Easy and elegant Christmas cookies

Got a question from “a needy baker in Albany.” (This is NOT how I would characterize her — this woman is a baking machine.) She’s got a classic holiday-party dilemma, though:

I am having 75 people for a cocktail party this Saturday night (12/12). We are having some of it catered but I want to make holiday cookies that are easy (fast) and elegant. I have already made mint brownies, chocolate chip bars, cranberry orange bread and lemon blueberry bread – all are frozen in prep for Saturday. Any other suggestions?

See what I mean by “baking machine”? She’s got three key elements covered — chocolate, mint and orange — and there are great colors and shapes on that dessert table. I have two immediate recommendations from right here: Butterscotch Creoles and Almond Flats. Both fit the bill in a couple of ways: They add a new note to the table — nuts — and are elegant and fast (not tons of things to put together or ice). The added benefit of Butterscotch Creoles is the recipe makes a ton, eight to nine dozen cookies.

A couple of other ideas:

Ginger-ginger petticoat tails, from today’s Washington Post — who does NOT love shortbread, and this is the time of year to eat it.

Coconut macaroons, from Brown Eyed Baker’s blog — because they are elegant and easier than all get-out. I’d bag the chocolate-dipping for your table.

Good luck — tell what you made!

Butterscotch Creoles

These used to arrive in the Christmas cookie tins, packed carefully with waxed paper and a slice of Pepperidge Farm bread to keep everything fresh. The batch I made last night tasted just like I remember.

It is a mystery as to why they are called Creoles — all the butter they use? the pecans? — but the butterscotch appellation comes from the happy melding of lots of brown sugar with lots of butter with lots of dates. According to my cousin Rebecca, the dates, cut into small bits, are not as cloying or imposing as whole dates may be. The nuts help add a no-nonsense note.

All of last night’s testers nodded sagely and took another . . . and another . . . and agreed that these were “deceptively light.” And then we went off a bit sideways and tasted the cookies with thin slices of Manchego cheese on top, thinking about how good dates and cheese can be together.

We’re looking for other opinions on that.

Butterscotch Creoles

Makes 8 to 9 dozen cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups finely chopped dates (about 1 lb. of whole dates, before pitting)
• 1 cup butter
• 1-1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add dates to flour mixture, using forks to separate clumps of chopped date somewhat. Add nuts.

In another large bowl, cream butter until soft; gradually beat in brown sugar, then vanilla. Add one egg at a time. Stir in flour mixture; dough will be soft. Form dough into rolls about 2 inches in diameter, using waxed paper to help you shape the rolls. Wrap waxed paper around rolls and chill dough thoroughly in the refrigerator, for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut chilled rolls crosswise into 1/8-inch thick slices; place slices on ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, until lightly browned.

Recipe and photograph copyright 2009 Garside Group LLC

What’s up for Thanksgiving dessert?

Last week, I was talking about Pumpkin Custard No. 1 with April, whom I met at an American Marketing Association event. She sounded kind of interested in the dessert. “Could I add pecans?,” she asked. I didn’t delve beyond the feeling that pecans, pumpkin and Thanksgiving just all go together for her. Makes sense.

I said, “Definitely! I’d toast some pecans, maybe candy them, and chop them not too fine. Then you serve the pumpkin custard with whipped cream on top, and sprinkle a healthy handful of pecans on as well…” and I realized that right there we were coming up with something that would feel and taste different from just plain Pumpkin Custard No. 1. Just enough of a twist — on the recipe or on how you serve something — and you’ve made a dessert yours.

April, if that sounded good to you, here are two options for creating your glazed or candied pecans:

• Viviane Bauquet Farre has maple-glazed pecans on the salad in her vegetarian Thanksgiving. (You have to scroll down a bit, but who’s complaining with this menu of hers??)
• Suzie the Foodie has the most gloriously photographed candied pecans on her page. (If you’re upping this recipe, you don’t need to increase sugar and water in the same proportion. I made this with 1/2 cup pecans, 4 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water, following Suzie’s cooking instructions.)

And from all of you, I want to hear this: How are you making what’s probably a pretty traditional set of desserts reflect you and your family at Thanksgiving? What do you do to make your mark on dessert?

Me, I’m going to make Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie with a cream-cheese crust. Too rich? Maybe. I’ll let you know!