a few slices of the frozen pudding and bake them in the oven!
After baking: Freeze your cookies, but don’t pile them up so they don’t stick together, which would make thawing more difficult.
Thaw in the air, in the oven, or even in the toaster!
5. How do I get the crispness back in the Christmas cookies?
Despite all these precautions, the cookies are soft… What to do? Throw them away? No way!
Place a slice of bread in the cookie jar and wait a few hours, the bread will absorb the moisture and give your cookies back their crispness.
Even more radical: put them in the oven for 5 minutes at 150°C, they will be like new.
Another option: crumble them to make a delicious cheesecake!
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