Holiday Treats - Homemade Pepperidge Farm cookies

Every year I try to attempt a new Christmas treat that I've never made before. It's a tradition I started way back in 2014 when a friend of mine shared the recipe for Disneyland Gingerbread cookies (2014). Since then I've made Homemade Candy Canes (2015), Fudge (2016), Peppermint Marshmallows (2017), Figgy Pudding (2018), Eggnog (2019), A Holiday Yule Log (2020), and last year English Toffee (2021). 

This year we're going back to gingerbread cookies, but instead of chewy gingerbread, we're going the other direction. Crispy! Just like one of my favorite holiday cookies from the store. Pepperidge Farm Gingerman cookies!

They are thin, crispy, and dusted with colored sugar. A wonderful holiday treat!

It starts with a good recipe. I'm using one from Food.com for crispy gingerbread cookies, but with some modifications. 

Nearly every week for the last 3 years, I've made pizza on Sunday. After hearing from the family that I was making bready pizza too much, 2022 has been the year of Thin Crust Pizza. Doing it so often, I've learned a few things. 

Like the best way to get extra thin dough is to roll it between two pieces of parchment paper. I tried one time without the parchment, but despite rolling it as thin as I dared, it still puffed in the oven. Going between two parchment pieces helps make the dough extra thin but not tear. 

To me they look like skydivers in formation. 

Making a few other shapes besides gingerbreadmen. 

And getting creative with the cutting and sugaring. 

The results were a fantastically thin, but still light and crispy gingerbread cookie. 

With a great success on the copycat Gingerman cookies, Theresa challenged me to make her favorite Pepperidge Farm cookie. The Chessmen cookie. My recipe for this butter cookie comes from KingArthurBaking.com for their Holiday Butter Cookies. For both recipes it was an exercise in planning and patience as I made up the doughs a day or two before and had to wait while it chilled before making them. 

This thinly rolled butter cookie dough almost looks like a thin crust pizza dough, doesn't it. 

I found that the butter cookies need a little bit of room to spread out and let their edges brown. The dough is so thin it's difficult to pick up without damaging the dough. Either tearing it or misshaping it. It was Theresa that suggested cutting thinner strips between the cookies and removing that dough to give them room. 

And they baked up wonderfully, with the edges turning a light brown color. 

Theresa approved. 

The result was a butter cookie that was super fragile and easily broke with the slightest bite. And it was thin enough that it melted in your mouth. 

Yum!

Take your pick Alli. 

Both cookies were fantastic, and this was a fun treat to make for this holiday season!