Last Minute Christmas Cookies Ideas

It's that time of year!  The jolly old elf himself will be making his grand entrance tonight.  There's still plenty of time to do a bit of last minute baking though, just in case.  Here's a few ideas of our favourite last minute easy to make Christmas cookies.

Easy Fruit Tarts

My husband and I left our vacation home in Florida on December 22, 2013 to make the long drive home just in time for Christmas.  In all honesty, we would have stayed longer but had already made plans for our family Christmas gathering on December 26, we had our monthly games night on the 28th and my husband had tickets to go to the Winter Classic on January 1.  We arrived home just after dinner on the 23rd leaving us the 24th to tidy up Christmas shopping and get the house ready for the 26th.  That meant a lot of prep in a rather short amount of time and only one day to pick up any extras needed, no easy feat after spending two long days on the road.

Mincemeat tarts are a family tradition for the holidays.  Normally, they are readily available in the grocery stores but this year, there were none to be found!  We finally found one of the few remaining jars of mincemeat to make mincemeat tarts at home.  Mincemeat is one of the few products I haven't home canned yet but intend to this year. 

I used a package of No Name tart shells (30 shells).  This is one convenience food I keep in the freezer on a regular basis because with very little effort I can easily have a quick dessert or savory dish.  All I need is a little filling!   I also use a jar of home canned low sugar strawberry jam in addition to the the mincemeat. 

Fruit tarts are typically topped with some type of crust before baking or whipped cream after baking.  Store bought mincemeat tarts are usually topped with a small circle of crust. I'm not sure why a circle is used but have noticed even the bakeries use a circle of dough for mincemeat tarts.  A dough topper is fairly easy to do with the pre-made tart shells.  I used six of the tart shells to make the toppers by lightly flattening them and cutting with mini cookie cutters. The scrap dough sticks together to maximize the number of the small bits of dough for topping.    I used a flower shape for the mincemeat tarts and a duck shape for the strawberry tarts.  The different shapes for the dough topping are practical.  They make it very easy for the little ones to tell the difference.

I put about 2 tablespoons of filling in each tart shell then topped with the appropriate dough topper.  There was no need to flatten the filling or distribute evenly as it would even out from the baking.  I placed the shells on a Silpat lined baking sheet.  In the event of any filling spilling over, this would make for easy clean-up.  Normally, the filling doesn't spill over with proper filling so the prepared tart shells can be placed close together on the baking pan.  I baked the prepared tarts at 375°F until the filling was bubbling and the crust golden brown.

Once the tarts were baked, I removed them from the oven to cool on cooling racks.  After cooling, I placed the tarts in a covered serving dish and set them on the table along with the plate of oranges and bowl of nuts.  These are must haves for our Christmas celebrations.  The oranges and nuts are a long family tradition I brought to our family from my childhood days.  My Mom always had oranges and nuts on the coffee tables during the holiday season.  She had lived through the Great Depression so viewed both as symbols of being affluent enough to afford such luxuries.  The mincemeat tarts are from my husband's family holiday traditions, always appearing during the holiday season.

Our grandkids are very much foodies!  Our third little one (age 4) climbed up to the table for a tart.  Instead of taking a strawberry tart, he took a mincemeat one like Papa.  The kids just chuckled because his Mom did not inherit Papa's love of mincemeat tarts.  The little one ate that tart then a few minutes later he was walking around with another one.  So the taste buds skipped a generation! Oh and he can roll his tongue like Papa too :)

Christmas Cookies

Over the past couple of weeks I have focused on getting some of my holiday baking done. While the cookies are all filed under the label of cookies, I thought you might find it useful to have a bit of a recap with quick links to the holiday cookies. There are other cookie recipes in under that label as well but these are the ones I've made this year for the holidays. I have a couple more cookie recipes I want to make this year as well so watch for them in next couple of weeks.

Any undecorated cookies can be frozen for up to 6 months. Both decorated and undecorated cookies can be shipped if properly packaged to prevent the cookies from moving around and breaking. Pack tightly in tissue paper if shipping. Any gift in a jar cookie can be shipped with proper packing to prevent the jar from breaking. If you are concerned over breakage you could use a recycled plastic peanut butter jar or plastic containers (eg. Ziploc®, Gladware®) or metal cookie tins.

• Classic Spritz Cookies a classic Christmas cookie
• Deluxe Sugar Cookies - one of the best decorating cookie recipes
• Shortbread Cookies - rich, buttery and melt in your mouth favourites
• Gingerbread Spritz Cookies - another classic Christmas cookie
• White Chocolate Chip Cookies - gift in a jar recipe
• Scandinavian Rosette Cookies - very pretty, dainty looking cookies
• Monster Cookies - sure to please any sweet tooth
• Scotch Teas - rich, buttery and oh so easy to make
• Coconut Macaroons - light, fluffy, no fat cookie
• Gingerbread Men - a well recognized Christmas symbol
• Peanut Butter Cookies - a family favourite

Gingerbread Men

Oh my gosh! I get the most interesting ideas during the holiday season so every once in awhile I do follow through on them. I have 2 gingerbread men cookie cutters. One is 4 - inches tall and the other about 1½- tall. You will note I said I have these cookie cutters not that I use them. Well I do use cookie cutters but I find rolled cookies tedious so they don't get a lot of use. I decided the grandbabies needed gingerbread men for the holidays.

Gingerbread Men

I have made a lot of cookies over my lifetime. The dough for these gingerbead cookies has seriously been the most tedious dough I have ever worked with! Not only was it tedious to work with it was tedious even as the cookies cooled. Although the instructions said to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet immediately I found doing it this way resulting in cookies breaking. Once the cookies are cooled they are not quite so delicate.

Pictured are the larger gingerbread men. I made the smaller ones as well. Don't laugh at my decorating skills. Apparently I need to work on that! They are quite tasty and went over well at last night's event. Despite the dough being so difficult to work with this is the dough I will be using for making a traditional gingerbread house. I'm working on its design now so watch for that coming soon. Every grandchild needs to experience the joy of tearing apart Grandma's gingerbread house!

Gingerbread Men
source: Betty Crocker's Cookbook (circa 1970's), Pp. 155.

½ c shortening
½ c granulated sugar
½ c dark molasses
¼ c water
2½ c unbleached flour
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp powdered ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp alspice
decorating icing

Cream together shortening and sugar in bowl of stand mixer. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and chill 2 to 3 hours. Heat oven to 180C conv/190ºC (350ºF conv/375ºF reg). Roll dough ¼- inch thick. Cut with gingerbread men cookie cutters. Place on Silpat® or ungreased baking sheat. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing from baking sheet. Cool then trim with decorating icing.

Coconut Macaroons

Holiday cookies do not have to be complex they only have to taste good. The best holiday cookies tend to be easy to make with few ingredients and most of them are not labour intensive. Coconut macaroons have long been a holiday favourite. They are easy to make yet taste delectible so there is no question as to why they are so popular during the holiday season.

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut macaroons were one of the first cookies I learned to make well before I got married. That is because I learned to make meringue at a very young age and coconut macaroons are basically based on a meringue. These delicate, chewy yet melt-in-your-mouth cookies are a true delight!

Coconut Macaroons
source: Better Home and Gardens, Cookies and Candies, 1966. New York. Pp. 39

2 egg whites
dash salt
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
⅔ c granulated sugar
1⅓ c flaked coconut

Place the egg whites, salt and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip until soft peaks form. Slowly mix in the sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Remove from stand mixer and fold in the coconut. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto a Silpat® lined cookie sheet. Bake at 163ºC/325ºF about 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit 5 minutes in the oven before removing. Let cool. Makes about 1½ dozen cookies.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Holiday Baking

The topic for this week's Frugal Kitchens 101 is holiday baking. It has long been a tradition for many to do extra baking for the Christmas holidays. Typically the baking includes fancier decorated cookies such as sugar cookies and gingerbread men along with fruitcakes. The problem for many especially in today's economy is the extra cost of holiday baking coincides with increased winter utility costs and combined holiday costs (gift giving, entertaining, decorating, travel) along with unemployment and threat to job security. Holiday baking can have a huge impact on your holiday budget simply because many popular holiday recipes use higher priced ingredients like candied fruits, chocolate and nuts. This is the time to rely on frugal kitchen skills.

1. start early and with a plan - This is one case where planning early is a must. I would recommend you start planning right after the previous holiday season. Take notes of likes or dislikes and amounts needed, what didn't go over well and what did. This allows you almost a full year to pick up all the necessary supplies and take advantage of sales.
   
2. KISS (keep it simple silly) - The holiday season is busy enough so keep your holiday baking simple. It is surprising how many baked goods can be made using simple ingredients. The thing is they don't have to look like they are simple ingredients and most don't after baked.
3. don't forget the recipe - The recipe is a must for some home baked goods so print it out either by printer or handwritten for a gift that will be cherished. Check the craft section of dollar stores for pre-cut tags perfect for using as the recipe instructions or print your own on cardstock.
   
4. ingredients - Buy any ingredient you use for holiday baking in bulk if at all possible. Most baking ingredients will keep for upwards of a year or longer. There are two ways to save here if you have a bulk food store. Those ingredients that you may only need a tsp or so buy in bulk in double the amount you need. That way you have enough for another batch. Those ingredients that you use more of buy in bulk simply because bulk usually is cheaper per unit and avoids the pesky packaging. Now, the exception to this is if an ingredient is on sale and/or you have a good coupon or rebate then figure out the unit price as sometimes it might be less expensive to use this method over the bulk food method. If at all possible rather than a large expenditure just before the holiday season, gradually stock up throughout the year.
   
5. energy usage - Where ever possible use the full capacity of your oven. Once your cookies are baked use the already heated oven to cook your dinner. Small batch baking can be done using your toaster oven or countertop roaster.
   
6. no time to bake - Give the gift of cookies, soups, breads and brownies by making gifts in jars (homemade mixes). Essentially you assemble the dry ingredients in a mason jar or similar then add a recipe tag and any other desirable embellishments. The recipient adds any liquid, oil or egg when they are ready to make their gift.
   

Victorian Lavender Cookies

Cookies are a year round favourite but during the holiday season they appear at every event, at holiday bake sales and are given as gifts. They come in all shapes, sizes and flavours. Many have fond memories of helping their Mom or Dad bake holiday cookies. Who can resist warm cookies fresh out of the oven?

Victorian Lavender Cookies

My newly planted lavender plants did not produce enough flowers for drying this year so I bought two packages of dried lavender flowers when I was at World Market. It is quite difficult to find dried lavender flowers in our small corner of the world. The health food store will order them in for me but I've yet to find them readily available in the the grocery stores. Lavender is one herb that many do not think to cook with yet it is delightful! It is an ingredient in one of my favourite herb blends, Herbs de Provence.

Pictured are Victorian lavender cookies with rose water icing. Rose water is another ingredient that many do not think to use. The combination of the lavender and rose water make these cookies decedent! This unique cookie is a sure winner, one you will want to make often.

Victorian Lavender Cookies

½ c butter
1 c organic sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp lavender
1½ c unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ pure vanilla
rose water icing

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Place the butter and sugar in KitchenAid® stand mixer bowl or similar. Cream together. Mix in eggs then remaining ingredients except for icing. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto Silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake about 15 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove from oven. Place cookies on cooling rack. Spread icing over the cookies after they have cooled. Allow the icing to set up before placing on serving plate.

Rose Water Icing

2 c icing sugar
5½ tsp water
6½ tsp rose water

Place ingredients in small mixing bowl. Mix with a fork until icing is smooth.