What are Cookies?

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs and sugar. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings. A cookie is a plain bun in Scotland, while in the United States a biscuit is a kind of quick bread similar to a scone. In the United Kingdom, a cookie is referred to as a biscuit, although some types of cookies maintain this name, such as the American-inspired Maryland Cookies, which are also sold there. In South Africa they are called biscuits, and the word cookie refers to cupcakes.

Cookies are most commonly baked until crisp or just long enough that they remain soft, but some kinds of cookies are not baked at all. Cookies are made in a wide variety of styles, using an array of ingredients including sugars, spices, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, nuts or dried fruits. The softness of the cookie may depend on how long it is baked.

A general theory of cookies may be formulated this way. Despite its descent from cakes and other sweetened breads, the cookie in almost all its forms has abandoned water as a medium for cohesion. Water in cakes serves to make the base (in the case of cakes called “batter”) as thin as possible, which allows the bubbles – responsible for a cake’s fluffiness – to form better. In the cookie, the agent of cohesion has become some form of oil. Oils, whether they be in the form of butter, egg yolks, vegetable oils or lard are much more viscous than water and evaporate freely at a much higher temperature than water. Thus a cake made with butter or eggs instead of water is far denser after removal from the oven.

Oils in baked cakes do not behave as soda tends to in the finished result. Rather than evaporating and thickening the mixture, they remain, saturating the bubbles of escaped gases from what little water there might have been in the eggs, if added, and the carbon dioxide released by heating the baking powder. This saturation produces the most texturally attractive feature of the cookie, and indeed all fried foods: crispness saturated with a moisture (namely oil) that does not sink into it.

Almond-Coconut Cookies

• 1. Whisk white whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
• 2. Beat sugar, oil and butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add eggs and almond (or coconut) extract and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add the flour mixture and almonds; mix on low speed until just combined.
• 3. Place half the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 10-inch log (it’s OK if it’s not perfectly round). Repeat with the remaining dough. Wrap and freeze until just firm, about 45 minutes. Reroll the logs to make them rounder and return to the freezer until very firm, at least 1 hour more.
• 4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
• 5. Remove one roll of dough at a time from the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Unwrap the dough and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, turning the dough a quarter turn after each slice to help keep the cookies round. Place 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. If your cookies aren’t as round as you want them to be, shape the dough with your fingers. Sprinkle each cookie with a little coconut and gently press it into the cookie to help it adhere.
• 6. Bake 8 minutes for soft cookies or 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining roll of dough, if desired.
• Tip: White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole-wheat flour. It is available at large supermarkets and natural-foods stores and online at bobsredmill.com or kingarthurflour.com. Store it in the freezer.
• To Make Ahead: Store wrapped rolls of dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

• 1. Whisk white whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
• 2. Beat 1 cup sugar, oil and butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
• 3. Place half the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 10-inch log (it’s OK if it’s not perfectly round). Repeat with the remaining dough. Wrap and freeze until just firm, about 45 minutes. Reroll the logs to make them rounder and return to the freezer until very firm, at least 1 hour more.
• 4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
• 5. Remove one roll of dough at a time from the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Unwrap the dough and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, turning the dough a quarter turn after each slice to help keep the cookies round. Place 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. If your cookies aren’t as round as you want them to be, shape the dough with your fingers. Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon each cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle each cookie with a little.
• 6. Bake 8 minutes for soft cookies or 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining roll of dough, if desired.
• Tip: White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole-wheat flour. It is available at large supermarkets and natural-foods stores and online at bobsredmill.com or kingarthurflour.com. Store it in the freezer.
• To Make Ahead: Store wrapped rolls of dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.

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Baking memories with each batch of Christmas cookies

Friendship fuels Christmas cookie baking
Two friends, Chris Keylock Williams and Lora Giles, remember the highs and lows of baking holiday cookies together for more than 40 years.
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As Christmas traditions go, 40 years may not be a long time. After all, St. Nick dates back to the fourth century. But two Portland women are excited to be marking their 41st year of baking Christmas cookies together.

“It’s amazing to us,” says Chris Keylock Williams, who has been baking with her friend Lora Giles for four decades and has never missed a year. On Thursday, shortly after 8 a.m., they’ll meet in Giles’ Westmoreland kitchen — she has two ovens — and tackle nine kinds of cookies and candy. In their own traditional holiday dance, the women will work intently on their assigned tasks and still manage to visit with each other as they roll out dough and dip peanut butter balls in chocolate.

Recipe included with this story: Swedish Pepperkaker.

By about 5 p.m., they’ll have divided their average yield of 2,540 morsels, tucked them away between sheets of wax paper, sealed them in airtight containers and said goodbye. They won’t need to bake cookies again until the new year.

“In one day, you’re done,” Giles says. And then each of them has enough cookies and candy to give to friends, serve at parties, share with their families and savor with their morning coffee for the rest of the month.

View full sizeChris Keylock WilliamsLast year, Laurie Doving (left), marked 25 years baking with her sister, Chris Keylock Williams (center), and Giles. Doving moved to California this year and Williams’ daughter Kyla will take her place.Williams started the tradition in 1968, when she and her husband were living in England. She’d met another U.S. Air Force wife and the two teamed up to bake Christmas cookies twice before their husbands’ careers diverged. In 1970, Williams, who had ended up in Portland, invited new friend Giles to join her. For 25 years, Williams’ sister, Laurie Doving, was the third member of the team, but she recently moved to California. This year, Williams’ adult daughter Kyla will take her place. That personnel change is the most recent one in a process perfected by trial and error.

They learned to cool and wash the baking sheets between batches of spritz cookies to ensure the dough would release from the cookie press and stick to the baking sheet.

The almond crescents needed to cool on the baking sheets so they wouldn’t break as they were transferred to a rack.

“We didn’t mind if some of them broke,” Williams says. “We ate those.”

Their biggest challenge was the English toffee recipe they got from a college roommate’s mom. The original directions referred to the hot toffee changing color. Many a batch sugared or didn’t set up. The women consulted with a home extension office and a friend, Jack Elmer, the owner of JaCiva’s Chocolates, before they figured out how to use a candy thermometer and the importance of starting with clean utensils for every batch.

Year to year, their discoveries were carefully recorded on the 4-by-8-inch index cards that held the recipes they had collected from mothers and friends. Today, the cards are yellowed and smudged with butter and chocolate. Williams thumbs through them as if they were precious photos in a family album: Swedish pepperkaker, chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls, almond crescents, spritz, peanut butter cups, Danish almond wafers, rum balls, rocky road and the once troublesome toffee.

The recipes themselves stir up baking memories. There was the year it snowed so much on baking day that the families ended up spending the night together. And there was the time a huge storm knocked out the power in the middle of cookie baking.

“Chris got on the phone and called her son,” Giles recalls. “He said the power was on at her house.”

“So I said, ‘Turn on the oven,’” Williams says, “and we loaded everything up and finished up at my house.”

When their children were small — between them they had seven — the women baked sugar cookies and the children decorated them. Now the kids are grown and have children of their own. The sugar cookie recipe has been officially retired, but neither Williams nor Giles is ready to end their holiday tradition.

“It’s never crossed our minds,” Williams says.”

“No, no, no,” Giles adds. “This is what gets us in the mood for Christmas.”

Nancy Haught: 503-294-7625

 
Tips from the pros 

Here are suggestions from Chris Keylock Williams and Lora Giles, who have baked Christmas cookies together for 40 years:

• Set your baking date a month or so ahead. We like to bake around Dec. 8 to 10 so we are ready for parties and gift-giving. Stick to that date as if it’s cast in stone.
• Do as much preparation as you can ahead of the baking session. Figure out who will bring what ingredients. Chop the nuts. Make cookie dough ahead, and measure out the ingredients you’ll need on baking day.
• Create a checklist and use it. Collect baking sheets, a rolling pin, storage boxes, extra sugar, hot pads, recipes, candy thermometer, aprons, sprinkles, cookie cutters — and a camera to record the day.
• Aim to be “all business” and still have fun. We walk in the door at 8:15 a.m. and immediately go to work. Everyone knows exactly what to do so we can bake and talk at the same time.
• Start small. Begin with fewer recipes. Once you know your rhythm, you can add or change recipes from year to year.

Looking for focus with your holiday treats? Go simple, but use quality ingredients

Much as I admire Chris Keylock Williams and Lora Giles for their baking partnership, it’s not for me — at least this year. I come from a Christmas baking dynasty myself, but this holiday season I’m rethinking my commitment to cookies.

Recipe included with this story: Alice Medrich’s Whole-Wheat Sables.

My sons are grown up and, given the choice between an iced sugar cookie and an ice-cold beer, they’d pick the brew. And, truth be told, I can’t afford the calories either. After eight weeks working with a personal trainer on my sagging core, I want to eat better and not waste a single standing biceps curl.

But I long to bake. The smell of cookies baking, the ready offerings when someone stops by for coffee or my family settles around the fireplace to sip eggnog are essential parts of the holiday for me. But this year, I want to think about doing a little less and getting more out of it. In an effort to stop channeling my mother and grandmother, who often went without sleep to bake mountains of Christmas cookies, I’m looking for a little advice.

Carrie Snow is a former chef and registered dietitian who’s worked for Portland Public Schools and is moving this month to Connecticut. She does not laugh at my dilemma.

“I used to bake hundreds of cookies and send them to my neighbors,” she says. But after studying nutrition, she’s adjusted her holiday habits. “I don’t want to get rid of the tradition, just change the focus,” she says.

“I believe in choosing good ingredients, keeping the cookies small and focusing on a wonderful experience with family and friends,” she says. Her Christmas baking might include an Alice Medrich recipe for whole-wheat sablé cookies.

“She makes them with cocoa nibs, but I substitute higher quality chocolate that I chop up myself.”

Garrett Berdan, a nutrition and culinary consultant in Bend, suggests choosing a “signature cookie for the year.”

Choose a flavorful, good-looking cookie, something that people don’t often make. “Not chocolate chip cookies — people whip those out in no time,” he says. Bake the cookies with good ingredients, package them in a small cellophane bag or a tiny box and give a few cookies to friends and family members.

“If you have this really nice, high quality cookie, you don’t need to give away a tray full or show up with a huge platter,” he says. “The receiver can treat the cookie as something special, enjoy one or two of them with a cup of coffee or make them last a couple of days. I definitely believe less is more.”

Laura Widener, whose Montavilla shop, Pastrygirl, will feature a host of holiday cookies in the week before Christmas, is a big believer in cookie exchanges, but she understands my issue.

“I’d do some soul searching,” she says. “I’d look at all the cookies and goodies and decide: These are the one that say ‘holidays’ to me, the ones I can’t live without, the ones where, if it’s midnight and I’ve been baking for 18 hours already, I will still bake them.”

For her it might be chocolate crinkles.

“My mom isn’t a big baker, but she does bake at Christmastime,” Widener says. “Even if she was busy, she’d always make the chocolate crinkles. They’re very near and dear to my heart.”

The recipe is her grandmother’s and one that Widener uses in her shop.

“I’ve not changed it at all,” she says. “I just use better-quality ingredients than my mother and grandmother could.”

Widener uses European butter, fresh organic eggs and a better quality of chocolate. “Spend a little more money if you can,” she says. “It makes a difference. If you put bad ingredients in, you’re not going to get a high quality out.”

She suggests wrapping up a few cookies, maybe putting two of them in a white cupcake paper and a few cupfuls into a small box.

“You could put in a little note, about how these cookies are near and dear to your heart. Include a memory, ‘I remember a Christmas when. …’ People will enjoy them and you’ll leave them wanting more.”

That sounds good to me. As Christmas approaches and I rethink my holiday baking, I’ll commit to fewer recipes, finer ingredients and smaller boxes for family and friends. Maybe less can be more.

Nancy Haught

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baking cookies with Bill & Sheila

A Cookie Assembly Line: Efficient Cookie Baking for Busy Cooks

As a busy working mother, I’m short on time, especially during the holidays, but baking Christmas cookies is a family tradition I’m unwilling to give up.
Over the years, I’ve come up with many ways to make the process of baking a large variety of cookies go much smoother and take less time out of my busy life.

You may want to start by checking out my 6-day program for hassle-free Christmas cookie baking ( http://www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com/hassle-free.php ). In addition to the 6-step method, I’ve found an efficient way to prepare a large variety of cookie dough with minimum fuss by setting up a cookie assembly line. The best part about this process is that you can make 12 different batches of cookies and only have to wash the dishes once! This process assumes that you have already chosen your recipes and gone grocery shopping. You will want to use your longest available expanse of countertop for this. My assembly line turns two corners as it winds around my small kitchen, but that is fine.

You may need to make some adjustments depending on your individual recipes, but for most recipes, you can set up your assembly line like so:
Flour Line:

Large mixing bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Fork for stirring
Flour
Baking powder and baking soda
Salt
Cocoa powder
Spices
Any other dry ingredients that are added to the flour in your recipes

Butter Line

Another large mixing bowl (or the bowl from your stand mixer)
A second set of measuring cups and spoons
Electric mixer
Wooden spoon
Rubber spatula
Butter, shortening, margarine and/or cream cheese
Sugar (white and brown)
Eggs
Vanilla and other extracts
Chunks such as raisins, nuts, chocolate chips
Rolled oats
Any other ingredients that are added to the butter and eggs in your recipes
Plastic wrap
Felt-tip marker

To avoid transferring flavours from one recipe to another, you will start with basic recipes that have no spices, chocolate, or other strongly flavoured ingredients. Starting with your first recipe, go down the line measuring out the amount of flour, baking powder/soda and salt into one bowl. Then, combine the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla in your larger bowl as directed. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. After that, stir in any chunks.
Next, scrape down the edges of the mixing bowl so that it’s fairly clean, shape the dough into a ball, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Identify the recipe by writing its name on the plastic wrap with a felt-tip marker, and refrigerate it. If it is a slice-and-bake refrigerator cookie, form it into a log instead of a ball, according to the directions in your recipe. If you plan to bake much later, you can even freeze the dough. Most cookie dough’s freeze very well. Defrost at room temperature while still wrapped in plastic wrap, and unwrap only when dough is thoroughly defrosted. Otherwise condensation could add too much moisture to your dough.
When your first batch of dough is prepared, wrapped, and stored in the refrigerator or freezer, return to the beginning of your assembly line, without washing your dishes, and begin preparing the next batch of dough. When you have prepared all the recipes that contain no spices or cocoa, move on to the recipes that contain cocoa, and finally those that contain spices. This way, you will only have to do dishes once at the end of the process, and you will have several different kinds of dough waiting to be baked.
When all your dough is prepared, then you can finally put away all your ingredients, clean up the kitchen, and do your dishes. Now if you plan to finish your baking today, you’ll have lots of space for rolling out your dough or setting out your cooling racks. If you plan to bake another day, you’re done!
Copyright 2004 Mimi Cummins. All Rights Reserved.

baking with Bill & Sheila