Longtime baker offers tips on making Christmas cookies
Mary Ann Williams, of Middlesex Township, struggles to figure out how many cookies she has made in the past 12 years for wedding cookie tables, Christmas events, office parties and other events.
“I’d say in the tens of thousands, leaning toward six digits,” she said.
This Christmas is no different, as Williams began gathering supplies and mixing dough a few weeks before Thanksgiving.
“Each Christmas, I try to do at least 12 or 14 different kinds of cookies,” she said. “The most popular are lady locks and peanut butter blossoms.”
The local cookie expert has one main piece of advice for home Christmas cookie bakers — start early.
“It’s a whole season until the end of the year,” Williams said. “Look for sales on ingredients. Look at the ads in the paper. Look online for sales.
“I get very excited when King Arthur all-purpose flour goes on sale, because that is really my favorite flour,” she said. “Things just seem to come out better.”
Regarding flour, Williams recommends gently scooping it from the bag into the measuring cup, then leveling it off.
“When you dig the measuring cup into the flour, you could be off by as much as 1/3 cup,” she said.
Williams prefers to weigh the ingredients for her cookies to ensure the best result.
“It’s more accurate and easier to clean up,” she said.
Butter must be softened before use, she said. Although most microwaves have a “soften” button, Williams said those who forget to pull their butter from the fridge would be better off unboxing the sticks and laying them on the counter in a sunbeam.
She uses both salted and unsalted butter, depending on the recipe, and does not have a preference regarding brand.
“It all seems pretty good,” Williams said.
As of Nov. 10, Williams had stockpiled 16 pounds of butter in anticipation of Christmas cookie season.
“I might need more,” she said, “but I thought that was a good start.”
William said when incorporating the flour and other dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture, mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just incorporated evenly.
“If you overmix, the cookies can turn out tough,” Williams said. “In any baking, follow the recipe very closely. It is a science.”
For vanilla flavoring, Williams eschews artificial vanilla.
“I like Wilkin's Pure Vanilla,” she said.
She makes various doughs ahead of time and freezes them, then thaws them before pulling out a large board she places on her kitchen’s island to roll and cut cookies into shapes using Christmas cookie cutters.
Williams uses steel cookie sheets with a dimpled surface for air flow.
“I’ve probably had them for 30 years,” she said.
She also lines her cookie sheets with parchment paper. One sheet can be used for four or five batches of cookies, depending on the variety being baked.
“It makes it easier to get the cookie off the pan,” Williams said.
She is very careful to dispose of parchment paper used for cookies containing peanut butter or nuts before moving onto another variety in case a recipient has a nut allergy.
Williams recommends verifying the accuracy of an older oven’s temperature with an oven thermometer before beginning to bake Christmas cookies.
She can get about 30 smaller or 20 larger cookies on her oversized cookie sheets, which she bakes one sheet at a time.
“I like to bake in the middle of the oven,” Williams said.
Once cooled, most cookies are packed up and frozen until decorating day. Williams decorates and fills cookies with her own icing. She makes different varieties for thumbprint cookies, sugar cookies and lady lock filling.
For Christmas-themed cut-out cookies, she uses two colors in the interest of expediency.
“The more colors you have on a cookie, the more time it takes,” Williams said. “I don’t really want to spend all day on one type of cookie because then I don’t get time to enjoy my Christmas season.”
She does not recommend freezing iced sugar cookies — she thaws her frozen cut-outs to decorate them with icing the day before they are delivered.
Cherry blossom cookies
Yields 4.5 dozen
Ingredients:
1 cup of butter, softened
1 cup of confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cherry maraschino
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
6 drops of red food coloring
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries
54 chocolate kisses
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat the butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl.
Add the cherry maraschino and almond extract, and add the red food coloring, if available.
Beat in the flour and add the cherries.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place each about an inch apart from one another on a baking sheet.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies are light brown.
Remove from oven and immediately press chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. The cookies will crack around the edges.
Let them cool, and enjoy!
