{"id":41710,"date":"2018-12-17T09:14:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T14:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=41710"},"modified":"2018-12-17T09:14:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T14:14:12","slug":"on-your-table-time-for-christmas-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=41710","title":{"rendered":"On Your Table: Time for Christmas cookies!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cathy Branciaroli,<\/strong>\u00a0Food Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Who can resist sugar cookies at Christmas time?<\/p><\/div>\n

The countdown to Christmas is well underway and in many kitchens so is the rush to bake holiday sweets, notably cookies.\u00a0 Why do we eat cookies for Christmas? For so many families, it\u2019s not Christmas without cookies. Our kids leave cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve, we spend weeks baking and decorating our cookies, and a cookie plate graces every party. <\/p>\n

Every family has its tradition, whether it\u2019s Mommom\u2019s gingerbread men, Aunt Ginny\u2019s pecan tassies or joining a neighborhood cookie swap.\u00a0 Cookie cutters in every variety come out from the closet \u2013 candy canes, Christmas trees, stars, angels, reindeer and holly leaves \u2013 and are employed with great enthusiasm though it\u2019s hard to say how many make it to the table or are consumed by the baking crew themselves.<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania, Amish or Nazareth sugar cookies became the official state cookie in 2001.\u00a0 Like all sugar cookies they are crumbly, buttery, addictive treats that come in a multitude of shapes and sizes, frosted or sprinkled with colorful sugar.\u00a0 That tradition originally came from the Moravians who settled in Nazareth PA in the 1800\u2019s from Germany.\u00a0 But we all own them now.<\/p>\n

Sugar cookies might be officially designated, but according to a 2017 report from Readers Digest, the most popular cookie in Pennsylvania, and in nearby Delaware too, is the Italian pizzelle, a classic waffle-type cookie. \u00a0It was a hard fought battle with chocolate chip and sugar cookies but somehow the Italian tradition won out.\u00a0 I have to say I\u2019m glad, having hovered near the pizzelle iron in my grandmother\u2019s kitchen on many a baking day for the first taste of the anise-flavored treats.<\/p>\n

With so many options for holiday cookies, it\u2019s hard to choose.\u00a0 And these days who has the time to devote whole weekends to baking?\u00a0 Which likely is why most families stick to a familiar roster.<\/p>\n

So in the spirit of sugar and spice and everything nice, not to mention because it\u2019s the state cookie and so easy to bake, here is a recipe for the perfect sugar cookie.\u00a0 A key to success is to chill the dough for an hour, especially if you intend to cut out shapes.\u00a0 Otherwise it will be sticky and can spread while baking, disfiguring those lovely angels and candy canes.\u00a0 Check for golden edges after eight minutes of baking.\u00a0 When you see them it\u2019s time to take the cookies out of the oven.<\/p>\n

In our family, good kids traditionally get a tangerine in their Christmas stocking.\u00a0 But there have to be Christmas cookies somewhere nearby as well.\u00a0 Make sure to have some handy.<\/p>\n

This will be my last official On Your Table column for a while, so if you\u2019re hungry for great food, stories or recipes, check out my website Delaware Girl Eats<\/a><\/p>\n

Perfect Sugar Cookies
\n<\/u><\/strong>Yield: 2 dozen<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/u><\/p>\n

3 cups all-purpose flour
\n1 tsp baking powder
\n\u00bd tsp kosher salt
\n1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
\n1 cup granulated sugar
\n1 large egg
\n1 tsp pure vanilla extract<\/p>\n

1 tbs milk<\/p>\n

For buttercream frosting:
\n1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
\n5 cups powdered sugar
\n\u00bc\u00a0 cup heavy cream
\n\u00bd tsp almond extract
\n\u00bc tsp kosher salt
\nFood coloring<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/u><\/p>\n

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.\u00a0 In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until combined, then add flour mixture gradually until totally combined.<\/p>\n

Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour.<\/p>\n

When ready to roll the dough, preheat oven to 350\u00ba and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out dough until 1\/8\u201d thick. Cut out shapes and transfer to prepared baking sheets.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, make frosting.\u00a0Using a hand mixer, beat butter until smooth, then add powdered sugar and beat until no lumps remain. Add cream, almond extract, and salt.\u00a0 Beat until combined.\u00a0 Set aside till ready to frost the cookies after baking.<\/p>\n

Bake cookies until edges are lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0 Let cool, then frost and decorate\u00a0as desired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cathy Branciaroli,\u00a0Food Correspondent, The Times The countdown to Christmas is well underway and in many kitchens so is the rush to bake holiday sweets, notably cookies.\u00a0 Why do we eat cookies for Christmas? For so many families, it\u2019s not Christmas without cookies. Our kids leave cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve, we spend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[927,160,6559,7426,625],"class_list":["post-41710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-baking","tag-christmas","tag-cookies","tag-featured","tag-holidays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41711,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41710\/revisions\/41711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}