Sunday, December 16, 2012

Eggnog Cookies



Believe it or not, I've only started drinking eggnog the last few Christmases... I was never a fan of eggs and could never get over the 'egg' part of the name to bring myself to try it.  Finally though, this wonderful drink has entered my life.  These cookies have a very strong eggnog taste and are a great alternative to the usual shortbread or sugar cookies of this time of year. 




This is a fairly simple recipe with a lot of impact - great for the holidays when time is short and need to produce impressive baked goods is high!  




Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer. Add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks and beat at medium speed until smooth.





Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg then add to wet ingredients and beat until combined. 




Once your dough is formed roll out on a well floured counter.  I found my dough to be a bit wet following this recipe exactly so I ended up adding about 1/4 cup extra flour to stop it from sticking to the counter and rolling pin. 




Break out your excessively large collection of Christmas cookie cutters (what, you mean not everyone has several overflowing boxes?) and cut out a variety of holiday themed shapes until all the dough is gone.  Bake on parchment paper for 10-12 minutes 




Using the electric mixer again, beat together confectioners sugar, butter and eggnog called for in icing recipe until smooth.   Transfer mixture to piping bag or ziploc with a small corner cut off then drizzle over cookies.  Make sure the mixture is very smooth before transfer or else lumps will get caught in the tip of your piping bag and cause it to clog.  This will make it difficult to drizzle icing evenly.  Garnish each cookie with a sprinkle of nutmeg if desired. 


Eggnog Cookies


Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon nutmeg
Icing
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cups softened butter or margarine
1/3 cups commercial eggnog
Adapted from:  Between He and She