Classic Snacks Made from Scratch (4 page)

Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, until the cookies are no longer puffy and glossy and are just turning golden brown at the edges. The cookies will still be a little soft, but they’ll crisp as they cool. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

FILL THE COOKIES:

When the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the peppermint extract.

Dip the flat (bottom) side of a cookie in the melted chocolate, or brush on chocolate using a silicone pastry brush; top with another cookie, flat side down, to make a sandwich. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Allow the chocolate to firm up for at least 1 hour before serving the cookies.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

When it comes to animal crackers, I’ve always preferred the elegantly vintage Barnum’s box. With a hauntingly warm flavor and soft texture, these are the ones I reach for when I need a nostalgia boost. If you prefer a milder cookie, tone down the spice and add more vanilla.

YIELD:
approximately 3 dozen cookies (depending on cookie-cutter shape)

TOTAL TIME:
2 hours, including minimum dough chilling time

DIFFICULTY:
2

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
stand mixer, animal cookie cutters

2 cups (8-1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground mace

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

5 tablespoons (2-1/2 ounces) unsalted

butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup (1-5/8 ounces) vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, mace, allspice, and ginger together in a medium bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until shiny, fluffy, and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and stir on low speed until fully incorporated. Gradually add the flour and spice mixture until fully incorporated into a soft dough.

Pat the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour; the flavor of dough improves as it’s chilled, so chill overnight for best results.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liners.

Divide the chilled dough into 4 pieces. On a floured surface, gently roll one of the pieces to a 1/4 to 1/2-inch thickness. (Keep the remaining pieces refrigerated.) Use floured cookie cutters to stamp out shapes (lions and tigers and bears?) and carefully transfer the cookies to a prepared baking sheet, using a cookie spatula or turner if necessary. Save the scraps for re-rolling.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cookies are puffy and golden brown at the
edges. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Scraps can be re-rolled once to make additional cookies.

Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.

All right, class, quick lesson on grains: there are a few different types of wheat, just as there are a bunch of different apple varieties, and the way each kind of wheat is milled affects its final weight and texture. Graham flour, also known as whole wheat pastry flour, contains all the parts of the wheat berry, but it’s milled to have a softer texture than regular old whole wheat. Because some brands mill their graham flour with hard red winter wheat and others with soft white wheat, it’s safest to measure by weight instead of volume. In this recipe, you’re looking for 4-1/4 ounces graham flour, no matter which brand you choose.

YIELD:
64 crackers

TOTAL TIME:
45 minutes

DIFFICULTY:
2

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
food processor or stand mixer, pastry or pizza cutter

CRACKERS

1/4 cup (3 ounces) honey

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups (5-3/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 scant cup (4-1/4 ounces) Bob’s Red Mill graham flour, or 1-1/4 cups (4-1/4 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup (1-7/8 ounces) packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

TOPPING

3 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

MAKE THE CRACKERS:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liners.

Whisk the honey, egg, and vanilla together in a small bowl; set aside.

Using a food processor or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flours, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt for a few seconds until combined. Add the butter cubes and pulse in 3-second on/off turns in the food processor or stir at medium speed with the stand mixer until
incorporated.

Add the beaten honey and eggs and continue to pulse or stir until a soft dough forms.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Dust one of the pieces liberally with flour and roll with a floured rolling pin into a rectangle slightly larger than 10 by 5 inches and no more than 1/8 inch thick. (Make it as thin as humanly possible, since the cookies will puff up when baked.)

Transfer the dough rectangle to a prepared baking sheet with the help of a cookie spatula or turner. Cut into 16 (2-1/2 by 1-1/4-inch) rectangles, using a pastry or pizza cutter, cleaning up any ragged edges as well; the crackers don’t need to be separated. Alternatively, you can cut your own graham cracker shapes with cookie cutters.

Poke holes in the crackers, using a toothpick or cocktail fork.

MAKE THE TOPPING:

Whisk 3 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon. Add a final 1 tablespoon sugar if you wish, according to taste. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly and liberally over the crackers. (Save any that’s left over for breakfast toast!)

Bake for approximately 12 to 15 minutes, until hints of golden brown appear around the edges. Watch carefully! Transfer the crackers to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.

These squishy sandwich cookies got a quicker, more enthusiastic reaction from my recipe testing team than any other snack in the book. If we’d been in a classroom, these full-grown adults would have been shooting their hands in the air, shouting, “me, me, pick me!”—and with good reason. These soft, molasses-tinged cookies are exactly what your mom would have packed in your lunchbox, only amplified.

YIELD:
about 2 dozen filled cookies

TOTAL TIME:
2-1/2 hours, including chilling time

DIFFICULTY:
3

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
food processor or mini food processor, stand mixer or electric hand mixer

COOKIES

1 cup (3-1/2 ounces) rolled oats

3 cups (12-3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup whole or reduced-fat milk

2 tablespoons (1-1/2 ounces) molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons (4 ounces) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup (7-1/2 ounces) packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

FILLING

2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (2 ounces) powdered sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 large egg whites

1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

MAKE THE COOKIES:

Pulse the oats in a mini food processor for about 30 seconds, until coarsely ground with some chunks remaining. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk with the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Whisk the milk, molasses, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed, until the mixture is fluffy and light beige. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding the next. Add the milk and stir until fully incorporated.

Add the flour-oat mixture incrementally to form a soft, sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liners.

Spoon the chilled cookie batter in heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch space between cookies. Bake for 10 minutes, then gently smash each puffed cookie with a spatula turner to flatten. Bake for 2 to 4 more minutes; the cookies will still be soft but not gooey in the middle.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.

FILL THE COOKIES:

Beat the cream cheese, shortening, and vanilla together in a large bowl until homogenous. Add the powdered sugar and beat to make a soft frosting. Beat in the corn syrup.

Fill a small, straight-sided saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer.

Place the egg whites and granulated sugar in a heatproof stainless steel or Pyrex bowl and set over the saucepan of simmering water. Whisk continuously for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is slightly opaque, frothy, and warm to the touch.

Transfer the whisked egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid becomes opaque and glossy. Add the cream of tartar and whip for 1 or 2 minutes more, until stiff peaks form when the mixer is turned off and the whisk is lifted.

Spoon the cream cheese frosting into the marshmallow mixture and whip together. Chill for at least 1 hour to firm.

Spread the chilled frosting evenly across the flat (bottom) sides of half the cookies. Top with the rest of the cookies, flat sides down, to make oatmeal creme pies.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.