Holiday Cookies 1: Koulourakia – Greek Butter Cookies

Every year around the holidays, my family and I get into the festive mood by baking sweets and cookies. Not only is it fun to bake, but it’s also the perfect addition to a gift basket or a thank you card during the holiday season. We always bake some just to have in the house, so that, like my mom always says, we can invite people over for coffee without having to worry about what to serve them. If you’ve ever had dinner with a Greek family, you know exactly what I mean. Whenever we have anyone over, my mom practically cooks a feast and we end up having leftovers for days. This year, we did exactly that. We made many holiday foods and desserts some of which include: koulourakia, kourambiedes, melomakarona, baklava, chocolate truffles, and some cinnamon sugar cookies! Whenever I hear these words, I immediately think of Christmas, the holidays, and the house filled with mouthwatering aromas. I think of my family and I sitting by the fireplace drinking hot tea and sharing wonderful stories. Every year these cookies bring back so many memories that I decided I had to share them with you. 

First on my list, were the koulourakia. This is a basic butter cookie, but I make it extra special with my cookie press. I made different shapes with different fillings and toppings. These are so easy and so much fun to make, and yet I managed to waste 3 hours trying to make the shapes perfect and to get the cookies to look beautiful. 

Ingredients:

1 lb or 4 sticks butter (Kerrygold butter works best)

The zest of one orange and lemon

2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of baking soda
4 eggs

6-7 cups of flour (This always depends. It seems like every year we make these, we use a different amount of flour. Just make sure the dough is soft enough that you can roll in your hands and put into the cookie press without having it stick to the sides)  

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sugar

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat the butter and sugar together for a few minutes until creamy.

Add eggs, vanilla, and zest. Slowly add the flour, trying not to beat it too much (the more you beat it together the harder the cookies will become). Once all of the ingredients are incorporated well, take the dough out and place it on the counter you are working on. 

Begin to take small portions of it and roll them in your hands, big enough to fit into the metal tube of the cookie press. Then pick the shape of the cookie you want, and fasten together the cookie press.

This time, I tried a few different cookies and put many different toppings on them. I really like to try different things so I used: raspberry marmalade, chocolate chips, sliced almonds, toasted coconut shavings, nutella, and brown sugar. You can also use different colored sprinkles to make them more festive.

Press the cookies out onto a cookie sheet and put in the oven for about 15 minutes. Again, this depends on how big the shapes are and what color you want them to be. I usually want them to get a light brown color, which means a little more time. The most important thing is to check on the cookies every so often just to make sure they don’t burn. 

After that, it’s time to eat! These cookies are perfect for any occasion, and most importantly they taste delicious. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

My trip to the Farmer’s Market

I love to go to the local Farmer’s Market in the fall for fresh local vegetables. One time when I was going with my mom, I thought of something we could make for dinner – quinoa salad. The name sounds strange but it tastes delicious. The first time I tasted quinoa was a few years ago. Since my mom loves to cook healthy, she came home one day with two bags grains. She said we had to eat different whole grains in addition to the normal brown rice, potatoes, and whole wheat. She had millet and quinoa. She cooked a little of each that night, and she told me to try them. I tried the millet, and I almost spit it out – absolutely disgusting. Then I tried the quinoa and was expecting something just as bad. Surprisingly, it was pretty good. It’s hard to describe the texture of quinoa, but it’s definitely something you’ve never tried. Quinoa has a light fluffy texture when it’s cooked, and also a slightly nutty flavor. Once you start eating it, you really can’t stop. Not only is it delicious, it is extremely nutritious. It has high protein content (12-18%), it is a good source of fiber and phosphorus, and is high in magnesium and iron. 

The first dish I had with quinoa was a Quinoa Salad. My mom and I found a recipe online with a ton of fresh vegetables and it was great. I haven’t had a Quinoa Salad in a while, so I wanted to make it. 

I went to the Farmer’s Market and bought a bunch of foods: zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, parsley and garlic. There really is no precise recipe for this, but it shows how much you can change it up and make it your own with the vegetables you have in your fridge.

First, I cut up the vegetables into somewhat equal pieces (about 1 in x 1 in) and add the diced onions and garlic. I also pour some olive oil with salt and pepper. I like to add spices; one of my favorites is adobo, a Spanish seasoning with paprika, oregano, salt, vinegar and more. I add some extra oregano; I’m Greek, can’t help it. I place the veggies under the broil for a few minutes; until they begin to brown and the vegetables are tender. (I sometimes wait to put the peppers and the zucchini in, because they take less time to cook, and I like crisp vegetables). 

Meanwhile, I start to cook the quinoa. Quinoa cooks differently from rice and similar grains. Instead of placing it in with the water (like rice), first boil the water (with a little oil and salt so it won’t stick) and then pour the quinoa in, similar to what you would do with pasta. I don’t season the quinoa too much, because the vegetables have so many spices and salt on them, you don’t want it to be overpowering. Let it cook, until the grain has puffed up and has absorbed the water. Fluff it up with a fork, and pour it into a platter. 

Don’t forget about the vegetables! Take them out, mix them, and place them in the platter with the quinoa. 

Mix them up slowly, try not to mush up the vegetables. For the parsley I like to make a version of a pesto sauce. I cut up the parsley, more garlic, pour some olive oil, and a lot of lemon – around 2 lemons into a food processor, lemon really goes well with this dish. Let it pulse until it’s fairly smooth, and add salt and lemon to taste. Pour that over the salad and mix. Now eat! I hope you enjoy the recipe and change it up with your own ingredients!    

        

The Famed $250 Chocolate Chip Cookie; are you interested yet?

Chocolate chip cookies – who doesn’t love them? $250 Chocolate Chip Cookies, that’s when we start getting fancy. What makes a recipe worth $250? I guess it’s time to find out. I chose this to be my first recipe because, well I’ll admit it, I thought it would be the easiest to make. And it was! Plus, I just happened to be in the mood of making chocolate chip cookies. These cookies, though, aren’t like any normal cookie; they're special, in more than one way.

A few years ago I lived in South Carolina. One day, apparently my brother came home with a recipe in hand. My mom was confused, and asked what it was but all he said was that “this lady” came and gave out recipes; something about an expensive cookie recipe. After some researching in the local neighborhood, my mom figured out the story. It turns out that this “lady” was just a frustrated mother of one of the kids that went to my brother’s elementary school who wanted to get revenge for her betrayal. Strange, how can someone get betrayed by cookies? Well… This lady (let’s call her Mrs. Smith) went to Neiman Marcus and ordered a delicious chocolate chip cookie.

Naturally, she wanted the recipe. Mrs. Smith asked the waitress to ask the chef for the recipe and the chef actually accepted, for $250. The waitress told Mrs. Smith “two fifty.” Mrs. Smith however thought that the waitress said $2 . 50, so of course she accepted more than eagerly. She received the recipe, and later the charge, which was in fact $250 not $2 . 50. She was furious and said it was a mistake, but eventually she paid the restaurant. Afterwards she mass distributed the recipe via e-mail, letters, and more. She even went as far as to post it online so that the whole world could use it. Her reasoning: no one deserves to pay $250 dollars for a recipe, no matter how good it tastes.

If a recipe is worth $250 not $2 . 50 then I would say it’s worth trying it. Maybe that’s just me though. I finally got the guts to make it, and honestly it was so easy; just a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. Except this one, is special. Not only is it worth $250, but it has ingredients that most people don’t normally use in their cookies. For instance, the recipe asked for 2 ½ cups of blended oatmeal. It also asked for one Hersey bar and 12 ounces of chocolate chips; you can never have enough chocolate!

In addition to unique ingredients, the original recipe makes 96 cookies. Thankfully I noticed this before I started measuring, and cut it in half, but I ended up with 56, which was way too many. If you are thinking of trying this recipe, think about how many you want to make, otherwise, you will have 100 cookies, and might gain a few pounds if they stay in the house...

I would probably give this recipe a 4 or 4.5 stars out of 5 because the only part that I “disliked” was the texture. Since the recipe called for 2 ½ cups of oatmeal, the cookie was a bit dense, and next time I will definitely not put as much. The cookie still tasted delicious though. Overall, I thought that this really was a great recipe and I would recommend it to anyone who’s eager to try a new cookie.

You can find the recipe at:  http://www.food.com/recipe/neiman-marcus-250-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe-13307