Time Schedule

Tomorrow will be February 1.  I think that by the end of February, the recipes should be selected and perfected.

During March, all of the display trays should be collected, and a layout designed.

In April, I should purchase a freezer and the materials for freezing and transport.

This sounds good, and allows time for the cookies to be baked in July and August.

More Lemon Cookies

The Land of Lakes Lemon Bar recipe gets great reviews online, so I knew I had to try it.  It is for Lemon Shortbread strips.  I have tried Lemon Shortbread before, from Nancy Baggett.  I loved the taste of hers, but the bars fell apart easily when I sliced them, and they didn't look pretty.

These taste good, but not quite as tangy as the Nancy Baggett bars.  However, they held together better when cut.  I like the look of the glaze--it is white and shiny and looks good with sparkle sugar on top.  These still fell apart a little when I sliced them.  Maybe they need chilled before cutting.  I've been using a pizza cutter to cut them, and it slices right through.

You can see that they look nice, but some have still fallen apart:

And we have a thumbs down on the taste of these from my DH.  Not that they're bad, they're not as good as others we've tried.

Lemon Tea Cookies

I have tried so many lemon cookies.  All of them have tasted great, but I haven't had much luck with the looks.  I have a good lemon bar, but I am still searching for a lemon cookie.  Today I tried the Lemon Tea Cookie from Betty Crocker.  They turned out pretty, and they taste good.

I think I would try them in a mini muffin pan the next time to make them closer in size to each other.  They were easy, though, and taste good.  I got 3 dozen out of one try.

Here is how they looked:

My neighbor is a great cook!

My neighbor is a really good cook and baker.  She shares food and invites us over frequently.  She does what I do, and searches the internet until she finds the perfect recipe.  When I told her I needed the recipe for Italian Knots, she shared hers.  It is perfect.  The cookies have the traditional texture and are not too dry.  Here is the recipe:

Italian Knots

1/2 c butter
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract
1/4 c milk
1/4 c vegetable oil
3 3/4 c flour
5 t baking powder


Icing:

4 c confectioners' sugar
1/2 c softened butter
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract
3 T milk
food coloring


Preheat oven to 350.  Grease cookie sheets, or line with parchment.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Stir in liquids.
Combine the flour and baking powder.
Stir into wet mixture.
Roll into 1" balls.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the balls into ropes about 5 inches long.
Tie into knots or twists and place 1" apart on cookie sheet.
Bake 5 minutes on bottom shelf, then 5 on top.

Dip into icing when cool.

Butternut Squash Soup

We are getting a big snowstorm tonight, and we are going to have a week of vegetarian meals.  One of the meals will be butternut squash soup with broccoli slaw.   The butternut squash soup recipe that I used is from Emeril, and it is found here.  It has a full flavor, and is nice and spicy, so perfect for a cold winter's day.

Chocolate Biscotti with Almonds

Today I tried chocolate biscotti with almonds from David Lebovitz's recipe, which you can find here. They were good, and nice and chocolaty.  At first I thought the flavor might be too strong, as I tasted them after the first baking.  They were just right after the second baking, though.  He recommends using the highest quality chocolate available, and I think I will purchase the kind he recommends.  Also, mine may have been too thick.  I only got about 30 biscotti out of the recipe.  I used a knife that might not have been strong enough.

I would like to dip them next time, too, maybe in white chocolate, and maybe in milk chocolate.  Either way, they have a nice taste, a nice texture, and are looking good for an addition to the cookie table.

Macaroons

I like coconut, and I think that macaroons are a delicious cookie.   I like to eat, so most of the things that I make taste pretty good.  I am also impatient, so many of the things I make don't look that nice.   Appearance counts on the cookie table, so we're off to search for a new macaroon recipe.

I adapted a macaroon recipe from Nancy Baggett's All-American Cookie Book, and they turned out really pretty.  They have a nice sheen and a golden color, they should look nice on the cookie table, too.

I didn't know whether to use unsweetened or sweetened coconut, so I used both.  The flavor and texture were good.

12 oz sweetened coconut
12 oz unsweetened shredded coconut
3 T sweetened condensed milk
4 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 t lemon juice
2/3 c sugar
1 t vanilla

Toast the coconut first for about 8 minutes in a 325 oven.

Mix the coconut and sweetened condensed milk.
Beat the egg whites and lemon juice until soft peaks form.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form.

Fold ingredients together.

Use a teaspoon cookie scoop, and bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

My favorite author

My favorite author for my cookie endeavor is Nancy Baggett.  I found The All American Cookie Book at our library's used book sale.  After I purchased it, I realized I had looked at quite a few of her recipes online, and also had watched some of her YouTube videos about decorating cookies.

She has a wide variety of cookies in the cookbook, and some shares some of her expertise with many hints about butter, how to measure, which chocolate to use, etc.  It's a great resource.  I also purchased the online edition of Simply Sensational Cookies.

One of the recipes I tried from the All American book was Mini brownies with rolos or peanut butter cups.  This worked really well in a mini muffin pan.  They are moist, look cute, and I think will freeze and travel well.  These are on the list, too!

Pizzelles

DH is the pizzelle cook in this house.  He grew up helping his mom, aunt, and grandmother make them for the holidays.  We had tons for our wedding, and now will pass on the tradition.

Here is the pizzelle recipe that I like.  We have a torn sheet of paper with most of a recipe from DH's aunt, and this one closely resembles it.

6 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 T vanilla or anise extract
3 1/2 c flour
4 t baking powder

Beat eggs add sugar gradually and beat until smooth.  Add butter and extract.  Sift flour and baking powder together and add to egg mixture.  Drop by teaspoonfuls on hot pizzelle iron.


This year we debated between using anise oil and anise extract.  I like anise extract.  We bought some anise oil at the italian store and that is what we used this year.  It makes the cookies have a strong taste of anise, like your grandma used to make.  Most people here preferred the strong taste.  I always use vanilla with the anise to round out the flavor.

Cookies

I am practicing on cookies.  I am trying to make them taste better and look better.  I have my new tool--a kitchen aid stand mixer--a very generous gift from my very generous sister.

I have tried lots of recipes, but my recipes are scattered everywhere.  I'm going to start to document them here.  I am hoping to narrow them down to the best twelve, or maybe ten.  Ladylocks will be a purchase from my farmer's market, so that will be one.

Today I worked on baci di dama.  I have tried two recipes, one with regular flour, and one gluten free.   I prefer the regular flour recipe.  The shape is kind of odd, so today I tried to make them a little flatter.  I flattened them slightly with a glass dipped in water, and that worked.   My future DIL loves nutella, so I think she will like these.  The recipe I like is from the selectitaly.com site, and you can find it here.  When I made them the first time, I used almonds instead of hazelnuts.  Even though I like hazelnuts a lot, I prefer this cookie with almonds.

They are a pretty, tasty cookie, so I think these will be included on the cookie table along with the lady locks.  We have two!

It's been awhile

I have a lot more time these days, so I've been cooking a lot.  Today I made pasta with cauliflower and sausage, from a recipe I've been looking at for awhile.  Sometimes I've looked at the recipe and thought that it sounds delicious, and sometimes I've looked at it and thought "I don't think so."  Actually, though, it is delicious.  And perfect for a cold January night.  I added a little wine to make it sweeter, and used seasoned bread crumbs.  It has a ton of flavor.  Here is a link to the recipe from thekitchn.com.

I will definitely make this again.