Game of Thrones Cookies

 

On Sunday some friends had a Game of Thrones viewing party. I had some time to spare so I wanted to make some themed cookies. Sadly as I had already beaten the butter I realized I had no eggs! Lucky for me the internet has plenty of no egg sugar cookie recipes to the rescue! I tweaked one a bit and then I was good to go. They were still soft and the cardamom I added gave them the right amount of umph. Topped them off with some chocolate frosting and a white chocolate symbol for some of the Game of Thrones house flags.

 

The viewing party was topped off by the lovely hosts dressing as wildlings and experimenting with dry ice to make a White Walker drink. Also there was cheese, a ton of cheese :)

 

Eggless Sugar Cookies:

makes about 24

 

1/2 cup butter; room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

3 tbs milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp baking powder

 

1   preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2   beat butter until light and fluffy then beat in sugar

3   beat in vanilla, almond extract and milk

4   slowly mix in flour, salt, cardamom, and baking powder- don't over mix

5   flour a large parchment paper surface and roll out the dough to be about 1/4" thick

6   cut out desired shapes and place on cookie sheet, gather dough roll out and repeat until there isn't any dough left

7   bake for 7-10 minutes, the tops should be a light golden brown

8   set aside and let cool

 

3/4 cup butter; room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 tbs milk

1   beat butter until light and fluffy
2   slowly beat in powdered sugar and cocoa powder
3   beat in vanilla and milk until it is a good spreadable consistency
4   ice the cookies and top with sprinkles or some Game of Thrones white chocolate flag symbols :)

Maple Leaf Cookies with Caramel Drizzle

 

I made this leaf cookie cutter last year and never got around to using it. So I went for it and made maple leaf sugar cookies for our United Way Bake Sale at work. Normally I only make sugar cookies for Christmas time and frost them with buttercream. I think I changed my mind though, they can be all the time cookies. These cuties drizzles with salted caramel were divine!

 

 

Maple Leaf Sugar Cookies:

2/3 cup butter; room temp

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 egg

4 tsp milk

2 cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

 

1   cream butter and sugar together

2   then is in vanilla and milk. Beat until fluffy

3   add in dry ingredients and beat until creamy

4   divide dough in half and wrap each in plastic wrap. Let set in fridge for about an hour, up to overnight

5   preheat oven to 375 degrees F. generously flour work surface and roll out on of the balls of dough to about 1/8” thick

6   dip cookie cutters in flour and cut out the shapes, place each on a greased baking sheet

7   gather remaining dough into a ball, roll out again, cut shapes, repeat until all dough is gone. Then repeat with the other ball of dough.

8   As the cookie sheets fill up bake each for 8-10 minutes, edges should not get brown

salted caramel topping:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup heavy cream
generous pinch of sea salt

½ tsp vanilla bean paste

1   in a saucepan add 1/2 cup + 2 tbs sugar and the water, heat over medium heat until it

boils, stir occassionally
2   then with a pastry brush, or paper towel, wet down the sides of the saucepan so that

sugar doesn't crystalize on it
3   Stop stirring and let it sit until it turns dark amber, you can gently swirl it a few times
4   then remove from heat and stir in the cream, it will bubble
5   then stir in the sea salt and vanilla, let cool

6   drizzle or pour the caramel over the cookies

Cut Out Cookie Time

 

This year's cut out Christmas cookies are pretty fab. While I'm adding the green to the wreaths Joshua always gets started trying to find a way to turn a snowman into something else. I've been decorating Christmas cookies with my family since I was little but he's only been at it for about 4 years and he's way more creative than me. I always start out very traditionalist - a snowman with a scarf, a wreath with berries and than I finally start getting into it a wreath is really a monster mouth with elephant sprinkles upside down as teeth. Then all happy with my monster I look over and he's made a minion from an ornament and Nemo from a snowman. I love cookie decorating!

bird from an angel that got a broken wing, Kirby



monster wreath, Finding Nemo

psychedelic snowman, minion, princess leia golden bikini version,
Pebbles from Flinstones, Creeper from Minecraft



 

2013 cookies  :  2012 cookies  :  2011 cookies

Cookie time of year

 

Also this past weekend our friend Liz came over, she'd expressed interest in making buckeyes and I'm always in for Christmas cookie helpers! We made a ton of buckeyes, she brought a tasty lunch and then we also made these Walnut Cardamom Cookies which turned out to be crazy delicious. Joshua and Liz were in charge of breaking open the cardamom pods and grinding them up, which was actually quite a bit of work ha, maybe next time I'll buy ground cardamom.

 

 

 

 

They're great tea/coffee companion cookies but we all totally fell in love with them on their own as well. We all tried one and then proceeded to make 2 more batches because we knew we weren't going to want to share the first batch.

 

Walnut Cardamom Cookies:

adapted from here1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

 

2 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon peel, grated

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups walnuts; finely chopped (I used the food processor)

 

1   in a small bowl combine 1 cup of the sugar with 1 tsp cardamom

2   in another bowl beat butter until it is light and fluffy

3   mix in the vanilla, lemon, salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp cardamom

4   then slowly mix in flour and nuts until combined

5   cover bowl and place in fridge for one hour

(skipping this step will result in flat cookies)

6   preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray

7   roll cookies into small balls about 1" big, gently press the cookie between your palms, just enough that it's not a full sphere

8   repeat until all dough has been used, place all cookies on baking sheet, they can be quite close together they shouldn't spread very much

9   bake for 20-25 minutes

10  let cool for a moment then roll each cookie in the sugar/cardamom mixture and place back on try

11  dust all the cookies with a little powdered sugar and store in airtight container

a cookie time of the year

My family has always made Christmas cookies. We make a bunch of different kinds and then intricately decorate sugar cookies to give away and eat too many of. So since moving out to Seattle Joshua and I make our own set to give to neighbors and coworkers. But cookies, on top of cards, on top of gifts, on top of work deadlines has left me feeling deflated. Our poor tree still isn't decorated and friends want to get together for Christmas dinners and drinks and I don't even have a date to give them when we're available.

Last night at midnight decorating cookies together, a little sullen, the more I iced cookies the more peaceful I felt. I made some of the snowmen look the same and decorated all the trees with only sprinkles, but I felt okay about it. I'm hoping to move forward with that - a peace at not being able to do everything and it not all working out the way I had it all set up and planned.

To my happiness though the cookies did still get done and decorated.
My favorites were one a snowflake that Joshua turned into a frog, a hula girl angel, and a fancy lady angel, and an angel that Joshua may have accidentally made into a demon looking guy.

 

Last few years cookies Here & Here