Cookie time: Swedish snowballs

A sudden flurry of cookie making, some off to my grandchildren in Minnesota (spice cookies for Frankie and roasted sugared walnuts, for Izzie, who is still on a gluten-free diet most of the time), more cookies for a few friends who look forward to them (Italian Christmas biscotti, gingerbread stars) - and these always popular nut and confectioner's sugar snowballs, also know as Russian Tea cookies, Mexican Wedding cookies, and a zillion other nicknames.  I call them Swedish snowballs now, because the recipe comes from a Swedish woman I knew.  My newest grandson is too little for cookies, but next will be a few batches for his parents on Christmas Day.  Hope you are all enjoying December and the Christmas (or Hanukkah) season!

This makes about two cookie sheets full of snowballs.

To make:

Preheat oven to 375F.

2 ungreased cookie sheets.

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 and 1/4 cups King Arthur all purpose flour

1/4 t. salt

1/2 t. nutmeg

3/4 cup shelled walnuts, finely chopped (I use a food processor)

More confectioners sugar for rolling and sprinkling

Cream butter and sugar.

Add vanilla, nutmeg, flour, salt, and nuts.

Cream well, then pinch of pieces of dough and roll between your palms into dime or quarter sized balls.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 14 minutes.

Cool balls, then roll in confectioner's sugar.

Place on platter and shake an avalanche of more confectioner's sugar on top just before serving.

Happy day to you all!

What I'm reading:  Catching Fire:  How Cooking Made Us Human, by primatologist Richard Wrangham.  Fascinating!

the mad dash: russian tea cookies and biscotti paradiso

Forgive the long silence, I hope - two friends are having medical challenges and I've been trying to help out as best I can. Tonight I am re-connecting with my pastry chef happy place: making Russian Tea cookies ( or, as a child, I simply called them snowballs), and the divine scent and taste of my Christmas biscotti, also known as biscotti paradiso. Tedious to make, but so delicious , I can't complain. I have been so busy I don't even have a tree up, but I'm loving the scent of orange peel and toasted almonds and milk chocolate for the biscotti, and the sweet snowfall of confectioner's sugar atop the roasted walnut crunch of those little tea cookies.

You can find the recipe for the Russian Tea cookies here, and the biscotti, here.

Today I sent off the first Christmas box to my son in California, but that was before I made these lovely treats, so a second one will be packed up tomorrow. It's a very odd feeling to have him so far away, but that is part of life, isn't it? I'm happy to have my daughter and granddaughter still close by, and hoping we get some time to celebrate, along with all the other grands.

I hope you are in the kitchen, loving this happy part of Christmas - making special treats for those folks so special to you. Blessed Christmas cheer to you all!

Christmas cookie countdown: christmas biscotti and chocolate chunk-pecan cookies

The Christmas biscotti is sprinkled with fresh orange peel, toasted almonds, and milk chocolate chips, while the chocolate chunk cookies are chock full of toasted pecans and (what else?) - chocolate powder and hand-chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Just click on the highlighted links to get the recipes - and happy baking!

biscotti di prato: biscotti dunking cookie

It's raining buckets here, and it's a chilly, soggy day. Thanks to a late night biscotti baking session, I happily had the first cup of coffee with a dunkable, almond & orange scented biscuit ( actually, three). It puts a little sunshine into this gloomy morning.

Unlike some of the biscotti I make, this one has no butter, which is one reason it doesn't fall apart in a cup of espresso, but it's also a little plain. I added some fresh orange zest, and would've added anise seed, which is STILL missing. I've also made this with milk chocolate or chunks of crystallized ginger, but plain is just fine. I sprinkled a few slivered almonds on top of one of the logs and liked its spiky look, so I'll do that again next time.

It's important to toast the almonds, whether you use slivered, whole ( cut into pieces), or sliced, just until they're barely golden - it intensifies the delicious almond flavor.

Biscotti di Prato: biscotti dunking cookie

To make:

Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with foil or parchment.

1 cup sliced, cut, or slivered almonds, toasted in a toaster oven until golden, and cooled.

2 extra large eggs

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. almond extract

1 T. orange zest, or finely diced orange peel

2 to 2 1/2 cups flour ( I find it depends on the eggs and the weather)

1 cup sugar

1 t. baking soda

pinch of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 300F.

In mixer bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla, and almond extracts, then add the orange zest.

Slowly add the flour, salt, and baking soda and sugar, then add the cooled almonds.

Mix gently until the batter is combined and fairly stiff.

Using 2 spoons, scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet, making two "logs" of dough, side by side. To smooth the logs, just flour or dampen your hands and smooth out, leaving at least 2 1/2 inches between the logs.

Place on the top shelf of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until slightly golden brown and firm. Turn off the heat in the oven, but keep the door closed.

Remove to cool, then use a sharp knife to cut the foil or paper down the middle, between the two logs. Gently lift each log onto a cutting board, tip over, and peel off the foil or parchment.

Tip rightside up and, using a serrated knife, cut into biscotti, transferring them to another cookie sheet as you go. I arrange them tops up, not on their sides, so one cookie sheet is enough to fit all the biscotti.

Return biscotti to the warm oven for about 20 minutes or so, then remove to cool.

Let cool completely before packaging or placing in an air-tight tin. Once cool, you can also drizzle with a little melted chocolate, or dip them halfway, if you like.

This makes a lot of biscotti, depending on how thickly you slice the biscotti.

Enjoy your day!

****

What I've been reading:

How to Bake a Perfect Life ( with recipes!)

Out of the Woods: Healing Lyme disease- Body, Mind & Spirit

pumpkin seed biscotti with orange peel and cranberries

I've been on a biscotti kick recently, making first my Christmas biscotti for a friend, then testing the fat-free dunking biscotti ( that was so hard and crunchy, it really IS only good for dunking), then, coming across a bag of pumpkin seeds in the freezer, I thought hmmmmmm.

I'm a little tired of almonds - I wonder how these would taste instead?

Well, they were incredible. Better than almonds. So tasty that I skipped adding any chocolate at all, though I toyed with the idea of white chocolate.

I vaguely remembered dry-toasting pumpkin seeds in a hot skillet, and that was loads of fun. Hiss, pop, hiss, pop - the seeds were bouncing around in the hot skillet and getting a nice little sear to them. Straight from the skillet, they were oh-so delicious.

So I do hope you'll give them a try. Stick a few in your bag to stave off sudden hunger pangs, or simply serve with a nice cup of herb tea or a Grande coffee. Oh - you're wondering about the lily? We in New Hampshire are about to get another three days of snowstorms. As soon as I heard that this morning, I drove straight to Woodman's flower shop to buy some pale pink tulips and inhale the scents of lilies. Best antidote to cabin fever I know.

To make at least 2 dozen biscotti, depending how thickly you cut them:

Preheat oven to 325F.

Fit a baking sheet with foil and set aside.

1 cup raw green pumpkin seeds ( from the health food store)

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar , divided into 2 half-cup portions

3 large eggs, separated

about 2 T. diced fresh orange peel

1 1/2 t. vanilla

3 cups King Arthur all purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. kosher salt

1 cup dried cranberries

Heat a skillet on medium heat, then toss in the pumpkin seeds. After about 2 minutes, they'll start to hop around - just keep stirring until you see some toasting on the seeds. Remove from heat and turn onto a plate to cool.

In mixer bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then slowly add the sugar and continue whipping until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Scrape out into a bowl and set aside.

In the same mixer bowl ( no need to wash), cream the butter and the rest of the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla, and orange peel, then add the flour, baking powder, salt, and dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

Fold the egg whites into the dough mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Press the dough into a ball , then cut into two equal pieces.

On the baking sheet, form the dough into long , equally sized logs, patting with your hands. Square off the ends and bake for 45 minutes. Turn off oven.

Remove to a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes, cut down the center of the foil between the two logs, and slowly remove one log (holding the ends of the foil) to a cutting board. Rotate log carefully, and peel off the foil, then gently turn it rightside up again.

Using a serrated bread knife, hold the biscotti log gently with one hand while you slice off biscotti pieces - the thickness is really up to you. Stand the pieces up on another baking sheet, and continue cutting the second log. This should fill the whole baking sheet. Pop into the still warm oven and let dry for about 20 minutes, then remove to cool.

Enjoy!