SHF/IMBB Cookie Swap: Maple Lace Cookies, Gingerbread Snowflakes and Stained Glass Flowers

This month's combined IMBB and SHF event is the Cookie Swap, perfectly apt for the holidays. Jennifer, the Domestic Goddess, and Il Forno's Alberto, the founders of Sugar High Friday and Is My Blog Burning respectively, are co-hosting the event.

I've mentioned before that I'm not particularly fond of cookies; having said that, I wonder if it's not because I'm bored of the usual chocolate chip and sugar varietals? Seeing as it's the high season for baking, and Jennifer and Alberto have wisely given us a cool reason to bake, I decided to make an effort and find recipes that would excite me enough to want to spend the weekend baking.

The month's food magazines were chock full of cookie recipes, but nothing really caught my eye. The new Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies issue, however, has a mind-bending showcase of cookies. The table of contents consists of four pages of pictures of each featured cookie. Several were stand outs, like the Earl Grey Tea Cookies and Candy Stripe Cookie Sticks, but ultimately, there were three that begged to be made immediately. I took some liberties with the recipes (as always), substituting maple syrup when one recipe called for honey and another for molasses (I'm still really obsessed with this New England maple syrup that Alan and Vanessa gave us), and changed the shape of another cookie, but here are my Holiday Cookies-inspired offerings for the Cookie Swap: Maple Lace Cookies, Gingerbread Snowflakes and Stained Glass Flowers.

I loved making the stained glass cookies -- simply a butter cookie with a cut-out filled by crushed hard candies, like Jolly Ranchers. I'm seriously considering making a stained glass window cookie as a holiday present for my friends Jennifer and Sam, both of whom are connoisseurs. The lace cookie took me by surprise -- talk about a fast and easy cookie! Contrary to the recipe, I used salted butter because I love the interplay of savory with sweet, and the maple syrup provides a balancing sweetness to counter the saltiness. I couldn't find any sanding sugar for the snowflake but I did find edible glitter! Who knew there were such varied cookie decorating tools?

With a fridge full of cookie doughs, I'm imagining all sorts of interesting cookies to make. In addition to looking quite lovely on the plate, these cookies were delicious enough to warrant a late night tea snack with Hubby.

I think this year's stocking stuffers will include a box of homemade cookies. Who knows? Maybe I'll find more recipes to love eating as much as I loved baking these cookies.

The recipes are featured in the special Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies edition and will be available until January 2006. If you would like the other recipes (the original or my versions), just send me an email (ablithepalate AT gmail DOT com) or leave a comment and I'll be happy to send them.

Maple Lace Cookies
based on the Holiday Cookies' recipe

2 T salted butter
2 T dark brown sugar
2 T medium grade maple syrup
2 T all purpose flour
pinch of coarse salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan over medium-low heat. Transfer to a glass bowl. Whisk in the flour and salt.

Drop 1/2 teaspoons of batter onto Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake the cookies until they turn golden brown, about 6 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. The cookies are very delicate and will break easily so remove from the cookie tray with care.

Comments

[tanvi]

All of these cookies are gorgeous! I love the maple lace ones especially. How many does the recipe yield? I'm inspired to whip up a batch tomorrow :-)

[Georgia]

Oh how beautiful! Where did you find the cookie cutters for the snowflakes? They're almost pretty enough to hang on a tree!

[Cath]

Tanvi, the batter made about 15 cookies. I dropped them in 1 teaspoon circles, so they were bigger.

Georgia, I found the 5" snowflake at A.C. Moore -- I think I'm going to be making plenty of snowflake cookie ornaments! :-)

[Rorie]

Beautiful!

[Cath]

Hi Rorie -- thanks!

[chronicler]

Oh so nice! It's a great publication this time around! Great choices for the swap.

[tanvi]

Cath, I just made these cookies and they're delicious! Mine didnt turn out as nicely as yours but the taste made up for the appearance. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

[Ruth]

Your cookies are stunning. I particularly love the snowflakes. And yes, isn't Martha Stewart's cookie magazine awesome?!

Thanks for sharing your treasures.

[Chloe]

And you say you don't like cookies!!?? Those all look great... I was looking at those maple lace cookies too from MS... they look so good I think I am definitely going to add those to the list for present time! :)

[Nupur]

Absolutely gorgeous! A treat for the eyes, what an artist you are!

[keiko]

Hi Cath - these are the prettiest cookies I've ever seen, I especially love the snowflakes ones. Have you decorated your tree with these adorable cookies? :)

Glad you've got a new oven - I still remember how happy I was when we got one after hard work DIYing the whole kitchen.

[VK Narayanan]

What a wonderful cookie! I know lots of hard work involved. Thank you for this great cookies my friend. Have you liked My Dhaba's Rock Cookies?

[LisaSD]

THANK YOU! I was hoping someone would do a maple cookie...I'm hoping to do some for Xmas and need recipes...Your cookies are beautiful!

[Somer]

You're cookies are beautiful! You've inspired me to pull out my snowflake cookie cutters.

[Cath]

Ack! I am SO late responding to everyone's very kind comments!

Chronicler - this was a terrific cookie swap -- I've been slowly trolling through the roundups to find more cookies for holiday presents this year...

Tanvi, I'm SO glad you enjoyed the cookies! They're a little delicate so they'll break easily, but I think the taste makes up for the broken cookies... :-)

Ruth, I loved the drama of snowflake cookie from the magazine -- definitely a keeper!

Hi Chloe! Well, maybe I'll have to revise my opinion of cookies -- the lace cookies are incredibly yummy...

Nupur, THANK YOU, but I can't take the credit for the cookie design -- definitely an MS specialty!

Hi Keiko! Oh the oven is so sweet...almost as sweet as the cookies. And you are a far braver woman than I -- DIY? No no, we go the outsource route! :-)

VK, thanks for coming by! I haven't had a chance to see your cookies yet but will definitely drop by!

Lisa, thank you for the nice words -- and as I've mentioned a few times, I'm a little obsessed with the maple syrup I was given and I keep finding reasons to use it.

Somer, pull those cutters out! And send me a photo of your snowflakes!

[babe_kl]

wow so lovely!

[natalie]

if you wouldn't mind, i would love a copy of your gingerbread snowflake recipe.

thank you so much!

[sam]

they are so pretty! congratulations

[eliza]

hi Cath...congrats on becoming the winner!
i bought the magazine not long ago but haven't tried anything yet. those are my faves too!

[Callie]

Hi. Love your handiwork with the cookies. Can I have the recipes please?

[Cath]

Babe_KL: Thank you thank you!

Natalie, you should have the recipe under a separate email shortly!

Sam, thank you so much! I think I lucked out and found the three prettiest cookies in the magazine to make.

Eliza, you are so sweet! Thank you very much; definitely bake --the magazine is TERRIFIC. (send me a picture of your creations!)

Callie, sent you the recipes, please enjoy; and thanks so much for the nice compliment.

[ruanna]

They sure are very pretty cookies! I was going to try the maple lace cookies, and i noticed it says 2 T flour... is this a typo? Anyway, if you could email me the recipes for the maple and the flower cookies, i'd really appreciate it... thanks!

[Tony]

Very nice!!!

[Gloria]

I love brownies the most!