Cookie Madness

'Tis the season to go crazy in the kitchen. Yesterday's distraction was the need to bake cookies. I suddenly wanted a variation on my traditional spritz cookies -- something spicy that would go well with mulled wine. I found a basic recipe with some variations that included one with spice. Then I found another recipe that uses honey for part of the sugar and thought that would be interesting to try. So I started modifying the new recipe, and then discovered that although the proportions of sugar, butter, and flour were similar to my usual recipe, it had no leavening. My recipe has baking powder. I guess it might have had a more shortbread-like texture. But since I know my recipe works, I added some baking powder. I like the results, but it wasn't quite spicy enough, and although the amount of cloves was far less than the other spices, cloves still overpowered the other spices. I think since my usual recipe works, I may go back to that as a base recipe, use some honey instead of some of the sugar, and double the amount of cinnamon.

But today since I don't have a lot of time, I'll just make a batch of the usual, since I'll need it for multiple events this weekend, and then I'll work in a batch of spicy spritz Sunday afternoon so I'll have multiple kinds to bring for the pre-concert dinner at church.

And there are still other variations I'd really like to try to play with.

I've also found a company that makes additional plates for standard cookie presses. Mine requires some modifications, but they'll do those for you. They have a whole set of snowflake plates that I now desperately need (that would be so pretty with sparkling sugar). And they have a fantasy set that includes a dragon and a fairy. So next year, my spritz-making game will be off the charts. I think I also need a steampunky gear plate. I wonder if they do those.

So, off to bake the cookies!