Hot Cookie - the Archive

Not yet satisfied with my version of the Italian almond cookies I made in Italy, I continue my search for the right ingredients and techniques, but success eludes me. The cookies I bought in Rome and in Tuscan hill towns (see my April 17, 2011 post) were smooth and moist on the inside, crusty on the outside, covered in pine nuts, almonds or pistachios, had a fine flavor balance, and were made in round or tubular shapes. My first batch, made in Italy using my standard almond paste in a can, was too sweet. The almond paste contains sugar, which seems to overpower the cookies. European cookies, in general, lean toward less sugar. I knew I'd need to try an alternative to almond paste. As well, my cookies did not sit up in proud little balls--they melted into pancakes during cooking. That will never do. Pretty and tasty made with Bob's Red Mill finely ground "Almond Meal/Flour," but they did not hold their shape. My next experiment, when I returned home, took me ...

Structure is a convenience. Making cookies in order by year helps me keep my place. But if you happen to have your own copy of the Gourmet Cookie Book , or if you're really paying attention to the years the cookies I make come from, you'll notice that I sometimes skip around and make whatever cookies I need for an occasion. A friend's party or a benefit auction, for example, might call for specific types of cookies. Working through the decades, I can more easily see what types of cookies were popular when. It gives me a sense of how people worked in the kitchen, and how lifestyles reflect the social culture of an era. I will now officially allow myself less structure. I plan to skip over any cookie with Christmas or Noel in its name. In fact, any cookie that reminds me of Christmas--Gingerbread Men, oh, please!--I'll save for December. Hey, we're still waiting for a 70-degree day this spring in Seattle. I'm not going back to winter.

Round balls, as per the recipe, and thumbprint variation. Gourmet Cookie Book says these are cake-like sesame cookies, served at Italian weddings and christenings. In spite of the toasted sesame coating and a tasty vanilla-flavored dough (I always taste the raw dough, don't you?), these cookies are dry, dry, dry. Their saving grace is that they soften and color up nicely when dunked into wine. As long as you don't mind sesame seeds in your wine. Butter mixture gets mooshed into flour mixture. Refrigerating in discs allows quicker chilling. I tried an alternative preparation. The sesame coating reminded me of a thumbprint cookie recipe, so I pressed small holes in the center of each dough ball and filled them with apricot jam. The fruit adds to the flavor combo, adds moisture, and glues some of the crumbly dough together. My Tuesday knitting group likes them. Good thing, because the recipe makes 5 dozen. I'm sticking with my initial assessment. They still look ...

I call this my "Cookie Soap." My friend Fredrica returned home from England about the time I returned from Italy, and she brought me a beautiful bar of soap, in lavender and honey colors. In fact, the ingredients include honey, and also bergamot and chamomile essential oils. I expected an herbal scent and set the soap aside while we went for our routine walk around the neighborhood. A week later, I took a sniff. A buttery scent leaked out of the cellophane wrapper. Had I gotten that right? I opened the end. Out wafted a mixture of browned butter and caramel. It was all I could do not to eat the soap on the spot. For all the world, this soap smells like the best cookie ever. I have been using the soap for a week and it makes me hungry every time I walk by it. Maybe this is best put in a guest bath, after all. The company is bombcosmetics.co.uk. This particular soap is not on the website and I await an answer to my email inquiry.

Light as a feather, these cookies showcase the Brazil nut. After my fiasco of many ingredients (the Oatmeal Molasses Cookies seem so last month), I wondered if only four ingredients would be enough to make a decent attempt at a cookie. I creamed the butter, added sugar, flour and finely chopped Brazil nuts, as instructed. I kneaded the dough on a floured surface a bit, and formed my 2-inch cylinder of dough. The ridged crescent shapes emerge when you cut off each slice. As you cut, each round compresses into more of an oval or square. Help it shape by giving it a pat on top. Then, poke a finger sideways into the middle of each slice, and pull the ends toward you to form the crescents. Cookie rounds flatten as you slice them. I expected a firm cookie, like the Mexican Wedding Cakes I've made. But these are lighter. When I bit in, they crumbled like an abandoned sand castle. OK, edible sand castle. I wondered how they had stayed together until then. The texture difference c...

I am home in body, if not in spirit. View from our bedroom in Civita. My mind's eye still sees the sun shining on the Civita vegetable garden and the valley below. But in my garden, my lettuce and spinach refuse to germinate under continued gray Seattle skies. Seems the soil will never warm. Better to edit photos by. My Italy photos are available for the next month at: http://brattesanipotterphotos.shutterfly.com/   Just email me for the site password. Remember those cookie recipes I knew I'd taken with me but couldn't find? I did have them with me all along. While packing for home, I found them in a very special zippered pocket, where I'd put them for safe-keeping. Just as well that I was forced to explore the Italian cookbooks. I have a stash of recipes to translate and put to the test after Gourmet is exhausted. I have resumed cookie baking from the Gourmet Cookie Book . I'll post one recipe I made before my trip, then continue with my recent mixing...