Cookie Day - Christmas season 2010

Friday, December 10th was Cookie Day. Cookie Day is a wonderful, annual event where 3 of us get together to make Cucidati - Sicilian Fig-filled cookies. We all make up the dough and filling a day or two before then we converge at someone's house and cook and chat. We are Pat Pauly, Varsi and me. We use Pat's mother's recipe which calls for 10 cups of flour and 1 pound of butter plus other things and this year it was at my house.
Here we are in the midst of production.

How Time Flies

It has been awhile since my last blog. It is not that the baking has ceased, though it did slow down over the summer because, let's face it, a hot stove makes the kitchen hotter. Anyway, I have been productive.  I've made these cookies:

Chocolate Mint Wafers

Chocolate Walnut Slices

Lekvar Squares

Spicy Oatmeal Walnut Cookies

Coconut Tuiles

Pecan Honey Squares

Paste di Meliga (Italian Cornmeal Butter Cookies)

W's (spritz cookies)

Lemon Fruit Swirls (refrigerator cookie)

Champagne Fingers

Pecan Wafers

Cornmeal Biscotti

Caramel Pecan Cookies

Ultimate Lemon Squares

Suvaroffs

Cucidati (Sicilian Fig-filled cookies)

Infasciadedde (Sicilian twisted cookies)

Lemonade Cookies

Sfingi (Cream Puff Pastry Fritters)

Sour Cream Doughnut Holes

Zaleti Bolognesi

Gingery Macadamia Biscotti

Bugnes Arlesiennes (Fried Cookies from Arles)

Osgood Squares

Sicilian Fig Pinwheels

Zeppole (Italian Bread Dough Fritters)

Glazed Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie

Shenkeli (Little Thighs)

Portland Fig Cookies

Appenzeller Biberli (Filled "Beavers" from Appenzell)

Olliebollen (Dutch Currant Fritters)

Basler Leckerli (Basel "Lickers")

Hazelnut Sticks

Kourabiethes Greek Almond cookies

Macadamia Lime Cookies

Elegant Almond Bars

Linzer Roll

Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

Old-Fashioned Molasses Slices

Railroad Tracks

"Truffled" Breton Shortbreads

Coffee Pecan Meringues

Swiss Raisin Drops

Chocolate Meringue Wreaths

I have pictures of most of these but some are missing. 

To date I have made 125 of the recipes - with approximately 85 to go. I will share my experiences in later blogs. So, stay tuned...

This was an eventful week. Hari's 24th birthday was Tuesday, May 4th. I made 10th Avenue Brownies for his "birthday cake". This brownie recipe is the last brownie recipe in Cookies Unlimited. Onto other categories such as fried cookies, oh my.

Hari is a great guy and I wish him all of the best in life. And the brownies were nice and dense, chocolaty, great for a celebration.

Pastry Bag & Cookie Press

There are 23 recipes in the Piped Cookies chapter. This week I made a 4th and 5th batch of these. As I recall, my first try was the Langues de chat (Cat's tongues). These were thin cookies that spread while cooking and resulted in a thin crispy cookie. My second recipe was a meringue, Walnut Boulders. These were easy because I have made meringues before and so knew what to expect vis a vie consistency, texture, baking times, conditions.
So now we get to the 2 I made this week. One is called W's and the other, Paste di Meliga or Italian Cornmeal Butter Cookies from Piemonte. Both of these cookies called for a pastry bag to be filled and the cookies to be formed by piping shapes through a tip. Right. Both doughs were so dense that it took all of my strength just to get a bit out of the pastry bag. I fought with the bag and surmised that this is how male chefs keep fit. My upper body strength is no match for these cookies.
Anyway I slogged through with the Italian Cornmeal Butter cookies but gave up and used a cookie press on the W's - which became wreath like looking. They both taste alright, but what a pain.
The third offering this week is the Honey Pecan Squares which has a buttery crust topped with a honey, pecan, butter, sugar (what's not to love) topping. The whole thing is baked and then cooled.
I'm off to Pittsburgh to pick up my son, Anil and then we are off to Washington, DC where he will be interning in a medical robotics lab all summer.

Einstein on a Train (nothing to do with cookies)

Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it.
Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn't find it..

The conductor said, 'Dr. Einstein, I know who you are.  We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket. 
Don't worry about it.'

Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket.

The conductor rushed back and said, 'Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are No problem.
You don't need a ticket.  I'm sure you bought one.'

Einstein looked at him and said, 'Young man, I too, know who I am. 
What I don't know is where I'm going.'' 

More Mandelbrot and Brownies plus ANZAC Biscuits

The other mandelbrot in the book is Carole Walter's Ethereal Mandelbrot. It is a more crumbly biscotti probably because butter is involved. Also this recipe includes pecans. I must admit that pecans have never really been a favorite of mine, but in this recipe the nut gives the mandelbrot a great taste. The dough for this is so sticky I just plopped it on the cookie sheet in two rows and it spread as it baked resulting in a very wide log. 

The brownie is White Chocolate Chunk made with cocoa powder and white chocolate chunks. I may have mentioned this before, but did you know that all chocolate recipes contain vanilla? 

The drop cookie for the week is called ANZAC Biscuit. ANZAC is an acronym for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps and biscuit is the British word for cookie (like crisps = potato chips). They were made during WWII and sent to the "boys" at the front. Interesting cooking technique, you cook the butter, sugar and honey together and add it to the oatmeal, coconut, and flour. Great crispy cookie. I must confess that I didn't share many of these.

Study Brownies

Next week is exam week at my son Anil's school. So in my "good mother" attempt, I made him Pecan Brownies. Wow, what a recipe, loaded with chocolate, eggs, and sugar. What's not to like. I baked them and sent them off. I hope the exams go well.

Did you know that Mandelbrot is Biscotti?

I grew up in the New York metropolitan area and so grew to understand that Mandelbrot was a Jewish concoction. Cookies Unlimited has two versions; this one is the Traditional Jewish Mandelbrot. In this version there are almonds and before the second baking (or toasting) the slices are rolled in cinnamon sugar. I believe that traditionally mandelbrot was given to babies when they were teething. 

Tuiles as in roof tiles

In Cookies Unlimited, part of the drop cookie chapter is an entire section entitled, Tuiles. I had never heard of this type of cookie before and as I read the instructions and warnings in the Tuiles section (there are no less than 5 warnings), I got apprehensive. Luckily I had my friend, Ellen, staying with us overnight and she said that she'd help. Nick Malgieri explains that tuile is the French word for the curved roof tiles common in the Riviera (and other Southern climes). The cookies are thin, wafer cookies that are curved. The way this is accomplished is very simple. When the cookies come out of the oven you take them off of the cookie sheet and put them on a curved surface, like a rolling pin, to cool et voila, curved cookies.
I could have done a better job with these. They were a bit chewy when they should have been extremely crisp. Since there are more recipes in the section, I will do better next time.

The Missing cookies

I made a batch of Chewy Almond Bars yesterday and I gave some to church, a few to my friend Rick and a few I put in a cookie tin. I had forgotten to take a picture of them for this blog and so this morning I trotted into the kitchen took the lid off of the tin and found NO Chewy Almond bars. My only conclusion is that there is a cookie thief in my house. This thief complains that I shouldn't have cookies lying around because he can't eat them. So, no picture of the Chewy Almond Bars.

The Cookie Press

I baked Cinnamon hearts and Pecan Butter Balls yesterday. The Cinnamon hearts were shaped by a cookie press, a new toy. It was a little tricky getting the dough out of the press but they turned out alright. It don't think the recipe is that great however.
On the other hand the Pecan Butter Balls are great. There is a lot of pecans and butter but no eggs. The cookies don't spread out when they bake so they remain the balls you've shaped. Then you roll them in confectioner's sugar. What's not to like.

One of the great pleasures I experience with my project is that I can wake up realize that I have cookies to deliver and trot downstairs to the kitchen heat up a cup of tea and start baking. I have to admit that I have become a morning person over the years. I am clear headed and calmer in the morning. And baking is zen-like experience. You have to concentrate and think only about the task at hand. So with that said my labors of the morning yielded Koulourakia, Greek Sesame Ring cookies. This cookie has quite a bit of butter so it practically melts in your mouth.

The wonderful Gingersnap and others

I went off to Cleveland for a family event this past weekend and I brought two refrigerator cookies with me to bake at the in-laws house. I brought Tennessee Icebox Cookies and Pistachio Thins (the middle two cookies on the plate). I love the Tennessee Icebox cookie. It is made with brown sugar and slivered almonds, great texture and taste. The Pistachio thins are very crumbly, a good taste but extremely delicate. 

Yesterday I had my book group over and I made the Good Cook's Gingersnaps (the left cookie). What a great cookie! I love ginger and these are great. I had to watch the baking time. Nick's time was too much for this cookie and the first sheet was overdone, so I adjusted for the other cookie sheets. And I also made the All-Corn Biscotti. This biscotti is gluten free which means two things to me: no flour and hard work with. It does include an egg and some honey to hold it together but it doesn't do that very well. The taste is great but it crumbled a lot when I cut it for the second baking. 

So with the All-corn biscotti I have completed 66 of the 210 recipes in Cookies Unlimited. 

Chocolate Rings and Viennese Linzer Squares

Frankly rolled cookies like the Chocolate Rings are at best a labor of love and at worst a pain. The dough is very buttery and so it rests in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. When you take it out it is as hard as a rock so you have to beat it with the rolling pin. Nice image. Then you flour the surface and the rolling pin and the dough still sticks as you roll it out ... well you get the picture. It is a mess. Finally I resorted to rolling the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap. Also this recipe for whatever reason specified a ring shape. I could have cut the dough into any shape I chose but I honored the recipe and voila, chocolate cookies in the form of rings. In this recipe the chocolate comes in the form of cocoa powder versus melted chocolate. I am not a fan of chocolate so the cookie tastes okay to me but not great. 

The distinguishing characteristic of Linzer-type dough is the addition of hazelnuts. This version is a bar cookie. In this case the dough was formed in the food processor. The Viennese Linzer Squares were interesting to put together, half of the dough is laid down in the bottom of the pan then you put the raspberry preserves and then you pipe a criss-cross design on the top and pop it into the oven. As you may recall this was my second try with this recipe. In my first attempt I forgot the sugar and it turned out terribly - sort of edible but the dough didn't spread as it baked. So sugar is important. This version emerged from the oven light and fluffy and tastes great. 

Mostaccioli Baresi and Dark Chocolate Macadamia Biscotti

Mostaccioli Baresi means Spice Cookies from Bari. They have an unusual ingredient, a third of a cup of sweet wine. Sweet wine is red wine and sugar that is boiled and simmered for hours reducing the liquid to a syrup. Another ingredient might not be evident when you taste them is the cocoa powder. It gives them a rich taste. To create the shapes you roll pieces of dough and then cut them diagonally. After they bake you dunk them into icing and then pop them into your mouth. Some of these delicious morsels didn't quite make it. I dropped a few of them in the oven. 

To further my mistakes of the week, the biscotti should have had hazelnuts not macadamia nuts. I mistook the package and put in the wrong nuts. My tasters didn't mind, but I'll have to bake the real recipe soon. I have finally gotten over the mess of the initial biscotti dough. I formed the logs in the pan versus putting them on a board and then onto the cookie sheet. This means less frustration on my part. This biscotti really grew in the baking process and they had a great texture. 

Cookies at the in-laws

When we went to Shuba Mulgaokar's funeral I had made a few cookies and so I took them along. My offerings to my in-laws were Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies, Date and Walnut Bars (not shown), Cheesecake Squares and Orange Spice Refrigerator Wafers.
The mourners loved the peanut butter cookies. They remarked that the cookies were not overly sweet and they were crunchy - thank you butter!
I must say that my experience with the recipes in this book is that they are geared to a more adult palate than perhaps the average cookie from the supermarket. Each cookie does have sugar or a sweetener in them but it is not overpowering and that makes each cookie a nice treat.

Taralli Dolci Di Pasqua

Otherwise known as Easter Ring cookies. I couldn't think of a better cookie to be making for Easter service coffee hour. This platter was my only offering, Pam created mounds of delicious treats and Vaudeen made her beautifully decorated vanilla butterflies and chocolate eggs.
The Easter Ring cookie is a molded cookie. The dough was beautiful. It is made with melted butter and that does something wonderful to the consistency of the dough. This cookie is formed into the ring shapes by rolling a bit of it and creating a circle.
You then bake the rings and then frost them. The confectioner's sugar based frosting sets so fast that I had to frost then sprinkle each cookie - no separation of jobs - they had to be dunked and sprinkled within seconds to keep the non-pareils to stick.
This is a light cookie and good with coffee and tea.

Bar, Drop, Refrigerator, Rolled, Molded, Biscotti to Name a Few

My baking adventure during the last week in March included (from the top) Sour Cream Fudge Cookies topped with a chocolate glaze, Buttery Anisette Biscotti, Hungarian Apricot Bars,  and Crisp Coconut Cookies.

The Sour Cream Fudge cookies are a drop cookie because you drop the batter onto the cookie sheet. Drop cookies are easy to assemble and easy to bake. My only problem with this recipe is keeping the sour cream away from Ram. He loves sour cream and eats it almost as soon as it hits the refrigerator. We've had "discussions" about which items are my ingredients and which are general household eats. 

My church buddies loved the Buttery Anisette Biscotti. This biscotti has butter and is light, has delicate flavors and is almost flaky. I would definitely make these again.
The Hungarian Apricot Bars have three steps involved before they pop into the oven. The apricot filling needs to cook and cool. The cookie base is simple enough to put together. And then there is the nut meringue topping which includes almonds with the egg whites. People raved over them but they were more time consuming than other bar cookies and not spectacular looking, but I suppose the prove is in the tasting.
The Crisp Coconut cookies are molded, that is they are rolled into a ball and put on the cookie sheet to bake. Other molded cookies are formed by cookie molds. These cookies have an unusual ingredient, one I'd never heard of: Baker's ammonia or bicarbonate of ammonia. This ingredient makes the cookie puff and gives them crispness.

61 cookie recipes done and 149 to go

Expresso Brownies, Lemon Pistachio Biscotti and Almond Cream Wafers. The brownies are classified as bar cookies, the Biscotti is twice baked - hence the term biscotti = twice baked in Italian, and the Almond Cream wafers are refrigerator cookies; you make up the dough in a cylinder, chill it for at least 24 hours and then cut and bake.

Dutch Almond Cookies, Currant Squares and Chocolate Chunk Biscotti. The Dutch Almond cookies are refrigerator cookies - easy, easy. The Currant Squares came together nicely though it did take some time because you had to soak the currants to plump them up before you can incorporate them into the batter. And the Chocolate Chunk biscotti. Biscotti is simple to put together but this dough was a messy blob and not any fun to work with. However it all came out in the oven and met with rave reviews.

Cheescake Brownies, Loaded with Chocolate Chip Cookies and Aunt Ida's Poppy Seed Cookies. I really like the poppy seed cookies. Both the chocolate chip and the poppy seed cookies are drop cookies. Drop cookies are "dropped" on the cookie sheets and baked. The cheesecake brownies are luscious, a rich chocolate layer on the bottom and a creamy cheese layer on the top. A great cookie to take to a pot luck. 

The Linzer Bar Story

Bar cookies are relatively straightforward to make and are akin to brownies. In fact, Nick's book lumps them together in the Bar cookie chapter. As I've been cooking along, I've started to feel that I could make a few types of cookies with my eyes almost closed. I've gotten a bit overconfident. Well my overconfidence bit me. I was ready to take on yet another Linzer-type cookie. This was the Viennese Linzer Square. I read the recipe and the dough is made with a food processor. Easy. So I put ingredients in the processor, processed, heated up the raspberry jam to liquefy it. Spread the dough, spread the jam, piped more dough on top, fought with the dough and put the whole thing in the oven. Something wasn't quite right. It wasn't baking right. My last foray into the Linzer tart world was frustrating and I really didn't want to repeat that scenario. Anyway, the pan baked on and something wasn't right.  Lo and behold I forgot one ingredient, the sugar! Sugar makes the dough spread in the pan and obviously gives the cookies their sweetness. Well, I had to make them all over again. Which meant I had to get more hazelnuts and more raspberry jam. The second batch's dough behaved so much differently than the first one. And baked differently too. The dough spread and had a much better aroma. So, my lesson is that haste makes waste and oh, what a waste.

Back to Blogging with a lot to say about Cookies

It's been awhile since I have blogged. I was out of town the last week of March visiting my in-laws in Cleveland. My brother-in-law's mother was not fairing well and they had to go out of town for a couple of days so off I went. As I write this on April 10, I have come back again from Cleveland. This time to attend Shuba Mulgaokar's funeral. She was a lovely, lively woman who will be missed. She and my sister-in-law lived off and on together for 30 years, cooking together, raising my sister-in-law's children together. I give them both a great deal of credit. I don't think I would have the love or patience to have another woman with me for that long and on such an intimate level. My sister-in-law is a saint. She cared for her mother-in-law lovingly and with great kindness, seeing to her every need. She and my brother-in-law took her out of the hospital even though she needed oxygen constantly and could hardly walk. They improved her quality of life immensely and she was visited by family and friends up until her last day.
So what does this have to do with cookies. Well nothing really. Though I have been baking I haven't been blogging. So I am back to the blog and still having a grand time working though Nick Malgieri's book.
His cookies are for adults. They are not too sweet and have lovely flavors.
One criticism is that some of the instructions are very detailed and extremely easy to follow while the odd others leave me a bit stymied.
Okay, let's see what I've been up to.
Since March 9th, I have made Currant Squares, Dutch Almond Cookies, Sesame Seed Wafers, Loaded with Chocolate Chips Cookies, Cheesecake Brownies, Aunt Ida's Poppy Seed Cookies, Bittersweet Chocolate Shortbread Squares, Langues de Chat, Peppery Cheddar Coins, Buttery Anisette Biscotti, Hungarian Apricot   Bars, Sour Cream Fudge Cookies, Crisp Coconut Cookies, Date Walnut Bars, Vanilla Pretzels, Orange Spice Refrigerator Wafers, Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies, Taralli dolci Di Pasqua (Easter Ring Cookies), Cheesecake Squares, Mostaccioli baresi (Spice cookies from Bari), Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nut Biscotti. I will get into each experience a bit later. I'm off to a women's retreat.
Pictures to come!

The aura of a baker

Yesterday I met my friend, Mary, for a walk. It was a beautiful, sun-filled day in Rochester, NY (a normally cloudy place). When I opened the door of Mary's car I sensed a wonderful aroma - sweet, spicy, fruity. I looked around and saw that the car was empty of any food. When I mentioned the aroma to Mary she said that she had been baking apple pies that morning. I too have been having a similar experience. I tend to bake in the morning and I have been noticing that when I wash my hair it is sweet smelling and the clothes that I had on are also permeated with sugar and spice.

Well, last night I decided to make Chocolate Chunk Biscotti. My previous  forays into biscotti making were very pleasant. This time it was not pleasant at all Nick says that the dough will be sticky. This is a gross understatement. The dough was a mess. A big chuncky chocolate mess. I wrestled two logs onto a cookie sheet and shot them into the oven. They turned out fine, a bit larger than I had hoped but fine none the less.
I also made meringues. As most people know meringues are made of egg whites and sugar. These meringues also have walnuts and raisin bits in them. They are called Walnut Boulders. And since I had egg whites in the refrigerator and it was, as I mentioned, a gloriously dry day in Rochester and meringues don't behave well when it is raining I gave them a whirl.

Lemon Pistachio Biscotti, Sour Cream Cinnamon Drops, Chocolate Shortbread, Hermits

My adventure this week has taken me to try another biscotti - Lemon Pistachio. I was assisted by the lovely Ellen who shelled the pistachios for me. These biscotti are lighter in texture than either the Classic Tuscan or the Quaresimali (hazelnut Lenten biscotti). I sliced them fairly thin before the second toasting and they came out really great - a lot of lemon flavor from the zest of 2 lemons.
I also made a cutout cookie - Chocolate Shortbread. Unlike the classic shortbread this cookie is rolled and cut. However, like shortbread the ingredients consist of flour, sugar and butter (with chocolate added). These are not easy cookies. I did not experience a whole lot of joy making these. The dough is really fussy, sticky and generally hard to handle. I resorted to rolling it out between plastic wrap and I had to constantly chill the dough. The cookie did get a good review.
Then I moved onto my favorite type of cookie, the drop cookie. Fun to make and fun to bake. I made Sour Cream Cinnamon drops (left side of plate) and Hermits. Both cookies taste great. The Sour Cream Cinnamon drops have a great texture and a wonderful cinnamon flavor. The Hermits have a bit of coffee in them as a flavor. They also have brown sugar, nuts and raisins.

Week 6 - 28 cookies done

I've been busy this week though the photo only shows two cookies (Fancy Jumbles & Banana Walnut Squares) but I made a couple more. I made another type of biscotti. It is called Quaresimali which translates as Lentens - so appropriate for this time of year. It is made with hazelnuts, flour, egg whites and a touch of oil. This dough didn't stay together for me - somewhat frustrating so my friend, Rick, suggested I add a bit of water which I did and it made all the difference. I formed the logs, baked them, cooled them, cut them and  and baked them again. They taste great. I love hazelnuts anyway so what's not to like.
I also made the Chocolate Sables dough which is a refrigerator cookie so it is in my refrigerator waiting to be slicing and baked. (I will do that this afternoon.) If these are anything like the French Vanilla Sables we have another real hit on our hands. The dough is made with cocoa and is very dark.
The drop cookies of the week are the Fancy Jumbles. They have currents and walnuts and have a not-too-sweet taste. Definitely an adult cookies. Again, drop cookies are so much fun to mix up and drop them onto the cookie sheets, see them bake and spread a bit and then take them out of the oven.
The bar cookies are the Banana Walnut Squares. The process is akin to making brownies but the results are slightly less thick though these are really nice and moist.

Tuesday's cookie offering

I brought this tray of cookies to my group today. It consisted of (clockwise from the left) Classic Tuscan Biscotti, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin, Ricotta Drops and Vanilla Sables.
I made the Biscotti yesterday. It was a first for me. I have never attempted Biscotti before. The process was easy and the results were great. This recipe does not have any oil/butter in it. The Biscotti are firm and loaded with almonds. The chewy oatmeal raisin were left over from Saturday and were still tasty. I made the Ricotta drops Monday as well. I really like drop cookies. They are easy to put together and I love "dropping" them onto the cookie sheets (with parchment paper). These cookies have both lemon and orange zest. They are light and moist and do need the powdered sugar to finish them off nicely. The last cookie on the plate is the Vanilla Sable. This is one of the refrigerator cookies that I assembled last week. All I had to do today was preheat the oven, cut the cookies - any number I wanted - from the roll and bake. So easy. And these cookies are fantastic. Light, flavorful, crumbly. I like all of them but have to say that the vanilla sables are my favorite from today's offering.
Tomorrow I think I'll try another Biscotti - maybe ones with pistachios. Oh, and I went to the market for more flour and butter. There won't be old flour and butter in my house during this project.

My mission/project restated for new blog

Why cookies? Because they are small, easily given to others and are a lot of fun to make. I will be making 210 recipes in 42 weeks. In other words, I will be finished with the book just before Thanksgiving. I figured out that I have to bake 5 recipes a week. A majority of the cookies are sweet but there are a few savory "cookies" in the book and I am looking forward to creating them as well.

Backtracking - cookie project background

nancymarthacookies.blogspot.com

Sunday Night dinner party

We invited our son, Hari, his girlfriend, Katie and our friends, Rick, Lilah, and Dylan over for some dinner last night and I thought - cookies for dessert! I quickly leafed through Nick's Cookies Unlimited and came across Chewy Oatmeal Raisin cookies, scanned the recipe, found that I had all of the ingredients on hand and made the cookies. They smelled great in the oven and turned out nice and firm. The recipe made quite a few. They include nuts and chocolate chips as well as oatmeal and raisins. I didn't make them too large. Ram and I tested them before supper and agreed - these are good, nice and chewy, good raisin and nut flavor and the chocolate chips are just a nice added taste delight. I put them out after supper and got other good reviews. 

On to Ricotta Drops and chocolate rocks tomorrow. 

Filled, rolled, bar and refrigerator cookies

I had a blast baking cookies this morning. I made the last of the recipes for the week – 7 in total. I delved into the creation of refrigerator cookies. I made 3 recipes – Palm Beach Lemon, French Vanilla Sables and two-tone Peanut Butter Thins. Along with these I made Yoyos, Orange Shortbread Squares (earlier in the week), Cinnamon Diamonds (I cut them in squares) and Petit Buerre.

The photo shows the four I made to give away this week. The swirled ones on the right are the Two-Tone Peanut Butter thins, the middle creations are the Cinnamon Diamonds, the right ones are the Yoyo's. They are a sandwich cookie and are filled with an lemon filling. The cookies at the top are the Petit Buerre cookies. The dough is very buttery. In fact I rolled them out between plastic wrap. The dough is incredibly sticky so I avoided this altogether and they came out fine.