For Christmas Dinner I'm serving shrimp scampi with bowtie pasta prepared Alfredo style because the bowties are easier to eat than stringy spaghetti and not as tube-y as penne. There may be a romaine salad, or there may be some version of Brussels sprouts. And cheesecake for dessert with home-made cherry sauce. I bought cream cheese weeks ago, didn't realize there would be a shortage.

Here's some of what I'm preparing around Christmas time. I don't consider this 'holiday food' or the cookies to be 'Christmas Cookies.' They just happen to be recipes I wanted to try, and we're coming up on Christmas.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies
English Method Chocolate Chip Cookies
Artisan Dinner Rolls
Chicken Legs Paprika

This made a huge batch of dough, and each cookie uses only 1/2 teaspoon of it then spreads out to 2 inches, so it took forever to bake them. The instructions say one sheet at a time - I did two just to get it over with. They taste good, but they are very fragile, not ideal for gifting. I'm thinking of chopping them and sprinkling over cheesecake.



Oatmeal Lace Cookies
2 ¼ cups old-fashioned oats
2 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix oats, brown sugar, flour, and salt together in a bowl. Stir in melted butter until well blended. Pour in egg and vanilla extract and mix until well blended.

Drop dough by 1/2 teaspoonfuls, at least 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly until firm, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Continue baking remainder of cookies, 1 cookie sheet at a time, according to instructions.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Different Method


Instead of creaming the butter and sugar, adding eggs, then dry ingredients, melted butter and eggs are stirred into the dry ingredients. The final cookies are tender and yet crisp. Usually I make smaller cookies, but I was so fed up with how long it took to bake the lace cookies, I made them fairly large.

English Method Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup melted butter at room temperature
1½ cups packed light-brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375° F.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, bread flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together.
Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips and using a cookie scoop, place on a cookie sheet two inches apart.
Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges but soft in the middle, about 10 - 12 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool 10 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Artisan Rolls
It's a fussy prep method, but the result is crusty rolls with a chewy texture, like those artisan breads. And they have an irregular rustic look about them.



Artisan Rolls
12 1/2 oz water
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons honey 16 1/2 oz bread flour (a little over 3 cups)
1 oz (3 Tbs.) wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Combine the water, yeast, and honey so honey and yeast are dissolved. Stir in the flours and mix with dough hook until well mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand 30 minutes. Add the salt and knead the dough on setting 2 for about 5 minutes until smoother. Put on medium speed and if it sticks to the side of the bowl too much, add more flour. Beat for about a minute, for 6 minutes total. Spray a rubber spatula with cooking spray and turn the dough into a clean sprayed bowl covered with plastic wrap for 1 hour, until doubled.

Slowly fold the dough over on itself, gently. Let sit covered 30 minutes, fold again, cover and let sit 30 more minutes until double again.

Flour board generously and turn the dough onto it. Flour the top and cut in half with a bench knife. Gently stretch each piece of dough to 16 inches long, handling gently so as not to release air bubbles. Cut each into 8 pieces. Spray three cake pans and toss each piece of dough with floured hands to roughly shape. Place touching in the cake pans and cover with plastic wrap to rise for 30 minutes. Spray with water. Put in 500 degree oven for 10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 400 degrees. Remove rolls from oven and dump onto baking sheet. Pull apart, turn right side up, bake 10 to 15 minutes until golden all over, rotate pan halfway through. Let cool 1 hour on a wire rack.


Chicken Legs Paprika

2 tbsp oil
3 pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks, patted dry
1 onion, chopped fine
1 1/2 tbsp sweet paprika (Hungarian)
1 (16 oz) can tomatoes, drained and chopped fine
1 cup canned chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp flour
1 green bell pepper, sliced thin
Noodles or boiled potatoes
In a Dutch oven or large skillet, brown the seasoned chicken in the oil in batches. Remove to a plate as browned. Add the onion to the casserole and cook over moderate low heat, stirring, until softened. Add the paprika and cook, stirring, for 10 seconds.

Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add broth, return the chicken, skin side up and bring to a boil. Cover and braise in a preheated 325 degree oven for 35 - 40 minutes, until tender. Remove to a plate.

Bring the cooking liquid to a boil over high heat and reduce it to about 2 cups. In a small bowl whisk the sour cream and flour until smooth. Whisk in 1/2 cup cooking liquid, then add to the pan. Simmer it, stirring for 2 - 3 minutes, until thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper, lemon juice, return the chicken to the sauce. Can be prepared one day ahead.

Serve with noodles or boiled potatoes.