Never Too Late?

While going through the never-ending piles of papers, I found a couple of cookie recipes I thought would be fun to add to the Christmas cookie platters. It didn’t happen in December, but since the Spirit of Christmas should really last year-round, let’s try these in January, okay? This first one is a perfect choice to help use up the extra cranberries and rosemary from our delicious Buche de Noel.

Cranberry Shortbread

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary finiely chopped
• 1/3 cup cranberries frozen
• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 1 teaspoon orange zest finiely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Combine sugar and rosemary in a small food processor until finely ground. Place in a mixing bowl, then process the cranberries in the food processor until finely chopped.

2. Beat together sugar mixture with the butter, then mix in the orange zest and vanilla.

3. Gradually add the flour and salt until combined, then stir in the cranberries.

4. Form the dough into a rectangle 7 1/2 by 2 3/4 by 1 inch on a piece of plastic wrap. Cover and chill until firm, about 2 hours in the refrigerator or 45 minutes in the freezer.

5. Slice 1/4 inch thick and place on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Cool on rack.

6. Makes about 28 cookies. 

Note: The original recipe led me to believe the food processor would mince the rosemary leaves, but it really didn’t. I had to pick them out of the sugar and mince them on a cutting board. The dough also turned a bit pink, which didn’t match the picture in the magazine. I don’t know if I minced the cranberries too finely, or mixed the dough too long afterwards, but these still turned out quite nicely, and I’ll probably try them again someday.

This second recipe was fine as well, although I probably won’t make it again. Using butter, as the recipe called for, makes them thinner and flatter than we like our cookies to be, and they didn’t really taste like snickerdoodles, either. However, I kind of liked the hint of sweet/sour taste, and I’m always glad to find a recipe using wheat flour, so I may try making some adjustments to our regular Snickerdoodle recipe.

Glazed Sourdough Snickerdoodles

• 1 cup white flour
• 3/8 cup wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cream
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar divided
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon sour cream

1. Combine flours, cream of tartar and salt and set aside. In a different small bowl, combine cream and vinegar and set aside.

2. Cream together butter, 1/2 cup white sugar and brown sugar.

3. Beat in egg, then the cream mixture. Next, stir in flour mixture until combined.

4. Form into balls and roll in a mixture of the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Place on a cookie sheet and chill for 30-60 minutes.

5. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on rack.

6. Mix together sour cream and powdered sugar to form a glaze, then drizzle over cookies.

7. Makes about 2 dozen.