one more cookie

 

Wednesday was the girls' last day of school for the year. It was one of those days that tend to come at this time--there was family sharing where the girls got to show me lessons in their classrooms, then we came home at noon with Sadie's best friend in the center seat.  There was a solstice party at five, and the every hour between those was filled with bouncing girls and carrot sticks and sisters not sharing and seven-year-old girl drama and festivity throughout.  I needed to get a certain amount of book work done, and so I sat upstairs with my computer and my huge pile of first draft, and every time a question was hollered up the stairs, I just let go a "sure!" without actually listening.  By 3:30, I had to abandon the pile of paper to go pull something together for the party, and so I walked into the remnants of the girl tornado, got out the nail polish remover to reverse some of the damage on the girls' skin, and I opened up the new Gourmet Cookie Book.

My aunt gave me this book for my birthday a few weeks ago, and every few days since I've been flipping through it like a Taschen art book.  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend--it's just a classy and beautiful book.  The book has each "best" cookie recipe for every year since the 40's, and they weave together world events and cookie recipes in a story both through the words and the images.  It's hard to open the book at any moment and not abandon the current activity that one might be involved in in favor of pulling out the mixing bowls and measuring cups.  I had resisted up to this point, and now it was time to give in.

The truth is, I've made so few recipes in the last months that have been separate from recipe testing for the book, that when I embarked on these little ginger shortbread cookies, I felt like I was taking off from the world and getting a pedicure.  I chose it first because it is egg free and Sadie could be sure to have a treat at the party, but also because I just kept opening to it.  It was like that game when you ask the bible or the dictionary or some other big and important book and question, and the open page answers you.  I asked, "what do I need?" And the book kept answering "Skibo Castle Ginger Crunch".  It seemed like a good answer, and quick to put together, and so there I was with butter in hand.

When the three girls learned that I was making cookies, they got quiet, and respectful, and they pushed their hair behind their ears with their excessively nail polished fingers and walked around the kitchen like little Zen Buddhist nuns in quiet meditation.  I put on the the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, and baked to the light of the tiny Dr. Seuss Christmas tree in the corner, and by 4:00, it was dark out.  The day calmed into the night, and I was thinking about Christmas and baking and cookies and why those all go together, and about how people must want to bake so much during the holiday because it creates quiet and space in its own little way.  The world gets crazier at the same time that it is supposed to slow down, and somehow by preheating the oven and then setting the timer we say, "wait, hold on, in twenty minutes the cookies will be ready, and then I'll be back with you."  And then there are cookies to give, and that of course, is another good other reason to bake cookies.

 I know that by the time your reading this it's already Christmas, or even after it, but I want to tell you about this cookie anyway.  It was so fabulous, light and gingery with so much crisp, and it would make a good new year's cookie or any day in the winter when you might need that little bit of cookie baking.  It's one of those cookies that doesn't seem like it will hold up and work and keep together, but trust me, it will.  And I hope that today, whatever and where ever you are celebrating (even if it's just saturday!) is a good day, a warm and restful one with the exact combination of elements that you hope for.  

Happy holidays, friends.  Have a cookie, eh?

Skibo Castle Ginger Crunch

from The Gourmet Cookie Book

for the shortbread:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

for the topping:

3/4 stick unsalted butter

1 tablespoon Lyle's Golden Syrup

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9x13 metal pan (it's okay to go a little smaller than this too, if that's what you have).  

Sift together the dry ingredients for the shortbread and blend in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Press evenly into the base of the pan.  It will be dry, and thin, but it will all work out--don't worry.  Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes.  

A few minutes before the shortbread is done, melt the butter in a small saucepan.  Whisk in the other topping ingredients until smooth.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer while stirring for 30 seconds.  Remove the shortbread from the oven and pour the topping over it, tilting the pan to get an even coverage.  Cool the pan on a rack for at least 2 hours, then cut into 64 squares in the pan.

oreos

Over the last couple of days, something has become very clear to me.
I live in a part of the world where people are conscious about the food they eat. The Co-op gets as much business as the Price Chopper, and each of our many CSA's have long wait lists, full of people just begging for celeriac and spinach. To put it mildly, this town eats a lot of sprouts.
But I knew all of that. What I did not know is that there is also a deep passion in the hearts of my friends and neighbors for the oreo cookie.

You see, I've been working on this cookie lately. I've had a few homemade oreos in my day, and although I'm never one to refuse a cookie, they don't tend to do the trick. So often, the cookie part is downright chewy, and that is just wrong, all wrong.
And there's another thing. For an oreo to really be an oreo, the cookie must be black. It must be crunchy, and it must get stuck in the teeth. For the joy of the oreo is that it cannot be secretly consumed; the moment the mouth opens to deny the eating of the cookie, the black lined teeth tell the whole story. And oreo must be eaten proudly, and in the open air. This is not a shame cookie.


I'm good at keeping secrets when it matters, but at other times, I'm a bit of a talker. And as I've immersed myself in this oreo adventure, I've mentioned it here and there, just that this is what I'm working on this week. Every time, I get the same reaction.

"Can I come over?"

I'm thinking I could make a lot of friends with these cookies.

In this oreo, the cookie that sandwiches the cream is adapted from Alice Medrich's cocoa wafer from that book that I adore, Pure Dessert. I lowered the sugar in the cookie quite a bit to keep the bitter cocoa quality that the store- bought oreo has, although in that case, the bitterness might be all those odd ingredients in there. The cookies themselves can also be used to replace store bought chocolate wafers in treats like ice box cake and chocolate cookie crusts. This is a cookie you want to know- it will come in handy. The filling is simple, butter, earth balance vegetable shortening, vanilla, milk and salt. I'm pretty sure the other version has a whole lot more ingredients, but somehow, these few seem to capture it.


Due to some serious sweet eating last week, Joey and the girls decided to take the week off from sugar this week. Well, actually, I decided that the girls would take a week off and Joey decided to join them. I was very supportive of his sweet-free week, until he refused to try my oreos. "This is work!" I said. "I need you to see if they're the real deal!"
He held off for two days, and then I did something I am not proud of. I begged.
Tonight, he consented. After Sadie was safely in bed where she could not witness his betrayal, he ate one, and then he ate another to be sure.
"I need milk. And I need more cookies."

Oh yes. The real deal.


Oreos

The Cookie:
adapted from Alice Medrich, Pure Dessert

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

The Filling:

2 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2 ounces Earth Balance brand vegetable shortening, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

For the cookies: Combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times until completely combined. Cut the butter into tablespoon sized chunks and throw them into the food processor. Again, pulse several times. Combine the milk and vanilla in a small cup. With the food processor running, slowly add the milk mixture to the batter, continuing to process until the batter clumps around the blade. Lay a large piece of wax paper on the counter and put the batter onto it. Gently press the batter into a log about 2 inches in diameter. The batter will be soft, and this will be a messy moment. I wrapped the batter in the wax paper and then shaped it, which worked pretty well. Put the log in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and make sure that your racks are in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the log from the fridge, and unwrap it on a cutting board. With your sharpest knife, cut the log into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices, catching each slice as you go and laying it on the baking sheet. If the dough breaks, give it a few minutes to warm up and then start again. Give at least 2 inches between cookies- they will spread a bit. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes, rotating the pans and switching their location halfway through baking. The cookies will cook up and deflate- they are done about a minute after they deflate. Place the pans on a cooling rack and cool completely before filling.

For the filling: Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer or mixing bowl. With the mixer or by hand, beat together until all elements are thoroughly combined and the mixture is smooth and creamy.

To fill the cookies: You have two options. You can go the lazy route and get these into your belly faster, or you can go a bit more Martha. It's totally up to you. Lazy is definitely my style, but I like to give you choices, because someone's got to make the pretty food out there.
Lazy route: Spread about 1/2 inch layer of filling on one cookie. Put another cookie on top. Eat.
More work for style points: Refrigerate the filling for at least an hour. Put about a cup at a time of the filling between two pieces of wax paper, and roll it out to 1/2 inch. With a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut circles in the filling. Use a butter knife or metal spatula to transfer each circle to a cookie. You have to work fast, as the filling warms quickly. Admire, then eat.

These cookies are good at room temperature for at least 5 days, and great out of the freezer indefinitely.

nibby buckwheat cookies

I am a sucker for feeding people. I can't help it.
Sometimes my desire to fill the bellies of friends who come into the house feels a little bit beyond my control. Come by to drop off a book. Leave with granola. I don't even know how it happened. I just slip you a bag, even as I'm saying to myself, "Control yourself! They don't need food! This person is not hungry!"
But for the time being, my visitors put up with it, and I am thankful.

Because my compulsion to feed my guests overwhelms the desire to feed them something fabulous, I have been known to provide strange offerings when the pantry is low. Canned olives. Cheese sticks. Carrots. To avoid this predicament, I bake.

Because wouldn't you rather I offer you a cookie than a cheese stick?

I thought so.

These cookies might be my favorite ones to have around. They get better with age, and they last a month (theoretically, if they didn't get eaten so fast). But more importantly, they are wonderful, and they seem to please everyone. They are, you might say, a crowd pleaser.

The cookies in question are Alice Medrich's nibby buckwheat cookies. They have been written about many times, most specifically here and here, because they really are a wonder. They are shortbread-y and complicated but kid friendly and not too sweet and filled with flavors that you can't quite pin down. They make a good snack with tea, maybe the best I can think of.

These are some good cookies.

The first time I had them was a ways back, a few years ago even. It was winter, and I was visiting my friend Meg. If I remember correctly she was a bit weary and possibly quite pregnant, and she roused herself from her chair to offer me a cookie.

"Cookie?"

It was not a pretty cookie. Brown and square. Funny little nibs scattered throughout. But I'm always up for a cookie, so down it went.

"Oh, my god. What is that?"

She wrote down the recipe then and there.

And now I'm writing it down for you.



Nibby Buckwheat Cookies (or Buckwheat Cocoa Nib Shortbread, if you need a better name for them, which I think that I do)
from Alice Medrich, Pure Dessert

makes about 45-50 cookies

1 1/4 cups (5.6 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (3 ounces) buckwheat flour
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cacao nibs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk the flours together in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter with the sugar and salt for about 1 minute in an electric mixer until smooth and creamy but not fluffy. Mix in the cocoa nibs and vanilla. Add the flours and mix just until barely incorporated. Knead the dough with your hands a few times, just until the batter is smooth.

Form the dough into a 12 by 2 inch log. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator about two hours before you want to bake it. When it is slightly soft, it is ready to cut. Use a very sharp knife and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Lay them on the cookie sheet, leaving a bit of space for the cookies to spread. You will get about 15 cookies to a sheet, and you may have to bake in more than one batch.

Bake until the cookies are just starting to color at the edges, about 12-15 minutes. Place the pans on racks to cool, or if you need the pans to bake another batch, you can slide the parchment onto the racks. Just be careful with cookies until they are completely cool. If you can, wait at least a day to eat them, as their taste improves greatly with one days age. They will keep in an airtight container for up to 30 days.

sweet cornmeal biscuits

On my nineteenth birthday, my boyfriend broke up with me, it snowed two feet, and then it iced another six inches. As I hacked at the igloo that covered my car in the parking lot, my tears and sweat soaked through through my coat. A newspaper reporter approached me.

"We're documenting the storm. Mind if I take your picture?"

"It's my fucking birthday. Help me out or go away."

He did not help me out.

On my twenty-third birthday, it snowed two feet again. My French class was having the last class of the semester at a French Bakery, and I was late. I ran out of my house, locking my car keys securely inside. I spent the next 30 minutes breaking into my surprisingly secure and frozen shut house, and I got to the French Bakery as the class was leaving in a cheerful chattering mass.

I stayed behind and took a seat at a table for one.

"It's my fucking birthday," I told the waitress. "Bring me some cake, and stick a candle in it."

Ah birthdays.

No swearing today, and a lovely day on the whole. Sadie brought me coffee and toast in bed as promised, which somehow helped me deal with her hour long tantrum about the fact that I had not made myself a birthday cake.

Although there was no snow this year, there was a whole lot of cold wind, and so I decided to turn on my oven. And as part of my meal preparation for tomorrow (spoiler alert!), I made Gialetti de Romagna, sweet cornmeal biscuits.

I'm sure my guests won't mind that I ate so many of them today. It was my birthday after all, and I seem to have forgotten to make myself a birthday cake.

Here ends birthday week. I promise not even to say the word again until next year.


I wasn't sure what these would emerge to be. They just sounded like a good idea. And when I say biscuit, you know I mean cookie, but not quite, because I'd say these are a cross between a Devonshire scone and a sugar cookie and, well, something involving cornmeal.

They are really very very lovely. And ideal with tea. And cold wind that is outside.

The original recipe calls for pine nuts and raisins. I adore pine nuts, but they have recently gone up in price so much that I think people might start perching them on engagement rings. I used chopped pecans instead, and that seemed just perfect to me. I am okay with raisins, but I am much better with currants, so that is what I used. These came out so well that I will go so far as give you my version of the recipe, but if pine nuts and raisins are your cup of tea, then by all means go ahead and switch it back.


Gialetti di Romagna
(sweet cornmeal biscuits)
adapted from Lynne Rosetto Kasper, The Splendid Table

makes about 50 cookies

1 cup (4 ounces) cornstarch
1 cup (5 ounces) coarse yellow cornmeal
2 cups (8 ounces) all-purpose flour
generous pinch of salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) currants, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and drained
1/2 cup (2 ounces) coarsely chopped pecans

Blend the cornstarch, cornmeal, flour and salt in a bowl until well mixed. Set aside. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at medium speed with the paddle attachment for about 6 minutes, or until pale and very fluffy. You can also use a hand held mixer for this if that is your tool of choice. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, making sure the mixture is fluffy after each addition. Then beat in the water, lemon zest and vanilla. Keeping the speed at medium, beat in about 1 1/2 cups of the dry ingredients until just blended. Then blend in another cup until barely mixed. Add the rest of the dry ingredients, along with the currants and pecans. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or greased parchment paper. The cookies will bake in three batches. Drop the chilled cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet, spacing them 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart. Make a crosshatch pattern on the top of each cookie by dipping a fork in water, then pressing the back of the fork gently into the cookie dough. Wet the fork again, and press it into the dough again at right angles to the first impression. Chill the unused dough. Bake for 20 minutes in the center of the oven, or until they are pale blond with golden edges. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, and use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Drop another batch of cookies onto the baking sheet and repeat.
The cookies will store well in an airtight container for up to a week.

daring to make cookies you buy at the store

So this month, it is cookies. The challenge was to create two store bought favorites, Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, and Mallows. We could do both, or choose one. Since half-assed cooking experiences seem to be my specialty these days, I chose one. Not so daring, I know. But the tomatoes have blight, and Sadie has hives, and there's a homesick nephew moping around and I know, I know, true daring bakers don't make excuses, but there they are.
The choice was easy. During my picky years, my single mamma opted to just give me what I wanted for lunch every day. I think that it is entirely possible that for five or more years, I got a bagel and cream cheese, two mint milano cookies, and maybe some sort of fruit of vegetable that I have blocked out because I probably didn't eat it. So as you can imagine, milano cookies are pretty near and dear to my heart, although I don't think that I have had one in a really really long time. And there they are, happy and wonderful little milanos, made in my very own kitchen.

Yeah, right.
You knew it wouldn't be that easy. Warning sign one: late night baking (never works out well for me). Warning sign two: I have to use a piping bag. Warning sign three: the directions are perplexing to me. I mean, how does such a tiny line of batter turn into a cookie?

Turns out that it doesn't.

Yes, I think that we would call that cookie FAIL. Although I must admit that peeled off the parchement, these made a good late night binge for us.
But luckily, Joey stepped in with his little artistic hands. He piped much bigger and more even circles, counter to the instructions. Piping is now officially his job. I spread the chocolate, put them together, and they were lovely. But really chewy. Which kind of worked actually. Except I just might have forgetten that although I put two sticks of butter on the counter to soften, I was only supposed to use one and a half. Which I might have realized in the middle of the night. Perhaps it was my inconsistency with the recipe, but these were in no way milanos. Milanos are very shortbready thick cookies. These cookies that we made were in fact, if I remember correctly, what Pepperidge Farm named Brussels. Thin, bubbly and sweet. Did anyone else have this experience?
Well there you have it. Another slightly daring baking experience over here. Here's how you follow in my footsteps...

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

For the mallow recipe, as well as links to all of the other fabulous daring bakers's creations, go check out the daring kitchen site. Thanks so much to Nicole for hosting this challenge, and I apologize to her for botching such a nice recipe. Luckily, butter and chocolate can't be messed beyond repair.