Herbed Holiday Cookies

I was looking through recipes as I began pulling together my advent calendar (only 19 days until the unveiling!)  There were many herb cookie recipes in my files.  I thought I would share this one because it allows for variations.  You can make them anyway you want with whatever herbs you have around.

Herb and Spice Cookies

For best flavor, you can melt the butter or margarine over gentle heat with the herb or spice in it, cook for a few minutes, then cool in the refrigerator. Try lining a bowl with plastic wrap for the cooling--when just solidified, it can be lifted out in one hunk, instead of wastefully scraped out of a bowl which then must be washed. 

For crisp cookies, use real, unsalted butter. For chewier cookies, use margarine.

  

Herbs and Spices To Try:  Scented Geranium, Sweet Marjoram, Lavender Leaves or Flowers, Sage, Lemon Herbs, like lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon grass, etc. Thyme Ground Cloves, Curry Powder, Chinese Five-Spice Powder, Ground Cumin, Ground Coriander, Ground Cardamom, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Pumpkin Pie Spice or Cinnful Dessert Blend.

 

The Recipe

One stick butter or margarine, room temperature, infused with herbs (meaning you chop the   

           herb fine and add it to the butter – about 1 Tbls. fresh to 1 stick (1/4 cup)

1 large egg

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

About 2 1/2 cups flour, more or less, depending on humidity. 

Directions:

Cream butter, sugar and egg until fluffy and well mixed. Add baking soda, mix well. Add two cups flour and mix well. Turn out onto floured counter or board, and continue to knead in more flour until dough is workable and no longer sticky.  Divide into four balls, and flatten on floured surface. With sharp knife, cut dough into thin wedges and place on cookie sheets. Bake at 375 until set but not brown. Watch carefully!

 

If you like herbal cookies I have a couple more recipes in my Recipe Archive.

Holiday Decorating Occasional Series part 1 of 5 - Scented Dough

The contributors and members of The Essential Herbal yahoo group have been discussing and trying to locate recipes for Herb Bowls.  We eventually located a description that included powdered spices.  That put me to thinking of two ways that I had been using to make scented ornaments that might also be used to create these bowls.  So to start my winter decoration and gift giving series I decided to share those recipes.  You can make them as either ornaments or bowls as the recipes create rich and seasonally scented items, that if stored properly can last several years.

Recipe One - Herbal Dough

This first is a non-edible Herb dough that can be rolled and cut with cookie cutters to make ornaments and also formed around a shape to make bowls.

Herbal Dough Ornaments

(Non-edible)

2 cups bleached (white) flour

3/4 to 1 cup steeped Cinnamon Spice Tea *

1/4 cup Salt

2 T. Cinnful Dessert Blend *

1 T. powdered orris root

Ground and whole cloves, nutmeg, and allspice

Food coloring, if desired

Boil water and steep tea for three to five minutes one bag of Cinnamon Spice Tea.  Then mix the flour, tea, salt, dessert blend, and orris root.  Mix well.  The final product will be uneven shades of beige, tan, and off-white.  At this time, you may wish to divide into several batches for tinting with food coloring.  Form the dough into 2” diameter balls by rolling between your hands or against a non-stick counter top.  OR roll flat and utilize your favorite cookie cutters to make festive shapes.

Sprinkle the ground cloves, nutmeg and allspice, either combined or separate, into a flat dish. Roll the balls in the ground spices or lightly press the cookie cutter shapes into the spices.  Then decorate using the whole spices. 

Insert a metal ornament hanger or an unfolded paperclip.  Bake in a low heat (no more than 150 degrees) for about 90 minutes.

These make wonderful homemade ornaments for a tree, wreath, garland, or holiday basket.  It is easy to do and gets the whole family involved in the decoration process.

* An exclusive, Backyard Patch herbal product, you can substitute any cinnamon based tea and plain ground cinnamon for these items.

Recipe Two - Applesauce Scented Balls

The second dough is a base of applesauce blended with ground spices.  I use this recipe to make scented balls which I hang on my herb and pine wreathes.  I have made this recipe with Girl Scout and adult groups many times.  The dough is sticky, but dried to a hard surface in a couple of hours and thoroughly dries in a few days.

I made up a batch last night and fashioned a few bowl shapes about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, thinking I can hang them from my tree this year.

Scent Applesauce Dough

(non-toxic, but I would not recommend eating htem)

1 cup applesauce, divided

¾ cup ground cinnamon

2 Tbls. ground cloves

1 Tbls. ground allspice

1 Tbls. ground nutmeg

Start with ½ cup applesauce and add spices, stir with a wooden or plastic spoon.  Add up to ½ cup more applesauce as needed to make a sticky but not runny dough.

To craft scented balls for wreathes and trees roll the dough into 1 inch balls.  Use a skewer to piece the center for ribbon to hang them.  The balls will dry to the touch in a few hours, but will take several days to become fully dry.

To see the detailed photographs of actual bowls made with ground spices, see the post for today 10/11/10 on the Essential Herbal Blog.