Cookies or other treats to ship

[lola]

I want to whip up some cookies to send to a beloved nephew in, unfortunately, Afghanistan. Suggestions? Something that could take heat if needed, and a bit of jostling, would be best.

[bixaorellana]

Lola, I've had good luck mailing the classic oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips, even to hot areas such as Texas. Whatever kinds of cookies you send, I highly recommend sending them in the good old Quaker Oats cylindrical cardboard box. Put a plastic bag in the cylinder, then start arranging the cookies in it. Close the bag, stuff in tissue paper if you feel it needs it, then top the box. Whether you send one cylinder or several, the way they fit into a square or rectangular box naturally creates voids that are also a form of packing. I'm pretty sure military addresses get precedence, so the box won't languish the way one you'd send to an adjoining state might.

This is the back o'box recipe for those cookies:
www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1832,159174-225199,00.html

And here's the smartened up version (no shortening for one thing)
www.joyofbaking.com/OatmealCookies.html

These biscotti also ship beautifully, but they're probably not the cookie he wants. You or someone else might know someone who'd like to get them, though.

BISCOTTI REGINA
Makes 3 dozen cookies
3 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup lard
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup milk, or less
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 cup sesame seeds

Sift the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl and cut in the lard until the mixture reaches the texture of a coarse meal. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and as much milk as is necessary to hold the dough together. Knead for a minute and then shape the dough into finger-shaped pieces about 1 ½ inches long. Roll each piece first in the egg whites and then in the sesame seeds to that it is well covered with a layer of seeds. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven about 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

My comments: Use lard! This recipe is super authentic, so there is no reason to mess with it.
I do the first step (sifting dry ingred. together) in the food processor. When they’re mixed, you can add the wet ingredients & pulse until it starts forming a ball. Remove wad from processor, & proceed as above.
The dunking in egg white then sesame bit is very messy. Try having a shallow bowl of egg whites right next to a shallow bowl of sesame seeds. Use left hand for dipping pieces into & out of whites, & reserve right hand for tossing the pieces around in the seeds. Do be sure to cover the pieces well with both those ingredients.

[Don Cuevas]

No chemical leavening, huh?

EDIT: I'd suggest about 2 tsps baking powder to that quantity of flour.


LA CUCINA EOLIANA E SICILIANA

the food of the eolian islands and sicily


Biscotti regina

queen's cookies


ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces butter (½ stick)
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon anise extract (I'd leave out the anise and use vanilla—DC)
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 egg whites
1 cup sesame seeds

Now I notice that there's no salt in Bixa's recipe.

[lola]

Thank you, Bixa!

We'll make up a few packages -- excellent idea about the oatmeal boxes -- maybe slip in some spicy sweet roasted nuts, for comrades less well supplied with aunts.

He's in Ghazni area, elevation ~7,200 feet which to me sounds like the most pleasant part about it.

[bixaorellana]

Why mess with success, DonC? Trust me, I've made that recipe and it is perfect.

You are a wonderful aunt, even an aunt for the auntless, Lola! The spiced roasted nuts as "packing" are a brilliant idea.

I remember reading, back during the Vietnam war era, about using unsalted, unbuttered popped corn in lieu of styrofoam peanuts for packing. Apparently, guys over there getting goody boxes from home were eating the bland popcorn too, just because it was sort of a taste of home.

[Don Cuevas]

But, but no leavening nor salt?

I just made them, taking the best from both versions. i.e.; salt and baking powder and some lemon zest; no anise but cinnamon. And, hedging my bet, half butter and half lard. We are munching them now, with some Earl Grey tea to drink.

Thanks so much for reminding me of an old favorite cookie.

[bixaorellana]

Just found this online and had to pass it on to any people like me who like spicy cookies or any cookie shippers out there. These keep for several weeks!

Black Pepper Cookies Recipe         Source

Generous 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
Generous 3/4 cup heavy cream
Generous 3/4 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
About 8 cups all-purpose flour
Royal icing
Directions

1. Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer or with a handheld electric mixer. Stir in the cream followed by the rest of the ingredients except the flour. Add the flour and stir just until the dough is no longer sticky, no longer. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface, then shape it into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator until the next day.
2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (176°C).
3. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to a very thin sheet (1/8-inch thick is fine) and cut it into shapes. If any cookies are destined for hanging on the tree, pierce holes in the top of the cookies using the tip of a wooden skewer. Arrange the cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Reroll the dough until the last scrap is used. Bake in the oven until golden at the edges, about 12 minutes; a little less if chewy cookies are desired, a little more if crisp cookies are preferred.
4. Decorate with royal icing. The traditional way is to frame the cookie, make buttons, shoes, and so on, and to write the family’s names on heart-shaped cookies and hang them in the windows on red ribbons. Store the cookies in airtight tins for up to several weeks (yes, you read correctly, weeks!).