Holiday Cookie Exchange #2

This is my second entry for the Holiday Cookie Exchange, hosted by Dawn at SoCal Foodie. Thanks for hosting, Dawn! Go check out her round-up of recipes, choose a recipe (or add one of your own) and start your ovens!

My friend, Kristin, and I were baking up a storm last night for the Biology department's Holiday Party this afternoon...though I have to say after all the work of cutting out the shapes for my Raspberry Linzer Windowpane Cookies, Kristin is the smarter of the two of us - she went out and bought a cookie press for her very cute spritzer cookies! It's so fun to just pull the trigger and have little Christmas trees appear! All in all, it was a great night of girl talk, flour all over (my) face, and dough everywhere, and we even ended up with a large assortment of great cookies.

The first cookies are out of Martha Stewart Living Holiday Cookies (see my last entry here). I love coconut, so the name of these cookies was the seal in the deal: Double Chocolate Coconut cookies. YUM. I was expecting something like a regular old chocolate chip cookie for texture, but these turned out surprisingly moist and light. Be sure if you're going to be transporting these anywhere to layer them between parchment paper, or they'll stick together. I also found that the second batch of cookies, that had sat in the bowl while the first batch was cooking, turned out prettier than the first batch...I haven't figured out why this is, but this happens to me a lot...so someone please tell me if there's some little unspoken baking secret about letting baked dough 'rest' for a while or if this is just one of those random events in the universe that happens to me.

Double Chocolate Coconut Cookies, from Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups white-chocolate chunks (~9 oz,)
1 3/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 3/4 coarsely chopped walnuts (~6 oz.)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Mix into butter until well combined. Stir in chocolate, coconut and walnuts.
3. Using a 1 1/2 inch ice-cream scoop (or if you don't have one, like me, use a heaping teaspoon per cookie), drop batter onto sheets lined with parchment paper. Space 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly, then cook for 10-12 minutes or until set. Let cool on sheets on wire racks for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment paper to wire racks to cool completely. Can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week. Yields approximately 5 dozen cookies.


The second cookies I made are from Cooking Light magazine. (This is my attempt at mercy for all the butter I've been using lately, Vickie!)


Raspberry Linzer Windowpane Cookies, from Cooking Light

These beautiful cookies are easy to prepare. Cut them into shapes--round, rectangular, or even star-shaped. You can reroll the dough scraps, but be sure chill them first.

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, stirring well with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg substitute; beat until well blended. Beating at low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until a soft dough forms. Divide dough into 2 equal portions, and wrap each dough portion in plastic wrap. Chill at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Roll each dough portion into a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface (I also 'lightly' floured the dough before rolling it out, because it stuck really nicely to the counter the first time I rolled it out and I couldn't get my beautifully cut little circles off of the counter); cut with a 2-inch square cookie cutter to form 32 cookies. Repeat procedure with remaining dough portion. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Cut out centers of 32 cookies with a 1-inch square cookie cutter. Bake cookies at 375° for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Spread center of each whole cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon jam. Sprinkle cut-out cookies with powdered sugar. Place 1 cut-out cookie on top of each whole cookie, and viola! Your windowpane into raspberry gooey goodness! Yields 32 cookies.