Pizzelle

My last post of 2023 and I present to you Pizzelle.   I confess that the inspiration to make these Italian waffle cookies was anything but divine.  In reality it was the cutest video of a nonna making them for her grandchild that came across my Instagram feed.  

Undoubtedly you'll already have all the cookie ingredients on hand in your pantry, but the required  equipment is the pizzelle iron.  I've had mine for ages, bought years ago at Sur La Table, but you can easily source one online. 

The pizzelle batter comes together really quickly and to make portioning easier I like to place it in a decorating bag fitted with a plain open tip.  The cookies take literally seconds to cook in the grill and you end up with stacks of golden brown, crispy cookies.  Once cooled you can add a light dusting of powdered sugar on top if you'd like, but I tend to prefer mine plain.  

 

Season's Treatings from me to you.  See you in 2024 for more delicious treats!

 

Lime Meltaways

Wanna know a surefire way to get me to bake for you?  Present me with a challenge, coupled with an intimation that I'll most likely fail, and I take the bait every single time: hook, line and sinker.  When it comes to baking chalk it up to my competitive and perfectionist tendencies, which makes me predisposed to fall for the dare.  I refuse to accept defeat! 

 

Such was the case recently when a lime-lover lamented that they'd never had a cookie that successfully captured the taste and essence of the verdant citrus fruit.  While there were dozens of cookie recipes devoted to its well known lemon cousin, the overlooked lime continued to be cast in the shadows.  I set about to rectify the situation with these Lime Meltaways.

I remembered seeing this Martha Stewart recipe years ago but had never bothered making it.  Now was the perfect excuse to give it a go.  The only tweak I made to the original recipe was replacing vanilla extract with lime juice.  In the end my dough boasted more than three tablespoons of freshly squeezed juice.  If that didn't make you pucker up I don't know what would!

 

Once formed into a log the dough was chilled until firm and then sliced and baked.  (The dough also freezes beautifully.)  A final dredge in snowy white powdered sugar and you have a symphony of perfectly crisp, buttery cookies that build to a crescendo of tart lime flavor.   (Pardon the hyperbole..ha!)

 

2023 Holiday Cookie Box

 

For the 2023 Holiday Cookie Box I stuck to the tried and true classics that everyone seemed to love along with the new addition of vanillekipferl.  Year after year I vow to cut back on the different types of cookies I make to save myself the time and effort, yet every year I never do.  I can't help it, baking is my love language and what better way to show someone you care than by gifting them a box of homemade treats?

 

Ginger Molasses

Walnut Snowballs

Vanillekipferl

Viennois

Checkerboard Sablés

Italian Rainbow 

Gingerbread 

 

Packaging (Item 851445940P)

Checkerboard and Marble Sablés

 

French butter cookies are a personal favorite of mine and this year I made them as Checkerboard and Marble Sablés.  Don't be intimidated, the checkerboard pattern isn't as difficult as it may appear.   I made two batches of Cook's Illustrated sablés recipe, one flavored vanilla and the other chocolate, to create these beauties.  For the design I turned to this King Arthur's video which was super helpful.  As you cut the rods of dough to make the checkerboard you inevitably end up with many scraps.  Don't throw them away!  When you smoosh the scraps together you get the marbled cookies.

  

These cookies will impress anyone and they taste fantastic too.  Not too sweet, buttery and crunchy.  They will be the stars in this year's holiday cookie box.

Vanillekipferl

 

Vanillekipferl are crescent-shaped almond shortbread cookies traditionally made at Christmas time in many European countries, e.g., Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They're a very close cousin to nut snowballs or Mexican wedding cookies, but the dough is much smoother with the addition of almond flour.  I love that they aren't too sweet so you don't feel guilty eating so many.  I'll be including them in this year's holiday cookie box.