MERRY & BRIGHT

local food pros share a few of their favourite holiday recipes to brighten the sweets tray and enliven the cookie swap this year

BY TRALEE PEARCE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETE PATERSON

FOOD STYLING BY JANE FELLOWES

Let’s cut to the chase. After the last two years we’ve had, we could all use a cookie. Or 12.

Thankfully, holiday bakers and their grateful family and friends anticipate the season’s baking rituals as much as its gift giving and twinkly lights. Embedded in the sweets we share are a wide range of narratives. Some are born of old family recipe boxes and beloved flourdusted cookbooks, and evoke a nostalgia not dissimilar from that of pulling out the box of Christmas tree decorations and greeting them anew. Other treats reach beyond the traditional to spruce up a cookie tray that may read as a little rote.

Whether you’re baking for a cookie swap, packaging gifts for friends and family or stocking your own cookie platter, consider trying (or slipping to a friend or family member you’d like to influence) one of the 10 recipes – six pictured here and four more online at inthehills.ca – shared with us by six generous local kitchens. The recipes include classics, those plucked from professional bakers’ own dog-eared cookbooks, and clever new inventions. Happy baking – and happy holidays – from all of us at In The Hills.

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery Snowball Madeleines

A few years ago Spirit Tree owner Tom Wilson was looking for a new Christmas cookie to offer from his bakery – something classic, but not so familiar that it was widely available. He and the baking team shrank a Madeleine down to bite-sized, added a lightly boozy filling and topped it with coconut “snow.” “Canadians for some reason, even though we don’t grow coconuts, are just fascinated with anything coconut,” he says. As of late November head baker Diane ClarksonDann oversees the rollout of these moist flavour bombs – if you need to take, you know, a research trip.

Makes 12 to 18 2-inch Madeleines. ¾ cup unsalted butter (at room temperature) ¾ cup white sugar zest of 1 large lemon 3 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 1⁄3 cups, all-purpose flour

filling and topping ½ cup seedless jam (cherry or raspberry) 5 tbsp water ½ cup whipping cream 1 tsp sugar ½ cup Baileys Irish Cream (or flavouring of your choice) 1 cup shredded coconut 6–9 glacé cherries red glitter sugar (to garnish)

Preheat oven to 350F. Whip butter, sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, adding vanilla last. Sift in flour and stir to a smooth batter. Scoop the mixture into greased muffin tins or silicone pans. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the topping, combine jam with water over medium heat while whisking until it comes to a simmer. Continue to cook 2 more minutes. Pour into a shallow bowl and set aside. To make the filling, beat whipping cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Fold in Baileys Irish Cream. To assemble, use a serrated knife to cut off the dome of each cake, then carefully scoop out a small portion of the middle using a melon baller or teaspoon. Pipe a little filling into each and replace the dome. Freeze 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and roll in jam mixture and then coconut to cover completely. Top each with half a glacé cherry rolled in red glitter sugar.

Bistro du Pain’s Biscuiterie Nantaise

This French classic has a fascinating past – it began life as a commercial chocolate cookie sandwich in the 1920s made by a French company, Biscuiterie Nantaise. The cookie was updated with a cheeky smiley face in the 1990s. Alan Le Louedec and Gaëlle Thollet tap into their nostalgia for the cookie at their Bistro du Pain bakery in Erin – and use the name of the store-bought variety, too. “It’s a really popular biscuit for kids,” says Gaëlle. “It reminds us of our childhood, eating it after the school.” Although it’s undeniably a kid’s treat, their elevated version leans on a polished chocolate ganache for a grown-up touch.

Makes about 10 4-inch cookies.

ganache ½ cup 35% cream 3½ tsp inverted sugar (liquid sweetener) 2¼ tsp liquid glucose 3.5 oz solid dark chocolate chips or discs

biscuit 1½ cups icing sugar ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened 3 1⁄3 cups flour 2½ tsp baking powder 2 eggs 2 tbsp milk a few drops vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 360F.

To make the ganache, combine cream, inverted sugar and liquid glucose in a large pot. Using the stove top, heat the mixture on medium until it starts to boil. While you wait, place the dark chocolate in a large bowl. When cream is boiling pour it over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Mix by hand slowly until fully combined. Put bowl in the fridge to allow chocolate to harden into a spreadable consistency.

Do you have a treasured recipe you’d like to share? Visit us at www.inthehills.ca/ share-your-recipes and fill us in.

To make the cookies, combine sugar and butter in a large bowl. Mix on medium until smooth. With a spatula scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. It is very important there are no chunks of butter in the dough. In another bowl combine flour and baking powder. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. We recommend splitting it into at least three sections, allowing it to fully combine before mixing in rest of the flour.

Once completely mixed, combine eggs, milk and vanilla in another bowl. Slowly add to the flour and butter mixture until fully combined. Cool dough for 1 hour in the fridge. Once cool, use a rolling pin to roll it out. The goal is to have it about 3⁄8 inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into fun shapes, making sure there is an even number.

Cook on a nonstick sheet for 10 to 15 minutes. Once the cookies have cooled spread a thick layer of chocolate ganache on one and place a second cookie on top. Be careful not to press down the top cookie too hard or it will break.

www.orangevilleflowers.com

450 Richardson Rd, Unit #5, Orangeville | bridlewoodsoaps.com | 519.942.2875www.bridlewoodsoaps.com

Le Finis Sugar Cookie with Royal Icing

Cookies were the first thing Le Finis chef Terry Doel was allowed to bake when she was a kid. “I got so good, I did all the Christmas baking in our house,” she says. “To this day I still participate in cookie exchanges as I love to see everyone’s creativity (except for the year one person brought a store-bought oatmeal cookie).” Try these out and we’re pretty sure you’ll win at the cookie exchange – even if your icing piping skills aren’t Terry-level. These are about 3 inches wide, but the recipe can be used with any sized cutter.

Makes 24 to 36 cookies, depending on size.

2 cups butter 1 cup granulated sugar 1½ cups icing sugar 4 cups egg yolks 2 tsp vanilla 2 tsp orange zest 1 tsp baking powder 4½ cups flour coloured sugar (optional)

royal icing 2 cups confectioners’ sugar 2 tbsp meringue powder a few drops vanilla or extract of choice 3½ tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugars (not the coloured sugar) together with a mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks, vanilla and zest until just combined. Sift together baking powder and flour. Add to wet mixture until well incorporated. Form into 3 balls and let chill 30 minutes. Roll out dough on a floured surface until ¼-inch thick. Cut out in desired shapes. (If you’d like to skip the royal icing stage, another option is to sprinkle the cookies with coloured sugar before baking.) Bake on a sheet pan with parchment paper for 8 to 12 minutes until just golden on the edges. Let cool.

For the icing, put dry ingredients into mixer. Add extract to water and pour in while mixer is running. Once all water is in, turn mixer up to medium-high and run until icing is fluffy with stiff peaks. This may take 7 to 10 minutes. Using a piping bag pipe, create designs on cooled sugar cookies. Let set a few hours.

Rasmi’s Falafel’s Maamoul Cookies

In the Middle East and the Arab world, maamoul is the main treat served to family, friends, and guests during holidays such as Ramadan and Eid. Islam Salamah, who works with her family at Orangeville’s Rasmi’s Falafel food truck, crafts these homemade cookies by tucking seasoned date paste into a piece of dough, pressing it into a decorative maamoul mold and popping it out onto a cookie tray to bake. As a substitute, any small mold or even mini-cupcake pan will do, but you may not be able to resist the urge to seek out the pretty, authentic molds. Rich yet not too sweet, these are cookies you won’t feel (too) guilty enjoying with your morning coffee.

Makes about 25 2-inch cookies.

¾ cup melted butter ½ cup confectioners’ sugar 1 egg 1 tbsp vanilla 1 tbsp baking powder pinch of salt 2¼ cups flour 28 ounces date paste 1 tsp cardamom

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixer combine butter and sugar. Stir egg and vanilla into butter mixture until it is creamy. Sift baking powder, salt and flour into butter-sugar mixture. Blend until well combined. Spice date paste with cardamom. To assemble, divide the dough into 1 ½-inch balls. Create a hole in a ball, add enough date paste to fill. Seal and cover the paste by rounding off the dough. Press the ball into a flour-dusted mold. Pop it out and put into a greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Gourmandissimo’s Jam Sandwich Cookies

At any given time, pastry chef Adriana Roche of Caledon East’s catering hot spot Gourmandissimo has up to a dozen cookies available for sale. She’s offered two options for us mere mortals to try at home. She designed her Santa Fudge Brownie Cookies to be kid-helper friendly – and a hit with the jolly old elf. “It matters what cookies you leave out on Christmas Eve, and it gives children so much pride to help make them.” (See the recipe online.) The jam sandwich cookies pictured here are a dainty-yet-sturdy cookie tray stalwart – easy to customize to suit your tastes. Adriana says they work equally well with Nutella, lemon curd, marmalade or chocolate ganache. We may have to take that as a challenge and test each one.

Makes about 24 sandwich cookies.

½ cup unsalted butter ½ cup granulated sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt confectioners’ sugar for dusting top layer 1⁄3 cup jam of choice (approximate)

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a stand mixer beat softened butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla slowly. Scrape bowl. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the bowl. Mix briefly until combined. Remove and form a smooth dough. You can chill the dough and bring to room temperature when ready to use or roll right away. Line 2 or 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough on lightly floured surface very thin (about 1⁄8 inch). Cut out cookies using a small round cutter (about 2 inches) or drinking glass. Leave half the cutouts whole and for the other half cut out a small form in the middle (round shape, star, heart, etc.). You can reroll the scraps.

Bake for approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until very lightly golden. Let cool completely, dust the cutout cookie with confectioners’ sugar if desired. Place jam filling (1 tsp more or less) on flat side of whole cookie and cover with the cutout cookie.

www.henningsalon.com

Wear your heart on your sleeve (or zipper or ears!) with pulls and earrings inspired by a love for hiking in the great outdoors.

Hiker Dodie 2-Sided Zipper Pull $21.95 +HST Hiker Dodie Earrings $19.95 +HST $5 per item goes towards the purchase of protected land. Available at loopsandlattes.ca www.loopsandlattes.ca

Heatherlea Farm Shoppe Chocolate Almond Crackle Cookies

When asked to whip up some holiday cheer for us, Zac Schleyer and Courtney Snow of Heatherlea Farm Shoppe Café in Caledon turned to two reliable sources they use throughout the holiday season. The chocolate crackle cookies are their version of a classic Martha Stewart recipe they have on repeat. And the duo also leans on beloved cookbook author and illustrator Susan Branch’s recipe for sugar cookies (see recipe online). While they hope you’ll visit and pick up a few, owner Pat McArthur admits that nothing beats a home kitchen: “Baking Christmas cookies is such a happy time to spend with kids, family and/or friends.”

Makes about 4 dozen. 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1 cup blanched, toasted almonds ½ cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp coarse salt ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 1½ cups granulated sugar 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over (but not in) simmering water, stirring. Let mixture cool slightly. Pulse almonds in a food processor until very finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and stir in flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high until fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in chocolate, then reduce mixer to low. Add almond-flour mixture. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then roll in confectioners’ sugar. Arrange on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through until surfaces crack, about 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Shortbread on your Wish List

We have an embarrassment of riches in Headwaters when it comes to purchased shortbread. Orangeville’s shortbread queen, Keri Parfitt, has expanded her footprint. In addition to her 96 Broadway Wicked Shortbread pickup location, Keri opened Wicked Shop Local Bakery & Marketplace at 17 Armstrong Street where her store-made Scottish empire cookies and melt-in-your-mouth stalwarts share shelf space with other local brands. We’re also excited to try out new Creemore player Motherbutter Shortbread at the Holiday Treasures Arts & Crafts Sale at Museum of Dufferin December 1 to 12. (For more on Motherbutter, see page 80.) As for imported shortbread, Mulmur’s Rosemont General Store is brimming with classic brands from Britain. And if you’re looking for something with an Indian twist, Orangeville’s FIG Grocers stocks a range of specialty boxed cookies, including the Deep biscuit brand, which adds cashew, pistachio and even saffron to its recipes.