Cookie Time!

Okay, I know what you're thinking..more cookies.  It just feels to me that Christmas isn't Christmas without loads of cookies!  Last night I made a sugar cookie recipe I had been eying up in the new food network magazine and some kolache cookies, my "sister-in-law", Sheila makes every Christmas. I hope you guys enjoy these recipes as much as me. Especially the kolache, yum!

For kolache, you will need:

1 cup of butter, softened
1 package of cream cheese, softened
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
Apricot jam, raspberry jam or any of your favorite preserves

Cream sugar and cream cheese together until well blended.
Add yolks, one at a time.
Next add vanilla and icing sugar and blend until creamy.
Sift in the baking soda, salt and flour.
Mix well and form into a ball.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for two hours or overnight.
Once it has been chilled, roll it out about 3/4 of a cm thick.
Using a round cookie cutter or glass cut out as many rounds as you can. The dough is difficult to roll out perfectly again.
Place rounds on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Place a spoonful of jam in the middle. I pressed my fingers in the middle of the circle to create a small pocket before placing the jam.
Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. These cookies seem to cook fast, so make sure you keep an eye on them.
Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Sprinkle with some icing sugar if you like and enjoy!

For the best ever sugar cookies, you will need:

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a small bowl, mix flour and salt together.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugars together for 4 to 6 minutes until super creamy.
Beat one yolk at a time until well blended.
Finally add vanilla.
Mix in the flour in two batches.
Form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for an hour or two.
Once chilled, cut the ball in two pieces.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll out first piece to about 3/4 cm thick.
Cut into your favorite shapes and place on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
Bake for 8-9 minutes, but to be safe I would check at 7, especially at batch 3 and 4.
Keep repeating the process until all your cookies are done.
***A few little tips for this recipe is to make sure that the dough is COLD and not to over work it. It is the most delicate dough I have ever used, so make sure when you cut out your cookies, you try not to leave much excess! It is a pain in the booty to re-roll this dough!

I also made cinnamon sugar-ed sugar cookies with this recipe, by just sprinkling some cinnamon and then some regular sugar over them before baking. They turned out really nice to!

Happy baking! I'll be back soon!

Until next time,
Jacqueline

P.S. Check out this mini buche de noel Mark bought at Sobeys yesterday! So cute!