12 Weeks of Christmas cookies - #7 - Delicate Milk Cookies

My kids are already getting anxious about Christmas. At their age they don't really get the whole time concept. And seeing that malls and stores are already shining with Christmas lights, that shelves are full of toys, they've started asking repeadly, "How many days till Christmas?"
I think it's still a bit too early for everything else but thinking about what I could actually bake for holidays. I even got myself a new cookbook  - cookies, muffins, cakes - they all look so delicious that I couldn't resist and already tried a couple recipes, and I'm sure some of them will appear here soon.
And yes, it's week 7 of 12 Weeks of Christmas cookies.
I had fun with my girls turning this delicate dough into various shapes. They got out my box with cookie cutters and while I went for romantic little hearts and flowers, they got out the Christmas themed cutters, of course.
I also wanted to copy an idea for these ice cream cone shaped cookies, dipped them into chocolate and decorated with sugar sprinkles - what happened is that my 3-year-old ate only the part covered with chocolate and left the rest. The crime ocurred within 3 minutes, and this is the crime scene I found coming back to the kitchen.



I was positively surprised with the dough itself. Apart from being quite tasty, it's really great for making any shape that you like. We had a great time. And you? Did you bake anything fun or cute this week?



Delicate Milk Cookies


500 g (1.1 lb) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
175 g (6 oz) butter
130 g (4.5 oz) sugar
200 g (7 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
(your choice between) lemon/orange zest OR a little cinnamon OR orange/lemon essential oil (10-12 drops) OR vanilla extract or powder, OR substitute part of the sugar in the recipe with lavender sugar
for decoration: jam, melted dark or white chocolate

Beat the butter, the sugar and the condensed milk until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg, then sift in the flour mixed with the baking powder. Work with a spoon and then with your hands to get a smooth dough. Divide into three equal parts, form discs and wrap each of them in piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour (even longer is fine, mine sat in the fridge for three hours and it was perfectly fine to work with).
Preheat the oven to 180°C (375°F).
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper to 3-4 mm thick and cut out the shapes you prefer with cookie cutters. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for about 10 minutes. They should stay pale.
Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
When they're cold you can sandwich them with a little fruit jam or decorate with melted chocolate, or simply dust with powdered sugar.
This time I added orange essential oil and sandwiched some cookies with orange jam. That was really delicious.



Biscotti delicati al latte


500 g farina "00"
1 cucchiaino di lievito in polvere
175 g burro
130 g zucchero
200 g latte condensato zuccherato
1 uovo
aroma a scelta, tra scorza grattugiata di limone o arancia, un po' di cannella, olio essenziale di arancia o limone(10-12 gocce), vaniglia (estratto o in polvere), oppure usate lo zucchero con fiori di lavanda (sostituendo una parte dello zucchero nella ricetta)
per decorare: confettura a scelta, cioccolato fondente o bianco, fuso


Lavorate il burro, lo zucchero e il latte condensato con le fruste elettriche finché la massa diventi chiara e cremosa. Aggiungete l'uovo e poi l'aroma a scelta (io ho messo l'olio essenziale di arancia) mescolando ancora brevemente.
Unite alla fine la farina mescolata e setacciata con il lievito, lavorando l'impasto prima con un cucchiaio e poi con le mani fino a ottenere un impasto liscio. Dividetelo in tre parti, formate tre dischi e avvolgeteli in pellicola trasparente. Lasciate rassodare in frigo per circa un’ora (anche di più).
Riscaldate il forno a 180°C.
Stendete l'impasto tra due fogli di carta da forno a uno spessore di 3-4 mm e tagliate le forme che desiderate usando i tagliabiscotti.
Trasferiteli sulla piastra ricoperta con la carta da forno e cuocete biscotti per circa 10 minuti.
Lasciate raffreddare i biscotti su una griglia e poi decorateli a piacere: unite due biscotti con un po’ di marmellata oppure decorate con il cioccolato fuso.



Nježni mliječni keksići


500 g brašna
1 žličica praška za pecivo
175 g maslaca
130 g šećera
200 g (zaslađenog) kondenziranog mlijeka
1 jaje
aroma po želji korica limuna/naranče, malo cimeta, esencijalno ulje limuna ili naranče (10-12 kapi), vaniliju ili zamijenite dio šećera u receptu šećerom s lavandom
za ukras: otopljena bijela i/ili tamna čokolada


Stavite u zdjelu omekšali maslac, šećer i kondenzirano mlijeko i mutite mikserom dok ne postane kremasto.
Umiješajte prvo jaje u smjesu, aromu po želji (ja sam koristila prehrambeno esencijalno ulje naranče), a zatim postepeno i brašno, miješajući prvo kuhačom, a zatim rukama da dobijete mekano tijesto.
Podijelite tijesto na 3 dijela pa svaki omotajte prozirnom folijom i stavite u hladnjak na najmanje pola sata, što duže to bolje jer će se onda lakše valjati i rezati. Ja sam jedan dio ispekla odmah, nakon pola sata, a drugi nakon 3 sata i tijesto je bilo još bolje.
Pravite kekse po želji i pecite ih u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C oko 10 minuta (ovisno o pećnici naravno i obliku i veličini keksa).
Ja sam jedan dio oblikovala kao "sladolede", i pečene ih ukrasila otopljenom čokoladom i čokoladnim i šećernim ukrasima. Drugi dio sam tanko razvaljala između dva lista papira za pečenje i vadila kekse različitim oblicima (cure nisu odoljele i izvadile su kalupiće za gingerbread božićne kekse), ukrašavala ih čokoladom i spajala po dva s malo pekmeza. Najbolji su mi bili ovi spojeni pekmezom, i zbog okusa pekmeza od naranče koji sam stavila, i zato što zbog pekmeza keksi postanu još mekši i jednostavno se tope.