two cookie recipes and a table

With only two days left until Christmas eve, I wanted to make sure I checked in with you all at least one more time to share a special place setting and two amazing cookie recipes with you all.

These lovely “Indian Tree” plates are probably about 100 years old, and I don’t use them that often, but I thought they’d be perfect this Christmas. The hand-painted colors are amazing and the scalloped- ruffled edge makes these dishes so festive.

To downplay the old-fashioned look of these plates, I paired them with modern Serena and Lily navy blue gingham napkins (in the photo they look black, but they're navy!) I love the juxtaposition of the patterns especially with the natural elements of the raffia placemats, wood charger and runner.

The rest of the table has a modern feel with a bit of Chinoiserie thrown in, just for fun! It’s fun to mix different styles for a sort of unique look.

The tablescape meshes well with the transferware plates on the wall in the dining room too.  

Recipe cards can be printed at Cottages and Bungalows

I just got through a three day spree of cookie baking mostly and the old-fashioned Christmas pudding is done and ready to be steamed on Christmas eve.

Most importantly, I wanted to share this beloved Yankee Oatmeal Cookie recipe with you all. My mother-in-law Joan used to make these all the time, and I’ve never come across a recipe that's anything like these!

My whole family can confess to these being their all-time favorite cookies. They’re light, lacy and delicate and are oh, so yummy!! 

Joan’s Yankee Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup soft butter

2 eggs

1 ¼ cup flour, sifted

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups of sliced almonds

3 cups quick cooking oats

Cream the sugars and butter with an electric mixer. Beat in 2 eggs until mixture is fluffy. Add sifted flour, baking soda and salt to the mixture until combined. Add vanilla, almonds and oats until evenly combined.

Divide the dough in half and shape into two separate logs, and then wrap each with waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. When dough is firm enough, thinly slice and put on cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes for a chewy cookie and 1-2 minutes longer for a crispy cookie. Makes about 4 dozen.

Also in this photo, at the top, are traditional Italian Pine Nut cookies. These cookies are also light and since they have a fair amount of almond paste in them, they’re similar to a macaroon. 

If you’ve never had these pignoli cookies, they're worth a try! The pine nuts give them a real festive taste that's so perfect for Christmas.  

Pignoli* or Pine Nut Cookies

2 cups pine nuts

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ cup almond paste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process ¾ cup pine nuts in a food processor with the sugar, almond paste, and vanilla until fine crumbs form. Add egg and lemon zest; pulse to combine. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; process just until dough comes together. Roll dough into ½ inch balls.

Roll the cookie balls in the remaining 1¼ cups pine nuts and gently press to adhere. Space the cookie dough 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake until cookies begin to turn golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Makes about 2 ½ dozen pignoli cookies.

Pignoli* is pronounced pēn-yō-lē

So this year, I’ve made three kinds of spritz cookies; one flavored with orange zest, another flavored with lemon zest and little chocolate stars sprinkles with powdered sugar ( the photo above is from last year).

In addition to those, I also made traditional tollhouse cookies, Martha Stewart’s Chewy Chocolate Ginger Molassas Cookies (my family’s 2nd favorites), and a new recipe this year, dark chocolate cookies with mint chip bits.

Well, I think I’m just about done with all my catch-up… that’s what today was all about.

I think I’m officially done with baking, gift shopping, and about 80% finished with wrapping presents. A few are still due to arrive from Amazon tomorrow!

How about you? How’s your Christmas prep going? Are you baking any special recipes this weekend? 

ciao! fabiana

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weekend wrap up

It’s Sunday morning and while I’m here dreaming of a white Christmas, we’ve got cold and blustery Santa Ana winds blowing again today, with not a snowflake in sight. 

Everyone in our community and in all of California is praying and hoping for better weather conditions for those affected by the California wildfires, which are burning terribly in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.    

Right now, my favorite Christmas movie, Christmas in Connecticut, is playing on TCM right now, and I have it on in the background. The farmhouse pictured above reminds me of the idyllic home described in the movie. 

And here’s a lovely shot of two homes from my husband’s hometown of Geneva, Illinois, taken just this weekend. The one in the foreground belonged to the Bogash family and the one behind it is my husband’s childhood home. 

All this talk of nostalgia, really makes me appreciate all our pretty vintage ornaments that were handed down from our parents and grandparents. Do you have ornaments that remind you of your family?

The holidays are also a fun time to honor family recipes. I think it’s fun to go through old cookbooks and make holiday treats like our grandmothers did. I have a tattered little notebook from Woolworth’s filled with recipes that belonged to my husband’s great grandmother.

The handwriting is a killer, but I finally figured out the little quirks in her cursive, like not crossing her T's but kind of accenting them instead?!?

It’s interesting to see how that generation ate. No fresh herbs are included in any of the recipe I found in the book, lol. This weekend I tried her recipe for pralines, which I’ll share soon. After a little trial and error, I think I figured out how to make them the right way, since the directions were not detailed at all!

Yesterday was a busy day for me in the kitchen. In addition to making the pralines, I also made Spiced Pecans for gift giving, this week’s recipe of Chutney from Kate Middleton (so yummy!), and Pignoli Cookies that I remember from my childhood. If you’re Italian, chances are you’ve enjoyed these too!

Every time I want to make Pignoli (Pine Nut) Cookies I never have almond paste, which is essential for these cookies. Well, we found almond paste at Ralph’s, and the cookies came together easily in the food processor. They come out soft and chewy kind of like a macaroon. These are the classic old-school Italian cookies I grew up loving. Recipe found below.

BTW, we served the chutney over cream cheese and with manchego cheese on crackers at a gathering this weekend, and it was a hit! I'll share a few other yummy cookie recipes later this week.

I’m loving my collection of little scrabble tiles. They’re perfect for spelling out names or holiday greetings!

How about a holiday greeting from Dorinda and Ramona from the Real Housewives of New York City? Here they are sharing their Manhattan apartment Christmas trees.

I’m soooo excited that as we speak, they’re at Dorinda’s house in the Berkshires for their annual Christmas gathering. 

Here’s Ramona with the fabulous Berkshires tree in Dorinda’s beautiful blue living room. Could it be a 1920's themed party that they're having for Dorinda's birthday? 

It looks that way! Oh, how I love a good theme party!

I’m also excited for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to start on Tuesday night. Even though Kyle has recently moved, we probably won’t be seeing her fabulous new home this season. Here’s a little peek at the beauty from Kyle’s Instagram...

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday,

and are ready to head into this final week before

Christmas!

Here's the recipe for the yummy Pignoli cookies...

Pignoli or Pine Nut Cookies

2 cups pine nuts

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ cup almond paste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process ¾ cup pine nuts in a food processor with the sugar, almond paste, and vanilla until fine crumbs form. Add egg and lemon zest; pulse to combine. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; process just until dough comes together. Roll dough into ½ inch balls. Roll the cookie balls in the remaining 1 ¼ cups pine nuts and gently press to adhere. Space the cookie dough 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake until cookies begin to turn golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Makes about 2 ½ dozen pignoli cookies.

ciao! fabiana

photos: 1. Country Living  3. Southern Living
Housewives photos: instagram

spritzapalooza!

Today was another big cookie baking day!

I just wanted to stop by real quick and 

share my two latest recipes with you all...

and I must apologize in advance if this has been 
too much of a cookie-filled month.

What are your favorite Christmas cookies to make?

I always make the traditional vanilla spritz cookies, but today I ventured out and tried a batch made with fresh orange zest instead of vanilla. The taste was delicate slightly citrusy, and really yummy!   

Orange Zest Spritz Cookies
Makes about 96 cookies

3 Sticks Unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon orange zest

4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then the salt and orange zest. Gradually add the flour, one cup at a time. Beat until well incorporated. Fill the cookie press and form cookies onto an ungreased and cool cookie sheet. Bake the spritz for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on the edges.

Then comes the fun part, decorating with sprinkles, colored sugars or icing!  

And then I found a recipe for gingerbread spritz… My version features freshly grated nutmeg and ginger. 

I always have both of those ingredients ready to go in a little bowl next to my stove, and I use them both quite often in savory dishes as well as sweet ones like Irish oatmeal.

I also love a little nutmeg grated in the my empanada filling and fresh ginger usually gets grated into most of my rice and soup dishes. 

Here are the gingerbread little darlings after they were dusted with a little powdered sugar.

Gingerbread Spritz Cookies

Makes about 48 cookies

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large mixing bowl beat together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, molasses and vanilla until well blended. Set aside. In another bowl, stir together flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Stir into creamed mixture until well mixed.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for ½ hour. Place ¼ of dough in a cookie press and press out cookies onto ungreased shiny silver baking sheet and make sure it’s cool for each pressing. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until set, but not brown. Cool for 2 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool. If desired, decorate with powdered sugar.

I also got a new set of holiday spritz discs.

Check them all out in the first photo

(The fleur de lys is one of my faves!)

Hope to see you tomorrow!

ciao! fabiana

my favorite pumpkin spice cookies

The addition of pumpkin spices 

makes these spritz the perfect cookie for fall

The pumpkin shape and aromatic flavor of these

cookies will definitely get you in the mood for fall.

Celebrate the arrival of fall with these easy-to-make pumpkin spice butter cookies that will be sure to tingle your taste buds and put you in that perfect autumn mood. 

Traditionally known as spritz, these light butter cookies are usually made around Christmas, but now with the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, they’re perfect for fall. 

Warm all your senses on those cold autumn afternoons, with Pumpkin Spiced Spritz and a hot cup of coffee.

Did you ever make spritz cookies growing up? I have vivid memories of decorating spritz during the holidays when I was a little girl and being amazed at how beautiful the cookies were when they came out of the oven.  

Tingle your taste buds and put yourself in that perfect autumn mood with these delicious Pumpkin Spice Spritz.

These adorable holiday cookies are so easy to make with the help of one simple kitchen gadget, a cookie press, which comes with a variety of different disks.

Create your own little blend of glittery sprinkles by combining different colors of sparkling sugars.

My cookie press came with this adorable pumpkin shape, but leaves and circular forms can easily be dressed up for fall. Additional disk shapes for other holiday and themes can also be purchased and added to your collection.

A custom mix of sparkling sugars gave me the desired

shine I was going for on these little pumpkin cookies.

The recipe for these cookies is very straight forward and foolproof. I found that the cookies stick better to metal cookie sheets, as opposed to parchment paper or a silpat. 

The first cookie probably won’t turn out pretty, so just throw it back into the bowl of batter. It just takes a little bit of practice to figure out how much clicking is needed to get the perfect cookie on to the baking sheet.

For this batch of cookies, I created my own little blend of glittery sprinkles by combining orange, yellow, gold and white sparkling sugars. This custom mix gave me the desired festive look I was going for. 

In addition to the glittery colors, I used natural food color in the batter to give the perfect pumpkin hue.

Pumpkin Spice Spritz Cookies 

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

natural orange food color (optional)

Sprinkles for garnish

Instructions

1.   Preheat oven to 350.

2.   Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on medium-low until well combined and airy, about 4 to 5 minutes.

3.   Add the vanilla and the egg; mix to incorporate.

4.   If desired, add a few drops of natural food color and mix until combined.

5.   In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

6.   With the electric mixer on low, add flour mixture slowly to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.

7.   Fill the Cookie Press with cookie dough.

8.   Press the cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.

9.   Decorate cookies with seasonal sprinkles.

10.  Bake until firm and golden, about 8 to 10 minutes.

11.  Remove cookies from oven and let set for 2 minutes.

12.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Spritz Cookies will keep up to a week in an airtight container.

Makes about 4-5 dozen.

Feel free to add your own special touch to this recipe!

ciao! fabiana

This article originally appeared on Romantic Homes online.