Recipe: Homemade Slice-and-Bake Cookies (a.k.a. Ice Box Cookies)

For most colleges and graduate schools, it's final exam time, which means there are countless 20-somethings, my boyfriend included, stressing out, staying up late, and eating junk food just to make it through. I thought it would be fun to send a care package to John with some homemade cookies and other goodies to make his law school exam studying a little less awful, and I decided to try out a cookie recipe from one of my recent Bake 1 classes. Ice Box cookies, are they are officially called, are essentially homemade slice-and-bake cookies, called "ice box cookies" because the dough can be made up and then stored in the fridge (or "ice box"), and cookies can then be sliced off one at a time and baked fresh rather than be baked all in one batch. They're very easy to make, and you can dress them up by dying and rolling/shaping the dough into a variety of patterns, including the pinwheel (which I made for John) and checkerboard.

Yields: Approx. 3 dozen cookies (depends on how thin you slice them)
Prep. time: 10 minutes, plus time to chill the dough
Baking time: 12-15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate (rolling into shapes takes a little skill)
Special equipment: Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (or 8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 & 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Food coloring of your choice

Directions

In the bowl of an electric/stand mixer, cream together the two types of sugar and butter (cream together: using the paddle attachment, blend on low to medium-low speed until the sugar and butter are well-blended; a few small lumps are okay). Add the egg yolks and vanilla and blend on medium-low speed until incorporated. Slowly add in the flour, a little bit at a time, until it is all blended into the dough and the dough is slightly sticky, soft, and pale yellow/khaki in color. 

To create a solid-colored dough: Add the food coloring of your choice to the dough and gently knead it into the dough until the dough is completely colored. Wrap the dough up in saran wrap or put in a bowl covered over with saran wrap and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm it up. Remove from the fridge and roll into a large log, then return and chill until it's able to be cleanly sliced through (about 1-2 hours, or 10 minutes in the freezer). 

To create a pinwheel pattern: Divide the dough into two even pieces (it's easiest to weigh each piece on a kitchen scale so that you get equal pieces). You can dye one or both pieces (obviously, use two different colors if you choose to dye both). Gently knead food coloring into one or both dough balls until the dough is completely colored. Wrap the dough balls up separately in saran wrap or put in bowls covered over with saran wrap and chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to firm them up. Remove one dough ball and lay it out on a long piece of wax paper covered in a second sheet of wax paper. Tape down the wax paper sheets (just a small piece of tape along the top, bottom, and sides—packing tape holds really well), so they don't move around when you start to roll out the dough. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into one long, wide sheet, then remove the tape tape from the wax paper and lay the dough on a sheet pan in the fridge to chill for at least an hour (or chill in the freezer for 5-10 minutes). Repeat this process with the other piece of dough. Once both pieces have been chilled, remove them from the fridge (1), remove the wax paper from on top of each (2 and 3) and flip one on top of the other as centered as possible (4). Trim the edges with a knife or pizza cutter (5) to create a straight-edged, even rectangle. The trimmings can be mushed together to create a tie-dye ball of dough that can also be rolled into a log and sliced up into cookies (see #6). Roll the rectangle into a log (you'll be able to see the pinwheel shape when you look at the ends of the log) and chill in the fridge for at least an hour (or freezer for 10 minutes). Either store it in the fridge and slice off cookies as needed, or slice the cooled log down into even slices (6) and get ready to bake. 

To bake them: Preheat the oven to 325*F. On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, lay out the cookie slices with an inch or two of space in between each. Bake for 12-15 minutes until slightly crispy around the edges and cooked through in the middle, but still soft (they should not be very golden-brown at all though, because that means they're overdone). Remove from the oven, chill on the sheet pan, then remove to a wire rack to chill completely. Store in an airtight container (or eat a bunch right away, haha).

1

2

3

5

4

6 (this roll was made from the scraps of the pinwheel roll)

These cookies are buttery, sugary, and so much fun! They're a great thing to keep in the fridge if you have kids—you can always have fresh-baked cookies when they get home from school or when they want a snack to eat while they work on homework. They're also great as a simple dessert or easy bake sale item, and they hold up really well in the mail (so they're great for to send for Christmas or birthdays). They can be completely sliced up and baked all together too because they keep for days!

Recipe: Peanut Butter Blossoms

At noon today, it was snowing out, but I was packed up and ready to go spend the weekend with my cousin and her fiancé  in Maryland. I crept down the driveway in my car, inched down the slush-and-snow covered hill leading out of my neighborhood, pulled out onto the main road...and then promptly decided that taking a four hour trip in "winter weather advisory" conditions was probably not the best idea. I have high hopes that the roads and weather will be better by tomorrow so I can still go on my trip, but for today, I'm stuck home with the cats (the oldest are napping, while the two little ones are suffering from a particularly bad case of cabin fever), hanging out in my PJs and wondering if there will be any good movies on TV tonight. Frustrated and looking to keep myself busy on such a cold, dreary day, I decided to bake, and for no particular reason, I decided to make peanut butter blossoms. I've never made them before, but they are a classic cookie with a classic flavor combination—peanut butter and chocolate—that I've always enjoyed. My mom absolutely loves these cookies—any time one of her friends has them at a party or she takes home a handful from a luncheon, they're "hers" and I get maybe one for myself, so I'm excited to have a whole batch for the both of us.

Yields: Approx. 48 cookies
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 8-10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Electric mixer with paddle attachment

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling on the cookies
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened (I used salted butter, because it's what we had, but unsalted should work too)
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Jif brand)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1&3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 48 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375*F. In a bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, and butter and beat at medium speed in an electric mixer (or by hand, if need be) until well-blended and fluffy. Add the egg, salt, and vanilla and continue to beat at medium speed until well-mixed. Add the baking soda and flour and continue to beat until well-blended. The dough will be smooth, soft, and peanut butter-colored. Roll pieces of the cookie dough (approx. 48 total) around in the palms of your hand to form one inch round balls. Roll the balls in the 1/4 cup sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the dough has start to expand, crack a little bit, and turn ever-so-slightly golden-brown (if you let them cook too much, you will end up flattening out the cookies when you press the Hershey Kisses in them later). Remove from the oven and immediately press one Hershey Kiss into the center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely on wire racks (the chocolate will get melty all the way through, so be sure you let them cool completely so you don't smear or smush the chocolate when you put the cookies away). Store the cookies in an airtight container.

These cookies are so easy to make and you probably have all of the ingredients at home already. They've got that great classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate, and the texture—chewy-crunchy cookies with crispy sugar granules and smooth chocolate—is delicious. These are perfect with a glass of cold milk or a mug of hot chocolate. 

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.