Recipe: Sugar Cookies with Hand-Colored Sugar Sprinkles

I made these cookies as a gift for my boyfriend, who just celebrated his 23rd birthday a little less than a week ago. I was really bummed out that I didn't get to celebrate his birthday with him in person, so I wanted to make sure he got a great birthday package, full of goodies, in the mail. Along with my little collection of fun, geeky gifts from ThinkGeek.com, I wanted to include something that was a little more personal. Being the chef-wannabe that I am, I thought I'd make him homemade cookies, with some sort of handmade decorations. I sent him a surprise care package earlier this summer with chocolate chip cookies, so I wanted to make something new. He'd mentioned once that his family makes sugar cookies around Christmas time, so I found a recipe in The Cook's Encyclopedia of Cookies that looked just right. The result of my baking efforts: lightly golden-brown cookies cut into star and heart shapes, generously sprinkled with rainbow-colored sugar. Girly and reminiscent of a bowl of Lucky Charms? Yes. Delicious? Indeed. Appreciated by my boyfriend? I sure hope so. ;D

Yields: Approx. 36 (depending on the size and type of cookie cutter you use, you'll have more or less)
Prep. time: 10-15 minute prep., 30 minutes to chill cookie dough
Baking time: 10-12 minutes per sheet
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Electric mixer

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• Various colors of sanding sugar or (if you want to dye your own, which is pretty fun—directions listed below) white/clear sanding sugar and food coloring (red, yellow, and blue)

Directions
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg into a small bowl, then set aside. With a mixer, blend together the butter/margarine, sugar (not the sanding sugar), and vanilla extract until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well into the mixture. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk (one and then the other, back and forth) to make a soft, semi-sticky dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface (keep the flour around, because you'll likely need to add more to the surface to keep the dough from sticking to it). Roll it to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into rounds or other shapes using floured cookie cutters. Transfer cut cookies to ungreased baking sheets.

To make the colored sugar: Place a piece of wax paper on a flat surface a put a small pile of sanding sugar on the paper (not too much sugar...just a few tablespoons...you can always make more if you find that the cookies don't have enough sugar topping). Add one drop of food coloring to the sugar and smooth a rubber spatula over and through the sugar, blending the color into the sugar. The color should be light and even throughout the sugar—you want to avoid clumps of sugar that are dark and coated with too much food coloring. If you want a darker color, add more food coloring, but only one drop at a time, and only after blending that drop into the sugar. Repeat the process with fresh sanding sugar and the colors of your choice (for color mixtures, like red and yellow to make orange, add one drop of each color to the sugar and blend and repeat with one drop each if you want a deeper color). Once all of your sugar is dyed, spread it out on the wax paper and let it dry for a few minutes. Pour the dried sugar in a small bowl and stir with a spoon to mix.

Sprinkle the colored sugar onto the cookies on the cooking sheet, then bake the cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hand-dyed sugar

These cookies are light, with that perfect soft-yet-crunchy texture. The nutmeg adds a hint of warmth and the cookies are perfect with a glass of milk or a cup of hot tea or coffee. The easy-to-make colored sugar is a great alternative to icing/frosting (which, in my case, could easily have smeared and smushed on the cookies on their trip through the mail). The cookies are delicious, pretty, and perfect for a birthday gift, Christmas cookie platter, or just to have around the house for a sweet snack.

Recipe: Rosemary Chicken Skewers with Berry Sauce...or as I made it: Rosemary Chicken and Polenta with Blueberry Sauce

I love love love Italian food. I love eating it, I love cooking it, I love going to restaurants that serve nothing but it. During the past week and a half, I've made swordfish and spaghetti with a citrus pesto, Italian mac&cheese (I used some sort of fancy macaroni noodle with frills on the edge that was oh-so-fun), prosciutto-ricotta-spinach ravioli in wonton wrappers, and bruschetta chicken and pasta. All very Italian and all very delicious. But tonight, I wanted to cook something a little different. I also didn't want to buy groceries. Thus, rosemary chicken and polenta with blueberry sauce was born. I had blueberries in the fridge and a request from my dad to make a sauce with them, so I searched online and found a recipe from SimpleRecipes.com for Rosemary Chicken Skewers with Berry Sauce. Now, both my mother and my uncle have said "Always follow the recipe exactly as it is the first time, then tweak it as you will if you want to when you make it again." Well, I didn't have the blackberries, apple cider vinegar, and red currant jelly needed for the sauce, and I didn't want to grill, so I threw caution to the wind and substituted in blueberries, red wine vinegar, and strawberry-rhubarb jam, and sauteed instead. Success! The recipe didn't include a side dish, so I made a simple rosemary polenta and it went fabulously with the berry sauce. Below is my version of this recipe.

Serves: 2-4
Prep. time: 1 hour, 10 minutes (hour is for the marinade)
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I only used two; my mom and I split one and my dad ate the other)
• 2 tablespoons of chopped, fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup of dry white wine or vermouth (I used vermouth)
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 and 3/4 cups of fresh blueberries
• 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of berry jam (I used strawberry-rhubarb jam)
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

For the polenta:

• 1/2 lb. of polenta (I used an instant polenta mix. It tastes just fine and it's easy to make)
• 4 cups of chicken broth (instant polenta usually says to use water, but chicken broth gives it better flavor)
• A dash of salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary (I also sprinkled in a little dried rosemary at the last minute because it has a stronger flavor)

Directions

Place the chicken breasts in a bowl. Add the wine/vermouth, olive oil, rosemary, and pepper to the bowl. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator to marinate for approx. 1 hour.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and set aside, reserving the marinade. To make the sauce, pour the marinade into a sauce pan and add the berries. Simmer gently until the berries are soft. Press the mixture through a strainer and discard the berry pulp. Return the mixture to the sauce pan and add the vinegar, jam, and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until it's reached a syrup-like consistency.To keep it warm, place it over the lowest heat, uncovered.
In the meantime, heat oil in a sauce pan and saute the chicken until both sides are golden brown and the insides are no longer pink. In a pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil and follow the directions on the polenta box (slowly whisk in polenta and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and easily pulls away from the sides of the pot). Add in the fresh rosemary and sprinkle in salt and pepper, to taste.
Plate the chicken and polenta and spoon the berry sauce over each.

This recipe was delicious and perfect for warm summer weather! The blueberry sauce was sweet and tangy, and the rosemary in both the chicken and polenta brought the two together. A vegetable would be a great addition to the dish—asparagus would work very well. All in all, a delicious dish! I know that sweet berries in a savory dish might seem a little odd, but it's a wonderful combination. And for me, it was a step away from pasta, marinara, and parmesan cheese.