Christmas Cookies

I've always been a little jealous of the people who have fun holiday traditions with friends like cookie swaps.  I never really think about it, though, until I hear that my friends or co-workers are participating in one.  So, when we were asked to bring desserts to my work holiday lunch and that there would be a contest to see who has the best ones, I knew I had to get to work.

I've gotten a bit of a reputation at work for cooking, so making sure I did something worthwhile.  I immediately hit the internet to find some impressive cookies.  What I did not do was to consider the weather outside when I was selecting my two entries into the contest.

My first selection was peppermint meringue cookies.  It was easy enough - just use some egg whites, add some sugar, add some peppermint extract, and then add in some red food dye.  This was a good excuse for me to buy food dye and a piping back with four different frosting tips. I love an excuse to buy new cooking gadgets.

As I started mixing them, they looked really promising.  What's fun (and rather effective, I think) is that you're not supposed to actually mix in the red dye.  The recipe says that you should add some drops, but then as you are putting the meringue into the piping bag, it mixes itself somewhat, but not completely.  It ends up being a pretty interesting effect.  Mostly pink, but some stripes of white and red.

The instructions also suggested that I use parchment paper, and since I (surprisingly) didn't have any at the house, I had to buy some of that too.  Aw shucks.  I piped them out onto the two half sheets lined with parchment paper and baked them per the recipe.  They turned out pretty good, but then you're supposed to let them dry out and become crispy.  Ay there's the rub.  More on that later.

The second selection was Christmas wreath cookies.  The recipe was easy enough.  Essentially, you're supposed to make rice crispy treats but with corn flakes instead of rice crispies, add some green food coloring, and decorate with red hots to represent little holly berries. 

The recipe was pretty accurate in terms of "ease of creation" however I think they had the order of steps in, well, the wrong order. They suggested that you mix the melted marshmallows and butter with the cornflakes and then add the green dye.  Well, if you know anything about marshmallows, you know that they become stickier and harder the cooler they get.  By the time you are stirring the last of the marshmallow mixture into the cornflakes and everything is sticking together, it's pretty much impossible to stir much more. 

When I decided that the recipe did not include enough marshmallow mixture, I added what was left of my green dye to the mixture before adding to the corn flakes.  It was much easier.  But, I will say, the recipe also called for only about a teaspoon of green dye.  I guess the dye that I bought must have been weaker (though it was the exact same dye that my mom used to buy when I was a kid), because I ended up using the entire little bottle of the stuff.  They still didn't turn out as dark as the picture in the recipe.  

That said, I think they turned out pretty good.  My lovely silpats were fabulous.  It was no problem getting the slightly-dried, sticky, and still delicate concoctions off them.  It was great.  Only problem?  They didn't dry.  I'm sensing a theme here. 

The lesson of the day??  Don't make two types of cookies that require drying out for success on a day that is wet and drizzly.  Both of the cookies tasted good, but they were sticky as all get out and chewing the not-so-dried meringues ended up more like chewing peppermint gum than a crunchy cookie.  I'll definitely make them again, but I'll check the weather forecast first.