Sugar Puff Popovers

 

 

 

 

 

Adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook

Popovers:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra butter for the muffin tin
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 ½ teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Topping:
⅔ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter a 12-cup muffin tin. In a food processor, blend the melted butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and salt. Add the flour and blend until smooth.
2. Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 35 minutes; the popovers should be on the darker side of golden brown. 
3. While the popovers bake, make the topping by combining the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Keep the melted butter in a separate bowl.
4. When the popovers are cool enough to hold, brush each popover–on the top and sides–and roll in the cinnamon/sugar mixture until coated.

Cardamom Pound Cake

For every holiday social occasion, there’s likely going to be dessert, and you’ll at some point probably be tasked with bringing one. So here is the dessert you make when you want to do something fancier than cookies, but you don’t want to spend so much active time in the kitchen. With this cake, you know what you’re getting into: it’s a simple pound cake, made better with the warm, sweet spice cardamom and a sprinkling of almonds on top. You can serve it with whipped cream (fresh or not, baker’s choice), and watch as your fellow partygoers enjoy, hopefully under some sparkling lights, serenaded by holiday songs you’ve only heard a million times. The best part is, you can bring this cake to a summer barbecue (which feels so far away now, but it will get here, I promise) and serve it with berries. But for now, it can be your go-to holiday dessert, the kind people will wish for every year.

Cardamom Pound Cake
Adapted from Bon Appetit

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks; 12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cardamom
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ cup whole milk
½ cup crème fraiche
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
¼ cup sliced almonds
Whipped cream, for serving

1. Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with flour, then tap the pan over the sink to release excess flour. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the baking powder, cardamom, salt, and 2 cups flour. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the milk and crème fraiche.
3. In a large bowl, combine ¾ cup butter and the sugar, using an electric mixer to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. (As you beat, use a spatula to scrape batter on the sides of the bowl back into the center.) Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
4. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the crème fraiche mixture in two parts (begin and end with adding the flour mixture). Beat with the mixer until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top.
5. Bake cake for 30 minutes, then rotate its position on the rack and bake an additional 25-35 minutes; when done, the cake should be golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. (Cover with foil if the top is browning too quickly.)
6. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it. Turn the cake out onto a surface for slicing. Slice and serve with whipped cream.

Molasses Cookies

This year, I had a craving for chewy molasses cookies, so I set out to find something worthy of sharing the holidays with my beloved gingerbread cookies. These cookies contain a little cardamom, and it makes perfect sense. It’s a warm spice that goes well with the ginger and cinnamon. The best part, though, is that these cookies are rolled in raw sugar before baking. This provides a pleasant crunch and sweetness on a chewy version of my favorite holiday cookie. This is a time of year for traditions, of course—I made the classic gingerbread cookies too—but also a time for new recipes, different takes on familiar tastes.

Molasses Cookies
Adapted from Bon Appetit

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
¾ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 stick (1/2 cup; 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup molasses
¼ cup (packed) brown sugar
Raw sugar, for rolling

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt. In a large bowl, combine the egg, butter, white sugar, molasses, and brown sugar. Stir in the dry ingredients, mixing until a dough forms. Transfer to the fridge and let chill for 20 minutes.
2. Place oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place the raw sugar in a small, shallow bowl. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Scoop out a tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Roll in the raw sugar, then place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, placing each ball about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake two sheets of cookies 5 minutes, then rotate the pans and bake for 5 minutes more. Bake the third sheet by itself, but still rotate after 5 minutes. Let cookies cool before serving.

No Gluten, All Good: Raspberry-Almond Macaroons

The month of cookies is here, and in addition to making my favorite gingerbread, this is the time I like to try out another cookie recipe or two to inspire food-related gift giving. If you have gluten-free folks on your list, I’ve got you covered here, because these cookies contain just almonds, egg whites, salt, sugar, and a dollop of raspberry jam.

I didn’t set out to make gluten-free cookies. I haven’t had many good experiences in gluten-free baking, and it is definitely for lack of trying. I made a gluten-free bread in college, in the dark ages before you could just buy a flour blend, that contained several different flours, each painstakingly scooped from bins in the co-op bulk aisle, that I never used again. The bread itself was a sticky, weird, forgettable mess. Then there was a goopy dessert I made one year for a gluten-free friend that smelled delicious but didn’t have anything near the texture I wanted.

But, every year I do cookie decorating with a family where half the people are gluten free, and their cookies are delicious; rather than feeling like an imitation of a wheat flour-based cookie, they are something tasty and perfect all on their own. And when I made these almond macaroons, I felt the same way about them. I think sometimes when people approach a gluten-free (or vegetarian, or vegan) recipe, they worry something will be missing. That’s not a problem here.

The original recipe called for hazelnuts, which I don’t like much; they’re a bit too bitter for my taste. So I subbed them with blanched almonds, ground in the food processor to make almond flour.  As usual, I worried such a major swap would ruin the recipe, but the results were fantastic. Almonds and raspberry jam go together brilliantly, especially when assisted by sugar and egg white. The cookies are light but crunchy, and have a nutty flavor, almost like coconut, even though there’s no coconut involved. Perhaps that’s just what happens when almonds meet egg whites and sugar.

I love my wheat flour, and I’m not going gluten free. But I’m more encouraged now to expand my baking horizons into recipes that go beyond the basic flour base. And at least now I can buy a flour blend or, as with these cookies, forgo flour completely.

Raspberry-Almond Macaroons
Adapted from Classic German Baking
Makes about 45 cookies

2 ¼ cups sliced blanched almonds
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup seedless raspberry jam

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread the sliced almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast the almonds in the oven for 7 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant, checking often to ensure they don’t overcook. Transfer the almonds to the bowl of a food processor and let cool for at least 30 minutes before proceeding. Keep the oven on at 400 degrees.
2. Grind the almonds in the food processor until they are finely ground, but not a paste.
3. Place the egg whites and salt in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until frothy. Add the sugar a little at a time and continue beating until the mixture can hold soft peaks. Use a large spoon to stir in the ground almonds, ½ cup at a time, stirring in completely after each addition. The mixture will be thick and should hold its shape if formed into a ball.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop a heaping teaspoon of the dough, roll it into a ball, flatten it slightly, and place it on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all of the dough is used up, spacing the cookies about an inch apart. (If you wash your hands every few cookies, you will have an easier time shaping them—less sticking.)
5. Bake one sheet of cookies at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately use a small spoon to make a small circular indent in the center of each cookie. Set this cookie tray aside; repeat process with the other sheet of cookies.
6. Once all the cookies are baked and indented, heat the jam in a small pot over medium heat until it liquefies, stirring with a whisk to remove any lumps. Let the jam bubble for 30 seconds, then spoon a little jam into the indent of each cookie. Let the jam set and the cookies cool completely before serving.

Cookies That Shine: Rugelach with Raspberry Filling

The morning after I made these rugelach cookies, the kitchen still smelled of buttery pastry, cinnamon, and jam. It’s nice to wake up to a reminder that you made something delicious, and it seemed appropriately seasonal to have a home filled with the smells of holiday baking.

These rugelach are stuffed beyond capacity with raspberry jam, cinnamon, and sugar, so much that the filling oozes out the edges. But with rugelach, this is a good thing. Seeing the sweet jammy filling creeping past the edges and spilling over makes these cookies all the more tempting, and prettier, too. The original recipe (from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook) called for chocolate and pecans too, but I scaled back because I don’t like chocolate and because I wanted to keep these cookies simple. No bells, no whistles, just sugar and jam goodness accentuated with cinnamon spice.

Rolling the dough into a circle proved that I don’t really care about rolling dough into a perfect circle (actually, I knew that already). Luckily, Deb of Smitten Kitchen doesn’t hold you to rolling the dough into a flawless round, although mine were definitely more on the blobby side, just round enough to pass. And everything turned out great. It’s more fun when the rugelach don’t look exactly uniform; some were tiny and adorably bite-sized, others bigger with lots of surface area for the aforementioned filling to spread over. In this way, it’s a forgiving recipe.

I tried one batch without the egg wash, and they looked just fine (pictured left), although I like the shine the wash provides, and it helps the cookies turn a more golden brown color (above, you’ll see this shine on some of the cookies). This recipe makes 48 cookies, so you’ll probably want them to shine a bit as you hand them out to friends, family, colleagues…and as you snack on them yourself, preferably under some glittering lights accompanied by your favorite holiday beverage.

And, you’ll have that wonderful smell from the kitchen of sweetness and butter and a job well done. You have accomplished something magnificent when you make cookies such as these. You may have presents to wrap, other foods to make, wish lists to look over, but in the cookies department, your work is done.

Rugelach with Raspberry Filling
Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

1 cup (16 tablespoons/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

1. In a large bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy and well combined. Add the salt and flour. Beat on low speed until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. If your electric mixer isn’t up to the task/your bowl isn’t deep enough and the dough starts getting out of hand, use a large spoon or your hands to complete the mixing. You can also use a stand mixer for this step.
2. Transfer the dough to a large sheet of plastic wrap or aluminum foil and flatten it slightly. Wrap the dough and transfer to the fridge. Let chill for 2 hours.
3. As the chilling time draws to an end, get ready for assembly. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the jam in a small saucepan and warm it up over low heat on the stove (this will make it more spreadable) until ready to use. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. In another small bowl, combine the egg yolk and water.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Divide the dough into thirds. On a floured surface, roll out one third of the dough (the others can go back into the fridge until ready to use) into an approximate 12-inch diameter circle. (It doesn’t matter if the circle isn’t perfect; mine were all blobby round-ish shapes and it all turned out great.) Spread three generous tablespoons of jam on the circle, spreading the jam all the way out to the edge. Sprinkle three tablespoons of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top, again going out to the edge.
5. Use a small, sharp knife to slice the dough into 16 triangles. Starting at the edge, roll each triangle to the center, forming little rolled-up packets of dough (if the jam squeezes out a bit, that’s ok). Place the cookies an inch or so apart on one of the prepared baking sheets with the pointy end tucked just underneath. Transfer to the freezer and let chill for 15 minutes.
6. After chilling, remove the cookies from the freezer and lightly brush the tops of each with some of the egg and water mixture. Bake 20 to 25 minutes; the cookies should be a light golden brown. Immediately transfer the cookies to a plate to cool (if you let them cool on the paper, the jam will stick to the paper, making removal problematic).
7. Repeat steps 4-6 with the remaining two thirds of dough and fillings.

Seasonal Delight: Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Whipped Cream

It’s that time of year, when gingerbread is on my mind. Recently I made the annual batch (actually, it was three batches) of gingerbread cookies to pack up and give out to friends and relatives. Just the smell of those cookies fills me with joy, a particular festive spirit I only feel in December. So it’s no surprise that I’m up for anything gingerbread right now.

As gingerbread cakes go, this is probably one of the simplest ones you’ll find. The prep is standard: mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another, and combine. You might think, as I did, that the batter doesn’t have much depth in the pan and that your cake will be thin. But baking powder does its work while the cake bakes, and the result is a cake of decent height that you can cut into thick little squares or large, indulgent slices.

Since I made this cake for a holiday party at my work, I opted for the small, thick slices option to spread the goodness out. Right after baking, the thick slices are rather fluffy and soft, filled with the seasonal flavors of molasses and ginger. They get denser after a night in the fridge, and taste wonderful then, too. Does it need anything else? Probably not, but the recipe suggested a lemon whipped cream topping, and I decided to give it a try. Lemon is an ingredient I usually find impossible to turn down.

So I whipped up the cream and stirred in premade lemon curd. I spooned hefty dollops of whipped cream on top of each cake square. The topping definitely enhances the appearance; the slices look  luxurious with a decadently high pile of whipped cream, like the frosting on a cupcake. As for the taste, the whipped cream added a lovely lemon flavor, although overall I don’t think it’s essential. This cake could easily stand on its own, maybe with a light drizzle of powdered sugar frosting if you feel like it.

Still, in times such as these, I have to ask—why not go all out and top your cake with whipped cream? Just for today, just for the holidays, why not? As for the slice you cut for your own snacking, if you don’t get as far as topping it with whipped cream, I completely understand.

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Whipped Cream
Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick/8 tablespoons), slightly softened (do not microwave) and cut into chunks, plus a little extra for the pan
½ cup boiling water
½ cup (packed) brown sugar
½ cup molasses
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
¼ cup lemon curd

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the inside of an 8 x 8-inch metal or glass baking dish with butter. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. Place the butter chunks in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over the butter and whisk until the butter melts. Whisk in the brown sugar, molasses, and egg. Stir in the flour mixture until well combined. Evenly pour the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake the cake for 25 to 40 minutes or until the cake looks firm and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool, then slice into squares.
4. To make the topping, use an electric hand mixer to beat together the heavy cream and powdered sugar until the mixture can hold stiff peaks. Stir in the lemon curd just enough to lightly combine; bits of curd should still be visible.
5. If you are eating the cake right away, top each square with a couple hefty dollops of whipped cream and serve. If you are serving later and/or transporting the cake, it will be easier to wait until serving time to put the whipped cream on (imagine trying to put cake slices heavily topped with whipped cream in a Tupperware, and I think you’ll see what I mean).

Celebrate Pie Week with Pumpkin Meringue Pie

Oh, this pie. It’s the subject of a daylong saga in testing pumpkin pie recipes for Thanksgiving. Tasked with bringing two pumpkin pies, I decided to try a new recipe for chiffon pumpkin pie from Canal House Cooks Every Day along with my favorite classic version.  I was so taken with this recipe/already in the grip of holiday excitement that I didn’t read the last paragraph of the recipe as carefully as I should have.

The recipe instructs you to mix and heat the pumpkin filling in a saucepan, and in a separate bowl beat egg whites until stiff. Then you mix the two, pour into a gingersnap crust, and let chill before serving. Anyone notice something questionable about this? Maybe that the eggs never get a chance to cook? It’s a raw egg pie. Yes, they will be chilled, but still. When you’re making a pie for lots of people, several of them children or elderly, the risk of salmonella seems not worth taking. I love runny eggs and I’m not usually too concerned, but I don’t like to serve other unsuspecting people anything with raw eggs.

Luckily, I hadn’t combined the two mixtures yet, and so I quickly thought up a solution: Why not pour the pumpkin filling into the crust and then top it with the egg whites, to form a pumpkin meringue pie? Not one to pass up an opportunity for meringue, planned or not, I went for it. The pie emerged from the oven just 15 minutes later with a lightly browned meringue top, looking fabulous. After it cooled a bit, I cut slices for Thomas and I…and felt a little let down. The meringue was fantastic, but the filling was—I can’t think of a better word—sloppy, like pudding. And while pudding pie doesn’t sound like a bad concept, it just didn’t seem right. I put the pie in the fridge and attempted a pumpkin pie with a gingersnap crust, which surprisingly didn’t work out well (the filling took longer to cook, and the crust burned). I resigned myself to bringing two classic pumpkin pies to Thanksgiving dinner.

Later that evening, perhaps searching for some consolation, I took another look at the pumpkin meringue pie. At that moment, I learned for the umpteenth time that it pays to be patient. The filling had firmed up, and now resembled the texture of the classic pumpkin pie I know and love. The meringue, which floated loosely above the filling before, had melded to the pumpkin filling. I took a small slice straight from the pie pan to my mouth, joyful at the taste and also thinking, of course. Like the classic pumpkin pie, it just needed some time to chill.

While I could beat myself up for not reading the recipe thoroughly to begin with (isn’t that what people always say to do?), I’m glad I didn’t, because there’s a good chance I would have just skipped over it once I saw that you don’t bake the pie. Instead, I got in a situation that forced me to think of a delicious solution. As for my impatience, well, when pie is involved, can you really blame me?

Pumpkin Meringue Pie
Adapted from Canal House Cooks Every Day

Crust
2 cups finely crushed gingersnap cookies (I used boxed gingersnap cookies from the grocery store and crushed them with a rolling pin; you could also use a food processor)
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted; plus a little more for the pan

Filling and Topping
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
¾ cup white sugar
1 ¼ cups canned pumpkin
½ cup whole milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt

1. For the crust, heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-inch pie pan. Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter on top and stir until fully combined. Evenly press the crust into the prepared pie pan. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. For the filling, pour the gelatin into ¼ cup cold water and set aside. Combine the egg yolks, ¼ cup sugar, the pumpkin, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large saucepan. Place the pan on medium heat and let the pumpkin mixture cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes. The mixture should be thickened and cooked down a bit. Crumble the solidified gelatin over the pumpkin mixture and stir well to combine. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for a bit.
3. For the topping, use an electric hand mixer to beat the egg whites until foamy in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Continue to beat, gradually adding the remaining ½ cup of sugar, until the egg whites can hold stiff peaks (they should look a little shiny, too).
4. To assemble the pie, pour the pumpkin filling evenly into the pie crust. Evenly spread the egg white mixture on top, smoothing the top with a large spoon or spatula. Bake for 15 minutes (the meringue topping should be lightly browned). Let cool for at least one hour, then transfer the pie to the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Heritage Stories, and Making Irish Soda Bread

Last week, for St. Patrick’s Day, I went the traditional route and made Irish soda bread. Cut into thick slices, toasted, and drizzled with honey from the Quinault bees, it’s pure bread bliss. Buttermilk adds an underlying tangy flavor, and the combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flours creates a loaf that is light and fluffy but just dense enough to hold up to soup dipping.

Making Irish food always gives me a chance to think over my Irish heritage (I’m half-Irish, on my dad’s side), something I’ve grown up celebrating. Irish cuisine, as I’ve said before, can be hard to love. At the same time, there’s a lot of good there if you give it a chance. Soda bread is one of those good things. And it connects me to something elemental, the image of my grandma’s cousin Marge making her bread, in a Donegal cottage surrounded by green hills and sparkling blue sea, where we sat drinking tea and talking.

Donegal is where my Irish family history begins, where my great-grandparents met and married and immigrated from. Going there creates a deeper connection to the family history. The stories about my great-grandmother leaving the small island where she grew up at age 11 to work in a restaurant on the mainland, looking out at her old home every night from her window. How she found out she was marrying my great-grandfather because the priest announced it during a sermon. He went to America first, and she followed later with their two children (four more, including my grandma, were born later). When she got off the boat they barely recognized each other: she’d been sick the whole journey and lost a lot of weight; he’d stuffed himself with potatoes stateside and put on some pounds.

When I make Irish food, I think about these things. This bread allowed me some time to think, as the process is quite simple. It contains the most basic of ingredients, and you barely need to knead it. It does not contain yeast and so does not need to rise. This soda bread was the perfect accompaniment to the seafood stew I made for an early St. Patrick’s Day dinner. I mixed the dough, kneaded it just so it stuck together in a smooth ball, flattened it slightly on a baking sheet, and baked it. When I took the bread out of the oven I could hardly wait to cut into it, and having a warm slice is highly recommended.

It’s crazy, in a way, that making a simple loaf of bread can bring to mind so many family stories and connections. It’s also one of the things I love about cooking. Another little story came to mind as I was thinking about making Irish bread. Years after arriving in America, my great-grandmother told my mom and dad about her journey across the Atlantic, her being sick the whole time. But after all, she said, it was her first trip.

Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from Mastering the Art of Baking

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
4 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks; plus more for the pan
1 ¼ cups buttermilk

1. Grease a baking sheet with butter. Dust a little flour on top, then shake the pan over the sink to remove excess flour. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Using your fingers, blend the butter into the flour mixture. This should result in a coarse, crumbly texture. Add the buttermilk and stir until a dough forms.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Knead the dough in the bowl or on a floured work surface until smooth. Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and shape it into a flat-ish ball about 7 inches across. Use a knife to cut a cross in the dough.
5. Bake bread for 45 minutes; it should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped near the bottom. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

A Cookie Obsessive: Jam Thumbprint Cookies

In December, I get a little cookie obsessive. Okay, maybe more than a little. I’ve started a tradition of making a new cookie each holiday season (along with the much-loved gingerbread cookies I make every year). With so many recipes to choose from, this requires more than a little research, and I’m willing to be quite thorough in the name of dessert.

I methodically scoured my cookbook collection and binders of clipped recipes, and searched the Internet for possibilities. Several food sites, such as Food52 and Saveur, offer collections of cookie recipes from around the world. I found recipes for cookies I never knew existed, but when I finally narrowed my list down to one cookie recipe, I chose something more familiar to me. Thumbprint cookies, filled with sparkling jam, seemed so downright festive that I couldn’t help but pick them out.

I was also swayed by the fact that we already had peach and strawberry jams in the fridge, waiting to be used (Thomas and I don’t eat much jam, but we had some on hand from ginger-peach chicken and crepes). The simplicity was another plus. Butter cookies are the friend of the busy holiday chef: they provide a delicious cookie without too much work, and these ones don’t require rolling out or using cookie cutters. All you need is a tablespoon and a thumb that can somewhat center itself and press down on each ball of dough.

Speaking of that tablespoon: the original recipe called for a teaspoon of dough per cookie. I scoffed at this, thinking the cookies would be too small. Well, the cookies expanded as they baked, and went from dainty-size to flatter and wider cookies. After I got over the initial surprise, I realized that this was exactly what I wanted. The cookies fit inside my palm, so they’re not huge, and this way you get maximal cookie in one crisp-edged, buttery treat with jam in the middle (sometimes overflow occurred, but I like that look too).

This time of year, I sometimes get so caught up in what needs to get done, but things like making cookies helps me appreciate December and the people and traditions that make it special every year. There’s the gingerbread, of course, but each year’s new recipe also adds another element, of trying something new among all the traditions. Isn’t it nice to know a simple cookie can do all that?

Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Adapted from Miette
Makes 26 cookies

Note: I opted for browner edges because I like my butter cookies crisp. You can adjust the cooking time according to your preference.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature (do not microwave)
½ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
About ½ cup of fruit jam (any flavor)

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small mixing bowl.
2. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Once this mixture is well combined, beat in the egg until it is completely mixed in. Throughout this mixing process, stop mixing a few times and use a large spoon to scrape down any mixture from the sides of the bowl.
3. Use a large spoon to stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture, stirring until combined. Cover the bowl with foil or plastic wrap, and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Use a tablespoon to measure out the dough. Roll each tablespoon into a ball and place on the prepared baking sheets (be sure to place them far enough apart, an inch or so, to allow them room for spreading). Using your thumb, make an indent in each cookie (do this carefully, to avoid making the indent too deep and/or wide).
6. Stir the jam a few times to loosen it up. Use a small spoon to put a tiny dollop of jam (about ½ teaspoon) in each cookie.
7. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 20 minutes for regular browned edges and 25 minutes for extra-crisp edges. Let the cookies cool for at least 30 minutes before placing in containers (this gives the jam time to set, and creates less mess in the container). Eating as soon as possible, on the other hand, is definitely allowed.

Tradition with Additions: Potato Latkes with Eggs and Smoked Salmon

Have you ever heard the phrase “don’t gild the lily”? It means you shouldn’t try to change or add to something that’s already great. Well, I’ve gilded the lily here. I’ve taken a perfectly good potato latke and topped it with soft-cooked eggs and smoked salmon. No regrets, as it’s delicious.

Here’s how it happened. I have loved latkes ever since I first had them at neighborhood Hanukkah parties during my childhood. But I’ve only felt so-so about their traditional accompaniments, like applesauce or sour cream. Then a coworker posted a recipe on Facebook that featured latkes topped with smoked salmon. “That’s everything I love!” I gushed in the comments. I resolved to make them soon. Then, while looking for a good latke recipe, I came across big breakfast latkes topped with fried eggs in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

But I didn’t want to make big latkes; I wanted smaller ones, the kind you could serve to a group at a holiday gathering or brunch. The kind I remembered from childhood. But I loved the idea of an egg topping, because the combination of potatoes, eggs, and salmon is truly everything I love. I thought over a few egg preparation potentials (Hard-boiled? Scrambled?) before settling on soft-cooked. You can of course adjust the eggs to fit whatever you prefer.

This hodgepodge of a recipe turned out to have an intuitive rhythm: I mixed the latke ingredients, then as the oil heated I sliced the smoked salmon; as the cooked latkes stayed warm in the oven, I boiled and peeled the eggs. The resulting dinner was a fantastic latke experience—crispy, crunchy potato on the outside, soft potato on the inside, topped with runny eggs and smoked salmon. Just typing this makes me want to head back into the kitchen to make more. The recipe made seven latkes, but I’ve doubled it below, because you’ll find that seven is just not enough.

Perhaps the only downside is having to grate potatoes by hand (my food processor isn’t high-tech enough to do it for me), but if you find yourself in this predicament, please don’t let it stop you. Just think of the delicious latkes. I always do.

Potato Latkes with Eggs and Smoked Salmon
Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes 14 latkes

2 russet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and grated (use a food processor or handheld grater)
1 onion, peeled and very finely diced
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Vegetable oil
14 eggs for topping the latkes (if you don’t have or don’t want to buy this many eggs, you can reduce this to 7 and use half an egg per latke)
4 ounces smoked salmon, sliced into 1-inch long strips

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl, stir together the grated potato and onion. Place this mixture in a clean dishcloth and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then squeeze again. Set aside.
2. In the large bowl that formerly held the potato/onion mixture, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and beaten eggs until well mixed. The mixture will be like very sticky dough. Stir in the squeezed potatoes and onions until well coated.
3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-low heat. Place a little less than  ¼ cup (about 3 tablespoons) of the latke mixture into the skillet and flatten it with the bottom of a measuring cup or the back of a spoon. Repeat until you’ve filled the skillet with latkes but still have enough room to flip them. Cook the latkes 3-4 minutes per side; each side should be a dark golden brown. Transfer cooked latkes to prepared baking sheet.
4. Repeat step 3 with remaining latke mixture. When the latkes are done, place the baking sheet in the oven and turn the heat to 250 degrees. This will keep the latkes warm while you cook the eggs.
5. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Carefully add the eggs and reduce the heat to medium. Let simmer for 7 minutes. Immediately drain the water and run the eggs under cold water a few times (this will prevent the eggs from turning greenish-gray in the yolks and will cool them down for peeling). Peel the eggs.
6. Remove the latkes from the oven and transfer to plates, keeping the latkes in a single layer. Place an egg on top of a latke and slice it a few times lengthwise. Sprinkle smoked salmon over the egg slices. Repeat with remaining latkes.