The Art of Two Tarts » Christmas Cookies

Favorite Christmas Treats

admin — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:33:59 +0000

Now that we’re into the second week of December we’re sure that many of you are busy in your kitchens baking Christmas Treats. Cakes, cookies, bark, and fudge. The list goes on and on! We haven’t started our baking yet, but we wanted to share with you our favorite recipes from the past that will definitely make a place on our Christmas table this year.

Here are a few of favorite past Christmas Recipes!

First we have the amazing Oreo Truffles.

We’re sure many of you have made these at sometime or another. If not, where have you been and what are you waiting for. EVERYBODY loves theses and they are so simple and fast to make! This recipe will definitely be made for all the years to come.

Second we have our Holiday Pretzel Rings.

Last year was the first time we made these and we were instantly hooked! They are perfect for your holiday parties. Just have a bowl of them for your guests to munch on. We tried different combinations but our favorites were with the peppermint kisses and rolo caramel candies. They literally take 10 minutes to make. Give these a try!

Next we have Swirled Peppermint Bark.

Peppermint bark is always great to have around and is a must have for Christmas. We really liked this version because it had both semisweet chocolate and white chocolate. We’re sure many of you have you own peppermint bark recipes, but we think you should give this a try because you just might light it better!

Lastly we have Holiday Biscotti.

This recipe was a hit last year. Many people tried this recipe and told us how much they liked them and made them over and over again. If you’re a biscotti fan you most definitely need to try these. The cranberries and pistachios are a perfect combination and have Christmas time written all over them!

We hope you try these recipes and stayed tuned to some new Christmas treat recipes!

Day 11: Traditional Scalette Cookies.

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:05:00 +0000

The 12 Days of Christmas Baking

On the 11th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me..
My families traditional Italian Christmas cookies, Scalette.

These cookies are very important to our family. A Christmas without Scalette is no Christmas at all. This recipe has been handed down several generations. We love Scalette because they are fun to make and you can top them with anything you want!

These cookies are from the region of Calabria. In our town they are called scalette but they are also know in other towns as scalille or scalidde.

Some of our favorite toppings are: honey,a homemade anise flavored liquor icing, and even melted chocolate! They are even so good plain!

Scalette are composed of only a few ingredients, the time consuming part is rolling out the dough and shaping it in the traditional design.

Now that our Mom has taught us how to make Scalette, we promise to make them for every Christmas and to continue to pass it down to future generations.

Here is the recipe along with some step by step instructions!

Ingredients
makes around 2 dozen

12 egg yolks
8 TBS sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 shot anisette liquor
12 TBS melted vegetable shortening, crisco
2 1\2 cups all purpose flour
Vegetable oil

Directions

Put the yolks in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix on medium speed for about 7-8 minutes.

Add the baking powder and mix until it’s combined. Now you can add the shot of anisette and mix until combined.

With the mixer turned on, add in the melted crisco.

Slowy add in the flour. First add the the two cups, 1 at a time. If they dough is still too sticky, you can add in the 1\4 cup flour in slowly.

You want the dough to look like this:

Once the dough is ready, put it on the counted and knead it for a couple minutes. You want the dough to be smooth like this:

You are know ready to start all the fun shaping! We play around with different shapes, but here is a demonstration of the traditional way from our town.

Take a small piece of dough and roll it out so that it is about 10 inches long and 1\2 inch thick.

Take a wooden spoon and dip the end in flour. Wrap the dough around it 4 or 5 times.

Slip the wooden spoon out and bring the rest of the dough down.

Wrap the rest of the dough around so it meets the top part of the cookie.

Now you are ready to fry! Fill up a large frying pan with the oil. Leave about 2 fingers at the top empty. These fry pretty fast. Only a minute on each side!

Here they are all done! We made this recipe x 3!

A close-up of the traditional shape fried.

Here are some other shapes we played around with!

Day 10: Chocolate ginger cookies.

admin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:33:00 +0000

The 12 Days of Christmas Baking

On the 10th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..Some Spicy & Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies!

We love ginger cookies, but what could be better than ginger and chocolate together! This recipe is from Martha Stewart and we have to say we love her and all of her cookies! If you don’t like your ginger cookies, very spicy, then we would tone down the spices a bit.

These cookies were very soft and chewy and we found that if you store them in an air-tight container at room temperature, they will last about one week! There always has to be ginger cookies during the holidays and this is the perfect recipe! ENJOY!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients : (Makes 2 dozen)

7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl,sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.

Directions:

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.

In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Day 9: Swirled Peppermint Bark

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

The 12 Days of Christmas Baking

On the 9th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..
Some Chocolatey and Refreshing Peppermint Bark!

Are you one of those people, that when you see desserts with peppermint you move on to the next dessert?? Well that was us, up until now! Before this Christmas, we never had peppermint bark and never really cared for anything flavored with peppermint.

We had a baking party the other day and wanted to make some kind of peppermint bark. Our friend Sarah suggested that we make peppermint bark because it’s her favorite! We said why not, not really expecting to like it. Well, little did we know that we would LOVE it! We plan on making this recipe for all the Christmases to come!

Ingredients

12 oz white chocolate

12oz either dark or bittersweet chocolate

2 Tbs Vegetable Oil, divided

6 oz Peppermint Candy Canes

Directions

Line a 13 x 9 baking pan with foil( use non stick foil), make sure you let the sides overhang so you can pull the bark out when its done.In a heavy duty zip lock bag, crush the peppermints.

In a double boiler, melt the dark or semisweet chocolate and 1 Tbs of oil and stir until smooth. Pour the chocolate into the baking pan and evenly smooth out. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes to firm. In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate and 1 Tbs of oil and stir until smooth. Remove the dark or semisweet chocolate from the fridge and with a paper towel, blot off and moisture that has accumulated on the top. Pour the white chocolate over the dark chocolate. Sprinkle the peppermint candies over the white chocolate.Place in fridge to firm for about 1 hour. Remove and cut to your desired shape and size.

*We didn’t wait the complete 15 minutes for our semisweet chocolate to cool so when we put the white chocolate on top, it melted in the semisweet chocolate and created a swirled affect! =)

Day 7: Holiday Biscotti

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:25:00 +0000

The 12 days of Christmas Baking

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
these wonderful holiday biscotti!

These biscotti are filled with pistachios and dried cranberries and dipped in white chocolate. They are very simple to make and the flavor combinations are very good! You get some crunch and salty-ness from the pistachios and some sweetness from the chewy dried cranberries.

What’s so nice about biscotti is that they last forever! You can keep them sealed tightly in a container and sneak one out whenever you’d like. These biscotti would be great if you like mailing family and friends treats during the holidays!

Here is the recipe from Giada De Laurentiis.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup pistachios, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup dried cranberries
12 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped
Red and green sugar crystals, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the pistachios and cranberries.

Form the dough into a 13-inch long, 3-inch wide log on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until light golden, about 40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.

Place the log on the cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into 1/2 to 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.

Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Dip half of the biscotti into the melted chocolate. Gently shake off the excess chocolate. Place the biscotti on the baking sheet for the chocolate to set. Sprinkle with the sugar crystals. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 35 minutes.

The biscotti can be made ahead. Store them in an airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap them in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.

Oh, and please people, when you’re ordering biscotti at a cafe or anywhere, please say “biscotto” if you’re just ordering one! Biscotti is plural and should only be used when you want more than one! =)

Day 4: Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:34:00 +0000

The 12 Days of Christmas Baking

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…….

These amazingly good Tart Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies! Wow that sounds like a tongue twister!

These cookies are great because they give you a break from all the chocolate during the holidays! (Not that there is anything wrong with chocolate, its just good to mix it up a little bit!) The lemon and cream cheese make these cookies a little tart, which we love. It makes them very refreshing. These cookies are nice and soft and are sure to please a crowd! We promise! They will be gone by the time you can say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Here is the recipe!

Marth Stewart

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks) softened
3 ounces cream cheese , room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions
Mix butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy. Mix in granulated sugar. Add egg, and lemon zest and juice; mix well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; mix into butter mixture on low speed.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a small amount of the dough in a pastry bag fitted with a large French tip (such as Ateco #865). With a mini ice cream scooper, place balls of the dough on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

We topped our cookies with a lemon glaze. Just mix lemon juice with powdered sugar until you get the consistency you want!

ENJOY! =)

I WONDER WHAT MY TRUE LOVE WILL BRING ME TOMORROW?! STAY TUNED!

Day 2: Oreo Truffles

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

The 12 Days of Christmas Baking

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

These TO DIE FOR Oreo Truffles.

Ok , if there is one recipe that is a GUARANTEE, this is it! It is so simple and they are ridiculously, amazingly, good! Oreo truffles are a decadent, rich, delicious dessert . If you haven’t tried this recipe yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??!”

There are several reasons why we like to make Oreo Truffles.

First, of course, Oreo balls are sinfully good!

Second, they are rich enough that most people will eat only a few. So Oreo balls make great treats for parties or get togethers because they go a long way.

Third, the Oreo balls recipe is pretty inexpensive to make. Since this recipe makes about 3 dozen, it is a bargain.

The Oreo balls recipe only uses four simple ingredients. Most of us have at least some of the ingredients sitting in our kitchens already. Also, you can make these for any holiday! Just play with the chocolates and the decorations!

They’re so good that they make you want to make a little snowman out of them!

SEE??!

Here is the recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg of oreos

8oz cream cheese

1\2 tsp vanilla extract

1lb of white chocolate almond bark, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Using a food processor, grind cookies to a fine powder. With a mixer, blend cookie powder, cream cheese and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed.

Roll into small balls and place on wax-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Line two cookie sheets with wax paper. In the microwave, melt the white chocolate almond bark in a heat-proof bowl. Dip balls and coat thoroughly. Using two forks, lift balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off. Place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.

Store in airtight container, in refrigerator.

Day 1: Tri-Color Italian Cookies

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The 12 Days of Christmas Baking

That’s right, 12 days in a row, one recipe per day. We thought about this for a bit, since it would definitely be quite a bit of work to bake, photograph and blog all these recipes. We’ve been trying to think of ways to get many recipes posted within a short period of time, so we decided, since it’s the holidays, to blog about our favorite old and new recipes! Welcome to our first post!

Let the Baking Begin!

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Some tri-color Italian cookies.

Intensely almondy, cake-like cookie layers with apricot preserves between them, encased in semi-sweet chocolate. These are Italian in origin, but mostly indigenous in New York.

In Italy, almond is a common flavor in baked goods. We love ANYTHING that has almond it. Almond cookies, almond cake, almond milk, almond granita, etc. The smell of almond takes us back to the summers in Italy where we would go to all the wonderful bakeries and pick out so many amazing pastries and cookies. One of our favorites have always been the soft and chewy amaretti cookies. There is just something about those cookies that are crisp and sugary on the ouside, chewy on the inside, and full of almondy flavor. While those are our old favorite almond cookies, these come pretty close! They are soo yummy and the colors are perfect for Christmas!

This recipe seems complicated but it’s pretty simple and fast. What we like about these cookies is that the longer they sit, the more moist and flavorful they become!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
7 ounces almond paste
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup margarine or butter, room temp
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour, Sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 drops green food coloring
15 drops red food coloring

15 drops yellow food coloring
2/3 cup apricot preserves (pressed into a coarse sieve to remove any large pieces of fruit)
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening, butter flavored

Directions
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 3 8″x8″ metal baking pans. After greasing, line the bottoms of the pans with wax paper, smoothing the paper down onto the pan. Grease the tops of the wax paper and then flour the pans. Put aside.

In a large mixing bowl, Beat together on medium-high speed the Almond Paste, Sugar, Almond Extract and butter until well blended. (there might be some small lumps of Almond Paste remaining and that’s fine). Reduce speed to medium and beat in the eggs one at a time until blended. Reduce speed to low and then add the flour and salt slowly to the mixture until combined.

Take two small bowls and add 1 rounded cup of batter into each bowl. (there should be another rounded cup of batter still in the original mixing bowl.). Add 15 drops of red food color to one bowl,15 drops of green food color to another, and 15 drops of yellow food color to the last. Stir each bowl until evenly blended with color.

Spoon the Yellow batter into one pan. With metal spatula spread batter evenly (layer will be about 1/4 inch thick). Repeat with red batter in second pan and green batter in remaining pan.
Bake until set and toothpick inserted in center of layers comes out clean. 10-12 minutes. Cool in pans on wire rack about 1/2 hour. Cake should be cool to the touch. Run tip of knife around side of pans to loosen layers.

Lay a piece of wax paper on a flat surface that will be able to fit in refrigerator. Take the green layer and flip over pan onto wax paper. Gently pull off the wax paper. Spread 1/3 cup of apricot preserves onto the green layer. Take the yellow layer and remove from pan. Place it onto the green layer with the wax paper side up. Press down gently and then remove the wax paper.

Spread remaining 1/3 cup of Apricot preserves onto the yellow layer. Take the remaining red layer and remove from pan and place upon the yellow layer again with the wax paper side up. Press down gently and remove the wax paper.

In a 1 quart saucepan, heat chocolate and butter flavored crisco over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Spread melted chocolate mixture on top of the red layer evenly.

Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, at least 1 hour. (at this point, if you want, you can cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days before serving).

To serve, with a large sharp knife, trim about 1/4 inch from the edges. Cut the stacked layers into 6 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 6 pieces. You will get 36 square cookies from this. (I used a circle biscuit cutter).

Place the cookies in a single layer in a waxed paper lined container. They can be refrigerated for up to one week or freeze up to 3 months. These cookies must be kept in the fridge.