Xmas cookies: "The miniseries"

I tell people, with more than a soupcon of truth, that evidence of how much chaos there is in my life, and how far it has gotten out of control, comes from my annual Xmas cookie production. I make, literally, thousands. And unlike your normal crazy baker, I don't make one or two (or three or four) varieities: I make over 40.
How did this start? Well, years ago, someone I loved dearly was spending his last days in a hospital. I brought a tin of cookies at Xmas to cheer him up. "Where's mine?" was asked by several of the people in the room. Given my deep rooted sense of Catholic guilt, next year, I made more. And the "where's mine?" request came up again. So, production expanded, and expanded again. You can figure out the rest. It is, literally, a chaotic couple of weeks between Thanksgiving and Xmas as I get all of these together. And every year when it's done I say "This is IT. No more. I am TIRED of this." And Guy, patient spouse that he is, shakes his head, looks away, and says nothing when I start buying butter on sale in October and November.

The style of cookies I make has changed. When I started, I did stick to basic "cut out" cookies. You know the kind I mean: the snowmen, the stars, etc, and spent yards of time decorating them with frosting, and sugar and everything else. And they just weren't very good. Pretty, but not very good ('fess up: have you ever eaten one of those decorated, icinged, sugared cookies that tasted like anything but frosting?). I started investigating other cookies, especially those of a more European bent: biscotti, shortbreads, nutbased cookies, etc. And they taste much better. MUCH better.

But... and this is something I need to warn you about if you get into cookie baking in a big way. Most of these cookies, like most baked t hings, are BROWN. They are, at best, golden brown, but color wise, you have a certain monotony. It IS broken up by things like dried fruit in the cookies, or jam, or things like that, but if you go for tastier cookies, you are NOT going to have the beauties that you would get from a bakery, where someone pipes frosting in pretty colors all day. Nope, you're not going to get those from me.

In terms of flavors of cookies, I am going to generalize wildly, and say that people seem to fall into three "favorite flavor " categories for cookies: chocolate, spice, and citrus.
I am not a big fan of chocolate type cookies, and actually, as I meet more and more people and put out cookies, it seems that once people break out of the mold of chocolate cookies, and discover the other "tastes," they move to others (let's leave my friend David out of this, shall we?). My own palette goes to the citrus cookies, but only slightly. I'm going to present a recipe below that is not really my own, but I have modified it.

In my opinion, a cookie should leave you feeling SATISFIED. If you feel like you have to eat six or seven of them at one time, the cookie is not well made. You shouldn't need many of them. One or two biscotti, one well made oatmeal cookie, etc etc etc. Granted, there is time for indulgence, but if you're dumping cookies into a bowl, adding milk and eating them like breakfast cereal (as one friend once did), you're not doing them justice, or they're not doing you justice.

In the citrus category, this may very well be my new favorite cookie. I like it because it uses the WHOLE citrus fruit: not just the rind, and not just the juice. I also like it because, even though it was originally written as a log cookie (the kind you form into a log and then slice and bake), it works as a drop cookie too (the kind where you grab hunks of dough and form balls and bake). I LIKE drop cookies. I HATE log cookies.

This is NOT for people who do not like citrus. But they are PERFECT in a holiday assortment, and they are great at the end of a rich meal. They make a lot, and you'll be glad you made that many.

Start with 2 sticks of unsalted butter that have softened at room temperature, and beat them, in a mixer, for about two minutes. Add zest from one lemon and one lime, that you have grated. Put those naked fruits aside (CAREFUL BOYS). Then stir in a cup of granulated sugar, and beat for another two minutes. While that's happening, squeeze the lemon and the lime separating the pits (I didn't have to tell you that, did I?), and then add the juice to the butter mixture. Also add a teaspoon of vanilla. Then add 2 heaping cups of flour (about 2.25 actually) and a half teaspoon of salt. The salt is REAL important. Don't forget it.

You will have a very soft dough, and you DO need to refrigerate it. The minimum time is probably 3 hours, but I will tell you that I have refrigerated this overnight, and it's been fine the next day, right out of the fridge.

You will need three baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 375. Break off small balls of dough. Let's say about the size of a really big olive or a really small walnut (that's not really helpful is it? Deal with it). Put about 25-30 of the balls onto each cookie sheet. Then, put a quarter cup of sugar in a small bowl, and press a small glass into it, to take some sugar on the bottom. Press the cookies slightly, and bake them in the middle of the oven, for about 10-12 minutes Use ten minutes if you like softer, moister cookies, and 12 if you like them crispier. If you see them browning around the edges, take em out.

These will be very soft when you take them out of the oven. Leave them alone for a good half hour, and then either eat em, or put em in a metal tin or a glass jar, or something like that. NEVER in plastic.

They are supposed to keep for a week, but I've kept them in a cold place in a house for a month.

If you had some of my huckleberry ice cream around, that would make a nice filling for these guys. But to tell you the truth, I just like to sit there with them, and enjoy each nibble. They are really good.

I have said that gingersnaps are the "house cookie," and I almost always have them around. These may give a run for the money to the snap. Or, maybe we'll make em both and satisfy the spicers and the citrussers.