Freezing 101-2: Holiday Cookies

Although from my two week hiatus it may seem like I’ve been whiling away the day sipping pina coladas and nibbling on beachside fare, this is far from my vacation reality.

Contentedly, I remained within the Brooklyn landscape, reclining and recovering from a November through December sojourn with Santa’s elves.

Although La Petite Chef may be petite, I am not elfin petite. Merci for that. What I mean is that I spent a preparatory month culling together a vast assortment of cookies until my penny would no longer permit further Tupperware purchases, and until my freezer resembled that of a sweets factory.
This month-long insanity is the creation of my sister Julie, fellow cook and savvy guide through the corporate workplace. Although stocking your freezer with bin upon bin of batch upon batch of cookies, just until the merciful week of Christmas break, may seem to some like domestic flagellation, I am here to argue for the astute practicality of this endeavor:
- Once the week of holiday parties/long lunches/hour-long daydreaming arrives, your holiday gifts will be ready for packaging to give out to doormen (not that I have one, but just a thought!), colleagues, bosses, hosts and hostesses – you name it, they’ll eat it!
- Rather than purchasing gifts, a simple and thrifty shop for butter, flour, sugar, eggs, and an extra ingredient here and there, will leave your paycheck practically untouched for your winter relaxation.
-All baking can be done calmly within your home kitchen, and at your leisure thanks to the art of freezing. No more scurrying around in hat and scarf from boutique to department store and back!

So start thinking ahead towards next year, and gather up a partner in crime and a couple festive cookie recipes. Dropping these goodies off around town will have your home kitchen smelling spicy and fragrant, plus your karma rate will shoot straight to the top for 2010.


Martha Stewart’s Snickerdoodles
Makes 35
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

-Preheat oven to 350F.
-Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
-Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into balls; roll in cinnamon sugar.
-Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, or with a Silpat.
-Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers in your freezer, or served at once!