Christmas

Confetti Christmas Shortbread Cookies /  by Judy Kim

by Judy Kim

Confetti Christmas Shortbread Cookies

Yield: Approximately 50 (2 1/2-inch) cookies

Happy Holidays! This is a tender sweet and salty shortbread cookie that has incredible texture. The toasted walnut and almond topping combined with sparkling sugar adds just the right amount of crunch and glitz. Wishing you a wonderful Holiday Season. But don't limit these cookies to the month of December, try different shapes to enjoy them any time of the year.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling, such as Jacobsen Salt Co.

1 egg, room temperature

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, extra for rolling

1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

1/4 cup roughly chopped almonds

Assorted sparkling sugar, I used pink and white

Your favorite holiday cookie cutter

DIRECTIONS

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment add butter and beat on high until pale in color, about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar and sea salt. Start on low and increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix until incorporated. Scrape down sides with a rubber spatula and don't miss the very bottom.

  2. With the mixer on low, add flour in 3 increments; scraping in between in addition. Careful not to overmix or you'll get a tough dough. Cookie mixture will be a bit crumbly. Divide cookie dough in half and wrap each half with plastic wrap and shape into a flat disk. I even like to roll the dough in the plastic to make it even, which will make it easier to roll later. Let dough rest in fridge for 5 to 10 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare 2 rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.

  4. In a dry large sized skillet on medium-low heat, toast walnuts and almonds until fragrant. Shake pan to prevent nuts from burning. Transfer to a plate until cool to the touch. Place nuts in a plastic bag and gently crush nuts with a rolling pin into small pieces. To protect your counter, place the bag on a folded kitchen towel. Transfer to a bowl.

  5. Lightly flour your counter and rolling pin. Roll cookie dough into 1/4-inch thickness. Using a bench scraper loosen and lift the dough; lightly flour the counter again. This will make it easier to remove the cookies after cutting them out.

  6. While dipping your cookie cutter in flour, cut out cookies placing them as close together as possible. Dip the cutters in flour as needed. Gather leftover scraps and re-roll to cut out remaining dough. Transfer cookies to sheet pans; top with crushed nuts and sprinkle your color choice of sparkling sugar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with flaky sea salt and transfer to a cooling rack.

NOTES:

You can make this dough in advance and keep in the fridge. Bring dough to room temperature before baking for best results.

Since the dough is crumbly and soft, I suggest to use a simple cookie cutter shape without too many tiny details as the dough may get stuck. I used a Christmas Tree shape, but you can use a cutter for any year round holiday. Originally I tried an oversized detailed tree shape and the size made it difficult to transfer without falling apart. 

When decorating the cookies, I used white sparkling sugar at the top and mixed the pink and white sugar over the nuts to help create texture and sparkle. 

Sea Salt Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie /  by Judy Kim

by Judy Kim

Sea Salt Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie

Yield: Approximately 25 large (4-inch) cookies or 38 medium (3-inch) cookies

The ultimate chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Thin, crispy yet chewy and completely addicting. 

These cookies were made for Natalie Mortimer and Holly Erickson, The Modern Proper's  #calmandbrightcookienight.  Check out their Coconut Thumbprint Cookie and the full roster of other amazing bakers that participated.

INGREDIENTS

Coconut oil spray

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Guittard

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Jacobsen

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or wafers, such as Guittard Akoma semi-sweet chocolate chips or Guittard Bittersweet Chocolate Wafers

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare 2, preferably 3 half sheet pans with a light coating of coconut oil, or your favorite cooking spray. Do not use parchment paper or the cookies won't spread properly.

  2. Add butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Start on low, increase speed to high and beat until light in color and creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down sides with a rubber spatula as needed. Add vanilla and egg, one at a time until combined. Place bowl in fridge to chill for 30 minutes or wrap well in plastic and chill overnight.

  3. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and sea salt. Add flour mixture in 4 increments and mix on low; scrape the bowl as needed. After 3rd addition of flour, fold remaining flour mixture by hand until just combined. Do not over mix. Fold chocolate chips in by hand.

  4. For 4-inch cookies, use a small cookie scoop or spoon about 2 tablespoons of dough on to a greased half sheet pan 2-inches apart. Do not use parchment as the cookies will not spread evenly. Place maximum of 6 cookies per half sheet pan, but I prefer 5 to avoid the cookies from crowding each other. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. For 3-inch cookies, use a 1 tablespoon scoop and place 8 cookies evenly spaced on a half sheet pan. Timing is important for this cookie. Check oven temperature with a thermometer, test a single cookie to determine the right timing and see if your oven requires you to rotate the pan. Center about the size of a quarter should be slightly undercooked and remaining outer edges should spread into rings. This ensures a chewy yet crunchy cookie.

  5. Remove sheet pan from oven and cool for a few minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack. Optional to sprinkle cookies with sea salt right after removing from the oven. Repeat steps for additional batches, but cool sheet pans before adding cookie dough.

NOTES:

Cookie dough can be made in advance. Keep in the fridge well wrapped or freeze individual cookie dough balls and place in a plastic bag after frozen; remove as much air from the bag as possible. Bring dough to room temperature before baking for best results. Baking frozen dough will still taste great, but the overall baked cookie appearance may vary slightly.

If you don't have a silicone spatula, try spraying your spatula with oil to make it easier to handle the cookies.

*recipe updated Dec 2018

 

Apple Cardamom Cable Knit Pie /  by Judy Kim

by Judy Kim

Apple Cardamom Cable Knit Pie

Yield: 1 (9-inch) Pie

This cable knit design was inspired by Aran Irish Sweaters, something I learned about during my first job as a design assistant at Ralph Lauren when I worked in Men’s sweaters. Not surprising as we used to make knit downs of cable knit designs all day long, always looking for new combinations. I use a similar approach when designing this pie crust.

INGREDIENTS

1 egg

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 double crust, buttermilk pie crust recipe

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling pastry

2 meyer lemons, zested and juiced

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Jacobsen

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 (about 3 1/2 pounds) medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced on mandolin

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes and frozen

DIRECTIONS

  1. Place Baking Steel on the middle rack of your oven. Preheat oven 425°F. The pizza stone ensures a crispy bottom crust. Preferably preheat oven for 30 to 60 minutes. In a small bowl beat egg with heavy cream; set aside.

  2. Prepare the buttermilk pie crust recipe, cut into one third and two thirds ratio, wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Shape smaller piece into a flat round disk and shape other half into a narrow flat rectangle. Let dough rest 20 minutes or overnight in refrigerator. Note: This dough makes more dough than average recipes, great for decorative pie crusts.

  3. Let the dough come to room temperature for 5 minutes before rolling out to prevent cracking. On a lightly floured surface, roll out round disk to thickness between 1/8-inch and 1/4-inch. Keep dough moving and apply flour as needed to prevent it from sticking. Gently roll onto rolling pin and transfer to pie dish. Trim with scissors or a knife along the rim leaving a 1/2-inch border. Note: Be careful not to stretch the dough or it will shrink back. 

  4. Cut second rectangular pie dough in half lengthwise. Roll one half (Dough A) to 9-inches in length and 1/4-inch thick. Roll remaining dough (Dough B) to 9-inches in length and 1/8-inch thickness. Work quickly to prevent the dough from getting warm. If needed, place them in the fridge to firm up during the process.

  5. Dough A: Use a ruler to cut long even strips. For a square edge braid, cut into 1/4-inch strips with a sharp paring knife. Braid together keeping both ends loose; transfer to a sheet pan. For rounded edge braid, cut dough into six 1/4-inch strips and roll against floured board to round edges. Repeat braiding technique and transfer to the sheet pan, keep in the fridge while you roll the remaining dough. Separate layers with parchment if needed. Dough B: Cut four 1-inch strips. Loosely twist 2 pieces together to create a cable knit effect and repeat; transfer to the same sheet pan. Cut three diamonds from any leftover dough and score with a knife in a diagonal direction. Roll four balls of dough and flatten slightly to create 4 small buttons; score with a curved fork to mimic a leather football button. (Fashion is clearly still in me). Transfer sheet pan back to the fridge. NOTE: If you are having trouble with the dough breaking while braiding, the butter pieces may be too large or the dough is too warm. For decorative pies, I formulated a pie crust that is ideal and hopefully breakage won’t be an issue.

  6. In a large mixing bowl, combine zest of 2 Meyer lemons, 3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice, sugar, sea salt, cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Fold in apples until well coated; sprinkle 3 tablespoons flour and toss again. Transfer apple mixture into pie dish, try to keep the mixture even. Scatter frozen butter cubes evenly all over the apples.

  7. Remove sheet pan with pastry from the fridge. Start in the middle and place cable knit pieces tightly next to each other. Try to avoid large gaps between pastry. Trim pieces to fit within the pie dish. Fold edge of pie inward neatly and crimp together by pinching. Chill in freezer or fridge for 15 minutes.

  8. Brush evenly with light coating of egg wash and cover loosely with foil. Adjust oven to 425°F, gently place pie dish directly onto Baking Steel or pizza stone and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375°F, remove foil and bake until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, about 1 hour more. If necessary, rotate the pie for even baking. For best results, let pie cool for 4 to 6 hours before serving.

Note:

You can use leftover dough for decorative cut outs. Roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Dip pie cutters or cookie cutters in flour and cut out shapes. Lay them evenly on a quarter sheet pan and layer using parchment paper. I didn't use any cut outs for this cable knit design, but you can keep these in the freezer for a future use. Suggestion: Bake and add them to a bowl of ice cream or berries and cream.