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With rain and chilly temperatures forecast, it’s shaping up to be a great weekend for baking.
Which is perfect if you have your mind set on entering the Tribune’s Holiday Cookie Contest. Get out your recipe box, baking sheets and frosting bags. You’ve got just four days left to enter.
The deadline to submit entries for Tribune’s annual Holiday Cookie Contest is midnight Tuesday. And voting online begins early Wednesday.
To enter, submit the recipe, describing why it is special, and a photo of the cookies (if you have one) on the contest entry page at chicagotribune.com/cookie, or via mail to Cookie Contest, Chicago Tribune, 180 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60601.
All submissions will be posted on the Food & Dining page online, where readers will help choose the finalists by voting for their favorites. The top 15 vote-getters will become finalists, who will be asked to bring two dozen of their cookies Nov. 5 to the Tribune’s new offices (160 N. Stetson Ave.), where the cookies will be tasted and ranked by a panel of Tribune food writers and a guest judge.
And the prizes? First place wins $250 cash; second place, $150; third place, $50. Plus the winners will be invited for a cookie party and a tour of the Tribune’s beautiful new test kitchen, high above Millennium Park on the 40th floor of the Prudential Building.
For more details, visit the contest page at chicagotribune.com/cookie.
Need tips on making a beautiful cookie? We’ve got you covered. Food & Dining columnist James P. DeWan wrote about upping your cookie game in his “Prep School” column from November 2006. He and his friend Melina Kelson-Podolsky, then a fellow chef and instructor at Kendall College, came up with the following tips.
Keep in mind that consistency is a hallmark of professional cookies. Work on your technique, and pay attention to how everything feels in your hands. Use your senses to develop muscle memory. And think beautiful.
“It comes down to the extra touches, putting some love into what you’re doing,” Kelson-Podolsky said.
For perfectly consistent drop cookies, such as your basic chocolate chip, buy a trigger-release portion scoop (like an ice cream scoop, only fancier). The 2-ounce size is pretty standard, said Kelson-Podolsky, though “the petite ones tend to look cuter.”
For pressed cookies (also called spritz cookies), many cooks use a cookie press. However, a piping bag works just as well. Practice your technique before you settle in to make the cookies: Use shortening or canned frosting, or whip up a batch of mashed potatoes. Reusing the dough can overwork it, causing small tunnels in the cookies.
If you haven’t used a piping bag before, keep in mind these tips:
1. Put the desired tip into the bag. To fill the bag, fold the top third of it down around the outside of the bag; hold the top open with your hand in a “C” shape. Use a spatula to get the dough inside the bag as far as you can, then wipe the spatula against the inside of the bag as you take it out. Fill the bag only halfway (or even just a quarter of the way for stiff cookie doughs), then roll up the top of the bag and twist it tight to force the dough down into the tip. You want to get rid of any air bubbles that can mess up your cookies if they get pressed through the tip.
2. With your strong hand, pinch the top of the bag in the crook between your thumb and index finger, then fold your other fingers down over the bag.
3. Squeeze the dough gently from the top — not the sides — of the bag. At the same time, use your other hand to guide the tip. Keep the tip above the cookie sheet; don’t press it down, or it will smear the dough. As the dough emerges from the tip, let gravity lay it gently on the cookie sheet.
4. After you pipe a cookie, release the pressure with your strong hand as you twist the tip gently to break off the dough in a nice point.
Melt some candy dipping chocolate. It’s also called “summer chocolate” or “coating chocolate.” (Wilton and Ghirardelli both have lines of it.) Dip half of your baked cookie into the melted chocolate, then roll it in crushed nuts, sprinkles or grated chocolate.
Make royal icing, which is more durable than other frostings: Combine a couple of pasteurized egg whites (to avoid salmonella) with 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 3 or 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Blend in a stand mixer until smooth, and add a couple of drops of food coloring, if you like. This icing hardens when exposed to the air, so use it quickly or store it in an airtight container.
Save a bundle, and make your own colored sugar: Add just a drop or two of food coloring to a couple of cups of granulated sugar. Wearing rubber gloves, work the coloring through the sugar until it is evenly distributed. Keep it in an airtight container.
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