Christmas Cookie-Making Tips

December 7th 2009

Assuming you already have a cookie recipe (usually a box of cookie flour comes with it), here are some pieces of advice to make perfect cookies:

1. Sifting and accurate measurement of flour is important if your cookies are to turn out just right. Too much flour and your cookies will be dry and hard; too little can cause them to spread during baking. Flour packs down during storage, so if your recipe calls for sifted flour, sift. If you don't, you might be adding too much flour to your dough. Spoon the sifted flour into the measuring cup, leveling off with the straight edge of a knife for accurate measurement.

2. When measuring brown sugar, remember to pack it down into the measuring cup and then level off with a knife.

3. Butter will give your cookies a rich, distinctive flavor, a uniformly, fine texture and a nice yellow color. Cookies baked with butter keep better, staying fresh and moist for weeks when stored in an air-tight container. The butter flavor improves with storage, too. Vegetable shortening is also popular for some types of recipes; it's odorless and tasteless, and can make cookies crispy or chewy, depending on the amount used.

4. If you are tired of round cookies, make fancy shapes. For Christmas, angel Santa and reindeer cookies would be nice and easy.

3 Ways to Cheer Up Your Kitchen

1. DANDY APRON: Inspire the cook to make more holiday goodies by making an apron for him or her out of red and white cloth, accented with a dish towel with beautiful pattern.

2. BOTTLES OF GOURMET VINEGAR: Don't throw wine bottles away. They make good containers for herbed vinegars or vinaigrette salad dressing. Or you may paint them with pastoral scenes and you can make beautiful stories out of them.

3. CHRISTMAS PLATES: It's time to bring out the Christmas plates you've kept in the cabinet for the past 300 days. Set your guests' dining table with a Christmas motif always ready for guests. This could be one of the areas where your imagination can have free play to cheer up not only the family but also anybody who comes for a holiday visit.