XMAS 15 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

17-67: Coconut Crescents

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 25, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breakfast, butter, Christmas, coconut, cookie cutters, cookies, crescents, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly easy, filling, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, holiday baking, inexpensive, kneaded, lemons, melted, milk, oranges, pastry, powdered sugar, proofed, salt, snacks, untested, vegetarian, XMAS 15, yeast, zested

Merry Christmas! 🌲 Or if it’s not Christmas when you’re reading this, hope you’re having a nice day. 😃 The final component of my holiday assortment this year was 17-67: Coconut Crescents, and since they turned out somewhat nicely (unlike some of the other components), I thought it best to end this holiday baking burst on a high note.

I included these in my assortment to vary some texture (not all cookies) and to make at least one that used a yeast dough. These can be really versatile–just swap coconut for something else like a strawberry filling or sprinkle something like brown sugar on top.

17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 24, 2015September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Eve, cocoa powder, cookies, creamed, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, Glendale apt, holiday baking, oatmeal, oatmeal raisin, orange juice, pecans, raisins, revisited, rolled oats, salt, snacks, unsweetened, vanilla extract, vegetarian, walnuts, XMAS 15

The only chocolate-containing component in my holiday baked goods assortment, 17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are honestly pretty good any time of year. So if you’re reading this at some other time of year besides Christmas Eve, don’t feel like you can’t make these.

I found a way to mess these up as well (seems like this year I had a hard time with some things that should have been really easy), but I’ve made them before previously to this, and both times (then and now) they’re still definitely very edible and good.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 23, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, almond paste, apricots, baked goods, butter, chilled, Christmas, cookies, egg whites, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, granulated sugar, holiday baking, jam/jelly/preserves, macaroons, parchment paper, pastry bag, untested, vegetarian, XMAS 15

This recipe is another Simply Delicious “take” on something that already largely exists in a slightly different form. These aren’t really these kind of macaroons (the Passover kind). They’re not these kind of macarons (the French kind) either.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

Mine were a horror show compared to the picture on the card–I blame poor tools (my pastry bag blew its side out early on, rendering it useless and me bagless) even though any chef knows that’s a cop-out. I also blame exhaustion–these were the last ones I made of all of the recipes.

17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 22, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, chocolate chips, Christmas, coconut, cookies, creamed, easy, eggs, fail, fairly expensive, gift ideas, golden raisins, granulated sugar, holiday baking, macadamia nuts, salt, shredded, sifted, untested, vanilla chips, vanilla extract, vegetarian, white chocolate, XMAS 15

I had high hopes for these. They sounded great. And to be honest, it still might have been my fault these went badly. 17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

Maybe I overworked them. Maybe my dough was too warm. Maybe it was my oven or my pans. Something just didn’t work out here. After the jump, I’ll show you what happened.

17-43: Orange Date Quick Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 21, 2015September 21, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, breads, breakfast, butter, Christmas, creamed, dates, dessert, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, holiday baking, loaf pan, muffins, nuts, orange juice, oranges, quick breads, snacks, untested, vegetarian, walnuts, winter, XMAS 15, zested

I’ve made quick bread from Simply Delicious before (17-51: Three Palms Quick Bread) and it turned out well–this recipe is no exception. 17-43: Orange Date Quick Bread is part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

I chose to include this recipe in my holiday gifts this year because I wanted to include some different textures, flavors, and shapes, as well as reflecting the abundance of citrus fruit during winter in California. 🍊

17-37: Holiday Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 20, 2015September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chilled, Christmas, college, cookie cutters, cookie press, cookies, creamed, crispy, dessert, egg-free, fairly easy, gift ideas, granulated sugar, holiday baking, inexpensive, revisited, rye flour, snacks, vegetarian, XMAS 15

Hopefully I haven’t caught you too late for this year’s batch of holiday baking. If so, keep this one around for next year–17-37: Holiday Cookies is a great butter cookie recipe for using cutters or presses. This is part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

I got a new cookie press for Christmas last year, and finally got to test it out this year. This cookie press is AWESOME–so much easier than the old stubborn buggers from the past.