Recipe: Maple Sugar Cookies

2021-12-13: Updated with tweaks from my latest batch, the best yet!
I also added weight equivalents for most of the ingredients.

I also added some notes for what, if anything, to adjust when doubling the recipe, which is what I usually do for giving away cookies during the holidays.

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Living in New York City most of my life, I'm not in what one would think of as "maple country". But the northeast is rich with sugarbushes - the managed groves and forests of maple trees from which sap is harvested and boiled down to make this nectar of the gods. And nearly every NYC Greenmarket (farmers' market) has at least one farmer that sells maple syrup and other maple prodcuts, even if it's not their primary business.

Molasses Spice Cookies

A friend just asked me for my spice cookie recipe. I was surprised to find my current recipe wasn't already up on the blog - the last time was in 2008! So, here it is ...

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King Arthur Flour provides weight equivalents for the volume measures in many of their recipes. I use a kitchen scale and weigh bulk ingredients like sugar and flour whenever possible. It's much faster, more accurate, and leads to more consistent results. It also reduces cleanup, since fewer measuring cups are involved! This is especially convenient for liquid or sticky ingredients like the molasses in this recipe.

I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, sifting it and leaving out the coarsest remaining bran to give it a finer texture. Since I had "robust" molasses, and I was using whole wheat flour, I increased the total amount of spices. I also added vanilla, allspice, and of course cardamom, none of which were in the original recipe. This created a complex taste, where none of the flavors overwhelm, but I think I would miss any I left out.

Grief and Baking: Rolled Holiday Butter Cookies

Today is World AIDS Day. By coincidence, the 41st president also just died, reminding me - and the cohort of survivors from his dark reign - how many more of us died on his watch from inaction, and more active hatred.

It's also my dad's mortiversary, the 10th anniversary of his death.

As I did ten years ago, I turned to baking. In anticipation of our upcoming tree-trimming party, and a hoped-for cookie-decorating side activity, I chose a rolling cookie recipe from King Arthur Flour. Since I'm unfamiliar with this type of cookie, I stayed as close as I could to the original recipe.



I consider these a qualified success. There are some improvements I can make, mostly about technique. I'm happy with the basic recipe.

Lemon Cardamon Sugar Cookies

Recipe updated (improved?) 2016-12-03.

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Recipe: Spice Cookies

I don't cook much, but I love to bake. Over the fall and winter I'll make cookies, cakes, rolls, bread, and so on, from scratch. It appeals to the mad scientist in me. I also like making pancakes and French toast (not really baking) for breakfast.

I made these spice cookies today. They are light and soft yet firm, not chewy, not too sweet, and very tasty. I know adults like them. I haven't tried them out on kids yet.

This is a large batch; it makes 60-70 2" wide cookies. You could cut this recipe in half.

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 & 1/2 Cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons ground spices
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Wet (Batter) Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 Cups (3 sticks) sweet (unsalted) butter, at room temperature
  
• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
   
   
2. Sift the dry ingredients together to remove any lumps and mix them thoroughly and set aside.
   
   
3. In a mixer, cream the butter until it's fluffy and has a light color.
   
   
4. Gradually add the brown and regular (refined) sugar. Cream the sugars and butter together until uniform in color.
   
   
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each one.
   
   
6. Add the vanilla extract.
   
   
7. Scrape down the bowl and blades and mix thoroughly. The batter should be light and fluffy.
   
   
8. Add the dry ingredients gradually, mixing thoroughly.
   
   The result should be a light, fluffy, wet, soft dough which holds soft peaks. If the dough is too wet to hold a peak, add more flour, no more than 1/4 Cup at a time. If the dough is too dry and stiff, add a little liquid (water or milk). Mix thoroughly after each addition, until the dough has the desired consistency.
   
   
9. Place teaspoons of dough on a cookie sheet. (A releasing ice cream scoop is the best tool for this.) Leave enough room for the cookies to spread. (Try setting them up 4x3 for the first sheet, so you can see how they spread.)
   
   
10. Bake the cookies for no more than ten minutes.
    
    Keep an eye on them. The cookies will spread (because of the butter and sugar) and rise slightly (because of the baking powder and the air you whipped into them). When the texture of the tops of the cookies changes from glossy and shiny to matte and dull, or If the edges start to brown, they're done.
    
    If the bottoms of the cookies brown, or even burn, before the tops have set, turn the oven down -25 F.
    
    
11. When the cookies are done, remove the tray to cool for a few minutes, until the cookies firm up, then remove them to a separate cooling rack. If you leave the cookies on the sheets, the bottoms will get soggy.

Possible substitutions:

• You could use whole wheat flour for part or all of the cake flour. If so, be sure to sift several times.
• The spices can be anything you like: allspice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg (a little goes a long way!), cloves. Today, I used the same commercial mulling spice blend, finely ground, which I used in the squash and pear soup last weekend.
• You could omit the vanilla extract, or use a different extract, such as lemon, orange, or almond.
• You can omit or reduce the salt.