Eat Many Cookies

As if National Cookie Day didn't fill my house with enough dangerous carbs, Cupcake brings home another 1.7 cubic tons of homemade morsels from a friend's house.  If we eat only cookies 3X per day I've got every meal covered for the next 3 months.

Now to share; here are two of my recipes that have been requested.  And BTW I always double the batch.  I mean, why go to all the trouble of making cookies without making some for the freezer?

Egg Nog Spritz

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2t. vanilla
2t. rum flavoring
1 egg
3 cups flour
1t. fresh grated nutmeg (if you haven't tried fresh nutmeg yet, you are in for a real treat!!

Rum Glaze
2T. butter, melted
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1t. rum flavor
1T. water
Grated nutmeg to taste

Heat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter on medium until fluffy.  Beat in vanilla, rum flavoring, and egg until smooth.  Beat in flour and nutmeg.

Use a cookie press according to directions.  Form desired shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet.  While I'm partial to using parchment paper for baking, it won't work with spritz cookies.  The dough just won't "stick" on the paper surface and release from the cookie press.

You could also form this dough into a finger-width roll, and cut into small bite-sized logs.  Or you could roll it out and cut small shapes.

Bake 6-10 minutes until edges are lightly browned.  Cool 1-2 minutes then remove from the cookie sheet to a smooth surface for cooling further.

Mix ingredients for rum glaze.  If it's too thick, add more water.  Too runny? Add more powdered sugar.  Pour glaze into a small resealable sandwich bag, then cut off a VERY TINY corner at the bottom. Squeeze the bag to drizzle glaze on the cookies.  Or make it slightly thick and just spread it on with a small spoon.

Mocha Orange Pinwheels

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2t. baking powder
1/4t. salt
1 square (1oz) unsweetened chocolate, melted, then cooled
1t. espresso powder (optional - which sounds silly because the title says "mocha" but it was late at night and I'm lazy so there)
1T. freshly grated orange peel.  Do yourself a favor and use fresh.  Don't use that horrible freeze-dried abomination.

With mixer beat sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy.  Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt until blended, then beat it into the soft dough.  Divide the dough into two bowls.
Combine melted chocolate and espresso powder in a bowl.  Add 1/2 of the dough until blended.  Mix orange peel into remaining 1/2 of dough until well blended.  Shape each section of dough into a 4x5 rectangle.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours. (Dough can be frozen at this point.  Defrost WELL before moving on).

Roll out the chocolate dough between two sheets of lightly floured waxed paper to a 12x7 rectangle.  Repeat with the orange dough.  Place the orange dough on top of the chocolate dough.  Gently press them together. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with the 12" side.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm.  This roll can wait in the frig a couple of days if need be.

Heat oven to 375.  Cut the dough with a sharp knife into 1/4" slices. Eat the ends immediately.  Place 1/2" apart on parchment covered cookie sheets.  Bake 7-10 minutes or until set.

VARIATION - you can also make these into Chocolate-Cherry pinwheels!  Don't add espresso to the chocolate dough.  And to the other 1/2 instead of orange peel, add 1/4c.red maraschino cherries, finely chopped and drained on a paper towel.  Also add 1 drop of red food coloring and 1/4t. almond extract.