Linzer Cookies and other tales
3.5 cups of butter later, I remembered why I only bake once a year. Luckily, I was determined and stubborn enough that I finished the cookies even though I was totally fed up with the process half way into the first batch. Pictures? Not so many. I was often too covered in flour and butter.
My proudest accomplishment of this round of baking was Strawberry Linzer cookies. 2 hours = 14 painstakingly made cookies. Based on this recipe. They really are good, and they really do take a while. And to get those shapes, the dough really does have to be *exactly* the right temperature or you get to start all over. Also? Please only try to do this if you have a normally sized kitchen.
I also made Ginger Spice Cookies – like gingerbread but more spice. I picked this recipe because it had the most spice of any recipe I found. Ginger juice that I made from real ginger, molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and ground black pepper. YES. I may have added more spice than the recipe called for. I love my food to be flavorful! These are done (I made them into candy canes and tiny angels, stars, gingerbread men and trees) but need a bit of decoration still.
I also made these cookies from Epicurious. Except mine are Milk Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. The original recipe wanted bittersweet and white chocolates. I thought it would be too much. I think I was right. I added extra cranberries too. These are actually my favorite of the three cookies I made. Tasty, with a slight crunch and a soft middle, with plenty of tart and sweet flavor. YUM.
Let me tell you, though, that I don’t bake most of the time because:
1) Cookies make me feel guilty. First I put in the butter. Then the sugar. Then the white flour. And I think … that’s it? I’m eating pure Bad For Me? I CANNOT DO THIS. And then I do. Because mmmm, cookies are tasty. I happen to really disagree with Kate Moss, who said recently, to my everlasting irritation and disgust, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Quite too bad and sad for her! There’s a lot more to life than being skinny. I’ll eat her cookies too.
2) Baking pastries takes FOREVER. Preparation, refrigeration, cookie cutters, baking, cooling, decorating. Just be done already! Cooking is really way easier. Much more instant gratification. Much less exercise of my limited quantities of patience. Maybe it was just that I chose really difficult recipes?
3) I have to measure things. I am not the type of person who either follows directions or measures stuff. I “go with what feels right,” but this is not an acceptable way to do things when baking. Some people follow directions, follow patterns, follow instructions, follow rules, follow guidelines. I am definitely NOT one of those people.
And also. Let’s remember the Cardinal Rule of Cookie Baking Chez Miriam.
If you show up at my house and I offer you freshly-baked cookies, I have not magically turned into Super Housewife. Let’s just realize that this was one of those times my hyperness and OCD got the better of me. It’s Solstice-Chanukkah-Christmas. I’m allowed to be slightly crazy about something, right?
5 Comments
feel free to leave a few words of your own...Anna — Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 10:30 am (link)I think what Kate Moss meant to say was “Nothing tastes as good as a snort of coke.” Let’s face it, she doesn’t not eat because she wants to be thin, she doesn’t eat because her sense of hunger has been dulled by years of drug abuse. In the original, she was paraphrasing a Weight Watchers mantra–but having done WW and still feeling that butter is the essence of life, I can assure you that no one at WW really thinks “nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.” We may end up thin, but I think we all have a list of things that taste better than exercise, raw carrots, and size 2 jeans.
Miriam — Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 11:22 am (link)True! I mostly think she doesn’t eat because her entire life is predicated upon looking like a twig. What use would she be if she were not a stick figure? I can’t recall she’s ever cultivated much in the way of talent or aspirations beyond that.
So that phrase is a WW thing? Ew. I haven’t ever been to WW, and let’s face it, I’m probably not going to end up thin soon, because I think most things in life are more important than size 2 jeans.
Paula Frey — Sat Dec 19, 2009 at 11:14 am (link)Size 2 isn’t the healthiest size for most people. And what of your emotional health and well-being? I find I’m troubled by seasonal depression when I don’t have enough cookies.
Though I think the above pictured cookies are bordering on the line of sugar and butter porn. Were these cookies airbrushed? I might have to initiate a full investigation.
Abby — Tue Dec 22, 2009 at 10:38 am (link)I would have really enjoyed one of those ginger spice cookies, I just know it. Must be present to win, I ’spose.
Miriam — Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 4:39 pm (link)Mostly, Abby, must be present before they all get eaten. I’ll bring some to you in round 2
