St Nick Cookies Recipes

SAINT NICHOLAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift flour with spices in bowl. Add baking powder and salt; set aside.
• In large bowl of electric mixer, at high speed, beat butter with sugar and egg until mixture is very light and fluffy.
• With wooden spoon, stir in half of flour mixture, then beat in rest of flour mixture and almonds, mixing with hands, if necessary.
• Refrigerate dough, covered, several hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°F Lightly grease several cookie sheets.
• Remove 1/4 of the dough at a time from the refrigerator. With hand, flatten dough or roll out to 1/8-inch thick. Cut with cookie cutter.
• Repeat with rest of dough, 1/4 at a time. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around edges.
• Remove cookies to wire rack; cool completely.
• Dust lightly with icing sugar. Store cookies in covered container.

SAINT NICK CEREAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, letting foil hang over 2 opposite sides of pan; spray bottom and sides of foil with cooking spray. Reserve 16 marshmallows. In 2 1/2-quart nonstick saucepan, heat remaining marshmallows, the butter, peanut butter and baking chips over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until butter and marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.
• Place cereal in large bowl; pour marshmallow mixture over cereal. Spray wooden spoon or rubber spatula with cooking spray; use to stir marshmallow mixture into cereal. Spread and pat cereal mixture in pan, using sprayed utensil. (Or spray hands and pat mixture into pan; mixture will be quite sticky until set.) Let stand 10 minutes.
• Remove cereal mixture from pan by lifting with foil; peel back foil. Using large sharp knife, cut mixture in half lengthwise into 2 rectangles. To mark 1 rectangle for cutting, place toothpick at each end of one long side; add 3 toothpicks to same side, about every 3 inches, dividing into fourths. On other long side, place toothpick 1 1/2 inches from each end; add 3 toothpicks to same side, about every 3 inches, dividing into thirds. Cut diagonally across rectangle from toothpick to toothpick, forming triangles. Press together 2 end pieces to form eighth triangle. Repeat with remaining rectangle.
• For each cookie, spread frosting from top point to cover top 1/3 of triangle. Place 1 marshmallow at point. Sprinkle red sugar over frosting for hat. Spread frosting over lower 1/3 of cookie for beard; add gumdrop piece at top center of beard for mouth. Add 3 dots of icing to face area for attaching blue bits for eyes and red bit for nose. Let stand 10 minutes until frosting is set.

SPECULAAS

Steps:

• Using a food processor, finely grind the almonds with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Whisk together ground almonds with the rest of the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until combined.
• With the mixer on low speed, add in the flour mixture and mix until just moistened and combined.
• Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap well with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least three hours, but preferably overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Roll dough 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out cookies and place on sheets about 1 inch apart.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm and lightly golden around the edges. Cool sheets on wire racks for a couple minutes before transferring cookies directly onto wire racks with a spatula to finish cooling.