Pumpkin Decorator Cookies

These soft cookies yield to the tooth, but are still solid enough to decorate. Yum! They do spread, so they're not right for cutters that require definition. Circles are ideal.

3 cups flour

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup unflavored vegetable shortening

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger for 20 seconds, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks one at a time. Mix in pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined.
3. Roll, cut and bake in preheated oven 11 - 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Decorated Cookies

I've been on a cookie decorating roll of late. They just make such excellent gifts.

Wedding gifts, for instance.

 

 

Easy orange marmalade

4 lbs oranges*
5.5 cups granulated sugar
5.5 cups brown sugar
juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Boil oranges, in enough water to allow them to float away from the bottom in pan, for two hours.
2. Remove from the water, wipe off, and allow to cool until they can be safely handled.
3. Cut each orange in half, remove seeds, and squeeze the juice into a saucepan. (This is simply to keep the juice from squirting all over your cutting board! If the flesh is still firm, you can just chop it.)
4. Finely slice the rind and roughly chop the pulp.
5. Add orange solids, sugars, lemon juice and vanilla to the orange juice.
6. Bring to a boil.
7. Run about half the mixture through a blender at this point if you want fewer peel shreds, and return to the saucepan.
8. Bring back to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
9. The jam is ready to can. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

* I've tried this recipe with grapefruit and orange, and I suspect that lime would work equally well. To cut the bitterness of the grapefruit, I added a teaspoon of baking soda with the sugar. Another way to decrease the bitterness is to separate the membranes from the citrus fruit before chopping, tie them in cheesecloth (for the pectin) and remove the pouch from the marmalade before canning. I'm looking forward to combining orange and lime for a combo marmalade.

Cranberry sauce

12 oz cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1 cardamom pod
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1. Wash the cranberries and discard any spoiled ones.
2. Tie the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom in a cheesecloth pouch. This makes it much easier to fish them out of the sauce!
3. Bring spices, orange juice and sugar to a boil. The longer you simmer, the stronger the spice flavour will be, so use your own judgment.
4. Add cranberries and boil until they pop, which takes about 10 minutes.
5. Discard the spices.
6. Allow to cool one hour, and serve. The sauce will thicken.

This is a fantastic recipe for holiday canning, and makes a unique, affordable Christmas gift. Process for 15 minutes if you're using the hot water method. Note that this recipe leaves you with a pretty strong cinnamon flavour, so you could use half a stick if you'd like a more balanced spice flavour.

Chocolate Almond Meringues

3 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat oven at 150 degrees. (My oven only goes down to 170, but lower would be better.)
2. Using the fastest setting on your mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks.
3. Sift sugar and cocoa powder into mixture. Beat until combined.
4. Add almond extract and stir in.
5. If the eggs are no longer holding their stiff peaks, beat again until they do.
6. Pipe 2-3 tablespoon mounds onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I find it easiest to spoon the mixture into a disposable zipper bag, seal it, and snip a corner off.
   
7. Bake for two hours. Turn cookie sheet halfway through to ensure that meringues dry evenly.
8. Leave meringues to dry overnight.

These meringues turned out chewier than I wanted. Next time, I'll store them with a desiccant packet, and perhaps try meringue powder.

Peppermint Marshmallows

3 packages unflavored gelatin (21 grams)
1 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup (the clear kind)
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
red food colouring (optional)
powdered sugar

1. Dust a large baking dish (Mine is 9" x 11".) with powdered sugar.
   
2. Place the gelatin in the bowl of your stand mixer (whipping attachment) and pour 1/2 cup of the water over it. Allow it to sit while you prepare the syrup.
3. Place remaining 1/2 cup water, corn syrup, sugar and salt into a medium saucepan. Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature and boil, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 240 degrees (hard ball).
4. Turn mixer onto speed 2 (I have a Kitchenaid) and slowly pour the hot syrup into the softened gelatin.
   
5. Add the peppermint extract and increase the mixer speed to 10. Whip until mixture is thickened and white (6 to 8 minutes).
6. (Optional) Add 3-4 drops food colouring and stir in lightly for marbled white and pink marshmallows.
7. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Dust the top with additional sugar and let stand, uncovered, overnight.
8. Cut into squares with kitchen scissors and roll in more sugar. (Marshmallows will be sticky.)
   

These marshmallows are great in hot chocolate. If you want a more pronounced minty flavour, increase the peppermint extract to 1 tsp and leave out the vanilla..