Happy Anniversary, Our Cookie Journal!

Cookie No. 1: Hedgehog Cookies

As I've said in previous posts, I'm marking 20 years of keeping a journal about baking Christmas cookies this December. My sister gave me the blank diary and I've tried to make entries every year — some were better than others (years, entries and cookies!).

To celebrate, I decided I would make 20 different types of cookies this Christmas. I will make a few standards that we cannot live without, add a few winners from last year, and I hope to discover a few yummy new treats to add to my recipe repertoire. I'm re-reading the journal (as I do every year), collecting ingredients and new recipes, and getting ready for Christmas cookie baking!

Ever since Charlie has been able to voice his preference, I have started the Christmas cookie season with his favorite: Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies. If you read this blog, you already know that we call thoseHedgehog Cookies because our standard cookie jar is Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle jar and I try keep her stocked with his faves off-season. This time of year, I suppose we could call them Snowman Cookies, but Charlie's nickname has stuck.

They're so easy to make because I don't have to chill the dough, most of the ingredients are quotidian, and I have a KitchenAid stand mixer! I love looking back on the early journal entries, when we made all these goodies by hand! I nearly always make a double batch and stash half in the freezer.

We found the recipe in our old edition of "Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (1975, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc.).  It's a classic and I've never altered it.

I usually read a recipe over before I start (except these, because I know them by heart after all these years!). But it's a good idea to plan the steps of the recipe before throwing ingredients into the bowl. Most people get their ingredients assembled, at the very least, along with any tools needed, such as a bowl for the dry ingredients, a rubber scraper or measuring cups and spoons.

Butter might need to be softened; nuts chopped; dough chilled. If a recipe calls for sifted dry ingredients in a bowl, though, I put them in a large measuring cup and use a whisk. So easy. And if I forget to soften the butter or leave eggs out to get room temperature, I can nuke the butter for about 10 seconds at a time until my thumbprint makes an indent; and leave eggs in warm water for 10 minutes.

I get the cooling racks and a cookie turner at the ready on the table. I line the baking trays with parchment paper, which I reuse for the whole yield, turning the paper after each use. Works a charm! If I'm baking a lot of cookies or I can't get many on a tray, I add more sheets to the rotation so the trays are cool whenever I'm dispensing cookie dough from my trusty scoop. If I'm making dough that needs to be refrigerated, I put the squares of plastic wrap on the counter before I get dough all over my hands.

So please read over the recipe, get everything together, and try Hedgehog Cookies (or Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies), the 1st cookie of 20 to celebrate 20 years of Our Cookie Journal.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream:

1/2 c butter

Add and cream well:

1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

Combine and beat until smooth:

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp milk

Sift together and add to the above ingredients: 

1 c sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

When beaten smooth, add:

1 c uncooked quick rolled oats

Add:

3/4 c chocolate chips

Beat the mixture well. Drop cookies 2 inches apart on a well-greased cookie sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown.

Yield: about 3 dozen

What's Your Favorite Christmas Cookie?

This Christmas will mark the 20th anniversary of Our Cookie Journal. I know I will be baking the classic faves in our house: Hedgehog Cookies, Dunkable Brownies and Grandma Baker's Overnight Cookies. I'll also incorporate some new entries that I discovered last Christmas: Cinnamon-Swirl Cookies and Brownie Thins, to name a few.

But I'm always looking for new favorites to add to the lineup. That's where you come in: What's your favorite cookie at Christmastime? What cookie holds the most memories for you? Perhaps it's a time-honored recipe for sugar cookies from your grandmother; or a gingerbread you bake every year with your children; or something you found on Pinterest that you can't wait to try. Whatever the source, please leave your comments here so I can plan my cookie tray for this Christmas. Feel free to leave a link to your own blog or another site.

As December draws near, I'll be sharing those recipes and your comments in this year's Journal entries, as I bake and highlight 20 different cookies to mark the 20th anniversary of Our Cookie Journal. It'll be here before we know it!

2012 - It's Not Just About the Cookies

Here it is December 20, and I'm making another batch of Pumpkin Bread! It goes so fast around here — just like the Chex Party Mix. You'd think we were partying all the time but we don't need an excuse. I love to snack on Chex Mix and Charlie takes it for lunch. The Pumpkin Bread is great for breakfast, a snack, or dessert, so it's no wonder that it disappears so quickly (even though I start baking it before Thanksgiving!). Not only do we love it, but Pumpkin Bread or Pumpkin Muffins make the perfect Christmas food gift. I keep festively wrapped loaves in the freezer and in a basket near the door, ready for giving away. However, the idea is to have it all done and dusted (with powdered sugar?) so I'm not baking Christmas week! It's so easy to make though, I don't mind.

Pumpkin Bread loaves at the ready.

I'm finished baking cookies though. I made (pictured below, from top left):  Dutch Spice Cookies, Brownie Thins, Lime-Glazed Cookies, Dunkable Brownies, Vanilla-Bean Butter Cookies, Cinnamon-Swirl Cookies, Nestlé Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies, Grandma's Overnight Cookies, Lemon Poppy-Seed Cookies and Sugar Cookies. Hard to believe that I didn't get to make everything I wanted but there's always next year!

I've enjoyed this year's baking even more than usual because it's gone hand-in-hand with getting Our Cookie Journal online. So, not only have I been baking and keeping track of it all in the Journal as always, I'm putting the Journal online in blog form. It's funny, really: I've been "blogging" about Christmas cookies since 1993, when my sister Lisa gave me the journal to keep track of our baking adventures. I've tried to keep copious notes but it hasn't always worked that way. Sometimes life (or death) took over and there was little to say about cookies. Other times, the baking couldn't start until the Journal was produced, perused and left open for a new year of recording.

Our Cookie Journal is filled with memories.

I always tried to take photos of the cookie trays or us baking, but never to the extent that we do nowadays. In fact, I struggled to find photos to accompany the blog entries for some years. As I went hunting for visual representations, I'd get lost among the albums and boxes of old photos, looking for pictures to go with certain entries. Eventually, I became more organized with my recipes and photos, and the closer we got to the digital age, the more plentiful the choices became.

My sister Lisa and I baked cookies every Christmas.

Some days the photos made me cry; some days the Journal entries led me to call family members to corroborate a memory, or to find a photo of Grandma baking, or double-check a recipe. Often the past years would rush by as I transcribed the entries; and I relived each one, laughing, crying, remembering. And I realized that it's not just Our Cookie Journal, it's "Our Family Journal." The cookies were filled with love for our families and friends, with whom we shared our homemade treats. And even though it started out being about the cookie-baking experiences of my sister and me, it became about the whole family.

Since Christmas 2013 will mark the 20th anniversary of Our Cookie Journal, I'm determined to bake and blog every day in December. I know I will be baking the classic faves: Hedgehog Cookies, Dunkable Brownies and Grandma Baker's Overnight Cookies. And I'll incorporate some new entries that I discovered last Christmas: Cinnamon-Swirl Cookies and Brownie Thins, to name a few. But I'm always looking for new favorites to add to the lineup. That's where you come in: What's your favorite cookie at Christmastime? What cookie holds the most memories for you? Please leave your comments here so I can plan this year's cookie tray. As we get closer to December, I'll be sharing those recipes and your comments in this year's Journal entries, as I bake and highlight 20 different cookies to mark the 20th anniversary of Our Cookie Journal.

I hope you've enjoyed these entries and that I've inspired you to fill your kitchen with cookies and memories for your own family. Thank you for your continued support, kind comments and loyal following.