There are so many Christmas cookie recipes that you can bake, and some are more challenging or demanding than others. The trouble is that the holidays are hectic, and you may not have the time, the patience, or the energy for cutout gingerbread cookies made by rolling out disks of dough and cutting it out with cookie cutters before baking and decorating. That's where these slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies can be a real lifesaver!

These slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies have a really festive flavour from the fancy molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Rolling the logs of cookie dough in turbinado sugar gives a lovely crunch to the edges of each cookie.

Why Slice-and-Bake Gingerbread Cookies?

Slice-and-bake cookies, also known as icebox cookies, allow you to produce hundreds of cookies easily without breaking a sweat. The beauty of this type of cookie is that the recipe is just like rolled-out cookie doughs, but the dough is shaped into logs that are easy to store if wrapped tightly. You can make slice-and-bake cookie dough months ahead and store it in the freezer.

Icebox Gingerbread Cookie Ingredients

If you want to make these easy gingerbread cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• sugar—this recipe calls for both light brown sugar and granulated sugar. The brown sugar adds flavour and softness, while the granulated sugar will contribute to the crisp edges
• molasses, specifically Fancy molasses or light/baking molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which is too bitter for this recipe
• eggs—use large eggs. Don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookie dough won't roll out nicely, but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie or a spread out cookie.
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• spices—ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are added to the dough to make these cookies very flavourful. These are the usual spices in gingerbread, though some may add anise or even ground black pepper
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.

Substitutions and Variations

• Molasses:
  • In this recipe, we are baking with Fancy molasses (which you can find on Amazon), which is sometimes called baking molasses or original molasses in the US (available on Amazon). Mild molasses also works.
  • Another option worth exploring would be black Treacle, which I used in these soft gingerbread cookies. Lyle's Black Treacle is very popular in Great Britain, and it's used to bake instead of molasses. You can also order it on Amazon.
  • Do not use blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is very dark and has a more bitter taste, whereas Fancy molasses has a milder taste that is more suited for Christmas cookies.
  • This recipe works with maple syrup but the colour of the cookies will be lighter. Honey could work as well. In both cases, the flavour will be quite different.
• Spices: typical gingerbread spices include ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but you may also mix and match these with others like allspice, mace, cardamom, and ground black pepper.
• Nuts: you may want to incorporate finely chopped toasted walnuts or hazelnuts in the dough.
• Crystallized ginger: you may enhance the ginger flavour of these cookies by mixing diced crystallized ginger into the dough.

How to Slice-and-Bake Gingerbread Cookies

Just like classic gingerbread cutout cookies, this slice-and-bake cookie dough comes together easily.

Step 1: Whisk the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, and spices) in a medium bowl (image 1) while you cream the butter and the sugars together with your mixer (image 2). Make sure to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula occasionally so that all the ingredients are properly mixed (image 3).

Step 2: Add the egg and molasses to the mixer bowl (image 4) and beat it in. Then add the dry ingredients (image 5). The gingerbread dough will be quite thick (image 6).

Step 3: Divide the dough into three equal portions using a kitchen scale (image 7), then shape each portion of dough into a log (image 8). Each log will measure about 8 inches (20 cm) (image 9). Wrap the logs of gingerbread cookie dough tightly in plastic wrap before chilling overnight (image 10).

Step 4: Roll the chilled logs in turbinado sugar to coat them all around (imamge 11). The slice into rounds on a cutting board using a Chef's knife (image 12).

Tip: If you find that your turbinado sugar isn't adhering well to the logs of cookie dough, you can brush the log with a little egg white before rolling in coarse sugar. The egg white will help the sugar stick.

Step 5: Space out the rounds of cookie dough on parchment-lined half-sheet pans (image 13). Then bake until set (image 14).

Gingerbread Cookie FAQs

Other Gingerbread Recipes

If you are a fan of gingerbread and molasses-flavoured baked goods, here are some of my favourites to try:

• For roll and cut-out gingerbread people,
  • my fave recipe for classic gingerbread cookie cutouts
  • matcha gingerbread cookie variation
• For muffins, try these gingerbread muffins with cranberries
• For stamped cookies, try these soft gingerbread cookies stamped with fancy and festive cookie stamps and topped with a lemon glaze
• For a soft gingerbread variation, try these German gingerbread cookies
• For drop cookies, these chewy molasses cookies are easy and always a hit, as are these ginger cookies with white chocolate
• For a cake version, try this gingerbread sheet cake topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and homemade lemon curd
• For something a little more subtle, simple sugar cookies are also always a hit, whether you feel like decorating or not, and feel free to modify them to make spiced sugar cookies, flavourful but lighter without the earthy molasses!

If you tried this recipe for slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Easy Gingerbread Cookies (Slice and Bake)

These easy gingerbread cookies are a twist on the classic, but in slice-and-bake format to make your life easier! Make the dough ahead of time, then slice and bake when you are ready for cookies!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 13 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 33 minutes minutes

Servings 85 cookies

Calories 30kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 250 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 15 mL ground cinnamon
• 3.75 mL ground ginger
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 2.5 mL ground nutmeg
• 0.625 mL ground cloves
• 115 grams unsalted butter room termperature
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 30 mL Fancy molasses
• 1 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• Turbinado sugar lots

Metric - US

Instructions

• Whisk together the flour, salt, and spices. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the molasses, the egg, and the vanilla, and beat everything together for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl, mixing on low until everything is evenly combined and you have a soft dough.
• Divide the dough into three and roll each dough into a log of about 8-inches long. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190 °C) and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Just before baking, remove one log of dough from the fridge, unwrap it and roll log into a shallow plate of turbinado to coat sides.
• Slice cookies fairly thin (⅛–¼ inch or 3–6 mm thick) and place them on the prepared baking sheets. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes if your kitchen is warm.
• Bake until the edges begin to brown slightly, about 13 minutes. Repeat with remaining logs of dough.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can replace the fancy molasses with baking molasses, light molasses, Treacle, honey, or even maple syrup.
• For more ginger flavour, you can mix diced crystallized ginger into the cookie dough before dividing and shaping into logs.
• If your turbinado sugar doesn't stick to the edges of the logs of dough, brush on a little egg white to help it adhere better.
• For a softer texture, insert a soaked brown sugar saver (terracotta disk) in the container of cookies. After 24 hours, they will have softened.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 350 °F (175 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 15mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 37IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.2mg

The post Easy Gingerbread Cookies (slice and bake) appeared first on The Bake School.

Chocolate sablé cookies are not soft cookies. They have a completely different texture, perhaps closer to a shortbread. I still love chewy chocolate chip cookies and these soft chocolate chocolate chip cookies, of course.

These cookies are perfect for serving with a cup of tea. They aren't greasy, they have a deep cocoa flavour that isn't too sweet. This is a cookie that you can slice and bake, which is convenient because you can make the dough ahead and then bake the cookies when you want them.

Ingredients to Make Chocolate Sablés

This recipe is super easy (after all, it's a slice-and-bake recipe), and I've tested it a few times. It's not overly sweet and the taste is deeply chocolaty from the Cacao Barry Plein Arôme cocoa (a type of cocoa I highly recommend). I've also tried out this recipe with Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa (an even darker cocoa). The mini semisweet chocolate chips balance out the slightly bitter cocoa flavour of the cookie base. These are a guaranteed hit with the chocolate lovers.

• Butter: this recipe calls for unsalted butter. If using salted butter, you will have to adjust or omit the salt in the recipe
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar gives these chocolate sablés their signature sandy texture
• Vanilla: use pure vanilla extract if you can
• Milk: use whole milk (3.25 % fat) or reduced-fat milk (2 % fat)
• Flour: use bleached all-purpose flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
• Cocoa powder: use a high-quality cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed, like Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• Salt: I used Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but if using table salt, you will use half the amount as it is saltier than Diamond Crystal.
• Optional ingredients: mini chocolate chips and turbinado sugar

See recipe card for exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• Cocoa powder: I've tested these with a few varieties of cocoa powder (some darker and some redder) but only Dutch-processed cocoa powder with a 20–25% fat content. Different cocoa powders may affect the colour of the cookies.
• Chocolate chips: I used mini chocolate chips, but finely chopped chocolate will also work (whether white, milk, or dark). Make sure to chop it fine enough because large chocolate pieces make slicing these cookies challenging.
• Milk: traditional recipes sablés call for egg yolks instead of milk to bind them together. You can try that if you prefer.
• Turbinado sugar: instead of rolling in turbinado sugar, you can try rolling in chopped nuts, for example.

Tip: Hot cocoa mix is not a substitute for cocoa powder. Hot cocoa mix contains powdered milk and lots of sugar, as well as other emulsifiers.

How to Make Chocolate Sablés

Like most slice-and-bake cookies, chocolate sablés are easy to make and they store very well!

Step 1: sift the flour and cocoa powder together to remove any lumps, especially from the cocoa powder (image 1). Use a whisk to ensure these ingredients are evenly and well mixed (image 2).

Step 2: Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer bowl (image 3) and cream them together until light and fluffy, scraping down the edges of the bowl with a spatula as needed (image 4).

Step 3: add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl (image 5) and stir until the mixture is crumbly (image 6), then add the milk and the vanilla to bring the dough together (image 7). Stir in the chocolate chips (image 8).

Step 4: mix the dough until all the chocolate chips are incorporated (image 9).

Step 5: divide the dough into 2 equal portions (image 10) and wrap them in plastic wrap to chill them overnight (image 10). If you want to coat the edges in turbinado sugar, do so when the cookie dough is firm but not hard (image 11).

Tip: if you have trouble getting the sugar coating to stick on the cookie dough logs, you may brush them with a little egg white to help the sugar adhere.

Step 6: When ready to bake, slice the cookie dough into rounds (image 12) using a large chef's knife.

Step 7: Place the chocolate sablés on a sheet pan, staggering and spacing them evenly to allow airflow (image 13). Bake until firm and dry (image 14).

Slice-and-Bake Tips

Slice-and-bake cookies are fun and easy to make and you can customize them in so many ways. Here are a few tips to help you make them:

• If you are incorporating nuts, chocolate chips, or other add-ins, make sure they are chopped finely because otherwise, you will have trouble neatly slicing the cookies and maintaining their shape through the process.
• If your log of chocolate cookie dough is rock hard, consider giving it 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature to soften ever-so-slightly to make slicing through the dough easier.
• If the cookie dough gets too warm, put it back in the fridge to firm up.
• Use a large Chef's knife to slice the cookie dough.
• Turn the cookie dough log every few slices so that the pressure of your cuts is even on all sides. This will help you maintain the round shape of the log.

Sablé Recipe FAQs

Other Slice-and-Bake Cookies to Try

Everyone needs a repertoire of slice-and-bake recipes, from simple vanilla sablés and crystallized ginger shortbread to fancier holiday fruitcake cookies or the always-popular chocolate pinwheel cookies. All are great with a cup of tea, and they store very well.

If you tried this chocolate sablés recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Sablés

Learn how to make the best chocolate sablés with this easy recipe. These French slice-and-bake chocolate cookies store very well and you can also freeze the cookie dough for later.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 35 minutes minutes

Servings 54 cookies

Calories 60kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 250 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 30 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 175 grams unsalted butter softened
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 30 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 115 grams mini chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate
• Turbinado sugar optional, for coating the cookie dough logs

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa powder. Sift through a fine-mesh sieve if there are lumps of cocoa. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar and the salt using the paddle attachment.
• Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and stir the mixture to form a crumbly cookie dough.
• Add the milk and the vanilla and mix until a cookie dough forms.
• Stir in the chocolate (mini chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate).
• Divide the dough in two and roll each half into a log with a 2-inch diameter. Roll each log in turbinado sugar so it is completely coated and wrap in plastic wrap. If the dough is too soft to handle, chill the logs briefly before coating in turbinado.
• Refrigerate until solid, preferably overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line baking sheets with parchment.
• Slice each log into ¼-inch (6 mm) thick cookies and place on lined baking sheets about 1 inch (2.54 cm) apart.
• Bake the cookies until they are set and their surface appears dry (no longer shiny). This takes about 14–16 minutes. Let them cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the cocoa powder, I like to bake with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, specifically from the Cacao Barry brand (Plein Arôme or Extra Brute cocoa powder), which you can find on Amazon.
• Sifting the cocoa powder with the flour helps mix the two ingredients together and also eliminates the lumps in the cocoa powder.
• Do not replace cocoa powder with hot cocoa mix because hot cocoa mix contains additional sugar, powdered milk, fat, and emulsifiers.
• For the chocolate, finely chop your favourite chocolate or use mini chocolate chips. Hershey's is a great brand to bake with and you can also find it on Amazon.
• If you prefer, you can incorporate nuts, either in the dough or by rolling the cookie dough in them. Make sure the nuts are finely chopped.
• Every few slices, turn the dough log to maintain the log's round shape.
• You may let the dough soften slightly to make slicing easier, but if it's too soft, you may ruin the shape of the log as you slice it.
• Use your fingertips to press together or reshape any cookies that break as you slice them. The dough is forgiving. 
• Bake the cookies until the surface looks dry and the cookies have set.

Nutrition

Calories: 60kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 15mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 87IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.3mg

The post Chocolate Sablés appeared first on The Bake School.

The slice-and-bake method is a quick and easy way for you to produce dozens and dozens of cookies in almost no time. It's actually faster to do than scooped cookies, though you do have to factor the time it takes to chill the cookie dough.

Fruitcake Cookie Ingredients

If you want to make fruitcake cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter. If you have salted butter, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• sugar—we use a combination of granulated sugar (helps give a crispy edge) and brown sugar (for flavour and softness). The combination leads to the perfect texture for a slice-and-bake cookie, not too soft, not too crunchy.
• eggs—use large eggs. Smaller eggs may lead to a dryer cookie dough and your cookies won't spread enough. Extra large eggs could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cake-y cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake or they may fall apart with all the dried fruit.
• spices—I used a combination of ground cardamom and allspice. Feel free to vary the spices. You can try cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves too if you prefer. Just remember with some of these warm spices, a little goes a long way!
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet flavour of the candied fruit and dried fruit. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• candied and/or dried fruit is the secret to the best fruitcake cookies because they add a ton of flavour and sweetness and you can choose your favourites to mix into the cookie dough.
• nuts—I used toasted walnuts. They add both flavour and texture to the cookie.

See recipe card for exact quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

You can get creative with a few of the ingredients:

• Alcohol—I used brandy, but you could also use spiced or dark rum. The flavour is subtle in the final cookie but the alcohol helps hydrate the dried fruit to plump it.
• Spices—instead of ground cardamom and allspice, you can try cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or ginger.
• Dried/candied fruit—I used a combination of raisins, mixed candied fruit (citrus peel and cherries, diced finely), but you could use dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried dates, diced crystallized ginger, or even chopped dried figs. Use the fruit you like, and keep the total weight of candied/dried fruit the same as in the recipe.
• Nuts—instead of the walnuts, replace them with the same weight of toasted almonds (chopped) and you could even incorporate pure almond extract in the dough to enhance that flavour. You could also try pecans or hazelnuts, if you prefer.

How to Make Slice-and-Bake Fruitcake Cookies

Slice-and-bake cookies are your best bet when it comes to pumping out a large number of cookies in a short amount of time and with less effort. Why? Because slice-and-bake cookie dough can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for several days. Or you can freeze it for up to 1 month. When you are ready to bake, try to take the cookie dough out of the freezer the day before. Then all you have to do is slice and bake them!

Step 1: Start by combining the candied/dried fruit in a small saucepan with the brandy (or rum) (image 1). Heat them up for a few minutes, then when the mixture is steamy, take the pan off the heat and let the fruit soak.

Tip: The fruit mixture needs to cool down before you incorporate it into the cookie dough, so sometimes I do this step the day before.

Step 2: Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, spices, and salt) in a medium bowl (image 2). Set aside for later.

Step 3: Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (image 3). Beat the ingredients together until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula every so often (image 4).

Step 4: Add the egg to the mixer bowl (image 5) and stir it until well mixed, then stir in the dry ingredients (image 6). Once the cookie dough has come together, add the toasted walnuts and soaked dried/candied fruit (image 7). Stir the dough until the fruit and nuts are incorporated (image 8).

Step 5: Divide the dough into 4 equal portions using a kitchen scale (image 9). This works out to portions of approximately 365 grams of dough. Shape the dough into logs—I shaped my dough into square logs, flattening it on all sides (image 10). Wrap the logs of dough tightly in plastic wrap (image 11) and refrigerate overnight. The longest part is waiting for the logs of cookie dough to chill before slicing until the butter is hard. This way, the cookies will hold their shape better.

Step 6: Slice the logs of dough into ⅛–¼-inch thick cookies on a cutting board using a large Chef's knife (image 12).

Step 7: Slice-and-bake or icebox cookies don't spread in the oven, so you can place them more tightly on your cookie sheets, allowing you to bake 24 cookies per half-sheet pan (image13)! Bake until the cookies look set and the edges are just beginning to brown (image 14).

Top Tip

Toast your nuts before baking with them whenever you can! They taste so much better this way. I like to use a mini sheet pan for this job and I toast nuts in the oven as it's preheating to 350 °F (175 °C). Just make sure to set a timer when you do this because it's so easy to forget them. It can take 10–15 minutes depending how packed they are on the sheet pan and your oven temperature.

Toasting nuts in the oven is more even than in a skillet on the stove.

Slice-and-Bake Cookie FAQs

How do I stop slice-and-bake cookie dough from flattening on one side?

When you refrigerate a log of cookie dough, initially the dough is soft and pliable. The side resting on your fridge shelf will flatten out a little. To avoid this, rotate the log of dough every 10 minutes to allow it to cool evenly while maintaining the shape of the log. Alternatively, you can try placing the log of dough in a paper towel cardboard roll. Cut it lengthwise and slide your wrapped dough in the tube. The same may happen when you press the log while slicing it into cookies. The trick again is to rotate the log every few slices to maintain the shape.
For these cookies, I avoided the issue by creating a square log!

Why did my icebox cookies spread?

If your cookies spread out, either your oven wasn't hot enough, your dough wasn't chilled properly, or you may have mismeasured the butter, sugar, or flour. Please read about why cookies spread to find out more about this issue.

What if You Hate Fruitcake?

If you don't love fruitcake, I'm not here to judge you. Try these slice-and-bake crystallized ginger cookies and slice-and-bake gingerbread cookies instead. Both are very easy and still quite festive for the holidays. Try the cinnamon rugelach with dried cranberries if you dare to make something more elaborate.

If fruitcake cookies aren't enough to satisfy your craving, try this light fruitcake topped with marzipan and brandy frosting. It's a family favourite, and you can bake it in a couple of loaf pans or muffin tins.

If you tried this recipe for fruitcake cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Icebox Fruitcake Cookies

Learn how to make delicious icebox fruitcake cookies with this easy recipe, made with candied fruit and walnuts, and flavoured with cardamom and allspice.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 80 cookies

Calories 77kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• GIR spatula
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 454 grams chopped candied fruit mix or dried fruit, chopped (see note below recipe)
• 45 mL brandy
• 333 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 3.75 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 3.75 mL ground cardamom
• 1.25 mL ground allspice
• 230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 72 grams light brown sugar
• 1 large egg(s)
• 170 grams chopped walnuts toasted and chopped

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, combine the candied/dried fruits and/or raisins with the brandy. Heat to warm up everything until the mixture is steamy, then remove the saucepan from the heat and let stand.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour with the spices. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the flour to the mixer bowl in three additions, stirring between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. When the last of the flour has almost disappeared into the dough, add the soaked fruit (plus any remaining brandy that didn't get soaked up) and the walnuts. Stir to combine.
• Divide the dough into 4 and roll each piece into a log of about 2-inches diameter. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven at 350ºF (175 °C) . Line a couple half sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Slice each log into about ⅛–¼ inch (3–6 mm) thick cookies and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets spaced 1 inch apart.
• Bake the cookies until set, about 12–14 minutes. The longer they stay in the oven, the crisper they will be.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the candied fruit, you can use any or even dried fruit, diced fairly fine. Use the same total weight of fruit as in the recipe:
  • raisins or dried currants
  • dried cherries or dried cranberries
  • crystallized ginger
  • candied citrus peel (lemon, orange, or citron)
  • glacéed cherries (chop them up in to small pieces!)
  • dried figs, apricots, or dates
• For the nuts, instead of walnuts, you can try toasted almonds, pecans or hazelnuts.
• Instead of brandy, you can use spiced or dark rum.
• You may want to prepare the candied/dried fruit the day before, soaking it in brandy overnight to give the fruit time to absorb the alcohol and also time to cool down before mixing it into the cookie dough.
• Be sure to chill the cookie dough overnight so that it is solid. This way, when you slice and bake the cookies, they will hold their shape quite well.
• If any of the cookies break as you slice through the nuts, simply press them back together.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 77kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 17mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Icebox Fruitcake Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

Chocolate and vanilla pinwheel and checkerboard cookies are always the most popular. They get eaten the fastest on any cookie tray! Find out how to make these popular icebox cookies below, including step-by-step photos of the process of shaping the layers of dough to make this unique spiral cookie shape.

Ingredients to Make Pinwheel Cookies

Pinwheel cookies combine two cookie doughs, usually of contrasting flavour and colour, which are rolled together to form the swirl pattern they are known for. If you want to make chocolate and vanilla-flavoured pinwheel cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough. If you have salted butter, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly. Otherwise, your cookies may be too salty
• granulated sugar is preferable in this recipe because we don't want the flavour or colour of brown sugar in this recipe
• large eggs—don't use smaller eggs because your cookie dough may be too dry and your cookies won't spread enough, but don't use extra large eggs because they could cause the cookie dough to puff too much as it bakes, leading to a more cakey cookie
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet molasses flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• vanilla—I use real vanilla extract in this recipe. Artificial can work, but you may want to reduce the quantities as it is more potent.
• cocoa powder, specifically Dutch-processed cocoa powder, contributes the dark chocolate flavour that you need to balance out the sweet flavour of sugar cookies. Don't use natural cocoa powder because the colour of the cookies will be lighter and the flavour won't be as good. I like to use Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa powder, which is a dark cocoa powder with a rich flavour.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

With such a simple list of ingredients, there aren't many substitutions to make in this recipe.

• Cocoa powder: we use cocoa powder, specifically Dutch-processed cocoa powder because it has a rich flavour with a higher fat content and a darker colour necessary to stand out when the chocolate cookie dough is layered with the vanilla dough. You could try a natural or black cocoa powder, but the results may vary. Do a test batch!
• Vanilla: this recipe uses vanilla extract in the base cookie dough. You could also try almond or peppermint extract (use less since they are potent!). Remember, both layers of dough will have the flavour since you add it early in the cookie dough process.
• Colour: some bakers like to use gel food colours to dye the vanilla dough a festive colour, like red or green. This is an option if that interests you. Be sure to use a gel food colour, as opposed to the liquid food colours sold in grocery stores.

Some recipes will call for using melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder, but to do so, it's best to use unsweetened dark chocolate with a high percentage (greater than or equal to 90 %). This type of chocolate is appropriate for imparting a deep chocolate flavour without adding more sugar. If you used semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate in the dough, the chocolate flavour would likely be muted by all the sugar in the recipe.

How They Are Made

Step 1: combine the dry ingredients (except the cocoa powder) in a medium bowl and whisk them together (image 1).

Step 2: combine the butter and sugar in your mixer bowl (image 2) and cream them until light and fluffy before adding the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla (image 3).

Step 3: Add the whisked dry ingredients to the mixer bowl (image 4) and stir them in, forming a slightly sticky vanilla dough (image 5). Weigh out half the vanilla dough on plastic wrap (image 6).

Step 4: Add cocoa powder to the remaining dough in the mixer bowl (image 7) and stir it until the chocolate dough is evenly mixed and uniform in colour (image 8). Shape the two doughs into disks (or flat squares) and wrap them tightly in plastic to chill them in the fridge (image 9).

IMPORTANT TIP: this dough is quite soft, which makes it tricky to work with at times. You must chill it until it is cold and firm before proceeding. When you roll it out, chill it again. Chill it at any point when it is too soft to handle or your pinwheel shape will not be as perfect, especially when you are ready to roll the two doughs together. You may put the two doughs in the freezer for 15 minutes to speed up the chilling process and ensure they are firm enough to work with.

Step 5: Roll out half of the chocolate dough into a 6x7-inch (15x18 cm) rectangle and half the vanilla dough into a 6x6 (15x15 cm) square before stacking the vanilla over the chocolate dough (image 10). Roll the two doughs together tightly to form a log of dough (image 11), trimming the ends with a bench scraper (image 12).

Step 6: When you are ready to bake the cookies, slice the log of pinwheel dough on a cutting board (image 13).

Step 7: Place the pinwheel cookies on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan, spacing them out evenly (image 14). Bake until set and dry (image 15).

Tricks For Perfectly Round Slice-and-Bake Cookies

It can be difficult to bake round slice-and-bake cookies because as the log of cookie dough warms up and with the pressure of the knife as you slice, the round cylinder of dough is compressed, forming oval-shaped cookies. Here are a few tricks for baking perfectly round slice-and-bake cookies:

• Before chilling the dough, make sure the logs of slice-and-bake cookie dough are round. Roll the log back and forth several times to tighten any seams and to smooth any bumps.
• While chilling the dough, take the dough logs out of the fridge and roll them back and forth on the counter to ensure they are still round. If you don't do this, the weight of the dough in the early stages of chilling will cause the log to be flat on one side.
• To chill the rolls of pinwheel cookie dough, store them in empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls, which will help maintain the round shape of the log as the dough chills.
• After chilling the dough and while slicing the cookies, rotate the dough log every few slices so that the pressure is evenly distributed on all sides as you slice it. Otherwise, you will have a flat side from the knife's pressure.

Tips For Sticking Two Layers of Cookie Dough Together

There are some key steps to making sure these two separate layers of dough stick together:

1. When rolling out the dough, minimize the flour you use or, better yet, roll out the dough between sheets of wax or parchment paper. This will make handling the dough easier and ensure the layers stick once stacked.
2. When stacking the layers of dough, brush off any flour from the top and underside of the dough (if you rolled the dough on a floured surface). Otherwise, they will not stick together.
3. When the two doughs are stacked, take the time to press them together using a sheet pan and/or a rolling pin to press the doughs together to fuse them.
4. If all else fails, brush an egg white wash on the doughs before stacking them. The egg white will wet the surface and act as glue to fuse the layers. Sometimes, even water may do the trick.

Once you've made the chocolate and vanilla cookie doughs, you can use them to make many different cookies, including checkerboard cookies, zebra cookies, or even marble cookies. It's just a matter of layering the doughs in different ways to achieve the desired pattern.

Other Slice-and-Bake Cookies To Make

Chocolate and vanilla pinwheels are always impressive on a Christmas cookie platter. They aren't as hard to make as most people would expect but they do take time and patience. All the more reason to practice making them!

Here are some other slice-and-bake cookie recipes to try:

If you tried this pinwheel cookie recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies

Learn how to make chocolate pinwheel cookies with this easy recipe. You only have to make one vanilla dough, which you split into two to flavour half with chocolate!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 57 minutes minutes

Servings 80 cookies

Calories 50kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Sheet pan
• Bench scraper
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large egg(s)
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract
• 23 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla. The mixture should be smooth and light.
• Add the flour and stir it in on low. Mix until just combined.
• Remove half oof the dough (roughly 450 grams or 1 lb of dough). To the dough left behind in the mixer bowl, add the cocoa powder and stir it in.
• Pat each dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.
• Divide each disk into four pieces. Store extra pieces of dough in the fridge while you work.
• Roll one piece of chocolate dough to a 6x7-inch (15.3x17.8 cn) rectangle between pieces of wax paper.
• Roll one piece of vanilla dough to a 6x6-inch (15.3.x15.3 cm) square between pieces of wax paper.
• Chill both rolled doughs for 10 minutes in the freezer.
• Remove wax paper from both sheets of dough. Place the vanilla dough over the chocolate dough, leaving a half inch border on top and on bottom. Press together with a cookie sheet to help them adhere (or using a gently using a rolling pin). If the dough feels at all soft, chill it again.
• Roll the dough tightly into a cylinder to form a pinwheel using the paper to help keep the roll tight. Roll the log back and forth to seal the layers together and form a perfect cylinder.
• Repeat with remaining doughs to form 4 logs of pinwheel dough. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Unwrap a log of pinwheel cookie dough and trim the ends off. Slice cookies to about ⅛–¼ inch (3–6 mm). Place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies look set and dry, for approximately 13 minutes.

Notes

• Use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, though natural or black cocoa will also work. The resulting chocolate cookie dough taste, colour, and texture may vary depending on the type and brand of cocoa you use.
• Sift the cocoa powder to remove any lumps.
• The cookie dough becomes very soft if it is warm. Chill the dough thoroughly to be cold and firm before rolling them out. Once rolled, chill them again before layering them. And then chill them again after layering them. The pinwheel spiral may be distorted or deformed if the dough is not cold enough. 
• Roll the dough between layers of parchment paper or wax paper. Don't use flour, as the flour may prevent the chocolate and vanilla dough from adhering together when you create the pinwheel. 
• The thicker you slice the cookies, the fewer you will get and the longer they may take to bake. The thinner you slice the dough, the more cookies you will make, and they will take less time to bake.
• For peppermint-flavoured pinwheel cookies, add 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) peppermint extract.
• For almond-flavoured pinwheel cookies, add 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) almond extract.
• If you want to use food colouring, use gel food colours to dye the vanilla dough red or green, for example.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 50kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 14mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 78IU | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

Adapted from the book Great Cookies. This is a fantastic cookie book that we've been baking cookies from for over 10 years.

The post Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

Ingredients to make cookies with crystallized ginger

If you want to make icebox cookies with crystallized ginger, the easiest way would be to make a vanilla slice-and-bake cookie dough and mix in chopped crystallized ginger. Here are the ingredients that you will need:

• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• granulated sugar though brown sugar could also work here and would add a mild caramel/molasses flavour. Brown sugar may also lead to a slightly chewier cookie
• vanilla extract adds vanilla flavour to the cookies. You could use artificial vanilla extract, but use about half the amount since it may be more potent.
• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the cookies structure, contributing to the chewiness of the cookies as well. If you don't use enough flour, your cookies may spread too much as they bake
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• milk is added instead of eggs to bind the ingredients of the cookie dough together. It also helps lighten the crumb of the cookies.
• crystallized ginger is the secret to the best ginger cookies because it adds a ton of potent ginger flavour to really bring it up a notch.

The secret to make icebox cookies more interesting

Instead of just shaping the cookie dough into a log and leaving edges as is, you can roll the logs of cookie dough in so many different ingredients to jazz up the classic icebox cookies and make your slice-and-bake cookies really special.

For this recipe, we roll the logs of cookie dough in turbinado. The beauty of using turbinado sugar is that it's coarse and it doesn't melt. Turbinado sugar adds a crunchy texture to the edges of the .

For coating the logs of cookie dough, you have many options that go beyond turbinado. You can also try:

• shredded coconut
• cinnamon sugar
• sprinkles
• finely chopped nuts

Consider the recipe you are making and the flavours involved before you decide which coating to use. My go-to is turbinado because it's pretty neutral in flavour, but adds a lot of crunch.

I prefer to roll the logs of cookie dough in the topping before chilling so that the toppings stick easily. Otherwise, you may have to brush the logs of dough with an egg white or some milk too help the toppings adhere.

Tips for perfect icebox cookies

Icebox cookies get their name because the cookie dough is chilled and stored in the freezer (icebox) or refrigerator until you are ready to bake. Some will slice-and-bake the cookies from frozen.

I tend to store the cookie dough in the fridge because usually I'm making the dough the day before I want to bake them. Freeze the dough for longer storage (if you want to make the cookie dough more than 1 week ahead of time).

To keep the cookies round, make sure to rotate the log as it chills until hard. Some will recommend chilling the logs of cookie dough inside of a tube, like an empty cardboard tube insert from a rolle of paper towel. I don't think this is necessary, but feel free to try this trick!

When you slice the cookie dough into rounds, it's important to make sure the dough is cold enough so that the butter is hard. Otherwise, the pressure of cutting will distort the shape of the cookies.

As you slice the log, rotate the dough every few cuts so that the sides are pressed evenly. This is a secret to baking round icebox cookies.

Substitutions

Chopped crystallized ginger is a really great ingredient to flavour this recipe, but feel free to use any of your favourite candied fruits or even dried cranberries or dried cherries. And if you love fruitcake, try these fruitcake cookies.

You can also vary the extract, or add a little almond extract (⅛–¼ teapoon) to the cookie dough to add almond flavour.

The holidays are hectic. Slice-and-bake cookies (also known as icebox cookies) are one way to keep up the baking without adding to the madness of your schedule. You can make the cookie dough several days before you bake them and even freeze it. Then defrost in the fridge overnight before slicing and baking, or even slice from frozen.

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Crystallized Ginger Shortbread Cookies (Slice and Bake)

Easy slice and bake cookies with crystallized ginger (candied ginger) for an easy, festive treat and Christmas cookie platter.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 48 cookies

Calories 62kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 175 grams unsalted butter softened
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 280 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 30 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 80 grams chopped crystallized ginger or your favourite candied fruit
• 50 grams Turbinado sugar optional

Metric - US

Instructions

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the vanilla and salt and continue beating the mixture until it is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed with a spatula.
• Mix in the flour at low speed to form a dry crumbly mixture, then mix in the milk to bind the ingredients into an even cookie dough. Mix in the chopped crystallized ginger.
• Divide the dough in two and roll each half into a log of about 1.5 inches in diameter. Roll each log in turbinado (if using) to coat it evenly all around. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 °C). Working with 1 log of dough at a time, slice the crystallized ginger cookies fairly thin. Stagger the sliced cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake them until the edges are golden, about 15 minutes or so. Let cool a couple of minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 62kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 21mg | Potassium: 8mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 91IU | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Easy crystallized ginger cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

If you have never baked with buckwheat flour and cocoa nibs, you have to start with these simple shortbread cookies. This slice-and-bake cookie recipe is easy to make. The ingredients in this cookie are quite simple and you can throw it together in minutes. These cookies are the perfect backdrop to start exploring the flavour of buckwheat flour and cocoa nibs, and the texture they impart.

These slice-and-bake shortbread cookies with cocoa nibs are the cookies you want in your life. This is the best way to make a lot of shortbread cookies fast (once the dough is chilled). It's a different way to prepare shortbread than the traditional shortbread cookies that are pressed into a pan and scored before baking (like these lavender shortbread cookies baked in a tart pan).

Buckwheat Shortbread Cookie Ingredients

Slice-and-bake cookies are so easy to make and the basic ingredients for shortbread cookies are always butter, sugar, and flour. Here's what you'll need to make this variation with buckwheat flour and cocoa nibs:

You'll notice there are no leavening agents in this cookie recipe. Baking soda is a base (alkaline) and can cause your cookies to spread, which we don't want for this type of cookie. On the other hand, baking powder would cause the cookies to puff as they bake, and we don't want that either.

Substitutions and Variations

• Alternative flours: cookies made with 100 % alternative flour may spread more than with all-purpose flour. For this reason, we replaced only a portion of the all-purpose flour in a shortbread cookie recipe with buckwheat. Be careful when making this kind of substitution. Alice Medrich suggests in her books about alternative flours to swap out 15 to 20 percent of all-purpose flour for an alternative flour.
  • Try corn flour, oat flour, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, teff, buckwheat, and even chestnut flour! Other wheat flour relatives like kamut, spelt, barley, whole wheat, and rye will also work. Baking with these alternative flours will up the flavour in your baking recipes, but may also change the texture and the colour of baked goods.
• Chocolate: you can replace the cocoa nibs with mini dark chocolate chips.
• Salt: a lovely garnish for these cookies would be flaky sea salt. You can sprinkle a little on each cookie before baking.

Read about why cookies spread and why we chill cookie dough for more information.

How to Make Slice-and-Bake Shortbread Cookies

It's best to prepare the cookie dough a day ahead of baking to give the time for it to chill. Plan ahead!

Step 1: Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl (image 1). Combine the butter and sugar in your mixer bowl (image 2) and beat them together until well mixed.

Step 2: Add the cocoa nibs and vanilla extract to the mixer bowl (image 3) and mix it in. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl fairly often (image 4) to ensure all the ingredients are mixed in.

Tip: using a spatula to scrape down the bowl is really important to make sure the ingredients are properly combined. Otherwise, you may end up with streaks of butter and sugar at the bottom of the bowl, or on the side, and these will lead to uneven spreading and as they bake, and textural problems in your baked cookies

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl (image 5) and stir them until a dough forms (image 6).

Step 4: Line your work surface with a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer the cookie dough to it (image 7). Shape the dough into a log and wrap tightly (image 8) to chill overnight.

Step 5: Slice the cookie dough into fairly thin rounds (around ¼ inch or 6 mm) using a chef's knife on a cutting board. The cold dough should be firm.

Tip: Rotate the log of dough every few slices to maintain the round shape of the log. If you don't, the bottom edge of the log will likely flatten out under pressure. If you don't, your cookies will have a more oval shape with a flatter edge.

Step 6: Place the sliced cookies on parchment-lined half-sheet pans, staggering them out to space them evenly (image 10). Bake until set and the edges are golden brown (image 11).

Slice-and-Bake Cookies Recipe FAQ

Baking with Cocoa Nibs

If you wonder what you can bake with them, cocoa nibs are a great addition to cookie recipes. You can replace all (or a portion) of chocolate chips in any recipe with them for a deeper flavour. Add cocoa nibs to:

• plain shortbread cookies
• cut out sugar cookies
• vanilla sablé cookies
• chocolate sablé cookies
• slice-and-bake fruitcake cookies 

Cocoa nibs could add a lot of crunchy texture and chocolate flavour without adding to the sweetness of the cookie. They are perfect in sweet cookies. I think cocoa nibs would work really well in sweet tart crusts too. Try adding them to this coffee sugar cookie crust or even in brownies with raspberries!

These cookies would be a hit on a Christmas cookie platter too. This recipe was adapted from Alice Medrich and was featured in the Food52 Genius Desserts cookbook by Kristen Miglore, which I highly recommend! I reviewed the Food 52 Genius Desserts book on the blog before and you can still buy it on Amazon.

If you tried this buckwheat shortbread cookie recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Buckwheat Shortbread Cookies with Cocoa Nibs

Need an easy make-ahead holiday cookie recipe for Christmas? These buckwheat shortbread cookies with cocoa nibs are a unique twist on a classic holiday cookie: slice-and-bake shortbread cookies that store well baked, and you can also make the dough, shape it into a log, and freeze it for later. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes minutes

Refrigeration 2 hours hours

Total Time 24 minutes minutes

Servings 48 cookies

Calories 74kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Genius Desserts
• Braun mixer
• GIR spatula
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 190 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 125 grams buckwheat flour
• 230 grams unsalted butter softened
• 135 grams granulated sugar
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 45 grams cacao nibs
• 7.5 mL pure vanilla extract

Metric - US

Instructions

• Whisk together the flours in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and salt on medium until smooth and creamy but not fluffy, about 1 minute. Stir in cocoa nibs and vanilla. Add the flours and mix until no steaks of flour remain. Scrape the dough together onto a work surface lined with plastic wrap, knead a few times to mix until smooth.
• Roll the dough into a 12 by 2 inch (30 by 5 cm) log. Bundle the log in the plastic wrap, twisting the ends tightly to help even out the shape, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. To help maintain its round shape, refrigerate the log in an empty paper towel roll or tall drinking glass.
• Heat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC), with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Slice the log into ¼-inch (~6 mm) rounds using a sharp knife. If you slice them on the thicker side, you will make less cookies and they will take longer to bake.
• Arrange the cookies on the baking sheets, spacing and staggering them. Leave at least an inch (2.5 cm) of space between them to allow air circulation because we want the shortbread cookies to dry out in the oven.
• Bake the cookies until the edges begin to brown, about 14 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom, back to front, halfway through the baking time. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets on a rack. The cookies improve with time and can be stored in an airtight container for at least 1 month.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Not sure where to get cocoa nibs? Cocoa nibs are often located in the organic food aisles of grocery stores, with other dried goods like grains, sugar, and baking ingredients.
• Be sure to weigh your ingredients to ensure you have the right ratio of butter-to-sugar-to-flour. Otherwise, your cookies may spread!
• This recipe combines buckwheat flour with all-purpose flour to ensure the cookies don't spread too much. 
• You must chill the cookie dough for several hours until it is cold and solid. I prefer to chill it overnight to ensure the cookies will hold their shape through slicing and baking.
• To keep the sliced cookies round, turn the log every few slices to ensure you put equal pressure on all sides as you slice through the dough (as opposed to flattening out the bottom). 
• You can store the dough in the fridge for several days or freeze it for longer-term storage (up to 6 months). Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and place it in a freezer bag (air removed). Defrost the dough in the fridge overnight before slicing and baking.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
• This recipe from Alice Medrich was published in the Food52 Genius Desserts book, written by Kristen Miglore (available on Amazon). The recipe was republished with permission from Ten Speed Press.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 74kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 21mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 120IU | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 0.3mg

The post Buckwheat Shortbread Cookies with Cocoa Nibs appeared first on The Bake School.

This last week has been all about recipe testing. Trying new recipes, changing up the order of ingredients, finding "the" recipes and methods that yield the texture and taste that I am looking for. It's seriously a lot of fun! I love comparing recipes and seeing for myself what an extra yolk will do to the flavor of a vanilla sablé recipe, or what replacing the icing sugar with granulated sugar does to the texture.

Of course, the "downside" is the number of cookies I end up making to do all these tests. And, if you happen to go to the gym with me, you will end up cornered in the locker room and swayed into following up your sweaty efforts with a cookie taste test that will annihilate all the efforts from that grueling bootcamp class (Sorry gym buddies! I love you!).

What is a French sablé cookie?

The term "sablé" is French for "sanded" because sablé cookies have a sandy texture, much like real shortbread do. The recipes for sablé and shortbread are quite similar, but the French sablé usually contains an egg or an egg yolk and even milk and vanilla, while 1-2-3 shortbread traditionally is only made with three ingredients: flour, sugar, and butter. Sablé cookies can be made plain, or flavoured with cocoa powder or melted chocolate, ground almonds, dried herbs and spices, etc. Traditional sablé cookies usually are vanilla, though you will also find chocolate sablés, or even almond-flavoured versions. Sablé cookie dough is very similar to pâte sucrée, which can also be rolled or pressed into a tart pan to make a lovely tart shell. You can even flavor it with matcha to make a tart shell.

In the search of my favorite vanilla sablé recipe, I tested 4 different recipes to find the best:

1. Dorie Greenspan recipe #1, featuring both granulated and powdered sugar
2. Dorie Greenspan recipe #2 from her Beurre et Sel bakery, featuring a slightly different ration of granulated and powdered sugar, but also an extra yolk
3. My own recipe, based on Dorie's second recipe, but in mine I eliminated the powdered sugar and replaced it with granulated sugar
4. Patrice Demers' (one of Montreal's top pastry chefs) recipe that features only granulated sugar, more yolks, baking powder, and a very different mixing method to make the dough

The gym girls preferred recipe #4, though K commented that it tasted eggy. Very true. Recipe #4 has more yolks. They liked the look of the #4 cookie as well, which is funny because I didn't like its look at all. Their choice: 4 > 3 > 2 > 1. #4 was the clear winner.

I also subjected my family to the same taste test. For them, #4 wasn't the winner. My family could tell apart the cookies made with a mix of granulated and icing sugar, from those made with just granulated sugar. The remark: the cookies made with icing sugar were more tender, and perhaps more like a shortbread. The results again were mixed, and there wasn't a clear winner, though once again, #1 was the loser. #2 and #3 were tied. 2 ~ 3 > 4 > 1

What do I think? Well, I didn't like #4. I found it too eggy. I didn't like it's look, and it was obvious that the egg yolks made it yellower, spread more, and I suspect the baking powder made it brown a little more than the others. I did appreciate the fact that #4 had a more "sablé" (sandy) texture though.

I honestly preferred #3, which was my recipe. I didn't like the extra tenderness from the icing sugar in #1 and #2. I didn't really like the look and taste of #4. I preferred the taste and texture of #3 so that's the recipe I'm sharing with you (the other three recipes are available online at the links I provided above).

This vanilla sablé cookie recipe calls for pure vanilla extract because it's the best way to add vanilla flavour to cookie doughs and cake batters. If you don't have vanilla, try replacing it with a little rum or some bourbon! Or if you want an alternative to vanilla extract so that you can see flecks of vanilla seeds in this cookie, use the same amount of vanilla bean paste!

Lately, I've been replacing the egg yolk in sablé cookies with milk instead (because I hate separating eggs) and I find that this results in a very light, buttery cookie with a lovely, sandy texture that is perfect. Here's my updated version of the slice-and-bake vanilla sablé cookies.

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Vanilla Sablé Cookies (slice-and-bake)

Slice-and-bake vanilla sablé cookies are easy to make. Traditional recipes are made with an egg yolk or an egg, but this recipe is eggless, replacing the egg with a little milk

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 16 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 36 minutes minutes

Servings 60

Calories 45kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 173 grams unsalted butter softened
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 280 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 30 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• Turbinado sugar roughly ¼–½ cup or 50–100 grams

Metric - US

Instructions

• Use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar+salt. Beat in vanilla.
• Add the dry ingredients to obtain a dry crumble, and finally add the milk, which magically transforms it into a cookie dough.
• Press/roll out the dough into a long 14-inch log, slice in half (for easier storage in fridge). Roll each log in turbinado sugar (~¼ cup) and then wrap in plastic and chill overnight.
• Slice the cookies fairly thin and bake at 350 ºF (175 °C). I like to bake them around 16 minutes - edges should be golden.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 45kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 9mg | Potassium: 6mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 72IU | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Vanilla sablés appeared first on The Bake School.

The good thing about biscotti is that you can make a lot of them without the work of having to roll and shape or cut out individual cookies with cutters. Of course, you still have to slice the log of biscotti, but with an electric carving knife, it's a breeze! It's the kind of knife you would use to carve your Sunday roast, except we seem to use it almost exclusively for chocolate biscotti. Cutting the biscotti is fast with an electric knife and I find they are less likely to break as you go this way. The white chocolate chips in these biscotti will inevitably caramelize in the oven given the amount of time that these cookies spend baking. This is a good thing. Trust me.

📖 Recipe

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Chai biscotti

A recipe for chai spice biscotti flavoured with anise and white chocolate. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3 dozen cookies

Calories 110kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 115 grams unsalted butter softened
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 312 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 10 mL baking powder
• 15 mL ground cinnamon
• 10 mL anise seed
• 10 mL ground cardamom
• 10 mL ground ginger
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 225 grams white chocolate chips

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325 °F (165 °C).
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl as needed and mixing well between each addition. Add the vanilla and mix again.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, the spices and the salt.
• Add the whisked dry ingredients and mix on low to combine. Add the chocolate chips when the last of the flour has almost disappeared into the dough.
• Divide the mixture in 2 and pat it out into 12-inch slightly flattened logs on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes at 325ºF.
• Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the cookie logs cool for 10 minutes, then slice into ¼-inch thick cookies. Meanwhile, drop the oven temperature down to 300ªF.
• Transfer back to parchment-lined sheet (you might need to split the cookies between two sheets) laying them flat. Bake again at 300ºF for 30 minutes more. Rotate the pans and watch that the cookies don't get too dark.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 110kcal

Adapted from Canadian Living

The post Chai spice biscotti appeared first on The Bake School.