Let the Christmas/Holiday cookie baking begin!

[kimbob]

Made a batch of pecan crescents. Delicious recipe that mom has been baking since I was a little kid. Also, cherry nut slices that have pecans, red and green candied cherries. Very Christmassy looking. Tomorrow Hungarian cream cheese cookies--some filled with lekvar and some with walnut filling. There are so many cookies I want to make but we can't eat them all so I'm baking the ones we like the best. I used to bake for the neighbors but the neighborhood has changed the past couple years with most passing away and my friends moving. Plus, I'm not comfortable with covid to bake for people I'm not really close to. Ah, well, maybe next yr will be better.
What are your favs for holiday baking?

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[RiversideLen]

I measured out the dried fruit for 2 stollens and am soaking it in rum. I'm planning on making the stollens on Monday or Tuesday.

I pulled out 2 sticks of butter from the freezer for a batch of Martha Stewart's Noel Nut Balls that I plan on making tomorrow.

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies using an Alton Brown recipe (The Puffy), portioned it out and froze it for baking later in the week. I did hold out a few and baked them tonight.

Am also contemplating an easy fruitcake that I saw in a video on youtube from Joy of Baking. This is a long shot but it is in the back of my head.

[BakerAunt]

I had already begun holiday baking back on December 13, when I made my Lucia Buns. I made Pfeffernusse (and forgot the pepper!) later that week. Pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner is my husband's tradition, so I will bake one on Christmas Eve.

I'm still thinking about other cookies. I splurged on the Pfeffernusse and used butter, so I need to confine myself to oil-based ones.

[kimbob]

RiversideLen, when I make chocolate chip cookies it's always Alton's the puffy. They're the best.
BakerAunt, I've never made pfeffernusse but would love to. We always had them at Christmas from the bakery.
Baked some chocolate chips for mom, shortbread cookies with a cherry in the middle for my husband and the cream cheese cookies. Had Johnny Mathis singing Christmas songs on the stereo while it flurried outside. 🥰❄ dropped off some cookies for my friend.

[BakerAunt]

Kimbob--For Pfeffernusse, you need high quality candied citron, which is difficult to find. King Arthur carried an excellent European one a long time ago, but of course they stopped carrying it, as they have done many specialty items. The citron I used is special ordered from a place I cannot recall. At least it keeps well refrigerated (five years old). The other critical ingredient is anise extract, which is not always easy to find. I have been using the King Arthur non-melting sugar to coat them, but after reading the ingredients, I think that I shall return to regular powdered sugar, even if it does sometimes get soaked into the cookies. The King Arthur non-melting sugar also seems not as white as in the past, which makes me wonder if it has been re-formulated.

If you would like the recipe, I will post it. There are a great many varieties of Pfeffernusse--I have a small cookbook that is only Peppernut recipes, each one different. I wanted one that was like the cookies someone mailed to us when I was a child. After a couple of disappointments, I found a recipe in the Los Angeles Times that hit the memory taste and texture exactly. These cookies keep well, which is good, as my husband does not care for them.

[kimbob]

I would love the recipe BakerAunt, if you have time to post it. I have anise extract, non melting sugar as well as confectioners sugar. I have some candied orange and citron from nuts.com. not sure if that will be good enough.

[Mike Nolan]

King Arthur went 'green' and dropped a lot of items that didn't meet their guidelines for preservatives and other additives. I think that's also why they stopped making their cake flour.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, those holiday parties we are not having this year:

https://www.gocomics.com/cathy-commiserations/2020/12/19

[skeptic7]

I feel like Cathy. I don't do a lot of Xmas baking but I just made a batch of chocolate almond biscotti for myself. The last batch was eaten too quickly. I might do some Gingerbread to give away. For years I've been admiring Christmas Cookie recipes instead of baking them, and will make perhaps just one cookie recipe out of a sense of adventure. This year I have the Springerle rolling pin as a gift so I will try to use it -- probably with the KABC Springerle shortbread recipe as I don't have Baker's Ammonia.
I might make time to do some bread, it doesn't feels as decadent as cookies.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't have the skills or patience to decorate cookies, my wife bought some at Hy-Vee yesterday, but I might make a batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, not exactly 'holiday' themed but it was my mom's recipe and it reminds me of home.

It's going to be a Zoomy Christmas, but that's better than gloomy.

[BakerAunt]

Kimbob--I've posted the Pfeffernusse recipe. I used the Americanized spelling for the title, so it should be easy to find, but I used the German spelling of the name in the recipe itself. Enjoy!

[kimbob]

Thank you, BakerAunt. I'll print it out. Merry Christmas!

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