Fresh Tart

What to bake when you prefer the salty over the sweet? And you're busy? (And you can't eat gluten?) These easy beauties, which have become everyone's favorite Christmas cookie, including mine.

The original recipe caught my eye a few years ago as the Minneapolis Star Tribune's 2009 Cookie Contest Winner. If you love almonds and caramel and butter and Christmas, you'll be as smitten by these decadent cookies as the Strib'stasting panel clearly was (their verdict: "love" and "beautiful").

As a gift to the baker, these are bar cookies, which Minnesotans know are the most magical (and easy!) of all. Other than allowing time for the shortbread crust to chill before baking, they come together in minutes. After they cool for awhile, cut them into tidy triangles, pour yourself a glass of milk, and dig in.

Despite their simplicity, the triangles are elegant on a cookie plate AND disappear blessedly quickly. You can focus on how nutritious almonds are to lull yourself into cookie complacency, but a cookie isn't Christmas without a hearty dose of butter and sugar, and these are no exception.

Thank goodness!

Recipe for Almond Triangles at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I love me a chocolate chip cookie as much as the next girl, but my real favorite childhood cookie is a ranger cookie. My Grandma Meyer made big batches of these coconut-and-cereal-laced beauties, piled them into empty Butter-Nut coffee cans, and hauled them to the lake for mid-day, swim-starved snacking. We grandkids would inhale a stack of them as we ran back to the beach, while my grandma and aunties enjoyed theirs sitting in the shade with a cup of tea. They would politely eat one or two, although I never understood how. I was - and clearly still am - obsessed with their buttery, naughty goodness.

Apparently as was all of Clara City, Minnesota, given a glance at the Bethenny Reformed Church cookbook. There are several recipes by several different names - cereal cookies, oatmeal corn flake cookies, cracked coconut oat cookies (my favorite), and of course ranger cookies. Some recipes call for rice krispies instead of corn flakes, some for shortening instead of butter, but they're all a variation on the same basic recipe. My son noted that these cookies are an early version of the currently uber-popular Momofuku Milk Bar compost cookies - and he's right! I consider these a purer, more elegant form. Then again, nostalgia is a powerful seasoning.

Recipe for Ranger Cookies at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Second dessert in a week?  Not my usual, since I tend to favor savory over sweet, but I had a special reason.  My 3-year old nephew Cooper spent a few days with us and Cooper loves (wuvs) a good cookie.  Plus, I'll admit, I've had this funky recipe on my mind since I read it on the Amateur Gourmet blog a few weeks back and I was just itching for a reason to try it.  (Stacey & Nathan, I promise I'll make them again for your birthdays...)

If you love salty & sweet together, you're all about this cookie.  The dough starts with the familiar Tollhouse base - butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla - albeit beaten to a fluffiness I've never achieved before (10 minutes of mixer beating, until all of the sugar dissolves into a light, buttery cloud).

Then things get crazy fun, because the next round of ingredients is pretty much your call - choose 1.5 cups of your favorite baking ingredients (i.e. chocolate chips, coconut, cocoa krispies, raisinettes, nuts, you name it, in any combination) and 1.5 cups of your favorite snacks (pretzels, potato chips, fritos, chex mix, ritz, you name it, yep, in any combination).

I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too - these should be named Stoners' Dream-Come-True Cookies.

Being a not-stoner, I opted for a bit of restraint and chose just two from each category: chocolate chips with cocoa puffs (crushed a bit) and pretzels with potato chips (also crushed a bit).

I dare you to get to the baking part, because the dough is beyond - creamy, crunchy, salty, sweet, all in one bite, all over the place.  The baked cookies are all of that too.  Except creamy, obviously, so re-read that sentence and replace "creamy" with "chewy" and you've got the picture on the finished cookies.

Next time I think I'll forgo the chocolate chips and use toasted coconut - there is definitely something about these that reminds me of my Grandma Meyer's ranger cookies, one of the best cookies ever, probably the corn-chip crunchy texture.

I can't believe I just used "stoners" and "Grandma Meyer" in the same post.  Sorry Grandma!  (PS I miss you...)

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookies

Christina Tosi via The Amateur Gourmet

Makes 15 6 oz. cookies (I made 30 3 oz. cookies)

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

3/4 c. light brown sugar

1 Tbsp. corn syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. your favorite baking ingredients (I used chocolate chips and cocoa puffs; other ideas include nuts, other cereals, your favorite candies, etc.)

1 1/2 c. your favorite snacks foods (chips, pretzels, crackers, etc.)

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars, and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate.  Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes.  During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and  your creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix 45-60 seconds or just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated.  Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 seconds until they evenly mix into the dough.  Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.

Using a 6 oz. ice cream scoop (I used a 3 oz. for smaller cookies), portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week.  DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temp or they will not hold their shape.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4" apart in any direction (I put my 3 oz. balls 12 to a baking pan).

Bake 9-11 minutes.  While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle, and spread.  At 9 minutes the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center.  Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies still seem pale and doughy on the surface.

Cool cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage.  At room temp, cookies will keep fresh for 5 days.  In the freezer, cookies will keep fresh for 1 month.

The tree is finally trimmed - it's a Christmas miracle!  I can't believe how slowly I'm warming to Christmas this year, it's bad for even me.  I'm getting there, I'm getting there, and even enjoying the process.  A little.  I'm trying my best to embrace the moment - the scent of the tree, the beauty of wrapped gifts.  But I can't quite escape the nagging feeling that this is just a whole lot of expensive work.  No!  Stop that!  OK.  I'll stop.  And count my many blessings and fully enjoy the holiday, as I (eventually) do every year.

I hope your holiday baking/shopping/wrapping is going well and smoothly!  I've already enjoyed the most fabulous Christmas cookies.  Not my own - I gave up baking cookies years ago - but Amy Brown's, the creme de la creme of Christmas cookies, beyond good.  Between Nathan, John, and me, those babies were gone in no time.  Thank you Amy and Jon!

I braised boneless beef shortribs over the weekend (from Whole Foods, highly recommend), almost three pounds of them so that I could stretch them for several meals.  Unctious, beefy, perhaps my favorite cut.  On Saturday night we had them with pan juices over orzo, topped with roasted peppers and onions.  Last night we had hot roast beef sandwiches.  And tomorrow night I think I'll turn what remains into empanadas.  Stay tuned...

Tonight, John and I are braving the cold - real, serious cold - and heading out to...we don't know yet.  Our emails so far include our Monday night staple Cave Vin, or perhaps Barbette or Salut.  Or maybe D'Amico Cucina or I Nonni.  Again, stay tuned...

And WARM!