Chef Bill's Molasses Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Chef Bill
Yield - 3 dozen
These spicy cookies are perfect for the holidays. Cut out
with cookie cutters, the cookies can be artfully decorated with white royal
icing, sugars and candies.
Ingredients -
2 cups all-purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. Ground Cloves
1 T. Vanilla Syrup (see Chefs Note Below)
1 tsp. Salt
4 oz. Margarine
2 oz. Unsalted Butter
1 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
1 Egg, lightly beaten
2 oz. Molasses
Royal icing, colorful sugars and candies for decorating
Method -
Have all ingredients at room temperature.
Over a stainless steel bowl, sift together the flour, baking
soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, beat the margarine, butter and sugar on high speed until light and
fluffy, 2 to 4 minutes; stop mixer and scrape down sides of bowl several times.
Add the egg, molasses and vanilla syrup and continue beating until blended, 1 to 2 minutes
more; stop mixer and scrape down sides of bowl occasionally. Reduce speed to
low, add the flour mixture and beat until just blended and no lumps of flour
remain.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape it
into a ball and divide in half. Shape each half into a 5-inch flat disk. Cover
separately with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or as long as
overnight.
Position a rack in the center of an oven and preheat to
350F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough to
1/4-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to the
prepared baking sheets. Gather scraps of dough into a ball and continue rolling
out dough and cutting cookies. Bake until the cookies are lightly browned
around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.
Use Oven Mitts to transfer the baking sheets to a rack and cool for 5 minutes.
Using a metal spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Repeat
with the remaining dough. When cookies have cooled, decorate as desired with
icing, sugars and candies. Makes 10 to 20 cookies, depending on cutter size.
Chefs Note: We prefer to use real Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans to make Vanilla Syrup for all of our desserts & bakery products! If you do not have vanilla beans, you can substitute vanilla extract.Click here for the best Vanilla Beans!
Vanilla Syrup: Split the vanilla bean in half and combine it in a sauce pan with 1 cup of water and 4 ounces of sugar, bring it to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Let cool, this mixture can be used in place of artifical vanilla extract for all of your recipes. Save the vanilla bean in a sealed container, it can be used again.
Recipe courtesy of Chef Bill
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
Recipe by - Chef Edward
Yield 5 lb. dough, 92 (1 oz.) cookies
Ingredients -
18 oz. Salted Butter
12 oz. Brown Sugar
8 oz. Granulated Sugar
20 oz. Peanut Butter
3 lg. Eggs (6 oz.)
2 lb. Flour
2 t. Baking Soda
1 t. Vanilla Extract
Method -
Use a Scale to weigh all ingredients. Use an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and cream together the first three ingredients (beat until fluffy). Scrape the bowl several times. Add the peanut butter and blend until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time. In a large bowl sift together the flour and baking soda. Fold the flour mixture in last on low speed. Fold together, do not over mix. Preheat a convection oven to 350 degrees F., grease several heavy sheet pans (cookie sheets). Use a Scale to weigh dough into 1 oz. Pieces, line up cookies on a sheet pan 3 rows x 5 rows. Use a fork to imprint pattern on cookies. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Using an offset spatula, remove from sheet pans immediately.
Chefs Note: These are traditional American peanut butter cookies, there are many variations found in different regions of the world. You cant eat just one!
Gingerbread Houses & Cookies (click here)
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