Gourmet Cookie Bouquets Recipe Blog

Archive for the ‘Cookies’ Category

It gets harder and harder to find just the right holiday gift as we are increasingly surrounded by electronic gadgets and more high-tech toys.  What do you get for people to show them your appreciation without spending a fortune?  How do you get people who seem to have everything a gift they will like?  It’s easy!  Cookies.  It's the perfect gift for virtually any occasion and any recipient.  Sure, there are people who don’t like cookies – but do you know any personally?  We didn’t think so!  Even if the recipient isn’t overly fond of sweets, he/she can take them home and watch them get devoured by friends and family.  For any occasion that leaves you at a loss, turn to Christmas cookie boxes.

When giving cookies, presentation is everything.  Well, the taste of the cookies is everything, but the box is important, too.  A careful presentation can turn this homemade treat into an elegant gift. One very easy way to make a cookie box is to find plain white gift boxes in the size that you want.  Cut strips of patterned paper (scrapbook paper is great for this, but wrapping paper can do in a pinch) and glue a strip around the sides of the box.  Cut a circle from card stock and glue it on the strip at the front of the box.

Fill your box with delicious cookies and close the lid.  Tie a ribbon around the box and tie it at the top.  Next, cut circles from cardboard or cardstock and layer them. This will be the tag, and you can draw on the recipient’s first initial or name.  Glue the tag over the ribbon and the cardstock circle on the front of the box for a personalized seal.

You can make your own cookie boxes, as well.  Associated Content has a helpful instructional video on making an origami box from plain computer paper.  This makes a great box for a small amount of cookies or perhaps some homemade candies.  If you either want to make a bigger box or aren’t dexterous enough to do origami, you can print cookie box templates online.  There are great ones at DontEatthePaste.com.

You can either print one on a paper or cardstock of your choice or you can print it and then trace it onto the paper of your choice.  In either case, all you have to do is cut and fold along the lines.  In no time, you will have a beautiful homemade box for your cookies.

Before you put the cookies into the box, it is a good idea to line it with wax or parchment paper.  Tissue paper is also a great choice, especially if you want to add color to your presentation.  Arrange the cookies carefully, close the box, and secure with a ribbon or sticker.

Here are some other tips for making your gift look and taste perfect:

• Do not store soft and crisp cookies in the same container, because the crisp ones won’t stay crisp.
• Make sure they are stored in a tightly covered container with a sealable or snug lid.
• If your soft cookies have begun to dry out, cut an apple in half and place it skin side down on top of the cookies.  Remove the fruit after a day or so.
• If you need to store cookies longer, put them in freezer-safe containers or bags.  Before serving or giving, make sure they are completely thawed in their original freezer packaging.
• If you are storing dough, shape it into rolls until you are going to use it.
• If you are shipping cookies, brownies, bar cookies, and drop cookies, like chocolate chip, are the least likely to become damaged.  Sugar cookies very often crack or break.  Avoid shipping cookies that have moist or creamy fillings or frostings because they can get sticky and misshaped.
• Add the recipe you used on a decorative tag for a nice homey touch.

Give the gift of homemade cookies; it is sure to be appreciated.  This is one gift you can be sure will be used and loved.

Related Articles:

• The Best Ovens for Cookie Baking
• Christmas Reindeer Cookies
• Easy Christmas Cookies - 1 Dough Made 5 Ways!

Calling all cookie lovers! The cookie has earned its place in America’s heart. There are hundreds of versions of cookie boxes lining the shelves of supermarkets and under the glass freshly baked in bakeries. It’s no wonder that cookies would have worked their way to the minds of those who create national holidays. You may not get a day off from school or work for these cookie-related holidays, but they sure are fun.

National Cookie Month

Did you know that October is National Cookie Month? That’s just one more reason to celebrate the fall! No one’s really sure where the holiday originated, but it has been declared a National Holiday designed to share a love of cookies and baking. The idea is that all month long people will bake and treat others to cookies. This is a great time to get creative and break out the sprinkles and food coloring. Try a new recipe or two. Learn to make Springerle or Spritz cookies or a cookie from a country you’ve never been to. Use your imagination and you can help spread the word about National Cookie Month every October.

National Cookie Cutter Week

Bet you didn’t know that National Cookie Cutter Week falls in the first week of December every year. It was made a holiday back in the 1990's by a woman named Paula Mullins. This Kentucky cookie baker thought it would be fun if she and her fellow members of the Cookie Cutter Collector’s Club had their own special edition cookie cutter each year to use for the holiday every December. The idea behind the holiday? To get people to slow down and think about baking a new form for the holiday cookies. It’s a great time for grandmothers to sit down with grandchildren and moms who are too busy most of the time to take a breather and bake with the kids. It’s a sweet idea. Don’t forget to check out the National Cookie Cutter Collector Club's Museum in Joplin, Missouri.

National Cookie Day

It makes sense that National Cookie Cutter Week falls in line with National Cookie Day which is celebrated on December 4^th every year. The origins of this holiday may be a mystery, but it gives people a good excuse to bake up a batch of cookies for their friends. Why not be the office champion this year and show up on December 4^th with a few dozen of your best?

National Sugar Cookie Day

Why National Sugar Cookie Day is set in the heat of summer is anyone’s guess. But this tasty holiday falls on July 9^th each year. It is a lesser known National Holiday to be sure, but it is the only cookie to have its own special day. So why not celebrate it to the max? If you’d rather be out by the pool than inside baking when July rolls around, why not buy a few rolls of prepared sugar cookie dough at the supermarket? You can find it in the refrigerated section. Roll out the dough and cut with your favorite beach-shaped cookie cutters for a fun pool side snack. There are so many ways to enjoy the humble sugar cookie without ever turning on the oven. You can even buy pre-made sugar cookies from a bakery and decorate them yourself with sprinkles, candies, pretty frosting colors, coconut, chocolate chips and more. Why not have a National Sugar Cookie Day party? Invite the neighborhood kids over to decorate pre-made cookie party favors outside in the sunshine and have a ball. Plus, clean up’s a breeze.

You may not find any cards in the store celebrating any of these whimsical and fun national holidays that focus on cookies. But there’s fun to be had when you take everyone’s favorite dessert and turn it into a whole day of celebration. Treat friends and family to a surprise batch or plan to hold a fundraising bake sale for a good cause on one of these holidays.

Cookie arrangements are a lovely and delicious idea. What they consist of are cookie pops. They can be sugar or other types of cookies made by you. You simply insert a lollipop stick in each one before you bake it and then you’ll be able to set up a gorgeous arrangement. Cookie arrangements make great gifts for everyone on your list.

First, think about the types of containers you want to give your bouquets in. Coffee mugs or a vase stuffed with oasis floral foam work well. But anything that will support the cookies and allow them to stand up straight is fine, too. You can also arrange your cookies in a flat box like roses. They will make a stunning entrance.

You’ll start by baking your sugar cookies. These are the type of cookies that work best as you can decorate them most beautifully. They are by no means the only cookies you can use and you may even want to include various cookie recipes in your arrangement.

The key is to insert the lollipop stick before baking. Try to do it after the cookies are baked and you risk having a crumbling cookie on your hands. Get the large lolly sticks at your craft store or online. Then you can make a long stemmed bouquet. Or, if you’re planning on using your bouquets for table top favors or displays at a dinner or party, get the smaller sticks and do shorter arrangements.

The whole idea is to make the cookies delicious and lovely. So you’re going to need to think about how you’ll decorate. Buy colorful sanding sugars, icing and a cookie cutter or two that matches the occasion. For Valentine’s Day, you might make heart pops and for Easter you might make egg-shaped cookie pops. It can be reindeer for Christmas or even clovers for St. Patrick’s Day. Get creative, send your dentist cookies shaped like teeth. Now make a list of the colors and shapes you’ll need before setting out to the baking supply or craft store.

Use any recipe you like and then insert the sticks. Simply place a stick in the bottom of each cookie while it is lying flat on the cookie sheet. Don’t try to insert the stick and then move the cookie to the sheet. It will fall apart. Insert the stick part way. You won’t want to have any stick showing out of the top, so just about half way is good.

After the cookies are baked and cooled, decorate them. Then you can start arranging them. Decide if you’ll want to house each individual cookie in a cellophane bag with a ribbon, or just leave it as is as part of the bouquet. If you have to transport or store the cookies, definitely wrap them. But if they’re for an indoor party at your home, there’s no need to wrap them unless they’ll be standing for a few days.

Start arranging the cookies by sticking them into floral foam or Styrofoam placed in the bottom of the container. You can add more or less depending on how full you want your arrangement to be. Then you can decorate the jar or mug any way you like. Paint it or tie ribbon on it. It’s up to you. The more decorative, the better.

Give the bouquet right away before the cookies turn hard and inedible.

Jerry Seinfeld made it famous and New Yorkers have claimed them as their own. The black and white cookie is in a class all by itself. Anyone who has ever eaten one can tell you why.

In an episode called, “The Dinner Party,” Jerry Seinfeld, on his namesake show, eats a black and white cookie while waiting for his friend Elaine to come out of a New York bakery. Jerry likens the cookie to a perfect metaphor for racial harmony. He advises that everyone should “Look to the cookie!” for world peace.

Despite the hilarity of the situation, the cookie has always been a serious New York icon. The iced cookies are simply a circular shortbread, sponge-like cake/cookie that is frosted on one-half of the top in chocolate fondant and the other half in vanilla fondant. The icing is sweet and when combined with the cake-like texture of the cookie, is pure eating delight.

The origin of the black and white cookie is really a mystery. It may have something to do with a cookie called the Half Moon which originated in upstate New York. The cookies look similar, but are actually quite different in texture. So, any stories traced back to the Half Moon fizzle out when held under scrutiny. The mysterious black and white has no definite birth place. But New Yorkers are still crazy about it nonetheless.

The black and white is a bakery favorite in its larger version as well as in its mini version. Grocery stores have tried to emulate that classic flavor and texture, but end up falling short. Perhaps only a hand-made batch of batter can turn out the perfect black and white. Maybe it needs to be made by someone’s Uncle Joe in a basement bakery in Brooklyn to taste right.

Anyone visiting New York City, in addition to seeing the Statue of Liberty and eating a dirty water hot dog from a street vendor should rush to a bakery and grab hold of a luscious black and white cookie. It matters little whether you eat the vanilla or the chocolate side first. One bite and you’ll be hooked. You may require weekly shipments of cookie boxes to your home after that first delicate bite. Or, you can try making them yourself if you dare. Here’s how.

This recipe is from epicurious.com.

Black and White Cookies

For cookies

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

For icings

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 to 2 tablespoons water

• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Make cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches at low speed (scraping down side of bowl occasionally), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack and chill (to cool quickly), about 5 minutes.

Make icings while cookies chill:
Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until smooth. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as white icing.

Ice cookies:
Turn cookies flat sides up, then spread white icing over half of each and chocolate over other half.

Warm and melty with an ice cold glass of milk or straight out of the package, the chocolate chip cookie is a National favorite. Perhaps no cookie is more all-American than the little cookie with the big chocolate taste.

Grocery store shelves are packed with chocolate chip cookies in every variety. They come in soft baked, peanut chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, and more. There’s no end to the variations that consumers have been willing to try and have often fallen in love with. Everyone has their favorite.

But perhaps the most famous cookie in America is the Toll House chocolate chip cookie. This now famous cookie was reportedly invented back in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield, who kept an inn called, The Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. The inn originally served as a place where weary travelers could stop for rest and a bite to eat. The story goes that one day while baking for her guests, Wakefield ran of nuts for her cookies. Ever clever and able to make due, she broke up a chocolate bar she had in her pantry and added the chunks to the batter instead of the nuts. The patrons of her inn fell in love with the gourmet cookie and it quickly became known throughout New England as the Toll House cookie.

Just about every cook in America has tried their hand at making the Toll House cookie. The recipe has been printed on Nestle chocolate packaging ever since Ruth Wakefield sold her recipe to the company. But at first, Nestle put the recipe on their chocolate bars and included a little chopper so bakers could make their own chips. This proved to be too time-consuming, so in 1939 Nestle came out with the chocolate chip. Wakefield had one request--that she be granted a lifetime of chocolate chips so she could continue to make her famous Toll House cookies for the folks at the Inn. Her request was granted. In 1984, the Toll House Inn burned down on New Year’s Eve. But the legend lives on in cookie tins and boxes across America.

Massachusetts has adopted the Toll House cookie as their state cookie. Only one other state in the union has a state cookie. (It’s New Mexico with the bizcochito.)

Want to try your hand at the famous recipe? Here is the original form:

Mrs. Wakefield’s Original Toll House Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION:
GREASE 15- x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.