Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Last night I took a break from (thinking about) studying for my last final to make gingerbread cookies. My mom always makes spice cookies around this time of year, which I suppose are pretty much the same as gingerbread cookies, except they're rolled into a ball and coated with sugar instead of being cut into the shape of a man. A man is so much more exciting than a circle, though, with one exception* that you will see later.

I used a recipe from Simply Recipes, and it turned out to be a cinch to make and produced quite tasty results.

The best part of the recipe, which I suppose is true of any cut-out cookies if you put your mind to it, is that you don't need any special cookie cutter. You can either make a stencil or, as I did, freehand it. I ended up with a few pretty freakish gingerbread people, but generally they turned out well.

Once you get bored with cutting out little people, you can cut out other random objects. I made letters, a dreidel, a crown, some blobs, an apostrophe and something even more exciting that you will see below.

Hog pile! Or Russian (gingerbread) dolls.

*Pac Man!

These cookies are decent on their own, but a big glob of frosting makes them even better. I had some leftover frosting from my last batch of these, which allowed me to focus my attention back on thinking about starting to study instead of on whipping up a batch of frosting. What a relief that was!

Update: A smear of Nutella on a gingerbread cookie is absolutely wonderful.

Kingsford Cookies

I was really wanting to bake something all weekend, and last night I decided on cookies.  Over the weekend I've developed an obsession with Kingsford the Pig, so Matt suggested we call the cookies "Kingsford Cookies."  They really have no connection to pigs, but every time I eat one I'm reminded of the adorable little piglet.  Maybe next time I'll throw in some crumbled bacon.

Before I get to the recipe, I need to show off my stand mixer cover that my mom made me.  She's always had a cover for hers, and I finally picked out some retro fabric at the amazing Home Ec in Iowa City and my mom assembled it.  Thanks, Mom!  

For the cookies, I started with the chocolate chip cookie recipe from The Joy of Cooking, but I made a few substitutions.  Here's what I used:

1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

1 large egg

1/4 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup M&Ms

2 tbsp peanut butter chips

1/2 cup caramel chips

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease 2 baking sheets.

Beat butter and sugars until combined.  Add egg, salt, and vanilla, and mix until combined.  Add flour and baking soda and mix well.  Mix in remaining ingredients by hand.  

A few notes:

- You could use regular brown sugar in place of the turbinado.  My brown sugar was as hard as a rock, so I went the turbinado route.

- Next time I would probably eliminate the pb chips.  I used them just to get rid of them, and I would rather have more chocolate in their place.

When I finished mixing the dough, it didn't look like much, but I got at least 30 cookies out of it.

Drop the dough by the teaspoonful onto the cookie sheets, and bake for 8-10 minutes.  The edges will be a little brown.  

Ahh, Kingsford.