TWD: Thumbprints for us Big Guys

Well, I can say I'm not a guy - no comment on the size part. And instead of a thumb this recipe calls for a pinky. I went the wooden spoon route, but I am getting a little ahead of myself.

I made half of the recipe, and used almond meal rather than ground hazelnuts. Since Trader Joe's carries the almond meal it just sounded easier and cheaper. Also I am not a huge fan of raspberry, so I used what I had on hand - apricot preserves and lemon curd (oh how I love lemon curd!). Otherwise I followed the rest of the recipe. I won't tell you how old the almond extract I used was. Let's just say I haven't used much of it until now, but it has been packed up and moved with the rest of the kitchen things more than once.

Sadly I felt very rusty making these, even though I have baked since January. When I mixed everything together it just didn't come out right. Rather than dough I had sand and definitely not the correct consistency. My solution - my hands. I squished everything together until it was dough like, and would maintain the shape of a ball.



These also seemed pretty small. Somehow the picture in the book makes both the cookie and the "thumbprint" look much bigger. And they didn't come out of the oven looking very pretty (probably due to the weird consistency of the dough). They look more "ragtag" than anything else.


It's at this point in the process I think that my co-workers will not be munching on cookies tomorrow.

After cooling I filled them and gave them a try. A little dry - again, probably more to do with me than with the recipe - but very tasty. I really like the nutty flavor with the sweet apricot. The lemon curd sure does give it some tang! Still won't be bringing these to work for the co-workers (I have a reputation to maintain), but they will be very nice with a cup of tea in the morning.

PS - it sure is good to be back!

TWD: Sugar Topped Molasses Spiced Cookies

Today was a very long day. It started by baking these cookies, picked by my pal Pamela over at Cookies with Boys. I don't usually bake in the AM, but I wanted to get some decent pictures. Then I went to work where I dealt with a crises before I even made it to my desk. It was the first of many. Finally got a lunch today (no lunch the last 2 days - I don't even want to admit what I consumed yesterday - no bueno!) but not until 4pm (ditto regarding what I ate today). Left work on time to go to class, after class stopped at Whole Foods so I would have something to eat tomorrow (break or no break, a girl's got to eat). And then, after bringing myself and food into the house, I look over and see these. Lovely, edible cookies. So good, and just what I needed after a big day.

I'm training some folks at work, and they were having a hard time with the material, so I'm going to bring these cookies and some milk to work tomorrow. Just a little something to feed their soul.

This is quick since I'm tired, but I did enjoy these a lot. I have the other half of the dough in the fridge waiting to be baked. I loved how easy these were (much appreciated this week!), and it was kind of fun (therapeutic) to roll them up, roll them in sugar, and then mush them.







Yes, they did spread a bit, but were the perfect combination of chewy and soft, sweet and spicy. These will be made again before the holidays are over.

To see the recipe head over to Pamela's blog.

TWD: Coconut Butter Thins

Another busy week, another last minute baking frenzy for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick. I was super excited about this one, as I love, I mean LOVE coconut. It's one of those things that people either love or hate. I'm a lover! So a big "thank you!" goes out to Jayne from The Barefoot Kitchen Witch who picked this week's recipe (check out her great pictures and cute kids!)

Since I'm all about the last minute often times I find the hardest thing about a recipe is getting the butter to room temperature. But other than that wait, this was super easy. I've really been loving the last few weeks where we've rubbed the zest of lemon/lime into the sugar. It's like a little aroma therapy/stress reduction treatment. And the idea of putting the dough into the zip top bag and rolling it out is genius - pure genius.

The only down side of this recipe is having left over macadamia nuts. I think I ate my daily -- or was it weekly -- amount of calories just snacking on them tonight. They are pure evil (Oh. So. Good. EVIL!).

Since it is late, and I only have one rack in my oven I'm baking two sheets worth of butter thins and I put the rest into the fridge and will bake those off later. I had a little bit of a math problem when cutting the dough into pieces (curse math!) so I have many more pieces, in a much smaller size than they should be. (Can I just take a moment to curse the bird outside my window singing. I'm all for birds singing. I truly love hearing them throughout the day. But it's 11:30pm and this guy is just warming up for his big solo. All last night I kept waking up to him singing. When the alarm went off this morning -- nothing! He must be desperate or an insomniac or something! Sorry, I feel better now).

I've been doing this TWD thing long enough to know that however the dessert tastes coming out of the oven isn't necessarily how it will taste when it cools. Usually it will taste better. Since these butter thins are unbelievably delicious (heaven I tell you!) out of the oven, I can only imagine how fantastic they will be in an hour. I was planning on going to bed. I may have to stay up a little longer than I planned (with my little birdy friend outside, this may not be a problem).

PS - I have to ask........was I the only one singing "put the lime with the coconut and shake it all up" while mixing ingredients? Honestly -- I wasn't alone, was I???

TWD: World Peace Cookies

World Peace is within our reach!

At least World Peace cookies are within reach, thanks to this TWD pick by Jess at cookbookhabit (visit Jess to get the recipe). These were a big hit with the TWD bakers, crumbly dough and all. I didn't have a problem with the dough, actually, and hardly a BHMOTW (bone head move of the week) worth mentioning (but will, just because it's a regular feature now).

These cookies were incredibly easy. I've occasionally had problems with the directions from the book "Baking from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. Most of it is due to my limited culinary knowledge. Happily since baking with the TWDers that knowledge has grown, and these cookies were a success.

Although I love eating chocolate, I'm not as big of a fan of working with chocolate. It is messy and temperamental. Did I mention it is messy? Anyway, the chopping of the chocolate was the most difficult part. After that I was home free.

I did not purchase the fleur de sel sea salt that was recommended in the recipe. I didn't see it at my local store, though I did see it at my favorite cooking store in town (this is a very dangerous place - avoid if you don't want to spend hours of your time and many of your dollars on all the wonderful things they have for sale. And the staff there are so incredibly helpful!). Their price was about $14, and for 1/2 teaspoon I thought I'd skip it and go with sea salt. I cleverly used my Trader Joe's Sea Salt Crystals, and then put them through a sieve to get them extra fine. The salt taste wasn't super strong, but just enough to be intriguing. I like intriguing, so it worked for me.

Here it is - time for the BHMOTW. Not all of the salt made it out of the sieve. I moved on to other things. I forgot about the salt in the sieve and moved it. Here is the result (too bad you can't hear the sound of it falling like sand on the chocolate). Not nearly as bad as tossing a whole cake against a refrigerator, but it still made me laugh at myself.

I had no trouble getting the dough into logs (perhaps because I used Dutch processed cocoa which Dorie says may be the key to success here). I made the log smaller than I thought it should be, to compensate for my lack of math skills. Between the two - success! After an overnight in the refrigerator, the logs cut up nicely (a little crumble, but no big deal) and the house smelled soooooo good while the cookies were in the oven!

These were a huge hit with the co-workers, and me for that matter, so they will definitely be made again. I'd make them daily if I thought that they really would expand peace throughout the world. Unfortunately the only thing they would do is expand my waistline, I think.

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

Well, the Tuesdays with Dorie Cookiepolooza has come to an end. This week's selection comes from Heather over at Randomosity and the Girl. She picked this recipe because it's the time of year where there is lots of baking, and these are quick and easy. For me, this week's selection was a matter of survival! I am not kidding! (exaggerating, perhaps, but not kidding). Heather finds herself without the internet, I find myself without heat. I can't complain too much, what with half the country in the deep freeze. But a chilly house is a chilly house, so I needed to bake the cookies to stay warm. (Worry not, I don't have slum lords and I did pay the bill. Just a little glitch that will be fixed when the gas man comes out tomorrow. Perhaps I'll leave him some of these cookies like he's Santa!).

Some of the TWDers were won over by these cookies, others were not. Many found their cookies came out of the oven exactly the shape they went in. I really appreciate all the sharing that goes on at the site -- it has saved me more than once. Based on the shared experiences this time, I was extra careful not to over mix the dough so my cookies spread just a bit. I also made sure the cookies didn't have any burnt bottoms. And because I'm just a generous kind of gal, I taste tested each batch as it came out of the oven. I like to think of it as "quality control."

Because I did make the cookies small (I took the "rounded teaspoonful" directions literally) I got the 45 cookies as promised in the recipe (and no stomach ache after all the tasting). As for their taste, they grew on me. When reading the recipe it was pretty clear that there wasn't a lot of flavor outside of a small amount of ginger, the jam (I used apricot) and the vanilla. As Dorie said, it's a "side of the saucer" cookie, not the stand alone kind. I'll be curious what they taste like tomorrow, as a few bakers found they liked them better the next day. They'll go great with the morning tea I bet. These are the first cookies that were successful enough to go into the office for the co-workers. We'll see what they think of them (if a success they may see them again as their holiday gift!).

TWD: Grandma's All Occassion Sugar Cookies

This week's post will be like this week's recipe - short and sweet! Ulrike over at Kuchenlatein picked these quick and versatile cookies. A great choice for the holiday season!

I like versatility, and this recipe says you can either roll the cookies out and use cutters for the shapes, or you can shape the dough into a "chubby sausage" and slice-and-bake them. When I divided my dough I did half one way and half the other, but like last week I do have some dough in the fridge (good news if I can't decide what to give someone for the holidays!)

Due to a very busy job, end of year work celebration and a birthday (yay!) I only finished the slice-and-bake variety. And I didn't frost them (see "I am busy" statement above). I baked them on Sunday, and by tonight they are a little crunchy, but still good. This would be a great recipe to have on hand if you were the type of person who had unexpected company since the dough can stay in the freezer for up to two months.

The important lesson I learned this week (or relearned, as the case may be) is that I need to work on my math skills. I thought last week's cookies were too thick. This week I finally wised up and got out the ruler. As it turns out, there was a really good reason I thought my cookies were too thick -- they were! By about 1/4 of an inch! Oh bother! I adjusted my slicing skills this week and the sugar cookies turned out great. I'll get the hang of measuring things eventually (I hope!).

Many of the TWDers already have sugar cookie recipes that they are very fond of, but I'm not committed to any one recipe. I'd definately give this one another try, and I'm looking forward to rolling out the shapes and see how those cookies turn out. And I think frosting is fun, too.

TWD: Linzer Sables

This week "TWD" stands for "Thursdays with Dorie" - I was a little off on my calculation below. Oh well -- I'll get back on track by next week (hey, maybe I should start baking those cookies now!)

This week's recipe comes from Dennis at Living the Life. Linzer Sables are versatile little cookies that can be made as a single cookie, or as a sandwich. The filling can be either jam or chocolate. I like both fillings, and I really like the "peek-a-boo" nature of the sandwich option, so I decided to make the sandwiches with both fillings.

Cookies are something I have some experience with, certainly much more experience than just about anything else I've blogged about so far. It was the first thing we learned in my beginning baking class. One of the keys, I learned, is in the blending of the sugar and butter. Up to that point I had not blended long enough. But once I learned to let the KitchenAid go for 5 minutes or so, my cookies have turned out much better. Plus I love the pattern it makes in the bowl.

The trait I have yet to master, however, is not getting impatient in all other things. I often stop a process early for fear of going to far, when in fact the end result doesn't turn out as well because I didn't let the process go on long enough. This may be the case with my dough, which seemed a little grainy and didn't seem to come together enough.

I rolled out enough to make 9 sandwiches, and probably have enough to make 2-3 more in the freezer from the scraps of the first round. I sure wish I had a cute little cutter like the one in Dorie's book, but used my regular round cutters instead. I picked the smallest one for the center cut, but it may be too big. Almost all of those cookies broke when making the center cut. Drat!

The cookies were in the oven a wee bit too long (so much for my impatience when I get distracted), but the powdered sugar hides that fairly well. I really like the crunchy texture and the nutty flavor from the almonds (the recipe let you choose the type of nut to use - the other choices were either hazelnuts or walnuts). I thought I would like the chocolate sandwich better, but I actually like the jam option best (I used strawberry preserves as that is what I had on hand). Something about the sweet fruit contrasting with the nutty cookie just spoke to me.

These cookies sure look cute, and are very tasty. I would definately try them again, but would roll them out thiner. Several TWDer thought 1/4 inch was too thick for the sandwich version, and I agree. For a single cookie that's okay, but for a sandwich -- too much.

Oh, and next time I would try not to get either impatient or distracted! (ha!)