Florentine Bar Cookie Recipe

By Jill Richardson (inspired by Sunset Magazine)
This Florentine bar cookie recipe is not just fantastic tasting it is a jewel box to look at. It has it all, a perfect balance, rich buttery shortbread crust with sweet and tart dried fruit and almonds on top. I only make it once a year and no matter how busy have not missed a year since I discovered this recipe. They are always on my cookie plates I give to neighbors and friends at the holiday.

Ingredients
1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 egg plus one egg yolk
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup plus 6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
12 ounces sliced almonds
1/2 cup raisins, finely chopped
1/2 cup tart dried apricots (we prefer Blenheim), finely chopped
1/2 cup tart dried cherries, finely chopped

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, cream salted butter with 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk and beat to combine. Gradually add flour and mix well (dough will be very soft). Transfer to a floured 16- by 11-in. parchment paper. With a floured rolling pin, roll dough to same size as parchment. Trim any overhang, then transfer dough (on parchment) to a large rimmed baking pan. Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on) and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together unsalted butter, remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar, honey, and cream. Cook mixture, stirring frequently, until it registers 250° on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from heat and stir in almonds, raisins, apricots, and cherries.
3. Using a spatula, gently spread warm topping over shortbread. Bake until topping is caramelized and almonds are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven; while still warm, cut into 2-in. squares. Cool completely.
This bar cookie is not just fantastic tasting it is a jewel box to look at. It has it all, a perfect balance, rich buttery shortbread crust with sweet and tart dried fruit and almonds on top. I only make it once a year and no matter how busy have not missed a year since I discovered this recipe. They are always on my cookie plates I give to neighbors and friends at the holiday.

Drunken Missionaries

By Nancy R. Wilson
This was developed one day from a recipe for Cherry Garcias, when I discovered that I had no dried cherries, pecans or white baking chips. The substitutions made a whole new cookie: an instant success (June 2008).
The Story: When the missionaries from New England landed in Hawai’i they brought cranberries, a few bits of chocolate and a modest supply of brandy (for medicinal use only). The natives greeted them with macadamia nuts, and the happy result of this encounter is recreated in these cookies. Aloha!

Ingredients:
2 cup dried cranberries
1 c brandy
1 tsp baking soda
3 c flour
1 c butter
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla
1 c each dark chocolate chips and
chopped macadamia nuts

Process:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment.
Soak dried cranberries in brandy to cover. Let sit 30 minutes or while you mix the dough.
Whisk together flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until combined. Fold in cranberries, chips and nuts.
Refrigerate dough 30 to 45 minutes to firm up.
Drop dough by scoop or tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets (I always use parchment paper . . makes clean-up so easy!), about 1-1/2 to 2 inches apart. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. (Test: firm at the edges, soft on top, no longer glossy.) Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before removing to racks to cool completely. Store in a covered container.
Yield: about 36 good-sized cookies.

Notes:
Recipe can easily be cut in half for smaller (or fewer) cookies(or multiplied, of course).

I have been soaking the cranberries longer . . . up to a couple of days. When I am short of time, 30 seconds to a minute in the microwave also softens them and makes them absorb the brandy. I soak them in a pint jar, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon. You can add some of the extra brandy to the cookie dough if it seems too stiff. You’ll probably have cranberry-flavored brandy left over; we call it “crandy”. Not a bad liqueur, served over ice. If you don’t want to use brandy, I suppose you could soak them in apple juice or cranberry juice to plump them up a little.

For a dairy-free version you could use butter-flavored Crisco sticks, since it now has no trans-fats, but add a little water (according to instructions on the Crisco package).

Chilling the dough is optional . . . worked fine without it.

Nona’s Persimmon Cookies

By Lynne Galletti

Always looked forward to the holidays as the whole family would enjoy Nona’s delicious Persimmon cookies. Hope you enjoy them as much as we have over the years. Nona has since passed but we try to keep the tradition going.
Enjoy!
Lynne and Nadyne

1 Cup Persimmon Pulp use soft persimmons like Hachiya
1 Egg
1 Cup Sugar
½ Cup Shortening
2 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Cloves
½ teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Salt (optional)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
1 Cup Raisins
Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and baking soda.
Separate bowl mix pulp, shortening and egg
Combine with dry mixture, then add nuts and raisins
Preheat oven 350
Drop on greased cookie sheet
Cook 20 – 25 minutes
Yields 4 dozen

Brown Butter Coconut Cookies

By Amy Meiers

These cookies are so flavorful and chewy. They stay nice and soft because of the coconut…perfect to hand out during the holidays!

Makes about 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
¾ cups unsalted butter
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
2 cups flour
½ baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg and 1 yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup white chocolate chips
Directions:
In a medium skillet heat the butter until browned and nutty smelling then set aside to cool slightly. In the same pan that the butter was cooked in toast the coconut until golden…set aside to cool. Heat the oven to 350.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Cream together the browned butter and sugars, add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Add the dry mixture then once mostly combined add the white chocolate chips and toasted coconut. Scoop out the cookie dough using a small cookie scoop and bake for 10-12 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Enjoy!

Browned Butter Coconut Cashew Cookies

By Amy Meiers

If you know me you know that my favorite spice is cardamom. I put at least 1 cardamom cookie in every cookie box I pass out during the holidays! The browned butter in these cookies definitely kicks it up a notch (or two)!

Makes about 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
¾ cups unsalted butter
2 cups flour
½ baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg and 1 yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup toasted cashews- coarsely chopped

Directions:
In a skillet heat the butter until browned and nutty smelling then set aside to cool slightly. Heat the oven to 350.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cardamom then set aside. Cream together the browned butter and sugars, add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients then add the toasted cashews. Scoop out dough using a small cookie scoop and bake for 10-12 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Enjoy!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Multiple bakers have had issues with this recipe. I’m working on getting this sorted out with Karey, who baked them with us on site at the Bake-A-Thon using the recipe she submitted. Until we’ve resolved it, please hold off on using this recipe. Apologies.

The 2014 Holiday Cookie Contest Winner: Grandmas’s/Mom’s Butter Cookies

Submitted by Karey Barnett

1 lb softened buter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 flour

Heat oven to 350. In a stand mixer (my mom still does it by hand) cream butter and sugar. Add egg then vanilla and cream together. Next add flour one cup at a time and cream together. Once all ingredients are combined (now here’s the tricky part) the cookie dough is spooned into a cookie press with the crinkle disk.

Pump dough onto cookie sheets in long strips about 4 per sheet. Cut into desired size approximately 3″ long and sprinkle with colored non perils. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Remove from cookie sheet immediately before they begin to crisp or they will stick. You may use parchment paper if you like.

Karey says: “These are the best delicate crisp cookies ever and with colored sprinkles they are a kids/adults delight to the eyes I am still to this day drawn to beautiful colored sprinkled goodies. My mom has been making these cookies since I can remember and my grandmother before her. I still use the cookie press that was my mom’s because it makes the cookies the perfect thinness. I will let you know that this cookie press is no longer made and even harder to find. I know this because my mom and I have spent hours searching for them online. Not too long ago a friend of my mothers was going through her mothers things and found the exact cookie press still in the original box untouched. She gave the press to my mom because over the years had enjoyed these butter cookies…and to my delight, at that time my mom passed down her cookie press to me and I no longer had to borrow, it was great! I have tried to use other cookie presses, but the cookies come out to thick and do not bake as well. Growing up my mom would spend hours baking and freezing these cookies every holiday and still does today. They are requested by many and enjoyed plenty. As I began to bake these delicious crisp buttery cookies, they soon became a favorite amongst my friends as well. I call them the “perfect coffee cookie” and when you dunk them in a fresh cup of hot coffee morning or night you will know why. These cookies still keep their crunch and then melt in your mouth and it is way to easy to consume many because of how thin, crispy, and addicting the cookies are. I often tell my mom that someday we will become famous for these cookies and they will be in every coffee shop in town.”

New details on Dustin Valette’s yet-unnamed restaurant in Healdsburg.

Partnering with the former Dry Creek Kitchen Chef will be his brother Aaron Garzini, a front-of-house vet with stints at John Ash and Co., SF’s Beetlenut and Francis Ford Coppola’s Rustic. “We dreamed about this when were were little kids playing in the yard,” said Vallette of his 20-plus years of planning a restaurant with his sibling (the two are half-brothers). The boys grew up in the restaurant business in Sonoma County, and will be paying homage to many of their favorite local farmers, winemakers, grape growers and artisans at the yet-to-be-named eatery. Including hand-hewn furniture from a 750-year-old redwood stump from a nearby property. “I bumped into that stump recently and memories came flooding back,” said Valette, of the tree that was milled by his father 35 years ago after it fell.

“Everything in the restaurant will have a story,” said Valette, including the menu. Look for a parade of Sonoma County’s bounty, with a changed-nightly Chef’s Tasting Menu, fresh pastas, local meats, house made charcuterie (Valette’s a well-versed charcuterist), bespoke cheeses from a local cheese maker, and of course, Valette’s signature Scallops en Croute. The vibe will be upscale casual, meaning entrees in the $20-30 range; no white tablecloths, a “clean look with sharp edges” and an extensive wine and cocktail program. The brothers say they’re hoping for a late February 2015 opening.

Of course, there’s always another story behind every restaurant opening and closing: Someone winning and someone losing. For months, news that Valette was looking for a space of his own after six years with Charlie Palmer was one of the worst-kept secrets in Healdsburg. Most bets were on Ralph’s Bistro, so it came as a surprise when Zin’s Jeff and Susan Mall abruptly announced their closing. No one is speaking publicly about the reason behind the couple’s departure, but suffice to say, the restaurant will be much-missed and there’s plenty of push for the Malls to continue cooking for the community. “The spirit of Zin will live on with…Valette,” said the couple. Zin’s last day will be Dec. 30, 2014.