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HOLIDAY 2017

12 Days of

Holiday Cookies Plus favorite styling tips & new Holiday Gift Guides!

Welcome

Hello, dear friends, old and new,

It seems that homemade cookies go hand-in-hand with the holidays – and I wouldn’t change that for the world. Whether you have the innate need to decorate them and hang them on the tree (like me), or nibble on them along with a big mug of hot cocoa (like me), the holidays wouldn’t feel or taste the same without that homemade batch, or two, or three, of holiday cookies. We’ve made this issue even more special by sharing my favorite holiday styling tips, and creating a feast for the senses with our new Get The Look pages. For so long, many of you have asked me where to find the wonderful things that end up in our photography. Since some things are lucky flea market, antiques show, or Home Goods finds, I searched out goodies that will give you the look and are available on-line. So grab an apron, roll up your sleeves, and let’s get into the holiday spirit! Happy Holidays my dear friends! Love,

NORA MURPHY Founder and Editor in Chief

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Contents

Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies 8 Merigue Cookies 12 Classic Linzer Cookies 16 Mama's Hungarian Kifli 24 Bernadette's Toffee Bars 30 Molasses Ginger Snaps 34 Orange Madeleines 38 Lemon Ice Box Cookies 42 Dana's Primitive Sugar Cookies 46 My Favorite Chewy Gooey Chocolate Chunk Cookies 52 Judy's Pressed Butter Cookies 58 Raspberry Crumble Bars 64 4

Nora Murphy Founder and Editor in Chief Carol Hubner Art and Features Director

Deborah Golden Copywriter/Copy Editor Criana Web Producer

Darryl Arbesman Nora Murphy Duanne Simon Contributing Photographers

All design, photography, and copy on NoraMurphyCountryHouse.com is original, produced year-round at Connecticut Country House and on location.

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Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies For the Cookie dough:

For the cookies:

½ cup brown sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter, molasses, and water on medium speed until combined. Lightly beat in the rest of the ingredients. Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes (room temperature) ½ cup robust molasses 1⁄3 cup cold water 3½ cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger ½ teaspoon ground allspice ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously sprinkle your work surface with flour. Cut dough in half or quarters and using your rolling pin, roll out to ¼ inch thickness (be sure to keep unused dough in plastic until ready to use). With cookie cutters, cut as many as you can get out of “a roll” and place on cookie sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. For hanging, remember to cut a hole in cookies that have no cutouts. Keep the cookies at least 1 inch apart.

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from pan and place onto cooling rack. When completely cooled (it’s time for a taste test), they’re ready to be decorated with the Royal Icing.

6 cups of confectioner’s sugar

For the icing:

For the Royal Icing: 4 large egg whites

In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the sugar and beat on low speed until smooth. If the consistency seems too thick, add a little water; if it seems thin, add a little sugar. Load into piping bag with an icing tip, or in a pinch, a ziptop bag with a corner snipped off.The icing dries very quickly, so use immediately or store in an airtight container. (You can also download this recipe here.) 8

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Tasty Ornaments

Poking a hole in cookies before baking allows them to be used as decorations on your tree when threaded with baker's twine.

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Meringue Cookies 3 large egg whites, room temperature* ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar Pinch of salt ¾ cup superfine sugar** ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, or the extract of your choice

Heat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In the squeaky clean, completely dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a grease-free whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy (about a minute). Add the cream of tartar and salt, and beat on medium speed, until soft peaks form—soft peaks have tips that don't stand up on their own. A little at a time, add the sugar, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed and whip until stiff, shiny peaks form. Take a bit of the meringue and rub it between your fingers; it shouldn't feel grainy. If it does, continue beating until all of the sugar has dissolved and it’s silky smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat to incorporate. Scoop the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large tip (I often use a Wilton #2D Drop Flower) or, using two spoons, place 2½" dollops of meringue onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. They won’t spread when they bake. (If you dot the underside of the parchment paper with a bit of the meringue, it will keep the paper from shifting while you work.) Bake for 1½ to 1¾ hours, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time. Check for doneness: Meringues should be pale, fairly crisp, and lift off the parchment without sticking. When they're done, turn off the oven. Return the pan of meringues to the oven and leave the door slightly ajar. Allow to cool and dry for a couple of hours or overnight. *Not a speck of yolk, please! Fat/oil and water are the enemy of meringues. Your whites will not beat properly. **If you don’t have superfine sugar, you can make your own by taking granulated sugar and whirring it around in your food processor until it is fine. (You can also download this recipe here.) NORAMURPHYCOUNTRYHOUSE.COM

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Classic Linzer Cookies 1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened

For the filling:

6 egg yolks

1½ cups raspberry or apricot jam

1½ cups confectioner’s sugar

Additional confectioner’s sugar for dusting

1 teaspoon baking powder 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 lemon, juiced

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set them aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and egg yolks at medium speed until well blended. Add the confectioner’s sugar and continue to beat until the mixture turns much lighter in color. Stir the baking powder into the flour, and then add flour to the batter. With the mixer on low speed, add the lemon juice. Continue to beat on low speed until well incorporated. Remove the dough from the mixer and, with a sturdy spatula, fold the dough together. Sprinkle with a little flour to make it less sticky. Form the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for one hour. Heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, and knead it on a well-floured surface. Once it's workable, roll the dough out to ¼-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookie tops and bottoms. If your cookies will have a decorative window cutout, you’ll need a smaller circle cutter for every other cookie. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cookies should be creamy in color, with just a tinge of golden color at the edges. If not, put them back in and keep checking every two minutes until they’re done. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool, keeping cutout ones (the tops) face up and together, solid ones on their own. Dust cutout cookies, the tops, with confectioner’s sugar. Spoon a small amount of jam on the "back" side of a solid cookie (the part that was against the cookie sheet), and top with a dusted cutout cookie to form a sandwich. These can be stored in a airtight container for up to three weeks. (You can also download this recipe here.) NORAMURPHYCOUNTRYHOUSE.COM

Travel Companions A vintage picnic basket makes a wonderful gift when filled with homemade cookies!

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