SPARKLY GINGERBREAD
I made these in tandem with the chewy gingerbread cookies last night. I’ve made these the last several years for cookie decorating with my daughter and nieces. My sister makes the sugar cookies and I make these, and then we get together and decorate them. Last year I forgot the fresh ginger, and was reminded this year how much they benefit from that vs. just ground ginger. The dough is extremely sticky and a bit fussy for rolling out, but it yields a sturdy but not too crunchy cookie for decorating. One cannot be stingy with the flour dusting when rolling these out - I am always surprised how much is needed to get it to not stick to the silpar or rolling pin. I get nowhere near 12 dozen cookies, more like 3-4 dozen, but my cookie cutters may be larger than average,and I doubt I’m rolling it out to as thin as she recommends (1/8 inch). I use the referenced royal icing recipe with gel food coloring.
Could anyone send me this recipe?
Crepes-Style Manicotti
Recipe from Bevacqua’s Reservoir Tavern
Adapted by Jeff Gordinier
EDIT: gift article
LEMON-ALMOND BUTTER CAKE
Needing a dessert for a Hanukkah dinner, I lit on this cake, which had been on my radar ages ago, but then fell off it. I usually make lemon curd from home-grown Meyer lemons using Alice Medrich’s recipe with a 25% reduction in sugar, but I happened to have a jar of commercial stuff in the pantry, so that sealed the deal.
The cake is a standard butter cake that produces a thick batter. I made a few tweaks: I reduced the sugar in the cake batter by 25%; I reduced the flour by 25% and increased the ground almonds by 50% (so by volume, I used equal parts flour and almonds); I added lemon zest and a dash of almond extract for flavor, and because I had part of a bag of cranberries in the freezer, I halved a handful and folded them in. I was generous with my dollops of lemon curd (which immediately ran together when the cake went into the hot oven), and skipped adding more sugar. I also used a regular cake pan lined with parchment rather than a springform pan. I let the cake cool completely in the pan, then flipped it out onto a plate lined with waxed paper before inverting it onto the serving plate.
This is a delicious cake. The almond and lemon work well together, and the sugar reduction in the cake batter means it’s not too sweet overall with the lemon curd. The cranberries aren’t a necessary component, but have a nice pop.
Gift link:
This looks so good.
I had forgotten about this being the Baking COTM, and I am sad about that. Will add to it next time I bake from the NYT site.
I have everything in the house to make this, including the cranberries. Looks like NYE dessert is sorted! Thank you 
Hope you like it!
Since this one is winding down, I’m going to park here are few NYT baking recipes I’ve had success with in the past (all gift links). *Note: those brandied fruit scones are among my all-time “most favorite” scones.
SKILLET CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE and PISTACHIO MARTINI
After a long week back at work after two weeks off for the holidays, I made an evening treat for my husband and myself. The skillet cookie is one of our favorite quick desserts. It comes together fast, and in one bowl, and produces a very gooey (and super sweet- not much flavor nuance here, which is fine if you know that’s what you’re getting) large cookie. It works well for us because it’s a relatively small portion that’s gone faster than a whole batch of cookies would be and requires very little effort. It’s better after it firms up a tiny bit, but we can never seem to wait so it’s usually super molten and gooey inside. I nix the nuts and add in some trader Joe m&M’s instead for crunch and color in addition to the chocolate chips. I bet there’s lots of ways you could vary the flavor profile and mix-ins but I’m a purist with this recipe. Amazing with ice cream on top, but last night we went with…
Pistachio martinis!!!, which I’ve been wanting to make for a while. We got the pistachio liqueur and vanilla vodka back around Christmas, and just haven’t gotten around to it. I do have green chartreuse but it seemed like an odd addition so I just omitted it. While it’s not as good as the one at our favorite restaurant that does incredible dessert cocktails, this was a good homemade rendition. Either the vanilla vodka or the pistachio liqueur had a slight artificial flavor I got a very faint hint of, but the ratio of ingredients seemed right and while it contains heavy cream, that was well diluted by the long shake with ice, so if wasn’t too rich. I did go through the effort of the rim garnish (which I usually never bother with with cocktails) and that provided a nice salty crunch. I guess I will be making these again since I have a whole large container of pistachio liqueur now, and no idea what else to do with it!
Oh man, I wish I was at your place last night.
I’ve made that cookie recipe, and like it. It’s not the best CC cookie I’ve ever made, but far from the worst and certainly the fastest and the cutest. For the two of us, I make a half-recipe in an 8" skillet, which is just about right.
Exactly - so fast and scratches the chocolate chip cookie itch with no dough chilling or anything fussy.
I also use a smaller cast iron skillet than is called for (I’m assuming 8" like yours) but with the full recipe, because I prefer it thicker. And because obviously were gluttons! Lol
