WASHINGTON 鈥� It鈥檚 that time of year when clean kitchens everywhere become unintentionally dusted with flour, greased up with butter and decorated with icing.
It鈥檚 holiday baking season and if your plans this week involve ear-marking recipes and firing up the stand mixer, Meredith Tomason of D.C.鈥檚 has a few tips to get you through the madness.
Check the oven
If you haven鈥檛 used your oven in a while, it鈥檚 a good idea to turn it on and put a thermometer in there to make sure the temperature is reading correctly.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to go to all of this trouble to make cookies and then you think you鈥檙e doing everything right, and suddenly you walk away and the oven starts smoking and you鈥檙e like, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going on?鈥欌�� Tomason said.
If the temperature isn鈥檛 reading true, you can turn it up or down, depending on where you need it to be.
Bring聽ingredients to room temperature
A lot of recipes call for room-temperature butter, so make sure you take out enough sticks for both the dough and the icing a few hours before you start baking.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to get a nice texture with your cookies; they won鈥檛 be as crunchy or as hard,鈥� Tomason said.
If you鈥檙e in a pinch, you can microwave the butter 鈥� Tomason admits she鈥檚 done it, which is refreshing to hear 鈥� but keep a close eye on it to make sure the butter just softens and doesn鈥檛 melt.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not the end of the word, but if you let your eggs and your butter sit out, they鈥檙e going to incorporate a lot better and play nicely in the bowl together if they鈥檙e around the same temperature,鈥� she said.
Stick to the classics
Save the other 11 months to test out new recipes. If you鈥檙e bringing goodies to a holiday get-together or are gifting them to friends, stick with the more classic confections.
Tomason鈥檚 tried-and-true treat is gingerbread 鈥� cake, not cookies.
鈥淚t鈥檚 warm, it鈥檚 kind of comforting and the nice thing about gingerbread is that it can last for a long time,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o you can make a big batch of it at the beginning of the week and if you have a few different parties that you鈥檙e hosting or are going to, you can use the same gingerbread throughout the week.鈥� 聽
Don鈥檛 be thrown off by the long list of spices in the recipe. Thomason says it鈥檚 worth it. At the bakery, she tops the cake with a lemon buttercream frosting 鈥渢o brighten it and bring out the spices,鈥� but she says a thin version of a royal icing does the trick just fine.
鈥淚t just adds a little sweetness to the spice,鈥� she said.
Work ahead
If you鈥檙e making a large quantity of cookies, you don鈥檛 have to do it all in one day. Tomason says you can make your dough ahead of time. Wrap it in plastic and store it in the fridge. Then, when you鈥檙e ready, take out the chilled dough, slice it and bake the cookies.
鈥淓specially this time of year 鈥� you just never know what you鈥檙e in for after work, whether you鈥檙e suddenly invited to a party or you have to bring a gift for someone the next day, so I stockpile cookies,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an easy way to look like you really know what you鈥檙e doing and have fresh cookies any day that you want.鈥�
Don鈥檛 cry over burnt聽cookies
If your tray of treats spent a little too much time in the oven, things aren鈥檛 completely ruined. Tomason says you probably shouldn鈥檛 attempt to scrape off burned edges and bottoms, but you don鈥檛 need to throw them away either.
Crunch them up and toss them into another dessert.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to go way above and beyond what you originally planned on doing, but you could make a trifle and add the cookie crumbs to a trifle or a hot-fudge Sundae or something like that,鈥� Tomason said.
Gifting your goodies
Tomason likes seeing the cookies she鈥檚 giving someone, so she opts for a clear cellophane bag that has a bottom so that the cookies are supported. Tie it off with a bow and you鈥檙e good to go.
鈥淭he gift that you鈥檙e giving is not just the cookies, but the love and the effort that you put into them, so for me, it鈥檚 important for the person that you鈥檙e giving them to to see the beautiful cookies that you made,鈥� Tomason said.
