The Deuce Club, 12.13

'Tis the season for gift-buying, gift-wrapping, decorating, and all such holiday amusements.  Tonight is my Big Cookie Bake, which is exponentially less ambitious tonight than last year's.

In this frigid weather, though, Maplesugar's friend cReepy has contributed a photo to remind you all of baking yourselves in the Flushing sunshine.  cReepy found this 12-year-old ballboy, Sam, who she deemed a dead ringer for Rafa Nadal.  What do you all think?  Pic was taken at the US Open outside everybody's favorite Heineken bar.

Apropos of this picture, if you've ever seen any of those photos of Roger Federer when he was a teen and his hair was lighter, doesn't he look an awful lot like Zach from Saved by the Bell?  (That show, for those of you who may have missed it, was on for donkey's years and was about a bunch of California teens.  Zach was the popular ringleader, a bit of a charming rascal with a good heart.)

No tennis tidbits today, sadly.  I actually took some time out from work to do some fun reading, but it was not in the least tennis-related.  Still, I am happy to add my voice to the general chorus of praise of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a crazy, playful, sad tale told across three generations of a Dominican family.

Since I'm not the only cookie baker out there, I thought today might be a nice time to go OT with recipes.  One recipe I found for a Finnish Christmas cookie basically involves using half rye flour and half white, which rolls out thin to make a nice, nutty, crunchy butter cookie.  Last year I made those and a whole assortment of others; this year it's back to one of my most popular cookie recipes, the Light Spice Cookie:

5/6 c butter
1 c granulated sugar
1/3 c light sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp allspice (or nutmeg, mace, whatever suits you)
dash salt
2 1/2 c white flour

Soften the butter and beat in the sugar, sour cream, egg, vanilla, zest, powder, spice, soda, and salt.
Beat until combined. Then add flour gradually (you can do all this either with spoon or mixer, but mix well.)

Form dough into small balls, about 3/4 inch or 1 inch diameter.  (Dab top of balls in colored sprinkles or very finely chopped nuts if desired.)  Set on ungreased cookie tray.  Bake at 375 F for about 8-10 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned (they will form little domes, but not spread out too far, so you can really load up the tray.)  Cool on racks.

You can also put on icing, though I think they're delicious enough without.  Trust me, these are fantastic for any time of year.

All right folks, share the family recipes!

-Heidi