Cookie #80 - Graham Crackers

When I was a little girl, I thought graham crackers were actually called "Gram crackers" for my grandmother.  When I was in elementary school, I remember coming home and she having graham crackers and grape jelly ready for me. 
These cookies were not difficult to make.  The dough was fragrant and very easy to work with.  I baked the for two different cooking times and achieved two seemingly different cookies.  One very soft with a subtle honey flavor and one much crispier with a stronger, darker flavor (the ones pictured are the longer baked variety).  Both cookies were delish and I encourage you to try both baking times to find the way you like your homemade graham crackers. 

Homemade Graham Crackers

2 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
7 tbsp butter, cold and cut into cubes
1/3 cup honey (I used local honey)
5 tbsp whole milk
2 tbsp (yes, tablespoons) vanilla
Cinnamon sugar topping (1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, pulsing 5-6 times to combine.  Add chilled butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
In a small bowl, mix together honey, milk, and vanilla.  With the food processor running, drizzle in the milk mixture until the dough just comes together.
Divide the dough in half and form into a ball, dust lightly with flour and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until between 1/8-1/4" thick. 
To cut them, use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into rectangles about 3" wide by 6" long.  Place the rectangles onto parchment lined baking sheets.  Using a fork,  create perforations that divided each cracker into 4 equal pieces - be sure to pierce all the way through the dough.  Then lightly prick the dough all over using the fork, this time being careful not to pierce all the way through.
Chill the cut out squares for at least 30 minutes before baking. 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sprinkle the cookies with the cinnamon sugar topping.  Bake the cookies depending on the type of cookie you want to achieve:
For the softer, more mild cookie, bake for about 10 minutes until they just start to turn golden. 
For the crispier, stronger flavored cookie, bake for 15 minutes until they are dark and firm. 
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Cookie #51 - New Mexico Bizcochito

Yet another cookie that I may add to my Christmas cookie repertoire!

The first time I ever heard of bizcochito was in a Food Network special that featured Santa Fe Biscochitos, a small company that sells the traditional cookie.  Bizcochito is a thin, crisp cookie flavored with anise and cinnamon.  Traditionally, they're served at special occasions, like weddings and christenings, or at religious holidays, like Christmas.  They're very seldom known outside of New Mexico and it's a damn shame because these are some good cookies. 

This was the first time I had worked with anise seed.  I have used star anise in the past to flavor things like mulled wine, but never the actual seeds.  I must say the seeds themselves are quite deceptive.  You must grind the seeds first and then sift them to remove the hulls.  For every tablespoon of anise seed you probably get about a teaspoon of actual ground anise.  Allow me to give you a visual:

This is what you get:

And this is what you waste:

I was able to find anise seed relatively inexpensively at my grocery store - about $3 for a package.  The flavor the ground anise brings to the cookie is so worth it. 

Then there's the cinnamon sugar topping.  The recipe says to wet the cookie dough before sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar.  With my first batch, I used a pastry brush and brushed each individual cookie and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top.  When I finished the first sheet of cookies, I looked at the huge ball of dough I still had to roll and cut and knew that wasn't the way to go.  So, I got out my squirt bottle I use to moisten the oven when making pastry and filled it with water.  Then I got out my small sieve I use for powdered sugar dusting.  I misted the cookies and went over them with the sieve full of cinnamon sugar.  Easy peasy! 

I cut my cookies into star shapes because that was the first cookie cutter I grabbed.  Traditionally, the cookies are cut into a fleur-de-lis.  I didn't have such a cutter and my search of local retailers came up empty handed.  I didn't have time to order one online, but if you desire, you can do so from Sur La Table.

When rolling out the cookies, the recipe I used called for the dough to be rolled out to 1/2" thick.  I initially thought that was a bit thick for a cookie that is described as "thin and crispy."  I rolled the next batch slightly thinner at 1/4" and they were perfect. 

New Mexico Bizcochito

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons ground anise seeds (grind whole seeds in a spice mill and sift)

2 2/3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Cinnamon topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter, shortening and sugar together until light.  Add egg, egg yolk and anise seed; mix until well combined. 

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Gently fold the flour into the butter mixture until just combined.  Do not over mix and do not beat the dough.  Divide the dough into four portions and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Flatten into disks and place in refrigerator for at least 45 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, stir together the cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Roll out dough in small portions on a lightly floured work surface. Be sure to keep unused portions of dough chilled until you're ready to roll them.  Cut out cookies with your cutter of choice and place on parchment lined baking sheets about 1" apart.  (If your kitchen is particularly warm, you may want to chill the dough for a few minutes before placing in the oven.)

Using a spray bottle, moisten the cookies with water and top them with the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are lightly golden.  Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. 

Apparently these cookies will keep very well if tightly covered - several weeks even.  However, once you taste them, I can assure you they won't last that long!

Cookie #39 - Maine Blueberry Biscuits

I have this very fond memory from my childhood of picking blueberries.  One summer, I was invited to my friend's grandparent's house in Monticello, NY a few times to spend the weekend.  On Saturday mornings, we went out in their backyard and picked wild blueberries for pancakes.  I can almost taste those pancakes.  The blueberries were so tiny and sweet, I had never tasted anything like it before.   
I often think about that summer.  Of riding in the bed of her grandpa's old rusty pick up holding onto a canoe and getting pelted with pebbles from the gravel road we traveled to the lake.  We made up a game that it was hillbillies in the woods shooting at us as we drove by.  We swam in that murky lake until we were water logged and the skin of our finger tips was wrinkled like a prune.  We'd fall asleep in sleeping bags on the covered porch to the sound of the crickets, cicadas and owls. 
Sadly, this friend and I grew apart as some childhood friends do. Our freshman year of high school, our grandmother's both passed on the same day. We came together for a short period during that time of grief and I shared with her my fond memory of her gran's blueberry pancakes.

Fast forward to today, and my 3-year-old daughter's obsession with blueberries.  I keep a bag in the freezer for her.  She'll eat them frozen and be covered in blueberry juice by the time she's done.  I actually bought her a special bib just for blueberry eating.  Actually, it's a smock.  Hey, kid's clothes are expensive and it's the next best thing to letting her eat naked.  Here's an example of what Miss Nee looks like after a bowl full of blueberries:

Now onto the cookie.  These biscuits are known by a rather strange name, which I'm not particularly fond of.  They're called "Smashed Fly Biscuits" because, well, the little dried berries look like smashed flies. Yuck.  They're traditionally made with currants, but I substituted dried wild blueberries. 

They are scrumptious.  They're not an overly sweet cookie - more like a shortbread.  The sugar on top adds a nice crunch and extra sweetness and the egg wash gives them a beautiful glossy finish.  They'd be perfect for breakfast with a cup of tea (or in my case, a Diet Coke - yes, I'm one of those).  I ate a good portion of this batch in the car on my way to work and, of course, I had to share some with Sydney.  Thank goodness they're dried and didn't make too much of a mess on the way to preschool.

I adapted this recipe from a few different ones I found while researching the Smashed Fly Biscuit.  Most of the recipes I found where British and therefore the ingredients are listed by weight. 

Maine Blueberry Biscuits

8 ounces softened butter

6 ounces sugar

2 eggs, separated

Zest of one lemon

14 ounces AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 ounces of dried blueberries (that was the package size I could find)

1/4 cup turbinado sugar

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth.  Beat in egg yolks until just combined, then add lemon zest. 

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and add slowly to the butter/egg mixture until well combined.

Stir in dried blueberries.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll dough on a well floured surface until about 1/4" thick.  Cut into desired shapes (I used a 2 1/2" scalloped circle cutter).  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2" apart.

Chill the cut out dough for about 15 minutes before baking. While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are just starting to turn golden.

Whisk the egg whites with about a tablespoon of cool water.

Remove the cookies from the oven and brush one cookie at a time with egg white and then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. 

Return to the oven for about 5 minutes more until the edges are golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Cookie #24 - Alaska Sourdough

Without further delay, I present to you the Alaskan Sourdough cookie.  When my husband and I were dating, he went fishing in Alaska.  One of his favorite memories was of the sourdough pancakes made by the Inuit woman that owned the inn they stayed at.  The sourdough started she used had been in her family for generations.  Since I wasn't lucky enough to have a sourdough starter handed down to me, I had to make my own. 

I started with two cups of AP flour, 2 cups of warm water (about 110 degrees F) and 1/4 ounce of dried yeast.  I mixed all these together in a bowl and set it in a warm place to proof for 48 hours (hence the delay in posting these cookies).  The smell coming off this starter as it proofed was intoxicatingly sweet.  It was a cross between fresh baked bread and a good beer. 

Now it was time to make cookies.  Again, as the cookies baked you could smell the same sweet smell that came from the starter combined with vanilla and almond.  The cookie was soft and cakey with a subtle tang of the sourdough.  I did find the almond flavoring a little overpowering, perhaps next time I will omit it.  I did glaze the cookies with some simple powdered sugar mixed with milk and lemon juice and that added a nice sweetness - just enough. 

Alaska Sourdough Cookies

1 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sourdough starter
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Cream shortening and sugar together until creaming.  Add egg and extracts.  Stir in sourdough starter.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to shortening/sugar/starter mixture in small batches until well combined.
Chill dough for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out dough on a well-floured surface to about 1/4" thick.  Cut out cookies with a 3" round cookie cutter (or shape of choice).  Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
 
If desired, mix two cups confectioners sugar and two tablespoons each lemon juice and milk to make a glaze.  Drizzle over the cookies and allow to dry.