Tuesday Tip of the Day!

We are coming into the height of cookie baking season!!! Here’s a great tip for today:

When baking cookies, be sure your dough is thoroughly chilled when it goes on your baking pan. Chilling the dough has great benefits for a number of reasons.

1.      If you use butter in your recipe and it goes into a warm oven, you will wind up with cookies that have flattened and become a crisp, crunchy mess. The cooler the dough, the less it will spread.

2.      Flour has gluten. This is why you don’t want to overmix your cookie dough. Refrigerating your dough allows time for the gluten to relax resulting in a soft or crunchy cookie, not a tough, rubbery cookie.

3.      Chilling the dough allows for the liquid to be absorbed more fully into the flour which gives you a drier, firmer dough. This will produce a cookie that has a better consistency and taste.

Feel free to chill your dough up to 36 hours.

Happy Valentines Day to all Farmhouse Friends

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine

1 ½ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs. Stir in vanilla. Mix dry ingredients. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the moist. Chill dough thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll to 1/8” thick. Bake 6 to 8 minutes.

These cookies were baked and decorated by my Basic Foods Students at Central High School.

Best wishes for a wonderful Valentines Day

with your family and friends.

Recipe by Natalie of Tins and Treasures

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup margarine or butter

1  3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 cups rolled oats

In a mixing bowl beat maragirne or butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the brown sugar, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla and baking soda. Beat untill thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Stir in oats.

Add-Ins

For the Holidays:

Add 1/2 cup craisins

and 1/2 cup (or more) white chocolate chips

For anytime:

Add 1/2 cup raisins

and 1/2 cup (or more) semisweet chocolate chips

Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to either recipe

Drop by rounded teaspoons, 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 12 minues or till edges are golden. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Makes 48 cookies.

(Recipe submitted by Natalie from Tins and Treasures)

Traditional Christmas Snowball Cookies from Irish Rose Creations

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened

1 cup powdered sugar (plus more for topping)

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely chopped pecans

3/4 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 . Mix butter, 1 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until set but not brown. Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Cool. Roll in powdered sugar again.