Filling are Sour Cherry Lemon Jam by Earth & Vine Provisions on the left, and my friend Gitte's Tangerine Marmalade, right. Rolled cookies require two extra steps that I try to avoid - refrigeration and rolling. If I wanted to roll out dough, I'd make a pie. But I promised to make all these darned cookies, or pretty near all. Out came the rolling pin. With 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal, you'd imagine a hearty good-for-you cookie that would be representative of the 1940's, when this recipe appeared in Gourmet Magazine . You'd be half right. The cup of butter nixes the healthy thing, and gives these a high-fat pastry texture. This recipe also calls for pastry flour, a low-gluten flour and second-lowest in protein content of the four most common flours (cake, pastry, all purpose, and bread). Pastry flour contributes to a light texture that breaks apart easily. I was never good at reading all the instructions before beginning a task. I had just added the baking...
I began this blog when my mother was ill and needed enough of my attention that I could not concentrate on longer-form works I wanted to write. I set those aside to distract myself with cookie-making and this blog. Please find my new blog (2020) entitled "Time NOT Lost" at karenbrattesani.blogspot.com, where I explore the behavior I see around me -- both my own and that of others -- and what it says about our changing culture during the coronavirus pandemic. And, I hope, beyond.