Gingerbread Cookies and a Book Review #ChristmasCookieWeek

Gingerbread Cookies are the perfect way to start off the Holiday Season.  I had my Angel Face Kitchen Elf help me decorate.  She did a great job!!

We are baking Christmas Cookies this week......

Molasses Cookies #ChristmasCookiesWeek

 These classic old fashioned spicy snap cookies are sure to make Santa very happy.

Woohooooooo..it is time for Christmas Cookies Week......

Quatre Epices Cookies #ChristmasCookies #KitchenMatrixCookingProject

This post is sponsored on behalf of #ChristmasCookiesWeek. The generous sponsors, YumGoggle, Sprinkle Pop, Silpat and Adams Extracts have provided us with products for recipe creation and a giveaway for our readers. As always, all opinions are my own.  

These tender, cake like cookies are flavored with a spice mix known in French as Quatre Epices.  A lovely mixture of pepper, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  These cookies also are spiced with some cinnamon for a perfect Christmas treat.

Please join me for Day 2 of Christmas Cookie Week.......

Persimmon Chestnut Spice Cookies #FabulousFallBounty

Today is the final day of our Fabulous Fall Bounty event hosted by Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla and sponsored by Melissa's Produce, Le Creuset and Silpat.

I received the above products from these companies.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  I have received no monetary compensation for this post.

It has been quite the week!  There have been tons of wonderful recipes from the dozen bloggers participating in this event.  I have shared a French Soup, a salad full of Fall Flavors, a Baby Beet salad, a Mexican dish containing Guajillo Chiles and thought I would end this party with dessert.

Are you familiar with persimmons?  I have to confess that until last year, I had never tried one.  They weren't even part of  my vocabulary.  Then, I was sent some from Melissa's Produce when they sponsored one of our Wine Pairing events and I fell in love.

Needless to say I was very excited to receive some again in this Fabulous Fall Bounty Basket.  Last year I made a cake and some dip.  This year I decided to make some cookies.

This gave me an excuse to use my new Silpat mat.  I use my silicone mats all the time and I'm excited that I now have 4 of them so that when making cookies, I can get two baking trays ready while two are in the oven.  That makes short work of your baking time.

I also use silicone mats when roasting veggies.  Anytime you would use parchment paper on a baking sheet you can use the silicone mats.  I still keep parchment on hand for lining cake pans though.  I'm waiting for silpat to come out with round mats to be used in cake pans and different size square and oblong mats to be used in baking pans. Their website promises new products coming soon so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I found this recipe for Persimmon Cookies on Allrecipes.com.  It called for walnuts but I had some steamed and peeled chestnuts from Melissa's so I substituted those.

I also used ginger instead of cloves and lessened the amount of nutmeg in the recipe.

The final adaptation was replacing the raisins with dried cranberries.

These soft, chewy cookies were reminiscent of taking a bite of spice cake.  The only moisture in these cookies comes from the persimmon and egg. The persimmon had turned gelatin like from the cornstarch but dissolved upon addition to the creamed butter.

I had the batter made and all 4 trays of cookies, containing 20 cookies on each tray,  baked and cooling in less than an hours time.  Perfect for during the busy holidays.

I had enough cookies to take to our church for the choir concert afterglow and still put some in the freezer to serve during the holidays.  I am going to pull some of them for the Thanksgiving dessert table.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the recipes from this Fabulous Fall Bounty event as much as I.  I have found lots of great new recipes that can't wait to try.  This cookie recipe is destined to become a yearly tradition.

Persimmon Chestnut Spice Cookies

adapted from Allrecipes. com submitted by Patty Tindall

2 ripe Fuyu persimmons, stemmed and quartered

1 t. baking soda

2 c. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ginger

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

1 c. sugar

1 stick butter, room temperature

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. chopped chestnuts

Place the persimmons and baking soda in a food processor and puree.  Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and persimmon.  Stir in flour mixture and then beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the cranberries and chestnuts.

Using a small cookie scoop place onto a baking tray covered with a silicone mat.  The cookies do not spread much at all and are very cakelike so you can put 20 per tray.  

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. Print Recipe

Final Fabulous Fall Bounty Recipes

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Around the World. Pryaniki (Russian Spice Drops) #ChristmasCookies

Today is Day 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies.  We are 2/3 of the way through with this wonderful event.  I have been traveling the world to bring you a different country's cookie each day. It has been a lot of fun and I want to thank you for joining with me on this world tour.  I love learning of other cultures through their foods and traditions.

Welcome to the 12 Days of Cookies, hosted by Family Around the Table and Cooking With Carlee. We are filling the season with all kinds of delicious cookies.  Be sure to check out some of the recipes below or you can follow along on Facebook or Twitter by searching #ChristmasCookies.  We also have a 12 Days of Cookies Pinterest board where you can see all of the goodness!  May your holidays be sweet!

Today we are visiting Russia.  Our very first exchange student, Marina, came to us from Russia. My Marina was delightful and started us on a path of many years of exchange students.  We maintain contact with all of our "kids" and pray that one day we can have all of them together with us over the holidays.

I already visited Poland during this tour and almost skipped Russia because their food is so similar but then I found this recipe for a spice cookie that sounded so wonderful I couldn't resist.

This recipe, like many during this event, comes from Barbara Rolek, Eastern European Food Expert over at About.com.

Pyraniki
adapted from Barbara Rolek, Eastern European Food Expert

1 egg
2 egg yolks
6 T. butter, melted
3/4 c. honey
3 c. flour
3 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cardamom
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. cloves
dash of salt
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 T. water
colored sugar


In large bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat together the egg, yolks, butter and honey.  Add the flour, baking powder, spices and salt, mix at low speed until combined.  Increase speed and mix until well incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Roll chilled dough into smooth balls, using a cookie scoop so portions are even.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350* oven for 16-18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time.  Cool cookies completely on a wire rack.

Combine powdered sugar and water in a shallow bowl until smooth.  Dip each cookie into the icing and sprinkle with colored sugar.  Print Recipe

Let's see what the other's baked up today!

Chestnut Praline Latte Cookies from A Palatable Pastime

Coffee Cake Cookies from Jolene's Recipe Journal

Lightened up Peanut Blossoms from Simple and Savory

Muddy Snowballs from Family Around the Table

Peppermint Meringues from Feeding Big

Pyraniki from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Toffee Shortbread from The Chef Next Door

Welcome Home Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cooking With Carlee