Baking’s Last Stand
So, this will most likely be one of my last baking entries. Why? Because I suck at it. Why else? Because my good friend Laura, she of the gorgeous monkey cupcakes, has applied to do a regular contributing post of her baked goods. Since she is awesome and I am terrible, and she is kind and I am a jerk, and she is beautiful and I am a toad, I agreed. So thus, I leave you with this: my Christmas cookie medley.
My grandmother had commissioned me to bake a few kinds of cookies for Christmas. I ended up not having to make the labor-intensive gingerbread men, and instead baked all of these at midnight on December 23rd. Because I am a procrastinator who SUCKS AT BAKING.
Anyway, there are three kinds of cookies on this plate. If you look very closely at the plate, under the rum balls, you may be able to see that my cookies were, in fact, displayed on a Last Supper plate, probably to remove the sin of my having touched them. Catholics.
Anyway, the white cookies along the outside are butter balls, that Nana requested; the dark brown cookies are rum balls (oh rum balls, how I love thee) and the lumpy jobs up front are oatmeal-dried cherry-white chocolate cookies. The first two recipes are courtesy of my grandmother, and the third is an adaptation from Cooking Light. (Rob’s dad likes these also. At least SOMEONE likes my baking. Or maybe he’s just being nice.)
Here is the recipe for each:
Butter Balls
2 sticks of butter, softened (seriously, I know. These things clogged some major arteries)
2 tsp vanilla
4 TBS white sugar
2 cups flour
½ cup chopped walnuts
Mix all ingredients together. Roll into balls the size of a walnut. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. DO NOT spray or grease your nonstick cookie sheet beforehand, as this will cause the cookies to spread.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. Roll in powdered sugar.
Rum Balls
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers (I use Nilla brand)
1 cup walnut meal (or ground walnuts)
2 TBS light corn syrup
2 TBS cocoa powder
1/3 cup dark rum…plus another splash or two, oh and a glass for the baker
Mix all ingredients together. Roll into SuperBouncyBall-sized balls (you know exactluy what I mean, don’t act like you didn’t spend your quarters on these things in the grocery store machines) and then roll in a mixture of equal parts cocoa powder and powdered sugar. So, the rum doesn’t cook out of these, which means they are actually alcoholic. I mean, if you ate the whole batch, that’s the equivalent of like two shots of rum, so um…eat responsibly. Yeah.
Oatmeal-Dried Cherry-White Chocolate Cookies
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until well-blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended. Add cherries and chips, mix carefully.
Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Cool, remove, eat!