If one of the ingredients in a recipe is b.u.t.ter, that refers to salted b.u.t.ter, not unsalted or sweet b.u.t.ter.
If a recipe calls for flour, you should use all-purpose white flour such as Pillsbury or Gold Medal. Be careful about subst.i.tuting wheat flour, soy flour, bread machine flour, or any of the other specialized flours out there.
Most of the time you can subst.i.tute any common nut for any other common nut in a recipe, especially if chopped nuts are called for. Be careful with peanuts. Some people have peanut allergies.
If you"re baking cookies, it"s always wise to bake one cookie first as a test cookie. If it spreads out too much on the cookie sheet, add cup flour to the cookie dough left in your mixing bowl. Mix that in thoroughly (you may have to knead it in with your hands if the cookie dough is stiff) and then try another test cookie. If that second cookie pa.s.ses muster, write a note on the bottom of the recipe so you"ll mix in the extra flour right away the next time you bake those cookies.
When you"re baking anything, it"s a good idea not to open the oven door very often. Every time you do, the oven loses heat and it takes time for it to come back up to temperature.
If you come from a cold climate, you probably already know that baking is a great way to warm up the kitchen. You probably also know that if a recipe calls for softened b.u.t.ter or b.u.t.ter at room temperature, they"re not talking about the b.u.t.ter dish on the counter of a Minnesota farm kitchen at the crack of dawn in the winter.
Hannah Swensen frowned as she turned a slow circle in the center of the kitchen at The Cookie Jar, her bakery and coffee shop in Lake Eden, Minnesota. The timer had just sounded a one-minute warning, the latest batch of cookies was about to come out of the oven, and this had all the earmarks of a baking disaster. Every available surface was filled with various kinds of Christmas cookies.
"There"s no more room!" Hannah complained, not expecting an answer since she was the sole occupant of the kitchen. But just then her partner, Lisa Beeseman, came in through the swinging restaurant-type door that separated the kitchen from the coffee shop.
"I can fix that. No problem." Lisa held up two of the giant gla.s.s jars they kept behind the counter in the coffee shop to display their daily cookie offerings. "I"ll just fill up these jars and you"ll have lots of room. And if you need more room than that, I"ve got three more jars that are running low."
By the time the oven timer sounded for the second time, Lisa had cleared cookies from several tiers of the baker"s rack. Hannah filled them up again with trays of fresh, hot cookies, and then she slipped more cookies into the oven. The thing to do while this new batch was baking was to clear more s.p.a.ce.
Her mother"s cookies were cool, and Hannah arranged them in individual boxes. Delores Swensen was hosting her fourth annual Christmas cookie exchange this afternoon, and Hannah and Lisa were catering the luncheon at the event. Each lady Delores had invited would arrive with a dozen cookies for each of the other ladies attending, plus an extra dozen for charity. That meant everyone went home with a lovely a.s.sortment of Christmas cookies and this year"s charity, the Winnetka County Children"s Home, would have homemade cookies for the children.
Hannah picked up the boxed cookies intending to stash them in her cookie truck to clear even more counter s.p.a.ce, but all it took was one step outside to cause her to change her mind. It was the second Wednesday in December, and according to Rayne Phillips at KCOW Radio, Lake Eden, Minnesota"s news and weather station, the temperature would dip to minus doubledigits today. It seemed that Rayne was right for a change. Turning on her heel, Hannah stepped back into her warm kitchen. The day was cold and bl.u.s.tery, it was already well below zero, and her mother"s cookies would freeze in a matter of minutes if she stored them in the back of her cookie truck.
Hannah had just re-stacked the cookie boxes in a safe corner of the kitchen when the phone rang. She grabbed the phone on the wall so that Lisa wouldn"t have to leave the customers to answer it. "The Cookie Jar," she said. "Hannah spreading."
"h.e.l.lo, Hannah. It"s Bertie." Hannah could hear the highpitched whine of hair dryers in the background and she knew that Bertie was calling from her beauty shop, the Cut n" Curl. "You"ll be at your mother"s cookie exchange, won"t you?"
"I"ll be there. Lisa and I are catering the luncheon."
"Perfect! I was wondering if you"d share something with me."
"Share what, Bertie?"
"A recipe."
Hannah began to smile. To her, share meant dividing something tangible into pieces, and she couldn"t help forming a mental picture of Bertie grasping one side of a printed recipe while she held on to the other and awaited the signal to tear it in half. Of course that"s not what Bertie meant, and Hannah didn"t mind giving out her recipes to anyone who asked. The chances of Bertie refusing to order something Hannah sold at The Cookie Jar just because she could go home and bake it herself were negligible. "Which recipe would you like?" she asked.
"The one for that appetizer you made for the film shoot. It was on a round cracker and you said it had cream cheese in it."
"Cream Cheese Puffs?"
"That"s it. I"d like that one. You said it was easy."
"It is, but you have to serve it hot out of the oven."
"I can do that. Will you bring the recipe to your mother"s luncheon?"
"Sure," Hannah promised. "I"ll see you there, Bertie."
"Marge and Dad are here early," Lisa announced, entering the kitchen only seconds after Hannah had hung up the phone. "I came to relieve you so that you can make the morning deliveries."
"That"s great. This last batch of cookies has five minutes to go. Do you want me to stay until they"re out?"
"You go. I"ll take care of it."
"Okay." Hannah retrieved the steno pad they kept by the phone, flipped to the right page, and jotted a note about the recipe Bertie wanted.
"Another cookie order?" Lisa guessed.
"No, it"s a list of all the recipes I have to print out before we go to Mother"s cookie exchange. Everybody wants something."
"Like who? And what do they want?"
"Like Carrie Rhodes. She"s supposed to bring a pie to a Christmas party and she needs a recipe. I"m going to bring all of my pie recipes so she can choose. And then there"s Mother. She wants a recipe for shrimp bisque that she can make in a crockpot."
"Your mother"s going to cook?" Lisa looked horrified.
"I doubt it. She"ll probably ask me to mix it up so all she"ll have to do is plug in the slow cooker. They"re having a potluck at the hospital, and shrimp bisque is Doc"s favorite soup."
"Who else is on your list?"
"Claire. She wants to make homemade candy for the church Christmas packages."
"But Grandma Knudson makes great candy! Why doesn"t Claire just ask her for recipes?"
"She did, but Claire read them and she said they all mentioned stages like soft ball, and hard ball, and crack. Grandma told her not to worry about it, that all Claire had to do was use a candy thermometer, but Claire just started learning how to cook and she didn"t think she could handle anything that complicated."
"Okay. I guess that makes sense." Lisa pointed to a name on Hannah"s list. "Rose McDermott wants a cake recipe? And she bakes some of the best cakes in town?"
"She told me she"s looking for something new. Almost everyone Mother invited wants me to bring some type of recipe."
"Then you"d better go home right after you make the deliveries and start printing out those recipes. Print out enough sets for everyone there. That way you won"t have to do it again the next time they ask you."
"Good idea. But can you get along without me for a couple of hours?"
"Of course I can. I already told Herb I"d need some help, and he"s going to move all our supplies to the community center kitchen. And Andrea"s doing the tables, so we don"t have to worry about that. The pies are all ready, and you made the chicken salad this morning. What else is there?"
"The champagne c.o.c.ktails, but I"ll bring everything I need for those."
"Then we"re all set." Lisa glanced over as the oven timer gave a one-minute warning. "Did you print out the luncheon menu so I can put one by each place setting?"
"They"re in a blue folder on the pa.s.senger seat of your car. You really ought to lock it, Lisa. Your husband"s going to give you a ticket."
Lisa laughed. Everyone in town knew that Herb took his job as the Lake Eden marshal, the only law enforcement officer hired directly by the mayor, very seriously.
The timer started to ring for the second time and Lisa hurried to the oven. But she looked up as Hannah slipped into her parka and picked up the stack of cookie boxes set aside for delivery. "Your recipes are really popular, Hannah. Doesn"t that make you happy?"
"Yes, and no."
"Why no?"
"Because I"ve got so many recipes to print. And that means I"ll have to run out to the mall on my way home to buy more paper and ink cartridges."
Delores Swensen"s 4th Annual
Christmas Cookie Exchange Luncheon.
Appetizer Course
Razzle Dazzle Champagne c.o.c.ktails
(or Faux Razzle Dazzle Champagne c.o.c.ktails)
Razzle Dazzle Baked Brie
Main Course
Hannah"s Chicken Salad
Herb"s Herb Biscuits
Dessert Course
Tapioca Cheesecake.
Peanut b.u.t.ter and Jelly Pie.
"Ready or not, here they come!" Hannah said, giving a relieved sigh. She"d just dipped the rim of the last champagne flute in red decorator sugar when she"d heard the sound of women"s voices and the clatter of high heels on the stairs.
"We"re ready." Lisa answered, removing a baked brie from the oven. She carried it to the counter they"d designated as their staging area and placed it next to a second baked brie and several baskets of a.s.sorted crackers. "Do you want me to put the appetizers out on the table now?"
"Yes. They"ll need something to munch on while I mix the c.o.c.ktails. Do you have the individual appetizer knives?"
"They"re on the table."
Hannah glanced over at the long table in the banquet room. Before she"d gone upstairs to wait for their mother to arrive, Hannah"s sister Andrea had decorated it with a red and green tablecloth, several small Christmas trees with colored lights, and some stylized gold deer that were frozen in the act of browsing on faux evergreen and holly centerpieces. The appetizer knives were there, one at each place setting.
Bertie Straub was the first one to enter the room, and she rushed over to Hannah. "Did you bring my recipe, Hannah?"
"Yes, and I also brought the recipe for the appetizer we"re having today," Hannah answered, gesturing toward the small card table she"d set up in the corner. "I"ll pa.s.s them out just as soon as I serve the Razzle Dazzle Champagne c.o.c.ktails."
"That sounds heavenly," Bertie declared. "Addie Borgia had to tell me all about her grandson"s wedding while I colored her hair this morning, and she"s told me the exact same stories three times before!"
Hannah hurried to the kitchen when Bertie left to stack her boxes of cookies on the long table against the wall. She found Lisa a.s.sembling several pans of biscuits. "Those should be wonderful," she said, eyeing the melted b.u.t.ter in the bottom of the pan.
"They will be. It"s Marge"s recipe, but she gave Herb the credit. She loved calling them Herb"s Herb Biscuits." Lisa gave a little smile when she mentioned her mother-in-law"s name. "Marge is wearing the new beaded sweater Herb and I got her for her birthday. Does your mother have a new outfit?"
"Do bears... uh. . .growl in the woods?" Hannah sanitized the popular saying for her young partner. "I"m sure Mother will have a new outfit. She always does."
"Welcome, ladies!" Hannah watched as her mother took her position at the head of the table. "I"m so glad you could come to our annual cookie exchange. Please find your place card and be seated. I understand my daughter, Hannah, will be making champagne c.o.c.ktails for those of us who want to indulge and faux champagne c.o.c.ktails for those who don"t. And while we"re waiting for our libations, let"s take a look at the appetizer and beverage recipes that Hannah has printed out for us. And then we"ll start in on this lovely baked brie."
That was Hannah"s cue to carry out the champagne flutes rimmed in red sugar and play her part as the bartender. She picked up the tray, took a deep breath, and walked out to pour the bubbly.