Saturday, October 2, 2010

Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Week One

I've joined a baking group which is right up my alley: 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies.  Yes folks, it's just over 12 weeks till Christmas!  The deal is to bake whatever you wish for 12 weeks every Friday, starting from October 1st till 17th December.  Ideally what you bake will be Christmas themed, well, that's what I'm going to try and stick to anyway so watch out for all my Christmas serveware featuring in the photos!

My first attempt was a recipe I've been wanting to try for a while.  I almost made it one time, but I passed the name by my husband and he kinda crinkled his nose up at it, so I made something else that time instead. Today, I decided this was the cookie I was going to make.  The recipe looks very Christmas-y to me as it is loaded with spices. The end is a buttery, spicy, crumbly scrumptious cookie that just melts in your mouth.  Even though the name suggests it might be quite savoury, the taste of pepper is so sweet and delicate. Yum.

I present to you Spicy Pepper Cookies!


Spicy Pepper Cookies


225g butter at room temperature
90g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon rind
200g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup whipping cream
powdered sugar

Sift the flour, baking powder and spices together in a clean bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla extract and lemon rind to butter and sugar mixture and combine.  Add a small amount of the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar and mix until combined, then add a small amount of the whipping cream to the mixture and combine.  Repeat, alternating until both are finished, starting with the spiced flour and ending with the spiced flour.  Add in the ground almonds and mix till combined.  

Form small balls from the cookie batter and place on a non stick baking sheet.  Bake cookies at 350F for about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack for a couple of minutes before dusting with powdered sugar.  Makes about 20 cookies - dare I say 12g of fat each! Yikes!!



Week 1 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

11 comments:

  1. These sound interesting, with the addition of pepper..but look delicious all in the same.

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  2. You won me over once I saw the word
    "pepper" in your cookie title. I love a good spicy cookie and yours has a wonderful combination of spices.

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  3. These sound so good! I have been wanting to try something like this for a while now...you may have convinced me now! Looking forward to baking along with you!

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  4. My hubby would have wrinkled his nose too but this cookie is right up my alley. I'll have to try them sometime but not tell him whats in them till after he eats some! ;)

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  5. Cookies with black pepper always scare me but your picture looks so good that I think I'm going to have to try them!

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  6. I always balk at cookie recipes with black pepper - and I don't know why.

    I should get over myself and make them, right? :0

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  7. i have never tried adding pepper to my bakings. I'll try them next time!

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  8. LOVE all the spices in these cookies!

    Looking forward to baking with you for the next couple of months!

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  9. Oh, but think of all the wonderful protein and amino acids from the almonds! :-D These sound perfectly delish!

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  10. Whoa! What a different type of flavor, but they sound so yummy!

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