The Equinox Holiday Cookbook

A collection of sweet, sweet recipes from The Equinox staff members and their families to add to your joyous holiday season.

Homemade Vegan Biscuits

Recipe from news editor Jhoana T. Merino-Martinez

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup of almond milk 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar 
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt 
• ½ cup vegan butter, cold and cut 

Directions:

1. Pour apple cider vinegar into the almond milk and set aside to let curdle — this will be your vegan buttermilk. 
2. Preheat oven to 425* Fahrenheit. 
3. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the vegan butter and mix (you may use a food processor), the end result will be fine and crumbly. 
4. Pour vegan buttermilk into mix and stir until combined. 
5. Flour a clean work surface and gently work the dough into a ball with your hands. 
6. Flatten dough to about ½ inch thick, use rounded glass to cut. This would give you ~10 biscuits or more. 
7. Lightly grease baking sheet, place biscuits on it and bake for approx. 15 minutes or until golden brown at edges.

Jen’s Oreo Truffles 

Recipe from assistant sports editor Jen Malti

Ingredients:

• 1 Package of Double Stuffed Oreos 
• 10 oz. of Philadelphia Cream Cheese 
• 5 7 oz. Baker’s Microwavable Dipping Milk Chocolate

Directions: 

1. Put the package of Oreos into the food processor and mix it until of a sand-like texture
2. Pour the crushed Oreos into a bowl and mix it with the 10 oz. of cream cheese until it has a clay-like consistency. 
3. Then, set a piece of wax paper onto the baking tray and start rolling the Oreos and cream-cheese mixture into little bite-size balls. 
4. Once you have the desired amount of bite-sized balls, put the tray into the freezer and freeze for thirty minutes. 
5. While they are freezing in the freezer, melt the microwavable dipping milk chocolate until it is liquefied. 
6. After the 30 minutes are done, start to take the balls and dip in the milk chocolate until the whole ball is coated.
7. Once they are all coated, put them back on the baking tray and put them back in the freezer and freeze them overnight.
8. The next day, they are ready to eat and you are done! Enjoy!

 Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Recipe from managing editor Amaya Morales

Ingredients:

• 1 large egg
• 3 tbsp. water
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Serves 16-24 cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375 ° F
2. In a bowl, whisk together egg and water. Add softened butter and mix until thoroughly mixed.
3. Add cookie mix and stir until well blended with other ingredients.
4. Scoop dough into rounded tablespoonfuls and place onto an ungreased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.

• *Depending how small or big you make the spoonfuls of dough will give you a different number of cookies.

5. Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for at least five minutes before consumption.

Homemade Struffoli (Honey balls)

Recipe from sports editor Anthony Covino

Dough:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest from 1 large lemon
• 2 teaspoons orange zest from ½ large orange
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ stick 2 ounces unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces, at room temperature 
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon white wine such as pinot grigio
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• Canola oil for frying 

To assemble:

• 1 cup honey
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 ½ cups hazelnuts toasted (see cook’s note)
• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• Sugar Sprinkles or dragees for decoration
• Powdered sugar for dusting, optional

Directions:

1. For the dough: in the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, lemon zest, orange zest, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the eggs, wine, and vanilla. Pulse until the mixture forms into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Cut the dough into four equal-sized pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of dough until ¼ inch thick. Cut each piece of dough into 1/2 -inch pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a small ball about the size of a hazelnut. Lightly dredge the dough balls in flour, shaking off any excess.
3. In a large-heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour enough oil to fill the pan about a third of the way. Heat over medium heat until a deep-frying thermometer inserted in the oil reaches 375 degrees fahrenheit. (if you don’t have a thermometer, a cube of bread will brown in about 3 minutes at the desired temperature.). In batches, fry the dough until lightly golden, about 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Transfer the dough balls to a paper towel lined plate to drain. (The rested and quartered dough can also be rolled on a floured work surface into ½-inch-thick logs and cut into equal-sized ½ inch pieces. The dough pieces can then be rolled into small balls and fried as above.)

To assemble: In a large saucepan, combine the honey, sugar, and lemon juice over medium heat. Bring to a boil.

Ricotta Pie

Recipe from sports writer Charles Elmo

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. Ricotta
• 3 cups sugar
• 9 eggs (separated)
• ½ cup flour
• 1 pint light cream
• 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. Lemon extract

Recipe Explanation & Breakdown:

1. In a large bowl mix ricotta, sugar, egg yolks, flour, light cream, vanilla, and lemon extracts.
2.  Mix egg whites until stiff, and form peaks.
3.  Fold into other ingredients.
4. Pour into a large (10 x 13) Pyrex dish sprayed with cooking spray. 
5. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Sprinkle with cinnamon, and put in the refrigerator to serve cold.

Sprinkle Shortbread Bites

Recipe from News Editor Jhoana T. Merino-Martinez

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of softened butter 
• ¼ cup of sugar 
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 ¼ cup flour 
• ¼ teaspoon salt 
• 4 teaspoon sprinkles (or as many as you want!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325* Fahrenheit. 
2. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. 
3. In a bowl or mixer, cream the softened butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Then add flour and salt. 
4. Once mixed thoroughly, add sprinkles. 
5. Scoop small bite-sized portions and roll into circles and place on a pan approx. 1 ½ inch apart. 
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until slight browning at the bottom. 

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from Editor-in-Chief Elizbeth Scalzo

*Credits to Sally Baking recipe, slightly modified from original*

Ingredients:

• 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• ¾ packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg (room temperature) 
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon red food coloring
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. Beat in more food coloring if you’d like the dough to be brighter red. On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.
3. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow dough to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
5. Scoop 1.5 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball, as pictured above. Place 12 balls onto each baking sheet. Bake each batch for 13 minutes. The cookies may have only spread slightly, that’s OK. Simply press down on the warm cookies to slightly flatten, which helps form crinkles. If desired for looks, stick a few chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies.
6. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Art by Elizabeth Scalzo