How to Save Yourself from Your Christmas Cookies and Have Some Left to Give

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

This time of year, I like to bake a lot of cookies. I'm not even opposed to eating a couple. The problem is that we have way more than a couple hanging around.

Additionally, I want to have enough leftover to give away. That's over half the reason (did you hear that, friends, over half the reason--wow, you should feel very special) I'm baking them. But I don't want to be running out each day to give a batch to so and then the next day to so and other so. I want to go as a family on a (somewhat) convenient day with plates of different varieties of cookies.

How to save yourself from your Christmas cookies and have some leftover to give?

1. The day you bake them, let them cool, have one or two if you wish. Then, cut them and bag them up in Ziploc baggies.

2. Take your bags and label them if your cookies are different, but look similar. Then put them in the freezer.

3. Don't panic, you can still eat one if you have an absolute hankering. They're just in your freezer. But what won't happen is that you won't end up eating them just because, gee, there are 17 varieties of cookie sitting on your counter. Happy breakfast to you. Furthermore, by freezing them up nice and tight the first day, you'll keep them surprisingly fresh.

4. When cookie giving day comes, you can pack up plates with different kinds of all the cookies you bake. I just love this. That way I get the fun of making and tasting the different kinds of cookies. And the receiver gets the fun of not making and tasting the different kinds of cookies.

5. As a bonus tip, I like to put the cookies on a plate tightly wrapped with foil or cellophane. And then I like to put that in a gallon sized Ziploc freezer bag. It's not the prettiest presentation in the universe (you guys should know by now that that isn't my strongest suite). But it is incredibly practical. This way if your friends are completely cookied out by the time you get to them (and let's face it, cookie overload can happen), they can just throw your plate of cookies in the freezer and enjoy them later when they're ready, like some dreary day in January. The cookies are not exactly vacuum-packed like this, but they will keep well for a couple of months in someone's freezer. Want to go even further? Individually wrap each cookie in cellophane and then put them in the Ziploc bag for further freezer protection. That way any cookie-saturated friends can take one out of the bag when the whim arises and the rest will stay fresh even longer.

Happy baking.
Happy giving.
Happy not weighing 17 trillion pounds.

What to Do When Good Cookies Go Wrong

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

(This is a not a picture of the cookies gone wrong. It's a shot of the beauties created from the cookies gone wrong. Now, how can a person scoff at atonement?) 

Maybe it's just the sheer volume of cookies baked at this time of year, but we generally have a batch (or few) that get messed up: overdone, or weirdly flat (about that baking soda...), or missing a vital ingredients (like the gingersnaps without the ginger). It's not the end of the world, especially if the cookies are intended for a class of 3-year-olds or something. But it is annoying. It's really annoying when you're planning to give cookies to your dearest friends as gifts.

"Dear Dearest Friend,

Here is a batch of some of my favorite spice cookies. I overbaked them and forgot the ginger, and heck, you don't really want more cookies at this time of year anyway, but I hope you enjoy this gift as a symbol of our friendship.

Love,
Me"

Yeah, I'm just not feeling it. So when I screw up my Christmas cookies, I generally just make another batch.

But what to do about that edible, but imperfect pan of cookies sitting there on your counter.

Well, friends, when life hands you edible, but imperfect cookies, you make a wicked good pie (or cheesecake) crust, that's what you do.

Here's how:

1. Let your cookies dry out a bit (unless of course, they're fatal flaw was overbaking, in which case you should be good).

2. Put them in a blender or food processor (I found that for still slightly moist cookies, the food processor worked best) and blend them into crumbs, just like you could do with graham crackers for a graham cracker crust.

3. Make something with them this moment. Or put them in a Ziploc bag and freeze them until you need them. (Do yourself a favor and label them lest you forget what they are and end up thinking they're bread crumbs and use them on your next crusted chicken breast or casserole or stuffing).

4. And how exactly do you use them? Use them as you would graham cracker crumbs in a graham cracker crust.
a. A typical crust uses 1 packet or about 10 graham crackers. This comes out to 1 1/4 C crumbs. So if you want to sub in your cookie crumbs, sub in 1 1/4 Cto 1 1/2 C cookie crumbs.
b. Add in half the butter you would for a graham cracker crust and then add more butter if necessary. (You do this because your cookie crumbs tend to have more fat and moisture than graham crackers, so using as much melted butter as you normally would in a graham cracker crust would yield too wet of a crust.)

This year, I made a rather too dry batch of speculaas. It saddened me deeply, as speculaas is already a risky and misunderstood cookie in that people look at it and see a) a cookie they don't recognize as normal Christmas fare and b) a cookie sans chocolate.

Last night we made Seven Layer Cookies/Magic Cookie Bars. We used the standard graham cracker crust for some, but for another batch, we used the speculaas. I thought it came out pretty awesome. I'm thinking to use the rest as a crust for cheesecake. It would be especially delightful for a pumpkin cheesecake. Oh, yes, it would.

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

It's time again for the Secret Recipe Club. This month I was assigned Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks. I also love books and cooking so Hezzi-D (Heather) and I were a good match. We also, it appear, enjoy pumpkin. Which is just where I was drawn. Festive, but not necessarily loaded with sugar. I really really wanted to make the Pumpkin ravioli, which is wrapped in wonton wrappers--a move of brilliance so supreme that I cannot thank her enough for the idea. But the Asian store has not yet made my rounds so that one would have to wait.

Her Skinny Pumpkin Spice Latte caught my eye both because she used a bit of actual pumpkin instead of just the pumpkin pie spice, and also because I don't get the whole Starbucks craze and thought this might bring me closer to understanding. The only problem is that I'm not a coffee drinker (thus my issues with the Starbucks craze), so I decided to make it with chocolate instead. Which took a little experimenting (it was torture I assure you). In my first attempt, I just skipped the coffee and added a packet of hot chocolate mix into the milk. This was good. Oh, yes, it was. It was dessert in a cup--thick, creamy, and very rich and intense--the perfect thing for people who soundly declare, "Don't drink your calories, smink your calories." And then have another cup. I'm not opposed to liquid desserts, but wanted something more like Hezzi-D's original concept.

My next idea was to go lazy style and just add water to my dessert in a cup mixture. This worked and I had a less intense, still delicious spiced hot chocolate. Yet, I still felt that it was missing that slightly bitter undertone that something like coffee would give a drink like this to keep it from being so cloying.

Hmm, I thought, what has to do with chocolate and is bitter? Since I only have about 3 brain cells, it took a couple minutes to dawn on me. Uh, yeah, maybe, like cocoa. Out went the packet of hot chocolate mix, in went caramel, cocoa, milk, and, well, still the whipped cream of course. Cloying, after all, she has her place. I was very pleased with the result. A solid, not too sweet hot chocolate with tones of caramel, pumpkin pie spice, and even pumpkin. Thanks Hezzi-D. Starbucks and I can now be at peace.

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate
adapted from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks 
Makes 1 C
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $.40 (now, that can sure compete with Starbucks)
(caramel sauce: .15, milk: .10, whipped cream: .05, cocoa: .10)

3 tsp caramel sauce (make your own or use some from a jar)
3 tsp cocoa
pinch pumpkin pie spice
3/4 C milk (I used 2%)
1 tsp pumpkin
whipped cream (try homemade for sheer awesomeness)
another pinch pumpkin pie spice for garnish

Mix/whisk caramel sauce, cocoa, and pumpkin pie spice in a small saucepan. This helps make the cocoa so it's not grainy in your end product. When it's smooth, add just a bit of milk. Whisk until the substance is warm enough that the chocolate and caramel mixture is one with the milk. Then add the remaining milk.

Heat until steaming (not boiling). Remove from heat and whisk in your pumpkin.

Garnish with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice. Drink.

Note: For those interested in dessert in a cup, here's the original, very rich and caloric first experiment:

3/4 C milk (2%)
3 tsp caramel sauce
pinch pumpkin pie spice
1 packet of your favorite hot chocolate mix
1 tsp canned pumpkin
whipped cream
pumpkin pie spice

Heat caramel sauce, milk, and pumpkin pie spice until milk is steaming. Remove from heat and whisk in pumpkin and packet of hot chocolate mix.

Garnish with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice. Drink it slowly my friends.

Too rich for you? Add 1/2 C hot water to the mix. Don't worry, it doesn't water it down, just tones it down a bit.

PRINTABLE RECIPES

Linked up to Sweets for a Saturday.