Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies

These are my other favorite holiday cookies, but they are much easier than the rugelach.  All you do is mix up the dough, let it chill a bit, scoop, and bake.  You definitely have to underbake them, so they stay chewy for days after baking.

Recipe: Ginger Cookies (from Jenny Bakes)
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened (1.5 sticks)
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp white sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F.  Whisk together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses.  Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture.  Shape dough into walnut sized balls (or better yet, use a small scooper with a release mechanism), and then roll in the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar.  Place the cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and flatten slightly.

Bake ~8 minutes, or until edges are set but center looked puffy and uncooked.  Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container.

They are the cookies on the left.

Rugelach

A few years ago, my dad and I decided to attempt making the rugelach recipe featured on Barefoot Contessa.  Little did I know that we would be making the first few dozen of the 50 dozen (at least) I have made in the past couple years.  These delicious treats take a little while to make, but they are so worth it.  The recipe will make 4 dozen, but you don't have to make all of them at once.  You can freeze the individual pieces of dough until you are ready to make them.  And this dough is amazing - very simple to make, and somehow it is so flaky and tender.  You can also play around with the filling.  I usually make the filling that is from the original recipe, but sometimes I replace the raisins with chocolate chips.  I have also replaced the jam with pumpkin butter (as shown in the picture below), with good results.  Whenever using jam, I always use raspberry, but you can use your favorite flavor.

Recipe: Rugelach (from Barefoot Contessa)
Ingredients:
Dough:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz butter (two sticks), softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins (or chocolate chips)
1 cup walnuts (or pecans), finely chopped

1/2 cup preserves, pureed in food processor

1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp milk, for egg wash
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, until light.  Add the sugar, salt and vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined.  Dump the dough onto a well floured board and roll into a ball.  Cut the ball into quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.  (Dough can be made the day before, just let it sit out for a little while before using.)

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl.

On a well floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle.  Using a pizza cutter, cut into 12 wedges of equal size, cutting the whole circle into quarters, and then each quarter into thirds.  Spread the dough with 2 tbsp of preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough.

Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge.  Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

Brush each cookie with the egg wash.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle on the cookies.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned, and then transfer to racks to cool.

Just some of the many cookies I baked one night.

The best chocolate chip cookies you'll ever eat

These are my favorite chocolate chip cookies ever.  And they aren't that difficult to make.  I think I made 100 of them in the span of a week.  First I made 3 dozen before I moved - I baked some and brought them into the lab for a birthday, and froze the rest so I could bake as needed.  Then I made 5 dozen for my mom's birthday - made them, shaped them and baked them all in one night!  Everyone thinks I'm crazy since I did all kinds of baking while I was moving.
But anyway, make these cookies!  You can cut out some of the butter, I usually cut out 1-2 tbsp per batch, and I'm sure you could cut out even more.  But make sure that whatever butter you cut out is not the butter that is browned - you want all of that wonderful toffee flavor!
The dough freezes really well, so you can make a ton, shape them, and then cook them later.  Just make sure to thaw them out before cooking.  I think some were still too frozen when I cooked them, and they didn't bake very well.
Oh and the original recipe says to make them much bigger than I do - I use my size 40 scooper, which I think is about 1-1.5 tbsp.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Family, Friends and Food)
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (I only had light brown and it was fine)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (I used a combination, and it was dark chocolate)
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (I didn't use)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl and set aside.

Heat 10 tbsp butter in 10-inch stainless steel skillet (it's easier to see if the butter is brown) over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes.

Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1-3 minutes.

Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl.  Stir remaining 4 tbsp butter into hot butter until completely melted.

Add both sugars, salt and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated.

Add egg and yolk (make sure butter mixture isn't too hot) and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds.

Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds.  Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny.

Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough a final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

Use a #40 cookie scoop and arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.  Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until the edges are starting to get golden brown and the cookies are puffy, about 8 minutes.  The centers will still be soft and look uncooked.  Let cool on the sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.