Christmas Cookies recipes

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sw2geeks

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We just finished our 2012 Christmas cookie recipe contest at the paper I work at. The contest is a lot of fun and we do get to eat a lot of cookies.

I sometimes wonder if the idea was thought up just to get free cookies delivered to our newsroom.

Readers submits recipes, we had 130 entries this year, a group of local pastry chefs look at the recipes and pick semifinalist to submit actual batches of cookies to the newsroom to be judged. This time we had 28 semifinalist. We taste and rate the cookies and a winner is chosen.

The winning cookie is sold at our local Central Markets with the proceeds going to charity.

I also shot a video of the cookies being made at Central Market with my DSLR. Another designer also brought a DLSR so we ended up with a 2 camera shoot. It is surprising how good DSLRs are at shooting video now. The problem is usually the sound, but I picked up a $25 lapel mic that works great in these situations.

Here is a link to the video http://www.star-telegram.com/videos/#vmix_media_id=156527121

And here is this years winning recipe by Andrea Hicks

Chai snickerdoodles

Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup Crisco shortening)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Hershey’s cinnamon chips
4 tablespoons Oregon Chai Tea Latte Mix (see note)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter and sugars until creamy; mix in eggs.

2. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, and stir into cream mixture. Stir in cinnamon chips. Mix well.

3. Scoop into 1-inch balls and roll in chai mix to coat. Place on cookie sheets (or a baking stone) about two inches apart.

4. Bake 7 to 9 minutes; cool slightly on pan until firm. Cool completely on cooling rack.

A note: Because cinnamon chips are rather new, one judge went to three stores before finding them. Central Market has them in plentiful supply; some Tom Thumb, Kroger and Wal-Mart stores are stocking them, too. If you can't find them, the judges agreed that butterscotch chips would work well in this recipe.

— Andrea Hicks, Keller
 
The Minneapolis paper just did the same thing. My wife was one of the pastry chef judges. She said it was kind of difficult because none of the judges bake at home regularly. Most of the entries were too complicated for them to consider making them at home because of how much of a mess they would make without having a dish person to help with clean up. Thought that was interesting.

Here is the link. http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/181231171.html?refer=y

Plus, I used to live in Austin and I miss Central Market all the time. Great Grocery stores.
 
The Minneapolis paper just did the same thing. My wife was one of the pastry chef judges. She said it was kind of difficult because none of the judges bake at home regularly. Most of the entries were too complicated for them to consider making them at home because of how much of a mess they would make without having a dish person to help with clean up. Thought that was interesting.

Here is the link. http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/181231171.html?refer=y

Plus, I used to live in Austin and I miss Central Market all the time. Great Grocery stores.

Very cool! I know our contest entries were also supposed to include a picture along with the recipe. Here is a link to our story.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/12/04/4459553/keller-womans-fragrant-chai-snickerdoodles.html
 
I was just browsing for related posts for my project research and I happened to stumble upon this. Thanks for the much needed information.
 
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