Homemade Pop Tarts

As inexpensive as prepackaged toaster pastries are, you might be wondering why make your own. First of all, you get to add as many sprinkles as you want! Plus, Homemade Pop Tarts taste better than the store bought kind and are absolutely worth the calories.

Pop-Tarts and Pop Art

Pop-Tarts are the only food I know whose name was inspired by an art movement. Cereal giant Kellogg’s started mass production of Pop-Tarts in 1964 but at the time called them Fruit Scones. I know, yawn.

Pop Art was an art movement in mid-century America and the U.K. This movement was a mash-up of popular culture and ordinary objects painted in bright colors. Instantly recognizable examples include Andy Warhol’s Campbell soup cans and Roy Lichtenstein's graphic art.

Some brilliant person at Kellogg’s changed the (very boring) name of their Fruit Scones to something that reflected the current pop art movement. And so, the name Pop-Tarts was born. You can read all about it on the Pop-Tart history timeline.

Originally, the rectangular-shaped pastries were available in four different types of fillings: apple-currant, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and strawberry. Eaten straight from the package or heated in a toaster, they became popular breakfast fare. Frosted varieties soon followed as well as new flavors and the addition of sprinkles.

Sprinkles

Sprinkles are merely powdered sugar, egg white, and food coloring piped into thin lines, left to dry, and broken into tiny pieces. Where did they originate? Their past is complicated and slightly murky like that of your best friend’s ex.

Some historians point to early 20th-century Dutch “hagelslag” (translation: hail storm), which are basically chocolate sprinkles, as the starting point. People in Holland press hagelslag en masse onto buttered bread and call it breakfast. The Dutch really know how to start a day off right.

In the northeastern part of the U.S., people call these itty bitty candy toppings “jimmies.” Supposedly named after their inventor, jimmies have been scattered over ice cream cones and sundaes in the New England area since the 1940s.

Fun fact: the British name for sprinkles is “hundreds and thousands.”

Sprinkles as a category encompasses several different types of miniature candy toppings that can be round (nonpareils), flat (confetti), or pearl-like (dragees). One of the most common types is the elongated rod-shaped variety that is opaque and multi-colored.

Once relegated to a six-year-old’s birthday cake and the occasional celebratory ice cream sundae, sprinkles have gone mainstream. In addition to cake and ice cream, they now appear on brownies, cookies, doughnuts, pancakes, popcorn, and yes, buttered bread. I’ve even seen them on the rim of cocktails.

They bring a little fun to everything.

Lessons Learned

• Can you make this with refrigerated pie crust dough? Yes. However, if you are a pie crust aficionado like I am, you will want to make your own crust from the recipe below. It makes a big difference.
• I found that the filling recipe makes the perfect amount of filling for the pop tarts! It’s easy to switch out the strawberry for other flavors of jam.
• This recipe is very customizable. Not into rectangles? Make another shape. Aversion to the frosting? Leave it out. Don’t like sprinkles (whaaat)? Use crushed nuts or other toppings instead. You’re an adult, so do what you want.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to King Arthur Baking for the tasty toaster tarts recipe and to Juan Camilo on Unsplash for the pop art photo.

Homemade Pop Tarts

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 25 minutes
• Chill Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Yield: 9 pop tarts 1x

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 16 Tbsp salted butter, frozen and grated
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 Tbsp vodka or milk, any kind

Filling:

• ¾ cup strawberry jam
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp cold water
• 1 egg, lightly beaten for brushing on pastry

Frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp water or milk, any kind
• Sprinkles or other toppings as garnish

---

Instructions

1. Make the dough by combining flour, sugar, and salt. Add the grated butter and toss to combine. Pour in the egg and vodka and mix just until it comes together.
2. Split the dough into two equal pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and smoosh it down into a disc. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. You can make the dough ahead and refrigerate it for up to 2 days, allowing it to sit at room temp 10 to 15 minutes before rolling.
3. Make the filling by placing the jam in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir together the cornstarch and water until smooth and add to the jam. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then let simmer for 3 to 5 minutes stirring occasionally as it thickens. Set aside to cool before filling the tarts.
4. Generously flour a flat work surface. Roll out one piece of dough on the prepared surface into a large rectangle that is ⅛-inch thick. It should be rolled large enough until you are able to trim it into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
5. Using a ruler, measure and score one of the dough pieces into thirds. On the 9-inch side, you will be scoring the dough all the way across at the 3” and 6” marks. On the 12-inch side, you will be scoring at the 3”, 6”, and 9” marks. You should now have nine rectangles that measure 3 x 4 inches. Whew.
6. Now, brush the beaten egg all over the pastry that has the score marks. Scoop a tablespoon of the cooled filling and place it in the center of each rectangle. Lay the second piece of dough on top of the one with the filling. Gently press around the mounds of filling to seal it on all sides.
7. Cut the dough in between the sealed filling mounds using a pizza cutter or sharp knife into the nine 3 x 4-inch rectangles. Press all the cut edges together and then seal with the tines of a fork around all sides.
8. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the sealed tarts on the prepared sheet and prick the tops with a fork to make steam holes. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and let chill for 30 minutes.
9. Heat the oven to 350 F/176 C. Bake the pop tarts for 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the pan.
10. Make the frosting by stirring together the powdered sugar and water to form a thick but spoonable frosting. Now is the time to add a drop of food coloring if you wish. Drizzle the frosting on the cooled tarts and immediately scatter on the sprinkles so they stick before the frosting dries.

---

Keywords: homemade pop tarts

Sugar Cookies with Marbled Glaze

No piping skillz, no worries! These Sugar Cookies with Marbled Glaze are classically delicious and uncommonly pretty. Even I can decorate them.

Marbled Glaze

My mom is a fabulous cake decorator. She doesn’t do it professionally, but she could. In our youth, my brother and I were treated to beautifully decorated birthday cakes and holiday cookies all done by my mom’s artistic mind and steady hand.

I did not inherit that gene.

I’m terrible at cookie decorating. My kids do a better job than I do. When I first saw marbled glaze, I thought no way am I doing that.

Marbled glaze is a frosting technique. It is similar to the mirror glaze used on cakes. However, mirror glaze involves gelatin and dries to a shiny finish, hence the name.

The marbly one used on cookies is royal white icing, made from powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Plus a little vodka if you are naughty. Food coloring is swirled into the icing, then the top of the cookie is dipped into the icing creating a marbled effect.

Well, curiosity got the best of me. The swirly glaze is so beautiful and I like pretty things. So, I tried it.

The result: stunning cookies! And it was easy enough for a terrible cookie decorator like me to achieve Instagram-worthy results.

This technique works well because of food coloring.

Food Coloring

If you are at all familiar with food coloring, you have probably used liquid food coloring. You can find it in most grocery stores in the baking aisle. It’s water-based, inexpensive, and used in cookie doughs, cake batters, and frostings.

Gel food coloring has a glycerin or corn syrup base so it is thicker and the color is more concentrated. A little goes a long way. Most cake decorators, like my mom, use it in frostings and icings to give them bright and saturated colors.

A few decades ago, gel coloring was harder to find and only sold in specialty baking supply stores. Now it is available at Walmart, Target, Michaels, and of course, Amazon.

For this marbled glaze, you need just a few drops of liquid food coloring and a toothpick to achieve a beautiful, swirly pattern for your cookies.

Lessons Learned

• The sugar cookie dough needs its time alone in the fridge for Netflix and chill. Let it have that time. The dough should be cold and fairly firm (not hard) before being rolled out so that the cutters will make clean cuts and the cookies won’t spread when baked.
• Have a ruler handy when you roll the dough to ¼” thickness. Don’t eyeball it as I have for years. Once I started using a ruler, I was astounded to discover that I had been rolling my dough too thin for too long. No wonder they burned so quickly!
• Don’t bake them too long. They will be tooth-chipping hard. The baked cookies should be a sandy color with just a touch of brown around the edges.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to King Arthur Baking for the holiday butter cookies recipe and to Jake Cohen for the tie-dye Hanukkah cookie inspiration.

Sugar Cookies with Marbled Glaze

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Chill Time: 2 hours or overnight
• Cook Time: 14 minutes
• Total Time: 34 minutes plus chill time
• Yield: 36 cookies 1x

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Cookies:

• 18 Tbsp butter (2 ½ sticks)
• 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

Icing:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp almond or vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp vodka (or water)
• Food coloring

---

Instructions

1. Make the cookies by beating the butter and powdered sugar together in a mixer until combined and smooth. Add the egg yolk, salt, and vanilla extract and beat again. Tip in the flour, one cup at a time, and beat after each addition. Mix until smooth.
2. Divide the dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and smoosh it down into a flat disk. Let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 F. Place parchment paper on two rimmed baking sheets and set aside.
4. Lightly flour a flat surface. Unwrap one dough disk and roll it out to a uniform ¼-inch thickness, flouring the top if needed to avoid sticking to the rolling pin. Using cookie cutters, cut out cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until sandy in color and just being to brown around the edges. Don’t overbake them. Cool in the pan set on a wire rack.
6. Make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar, milk, salt, extract, and vodka (or water) until smooth. It helps to do this in a large, kind of shallow bowl so you have room to dip the cookie tops. Dot a few drops of liquid food coloring on the surface of the icing. Use a toothpick to make a few loops and swirls.
7. Dip the top of a cookie into the icing and rotate it around 90 degrees before lifting the cookie straight up. You should have a fun, whirly, organic design. Place the cookie on a wire rack for the icing to set. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Makes 36-ish cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

---

Keywords: sugar cookies with marbled glaze

Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies with Tahini

Every assorted cookie platter needs at least one gluten-free offering. Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies with Tahini should be the one! Even gluten-filled folks will appreciate this because shortbread never disappoints.

Shortbread

GBBO peeps will be familiar with the term biscuit. But if you aren’t, it is what Americans call a cookie. Shortbread is a type of cookie that is traditionally Scottish but is now found all over the world in places that appreciate a buttery bite of heaven.

Normally made with just three ingredients (butter, flour, and sugar) shortbread is a dense and crumbly cookie. It can skew savory with the addition of rosemary or caraway but is normally a mildly sweet treat.

When I was in my teens, I could not wait for Christmas time to roll around because it was only then that I could find Walker’s Scottish shortbread at the local commissary on the military base where we lived. Those shiny red tins and rectangular plaid boxes were the stuff of which my cookie dreams were made.

After traveling to Scotland, I discovered that shortbread is not a fancy cookie made only by Walker's. It's made by moms and grandmas. And it needs only a handful of ingredients.

There was no looking back once I learned to bake my own shortbread. Goodbye Walker’s (although I still love you) and hello homemade shortbread. Now, I have fun playing around and making different flavors.

Like tahini.

Tahini

Tahini is a creamy sesame seed paste. Once toasted and ground, the sesame seed kernels become spreadable seed butter or paste. It is similar to nut butter.

The paste is a popular ingredient in many Middle Eastern dips, sauces, and toppings. Most people know about tahini because it plays a starring role in hummus. But it can be used in desserts, too.

Halva is a fudge-like sweet made from sesame seed paste. Tahini is also swirled into brownies, cookies, and ice creams. It adds a slightly bitter and nutty flavor that is delicious.

Lessons Learned

• If your gluten-free flour blend does not contain xanthan gum, add ¾ teaspoon to the recipe. Looking for a flour-free cookie? Try this one.
• The mixer is NOT your friend for this cookie recipe. Creaming the tahini, butter, and sugar together with beaters adds too much air to the dough and the cookies will spread. I used a fork to mash them together, then transitioned to a large spoon to incorporate the other ingredients.
• The fridge, however, is your best friend. Be sure to chill the dough before rolling it into logs. Then chill again before slicing or you will be sorry.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to The Loopy Whisk for the tahini shortbread cookie recipe and K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash for the bagpiper photo.

Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies with Tahini

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Chill Time: 2 hours 30 minutes or overnight
• Cook Time: 12 minutes
• Total Time: 32 minutes active time
• Yield: 28 cookies 1x

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• ¾ cup tahini sesame seed paste
• 6 oz (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups gluten-free flour with xanthan gum, like Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• ¾ tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp raw white sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp raw black sesame seeds

---

Instructions

1. Make the cookies by mixing the tahini and the softened butter with a fork or spoon in a large bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
2. Pour the flour, cornstarch, and salt (and xanthan gum if needed) into a mesh strainer and sift the ingredients together. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until well mixed. You will need to use your hand to knead the dough and get it thoroughly combined and smooth.
3. Divide the dough into two equal portions, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Roll each portion into a cylinder. Each log should be around 7 inches long and 2 inches wide. Tip the white and black sesame seeds into a shallow pan and swirl them together until mixed. Now, roll each dough log in the sesame seeds until the log is completely coated.
5. Wrap the logs tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate them again for 2 hours or overnight.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C. Place parchment paper on two rimmed baking sheets and set aside.
7. Unwrap one log and cut into ½-inch slices. Place slices onto the prepared sheets, about 1-inch apart. Repeat with the second log. Each log yields about 12 to 14 cookies.
8. Bake cookies for 12 to 14 minutes or until a light golden color.
9. To make the cookies perfectly round, place a large round cookie cutter around the cookie while it is hot from the oven and swirl the cutter on the baking sheet in a tight circle around the cookie. It will help shape the cookies to make them look more picture-worthy but will not affect the taste, lol. I don’t have a round cookie cutter so I used the open end of a drinking glass.
10. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Then, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before enjoying them with a cup of coffee.

---

Keywords: gluten-free shortbread cookies with tahini

Gingerbread Cookies with Rum-Butter Glaze

Gingerbread Cookies with Rum-butter Glaze are the quintessential holiday cookie. Soft and full of all the warming spices, these cookies bring all the Nutcracker vibes. Plus, a rummy, buttery glaze.

Want to make them pretty? Use cookie stamps.

Cookie Stamps

We all have a drawer in our kitchen crammed with various cookie cutters. They are useful for cutting shapes into rolled-out cookie or pie dough. And don't tell, but I may have used them once or twice with Play-Doh.

Cookie stamps, however, don’t cut out cookies. They imprint them with a design. Stamps of this type date back several centuries in Scandinavia where they are used to imprint cookies for special occasions.

Old-school cookie stamps are carved out of wood or made of clay. The stamp, which is basically bas relief, is pressed into the dough. It leaves behind a pretty design, making the cookies edible works of art.

Today, cookie stamps are wood or clay, but most often I see them made of metal. I bought my American-made ones on Amazon. And the dough into which I press them?

Gingerbread with molasses.

Molasses

Slow as molasses! My dad used to say that phrase from time to time when I was growing up and I’m sure he wasn’t talking about me. He loved the taste of molasses and his favorite was blackstrap.

Molasses comes from sugar cane juice. Boiled once, twice, and three times, the juice concentrates and produces different grades and strengths of molasses. Blackstrap is the result of three go-rounds and is the darkest variety with a strong flavor.

This oozy syrup is an ingredient in candies, cookies, and other baked goods. The flavor adds complexity to the pretty cookies featured here.

Lessons Learned

• Choose your strength of molasses flavor. I like mild molasses. Are you a blackstrap person? You’ll never know until you try it.
• Be sure to chill your dough for several hours or overnight. I found that cold dough was best for making a deep imprint with the cookie stamp. I also chilled the imprinted cookies for 30 minutes prior to baking so the design would not be lost when the cookies bake and puff up.
• Don’t want rum in the glaze? How sad. You can replace it with an equal amount of lemon juice, but that is kind of lame. Use the rum.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh for their soft gingerbread tiles with rum butter glaze recipe.

Gingerbread Cookies with Rum-Butter Glaze

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Chill Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 12 minutes
• Total Time: 62 minutes
• Yield: 12 cookies 1x

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Cookies:

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• ⅓ packed cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup mild molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for pressing
• 1 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Glaze:

• ⅔ cup confectioners' sugar
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp butter, melted and warm
• 1 tbsp dark rum (or lemon juice)
• 1 tsp warm water

---

Instructions

1. Make the cookies by beating together the softened butter and sugar until fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer (using the paddle attachment). Add the molasses and egg then beat to fully combine. 
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and black pepper together to fully incorporate all the dry ingredients. Add about half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix together on low speed. Once it is mixed, add the other half of the flour and mix again until the dough is all one color. 
3. Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight. 
4. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
5. Divide the dough into 12 equal size pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Lightly flour a smooth surface as well as the dough balls. Using a cookie stamp, firmly press straight down on the dough ball until the dough is around ¼-inch thick. Carefully remove the pressed dough from the stamp and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with all the dough balls. Leave 2 inches between the stamped cookies on the sheet.
6. At this point, I like to place the tray of stamped cookies in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up the dough again. You can bake them straight away if you want, but remember the cookies will slightly puff up when baked and the design won’t be as crisp. A chilled dough helps the design to stay sharp.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C. 
8. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes.
9. Make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Whisk in the melted butter, rum, and water until combined. The glaze will thicken as it sets so you may need to add a little more water to loosen it before brushing.
10. Once the cookies come out of the oven, let them cool for 5 minutes before brushing on the glaze. The cookies should still be warm when the glaze is applied. Cool on a wire rack and try not to eat all of them in one sitting. Makes 12 cookies.

---

Keywords: gingerbread cookies with rum-butter glaze

Pandan Crinkle Cookies with Coconut and Lime

What’s green with snow-like caps and tastes like a tropical vacation? Pandan Crinkle Cookies with Coconut and Lime. These are easy to make and addictingly good.

Pandan

If you aren’t familiar with pandan, I’m here to enlighten you. Pandan is a type of tropical plant grown in Southeast Asia. Its leaves are a food flavoring in Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillippines, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

I spent most of my childhood in the Pacific, living in Guam and Hawaii. Many of my Filipino friends brought pandan-flavored cakes and sweets to fiestas and potlucks. The flavor is subtly sweet and grassy with mild vanilla-y notes.

It’s hard to describe, but it’s lovely.

You can make your own pandan flavoring, of course. I’ve even found packages of pandan leaves in the frozen food section at my local Asian market. But it’s easy to purchase pandan flavoring on Amazon or at most Asian food stores.

Pandan appears in both savory and sweet dishes. Most often it is added to rice and chicken dishes. But I really love it in cookies.

Crinkle Cookies

I had a friend whose mom would bake chocolate crinkle cookies every holiday season. They were so pretty and so delicious. Plus, they looked like they were topped with snow!

Crinkle cookies are so named because they have a crinkly, crackly look. The dough gets rolled in powdered sugar before baking. Through the magic of the oven, the dough puffs and bakes, peeking out from the powdered sugar veneer.

Chocolate crinkle cookies are the OG, of course, but variations like red velvet, lemon, and sprinkle crinkles have become very popular. This recipe combines pandan, coconut, and lime for a unique crinkle cookie. These pandan cookies deserve a spot on your holiday cookie tray, as do these.

Lessons Learned

• Pandan flavoring and extract aren’t always the same across brands. If you are purchasing a natural extract, the green color will be more subtle than the ones with artificial color added. Yes, I went for the artificial coloring because I wanted these babies to be vibrant green, not sage green.
• This is a thick and sticky dough. To help the dough firm up a little, I let it chill in the fridge for 15-ish minutes.
• When you plop the dough into the powdered sugar, it will not be a perfect ball. Once the dough is coated in the sugar, you can gently roll it between your palms to make it round.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to Dessert Now Dinner Later for the coconut lime crinkle cookie recipe.

Pandan Crinkle Cookies with Coconut and Lime

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Chill Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 12 minutes
• Total Time: 47 minutes

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• ½ cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 tsp lime zest
• ½ cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes
• 1 tsp pandan flavoring
• ½ tsp coconut extract
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup powdered sugar for dredging

---

Instructions

1. Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until combined and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat after each addition.
2. Tip in the lime juice, lime zest, coconut flakes, pandan flavoring, coconut extract, and vanilla extract. Mix in with the butter mixture until combined.
3. Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture by the cupful into the butter mixture and beat together on low speed. Once you have added all the flour, mix until everything is incorporated. The dough will be thick and sticky. Place the mixing bowl in the fridge and let it chill for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Turn on the oven to 350 F/176 C. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Pour the powdered sugar into a shallow bowl and set aside.
5. Using a small cookie scoop or ⅛ cup measuring cup (equals around 2 tablespoon of dough), drop a lump of dough into the powdered sugar. Using both hands, lightly roll the dough into the sugar until it is coated and gently roll it into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Dough balls should be 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the outer edges of the cookie are set. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely if you can. Makes around 26 cookies.

---

Keywords: pandan crinkle cookies with coconut and lime

Chocolate-Pecan Meringues with Cherries

Chewy and chocolatey, these Chocolate-Pecan Meringues with Cherries deserve a spot on your cookie tray this month. The fact that they are gluten-free and dairy-free is one more reason to say yes to making them.

Gluten-free Baking

Gluten-free baked goods can be terrible. These bread, cakes, and cookies seem to go hard on the baking soda and baking powder, hoping for some lift since gluten isn’t there to provide it. The results are often a dry, crumbly mess that only the faithfully gluten-free person will eat.

So not worth the calories!

However, gluten-free baking has come a long way in the past few years. Now there are more easily sourced flour substitutions like 1-to-1, cup-4-cup, almond, and coconut. Plus, countless gluten-free websites help the average baker put together something that is not only edible but tasty for GF family and friends.

I’ve had my share of gluten-free (and dairy-free) needs with my own peeps for several years. One of the best things to bake for these high-maintenance loved ones? Meringue.

Meringue

Once upon a time, I thought meringue was super fancy. Well, I still kind of think that. But once I actually made it, I discovered it is easy to do.

Let’s call it easy fancy.

Basically, meringue is egg whites whipped with sugar until it is stiff and glossy. It is then baked until the outside is crisp and the inside is soft, chewy, and marshmallow-like. Think: lemon meringue pie and baked Alaska.

If it is baked longer, the entire meringue is uniformly crisp throughout. It shatters when you bite into it. Dacquoise, meringue kisses, and pavlova are all examples.

Meringue is a delicious way to make a naturally gluten-free and dairy-free cookie without having to hunt down any special ingredients. It can be flavored with a variety of things like melted chocolate, dried bits of fruit, zest, and finely chopped nuts.

Lessons Learned

• Don’t overbeat the egg whites! They should form shiny, stiff peaks that remain tall when the beaters are pulled away. If you beat them for too long, they will lose their shine and become dull lumpy clumps, as I sadly discovered.
• It’s important to add the sugar a little bit at a time. Wait for it to become incorporated before adding the next spoonful so the meringue doesn’t become grainy.
• Yes, piping the cookies is an extra step but the finished product looks prettier. The alternative is to plop the batter on the sheet pan with a spoon. It’s ugly but tastes the same. You're an adult, so do what you want.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to Parade for the chewy dark chocolate meringue cookie recipe.

Chocolate-Pecan Meringues with Cherries

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 30 cookies 1x

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 egg whites
• ½ tsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 12 oz dark chocolate (70 percent), melted and cooled
• ½ cup chopped dried cherries
• ½ cup chopped pecans

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F/162 C. Place parchment paper on two rimmed baking sheets and set aside.
2. Beat the egg whites, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt in a stand mixer (or hand mixer) on medium speed until it is foamy and bubbly. Continue to beat on medium speed while gradually adding in the sugar, a few spoonfuls at a time. Once all the sugar is added, beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Do not overbeat.
3. Gently stir in the melted chocolate, chopped nuts, and chopped cherries using a rubber spatula.
4. Place half of the batter into a piping bag or gallon-size Ziploc bag. Snip one corner into a 1-inch hole. Pipe cookies (about 2 inches wide) onto the prepared baking sheets. If you don’t want to mess with piping, you can dollop batter onto the cookie sheets with a spoon. Place a whole pecan in the middle of each cookie.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until the surface looks dry and is set. The insides will continue to set as the cookies cool. Let cool on the sheet pans. Makes around 30 cookies.

---

Keywords: chocolate-pecan meringues with cherries

Cranberry Lime Pie

The bright color is a hint of the equally bright flavor of Cranberry Lime Pie. Crushed gingersnaps and pecans make up the warm and nutty crust. The filling: sweet-tart cranberry lime curd.

Curd

What is fruit curd? If you are a teatime person, you are familiar with lemon curd. Spread on scones and sandwiched between cookies, it is indulgent, buttery, and lemony.

Fruit curd is a combination of eggs, sugar, fruit juice, and zest cooked until some of the liquid evaporates and thickened. Sometimes the mixture incorporates butter as well. Once the curd cools, it is a creamy, spreadable paste.

Citrus fruits like grapefruit, lemon, lime, and orange are well-suited for this because their acid and sharp flavor balance the richness of the curd. Lately, I have seen berries made into curds, such as blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry. This recipe uses tart cranberries and limes.

A nice counterpoint to the luscious filling is the cookie crust.

Gingersnap Pie Crust

Cookie pie crusts are nothing new. They are made from crunchy cookies like graham crackers, Oreos, and shortbread. Crush cookies into crumbs, add butter, and press the mixture into a pan.

To quote Ina Garten, how easy is that?

This crust is made with gingersnaps. The crunchy kind from a box. Plus, pecans!

Lessons Learned

• Need your crust to be nut-free? Use just cookies. Double the amount of gingersnaps.
• If you don’t mind pieces of cranberry and zest in your curd, by all means, skip the fine mesh strainer bit. Straining it makes the curd silky smooth but that might not be your thing.
• The garnishes are optional, of course. They do make the pie extra pretty but a dollop of whipped cream instead would be just as nice.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to Epicurious for their cranberry-lime pie recipe.

Cranberry Lime Pie

• Author: Betty
• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Chill Time: 2 hours
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 12 slices 1x

Print Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Crust:

• 4 ounces gingersnap cookies (16 cookies of Nabisco brand)
• 1 cup pecans
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar

Filling:

• 1 package (12 oz) fresh or thawed cranberries
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, divided use
• ¼ cup water
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp lime zest
• ½ cup fresh lime juice
• Pinch of kosher salt
• ¾ cup butter, cut into pieces

Garnish:

• ½ cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided use
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• ½ cup whole pecans
• 1 tsp lime zest

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C. Make the crust by blitzing the cookies in a food processor or blender until they are crumbs. Add the pecans and blitz again until the mixture is fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and brown sugar, then pulse a few times to combine. It should look like wet sand. Pour the mixture into a 9-inch deep dish pie pan. Press the crumbs firmly on the bottom and sides into an even layer. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until firm. If you have a crust emergency and the sides have slid down, just press them back to where they should go. Remove from the oven and let cool.
2. Make the cranberry puree by combining the cranberries, 1 cup sugar, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Then, lower the heat and continue cooking until the cranberries burst. Allow it to cook until most of the juice is gone, about 12 minutes. Let it cool slightly, then pour it into a clean blender or food processor and blitz until it is pureed.
3. Make the filling by pouring the cranberry puree, ½ cup sugar, eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest, lime zest, lime juice, and salt into the top pan of a double boiler. Bring 2 cups of water to simmer in the bottom saucepan. Place the upper pan (you can also use a heatproof bowl if you don’t have a double boiler) over the water. Cook the mixture, stirring with a rubber spatula, for 8 to 10 minutes. Scrape the sides of the pan and stir frequently as the curd starts to thicken. Press the curd through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the pieces of cranberry and zest to make it smooth. Scrape the underside of the strainer to capture all the curd. Let it cool for 15 minutes.
4. Now, add one piece of the butter and beat it into the mixture with a hand-held or stand mixer. Once the butter is incorporated, add the next piece and do the same. It will take 5-ish minutes to add all the butter, one piece at a time. The curd will be a lighter shade of reddish pink and fluffier. Pour the curd into the crust and smooth the top. Place it in the fridge for 2 hours or until set.
5. Make the garnish. This is optional, but it is pretty. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper under a wire rack and have it nearby. Bring the sugar and water to a simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add the cranberries and allow them to cook for 2 minutes, then remove them to the wire rack with a slotted spoon. They should slightly soften but don’t allow them to burst. Now, add the pecans to the saucepan and cook them for 5 minutes, then remove them to the wire rack with a slotted spoon. Allow the berries and nuts to cool and dry for about 1 hour. Pour the remaining ½ cup sugar onto a plate. Add the cranberries and pecans and roll them in the sugar to create a frosted appearance.
6. The naked pie can be kept covered in the fridge for 2 days. Garnish the pie just before serving. Arrange the sugared cranberries and pecans as you wish, then finish it off with 1 teaspoon of lime zest.

---

Keywords: cranberry lime pie

Buttermilk Pie with Booze

It’s not the prettiest thing, but it is sweet and will make you smile. I’m not referring to your friend’s newest grandbaby. We’re talking pie: Buttermilk Pie with Booze.

The appeal of this pie is its simplicity. Yes, it’s ugly but it is delicious. Certain individuals will appreciate it.

This is the pie for friends who:

• Drink their coffee black.
• Order cheese pizza.
• Peruse all the ice cream flavors, then get vanilla—every time.

Jamocha Almond Fudge people, keep moving along. This is not the pie for you.

What’s Buttermilk

I was amazed to learn recently that buttermilk is a fermented drink.

In years past, it was made from the leftover milk that remained after one churned their butter. This milk was allowed to ferment, developing natural probiotics and a tangy flavor. My dad used to drink this when he was growing up in his tiny hometown in Oklahoma.

Most of the buttermilk sold today in the U.S. is cultured buttermilk. This means that a lactic acid bacteria culture is added to pasteurized, homogenized milk. The live cultures ferment the milk to produce commercially-made buttermilk.

Buttermilk is thicker than whole milk and has a slightly acidic tang, similar to yogurt. It is used as an ingredient in biscuits, muffins, pancakes, and quick bread. The lactic acid in the milk activates baking soda, giving these doughs a lift and a tender crumb.

The star of this pie is the buttermilk. I know you are skeptical, but I encourage you to make it once before passing judgment. You will be surprised at how good it is.

Plus, there’s booze.

Booze

Booze, hooch, the sauce, nightcap. They are all the same: nicknames for alcohol. Usually, these are referring to distilled spirits but can be applied to alcohol in general.

When you add booze to something that is going to be baked, cooked on a stovetop, grilled, or sauteed, some of the alcohol burns off and evaporates in the heat. Some, not all. After an hour of cooking, about 25 percent of the alcohol still remains in a dish.

If this concerns you because the alcohol doesn’t completely burn off (or because 75 percent of it does), read on.

For a recipe that calls for two tablespoons of hooch like this one does, the finished pie will have about one and a half teaspoons of remaining alcohol. I won’t calculate what each slice contains, but I think it is safe to say you won’t get buzzed by eating a slice of this pie. Or even the whole pie.

The spirit I chose to add was the whiskey I had on hand (Buffalo Trace if you are curious). But you can use whatever hard stuff you have and taste you enjoy. If you don’t like or want to use alcohol, you can just omit it.