Week Twelve: Cutout Cookies and Cream Cheese Cookie Bars

(Both cookie recipes this week came from “500 Cookies: The Only Cookie Compendium You’ll Ever Need” by Phillippa Vanstone.)

This week, I wanted to do something a little simpler than last week’s Hi Hats. So I decided to go for some cookies. The first was Alphabet Cookies, which were intended to be cut into the shapes of letters. I don’t have letter cookie cutters, so I used flowers, stars and hearts.

The recipe called for the dough to be mixed in a food processor. After the nightmare I had with the brioche, I am skeptical of mixing anything in a food processor. I decided to use my KitchenAid mixer instead. Unfortunately, when I added the flour, the dough turned into a crumbly mess:

I ended up just mooshing the dough together with my hands. I finally got it all incorporated together and rolled out:

I cut out the shapes and baked them for 12 minutes. Once they were cooled, I mixed up the icing, which was a combination of powdered sugar, milk, light corn syrup, vanilla extract and food coloring. This icing could have stood to be a little thicker, but as I was adding the milk, I lost my grip on the carton and an extra teaspoon came splashing out. I added more powdered sugar to make up for it, but I think something was lost. It still worked, though, for the most part:

I put the icing in a zip bag and snipped the corner so I could pipe the icing onto the cookies:

The icing leaked over the edges of several of the cookies, which I believe was due to it being just a little too runny. It seems to be setting up just fine now, nice and shiny. I finished each cookie off with some sprinkles:

Quite tasty! Meanwhile, I also worked on Cream Cheese Cookie Bars. These started out with chocolate and butter melted in a bowl over a pot of simmering water (I used to think that I needed a double boiler, but I’ve become a pro at the bowl-over-the-pot trick). Sugar, eggs and vanilla were mixed in next (by hand!):

Flour was mixed in next and the batter was poured into a 9″ x 13″ pan lined with parchment paper:

Next, cream cheese and sugar were beat together and chopped semisweet chocolate was added. This mixture was dropped by spoonfuls on top of the chocolate batter and swirled with a knife to create a marbled effect. This was baked for 30 minutes and came out looking like this:

This brick of cookie was transferred to a cutting board and once it was cool, I cut it into bite-sized pieces:

These bars and very interesting, because by looking at them, you think you’re getting a brownie. But they’re definitely more of a cookie texture and far less fudgy than a brownie. Still pretty good though.

Next week I’ll be making Mint Meltaway Cupcakes that I’ve already got my co-workers drooling over. They sound fun: Fudge-covered, mint-fudge sandwiched sour cream chocolate cupcakes. Mmm mmm!

Also, if anyone knows where I can buy Baker’s Ammonia (AKA Ammonium Carbonate) in Columbus, please let me know. It’s available on King Arthur Flour’s website, but I would prefer to purchase it in town.