December 2010
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HOW-TO
Package Deal
This holiday season, New Mexico Magazine and Albuquerque pastry chef Cheryl Snyder bring you four new recipes you'll find only from us. From Apple & Green-chile Empanadas to Bizcochito Biscotti, you'll be sweet on these fresh takes on New Mexico classics. Plus: Our tips for presenting these tasty delights to everyone on your list.
Photography by Douglas Merriam
Packaging Tips for giving these recipes as gifts (pictured at right): If you're giving New Mexico cookies to friends and neighbors, try stacking the colorful treats in a Mason jar. Then, wrap the jar in ribbon and top it with a bow as festive gift wrapping. Tie on a Christmas tree ornament, like this painted straw star. It's both decorative packaging and an added gift! To customize your gift tag, start with an office supply store tag, then add stickers a rubber-stamp design, or a hand-drawn color edge.
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| Tip: When entertaining, display a bouquet of biscotti in an elegant glass. Use a straw ornament as a coaster to add a New Mexican touch to the presentation. |
RECIPES
Bizcochito Biscotti
This unique take on New Mexico’s state cookie combines the traditional flavor of bizcochitos with the crunch of a biscotti, making them perfect for dunking in your holiday hot chocolate. (If baking at elevations under 5,000 feet, add another ¼ teaspoon baking powder.)
1 cup piñon nuts, toasted
4 ounces butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 whole eggs
2 tablespoons brandy
½ teaspoon anise seeds, whole
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast piñon nuts until they begin to turn light brown. Cool.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, brandy, and anise seeds
Blend flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture and stir until completely blended. Stir in toasted piñon nuts.
Divide dough in half. With lightly floured hands, form dough into logs 2 inches in diameter by 10 inches long. Place logs on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, or on silicone baking sheet.
Bake 30 minutes, until logs are set and golden-brown. Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes, or until warm to the touch.
Using knife with serrated blade, cut each log into ½-inch slices. Arrange cut-side down on sheet tray. Bake until lightly brown, then turn slices and bake till second side is brown. Remove from oven and cool completely.
To garnish, cookies can be dipped into or drizzled with white or dark chocolate, or rolled in sugar and cinnamon. (Cinnamon-and-sugar mixture: Combine ½ cup granulated sugar with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. Roll warm biscotti in mixture.)
Yields 15–20 cookies.
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Tip: Use a scalloped-edge round cookie cutter to create decorative edges on you Apple & Green-chile Enpanadas. For a New Mexican–inspired display, place them on a punched tin mirror, which reflects the same pattern as the cookies' edge. |
Apple & Green-chile Empanadas
These sweet and savory empanadas are made in stages. You can prepare the dough and filling in advance, then roll and bake the empanadas when needed.
Cream Cheese Dough
1 cup butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy; add salt. Combine flour with butter-and-cheese mixture until just blended together. (Do not overwork dough.) Form dough into circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 1 hour.
Apple and Green-chile Filling
3 medium-size apples
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1/3 cup honey
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup New Mexico pecans, lightly toasted
1½ cups green chile, peeled, seeded, drained, diced (add more green chile to taste)
Peel, core, and dice apples in small pieces. Place in saucepan, add sugar and water. Cook over medium heat until water has evaporated and apples are cooked but still hold their shape. Add honey and cinnamon, and cook until mixture has thickened (it should be sticky and hold together). Stir in pecans and well-drained New Mexico green chile. Place in bowl, cover, and chill.
To Prepare Empanadas
1 egg
2 teaspoons water
Cream Cheese Dough
Apple and Green-chile Filling
2 ounces New Mexico green-chile Cheddar cheese, grated
turbinado (crystalline) sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line sheet trays with parchment paper.
Beat egg with water.
Divide dough into two equal pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough into circle or rectangle ¼ inch thick. Cut in circles, using floured, 4-inch-diameter round cookie cutter. Gently remove excess dough.
Fill each circle with large teaspoon of filling and sprinkle with grated cheese. Brush edge of dough with egg wash. Gently fold circle in half, making sure filling is completely covered. Place on parchment-lined sheet tray, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake 15–20 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes and serve warm. If not serving immediately, cool to room temperature and store in sealed container.
Should yield 12–16 empanadas if using 4-inch cookie cutter. Combine leftover dough and roll out gently the second time to cut more empanadas, or wrap in plastic wrap and save for later.
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Tip: The red raspberry jam and green crushed pistachio nuts in these thumbprint cookies naturally celebrate the colors of the season. Play up these colors in your presentation with ornaments and ribbons. |
Raspberry Pistachio Thumbprints
Red or green? With the red raspberry jam and the bright green of the pistachios, you’ll get a true Christmas (and New Mexican) combination in each of these cookies.
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups New Mexico pistachio nuts,
finely chopped
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1½ cups New Mexico raspberry jam
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy, scraping bowl often. Reduce speed to low, add flour and salt. Beat until dough forms.
Place pistachio nuts in medium bowl. Shape dough into rounded 1-inch balls. Dip each ball in beaten egg white, then roll in pistachios. Place balls 1 inch apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Use thumb or back of spoon to make round indentation in each ball.
Bake 11–15 minutes, until very lightly browned and set. Remove from oven. Cool completely.
When cookies are cool, fill center of each with ½ teaspoon of jam.
Makes 4 dozen cookies.
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Tip: The multi-patterned Red-chile Goat Cheese Brownies will look best on a solid colored plate. Here, the plate's terra-cotta trim complements the red chile swirled through the Goat and Cream Cheese topping. |
Red-chile Goat Cheese Brownies
Red chile gives these chocolate brownies a fiery kick that will keep you warm this winter.
Brownie Dough
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips, semisweet or bittersweet
3 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons New Mexico red-chile powder
1 cup New Mexico piñon nuts, toasted
Goat and Cream Cheese Topping
8 ounces New Mexico goat cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons New Mexico red-chile powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line with foil 9-inch-square pan, with edges of foil extending over sides. This will help lift brownies from the pan when cool. Grease foil lining.
RESOURCES Goat Cheese: Coonridge Organic Goat Cheese, of Pie Town; (505) 250-8553; www.coonridgegoatcheese.com |
To Prepare Brownie Dough
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl.
Combine water, sugar, and butter in heavy-duty saucepan. Heat until mixture just begins to boil and butter is melted. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips. Let mixture rest 10 minutes.
Stir chocolate mixture until well blended, then pour into large bowl. Beat eggs into chocolate mixture one at a time. Add vanilla and red-chile powder. Stir in flour mixture, then add piñon nuts. Pour mixture into lined pan.
To Prepare Goat and Cream Cheese Topping
Using stand or hand mixer, blend cheeses until smooth. Add sugar and egg, and blend until just creamy. Place ½ cup of mixture in small bowl; add red-chile powder to this and blend completely.
Spread remaining (chile-free) cheese mixture evenly over brownies. Spoon small dollops of red-chile cheese mixture evenly on top. Using knife or wooden skewer, swirl the two layers of cheese without mixing them.
Bake 20–25 minutes, until wooden toothpick comes out clean, with few crumbs sticking to it. Cool completely, then refrigerate until firm enough to cut. Remove brownies from pan with foil handles to a cutting board.
Makes 16 brownies.
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Tip: Create these bear-shaped cookies with a cookie cutter, then make the design more intricate with a seperate cookie cutter. The design will allow the Honey-Butter Cream Filling to show through. |
Web Extra!
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Honey-Butter
Cream Filling
To celebrate the Southwest, cut these chocolate rollout cookies in shapes: cowboy hats or roadrunners—or bears, as we’ve done here.
Chocolate Cookie Dough
1 pound butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
31/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cocoa powder
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; blend well.
In separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients; blend well. Dough is ready to roll, cut, and bake. (This makes a large amount of dough. You can divide dough into fourths, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze. Dough holds up well in freezer for 3–4 months.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out dough on lightly floured cutting broad and cut with cookie cutter(s) of your choice. You’ll need equal numbers of cookies for tops and bottoms. Top cookie can have a cutout design so filling will show through.
Bake dough 10–12 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool. (The cookie will firm up as it cools.) To assemble, cookies must be cold, or filling will run out the edges.
Honey-Butter Cream Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup New Mexico honey
11/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch salt
Cream butter and honey until fluffy. Add sugar and salt; blend until creamy. If you want filling to be thicker, add more sugar. Mixture will spread easily if allowed to chill 1 hour.
Spread filling over bottom cookie to within 1/4 inch of edges. Place second cookie on top. Press gently until frosting reaches edges.
Store cookies in cool, dry place.
Makes up to 8 dozen single cookies or 4 dozen sandwich cookies.
