Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Gingerbread mannies and dough-sick day


Today my sister and mother and I cut out our traditional Christmas cookies. We call them Betsy cookies. They're basically sugar cookies, except made with brown sugar instead of white, and with cinnamon added. Also, we frost and sprinkle them later. They're thin and manage to have an almost-crunch while still being soft.


The rule has always been that for every rolled out sheet of dough that we slice up into angels/stockings/camels, we get to eat one piece of dough. I always end up a little dough-sick by the end.






I found a goose cookie-cutter this year. My mom called me goose girl for using it, which made me happy [see The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale, one of my favorite books since I read it in 2005].


And I had the idea of manipulating the mannies' limbs before they bake so they come out looking like they're dancing. Best discovery of the year.

yellow tights, not jaundice

What's the Christmas cookie of choice in your home like?

12 comments:

  1. my choice is now your gingerbread dancers.

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  2. peanut butter! ^. ^ my favorite...but Dad and Jodi like Chocolate chip.

    I love making cookies...I will have to get on that. Haven't made any in a while!!

    xoxo

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  3. We make christmas tree shaped Danish butter cookies and Russian Teacakes. I think we must have a thing for foreign cookies at Christmas.

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  4. Beth - Maybe ballroom dancers should be next on the to-evolve list?

    Gabi - :D Most definitely.

    pinkapplecore - nomnomnom peanut butter owns my soul.

    Q - Hmm, I think I know Russian teacakes...they're powder-sugary, hey?

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  5. Anna and I make Christmas goodies for people every year. This year, we made chocolate crinkles and red velvet cupcakes. The cupcakes failed, sadly.

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  6. Summermoon - Mm, that's a pity. You haven't had the best luck with red velvets, have you? Was it the recipe or the execution?

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  7. I've settled on a vanilla shortbread, one with many tasty variations, as a new house favourite. This year they came out with passionfruit icing, and in shapes that generally illicit giggles (eg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/vagrantimp/4218703768). Quick, easy, and very moreish.

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  8. The recipe, sadly. The ones I made on my lonesome were alright, and the recipe was respectable enough, but this time, we used a different recipe which completely ruined any semblance of good cupcake-ness. Three cups of oil! THREE CUPS!

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  9. Captain Cookies - SHORTBREAD! I promised my mom I'd make some before I left. Going to go prod you for the recipe now.

    Summermoon - Uff, that's terrible! Everyone knows you make cupcakes with either butter or buttermilk/buttermilk substitute. I like this one, but make sure you read the second comment on it.

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  10. Captain Cookies ... also CupcakesDecember 28, 2009 at 5:46 PM

    @Summermoon - don't listen to cuileann, you CAN make cupcakes with oil! 3 cups IS a lot though ... I make my favourite cakey things of all time, Magdalenas, with equal parts olive oil (make sure it's good oil!), milk, sugar, and twice that of flour. Alright so you can listen to cuileann now, 'cos that the only recipe I have that actually uses oil *ahem*

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  11. Captain Cookies also Cupcakes - Magdalenas, eh? Hm, maybe I will give those a try sometime...

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