February Photo Challenge: Dessert

Tonight's dessert: yellow cake cookies that we made last night.

Lavender Shortbread

I bought some lavender sugar in Napa and didn't really know what to do with it, then I decided I'd make some kind of cookies and put the lavender sugar on top.  I ended up making lavender shortbread as the cookie.

Lavender Shortbread

1/2 c unsalted butter-cut into small pieces
1c all purpose flour
1/3 c brown rice flour
1/4 c sugar
1 Tbl. lavender--ground
1 Tbl. water
lavender sugar for top

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Line bottom of cake pan with parchment paper.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together.
4. Work butter into flour mixture with your hands until you have a fine crumbly mess.
5. Add 1 Tbl. water to mixture and work it in to form a ball of dough.  Add more water a little at a time if dough won't hold together.
6. Press ball of dough out into cake pan.
7. Sprinkle lavender sugar on top of dough.
8. Put pan in refrigerator or freezer so dough can cool.
9. Once dough is cold prick it all over with a fork and score dough into wedges with sharp knife.
10. Sprinkle more sugar on if you want to.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
12. Let shortbread cool.  The big cookie should come out of the pan easily and break along the scored marks.

I never met a recipe I didn't change.  This one didn't call for water, but there was no way I could make the dough stick together.  Note: I measured out 1 Tbl. of lavender before I ground it in the spice grinder.  I wish I had scored the cookie a little deeper--essentially pre-cutting the cookie--it didn't break along the lines, but I was able to cut along the lines with a dinner knife.

I think this counts as trying a new recipe.  I had never made shortbread before.  I'm going to have to make it again--I took it to Richard's house for the game last night and there really wasn't any left over.  I think it will be good with tea.

Coooooo-kieeeee

I have no idea why, but I decided to make some cookies.  I used the basic butter cookie recipe as a start, but instead of lime or orange juice I used 3 Tbl. eggnog and 1 tsp. vanilla.  They taste good, but you can't really taste the egg nog.  Maybe next time I'll do 4 Tbl. eggnog and no vanilla.  I'm not sure I can go without vanilla though....

I made 2 dozen of these EAT ME cookies with a stamp I bought on Amazon.  I took the better looking ones to Ross's work, and didn't take any photos, which doesn't make any sense.  Guys don't care what they look like.

Then I made half a dozen of these heart cookies that go on the side of your coffee cup.  Ross seemed to enjoy his eggnog with  heart cookie last night.

Lime Basil Tea Cookies

I found this recipe in the latest issue of Bon Apetit. I decided to try it because I actually have sweet basil growing in my mini garden. Of course I altered it.

Lime Basil Tea Cookies

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 c. butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 Tbl. minced fresh basil leaves

1 tsp. finely grated lime zest

1 Tbl. lime juice

1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place all ingredients into food processor. (Put the blade in first....I forgot and had to dump it all out....)

3. Pulse food processor until large moist clumps form.

4. Measure level tablespoonfuls of dough, roll into balls, and place on baking sheet.

5. Dust the bottom of a measuring cup with powdered sugar and press cookies into 2 inch rounds. Thicker is better.

6. Bake until edges are brown. Mine were done at 17 minutes.

This made 16 cookies.

For a sweeter treat sprinkle with large sugar crystals before baking.

This recipe was perfect for my small food processor. It was easy and the cookies turned out well. I think I'm going to make some digesta-biscuits next.

Koooo-Keeeee

I've been saying for a couple weeks now that I was going to make cookies. Yesterday I finally made some. I decided to make oatmeal cranberry cherry cookies. It made the regular 3 dozen, and then I had more dough, so I decided to make one giant cookie. That red plate is 11 inches across. By weight the giant cookie is equal to about 6 of the regular sized cookies. I'm planning on making some butter cookies tomorrow. Can you believe I've only eaten one cookie so far?

Butter Cookies

My latest quest was for snowflake cookie cutters. My quest completed, I decided to make some cookies. I'm not a cookie person, I'm a cake person. I'm also not a decorator, but I have always wanted to make some really simple iced sugar cookies. I found a really simple recipe for butter cookies and icing and tried it out yesterday. Simple enough and they were a big hit at Otto's football gathering last night. Damn, I can't believe the Cowboys lost. Just sad. The one time I decide to watch the game it was totally lame.

Butter Cookies

1 c. softened butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2 Tbl. lime juice
1 Tbl. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder (or is it soda)

1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Beat in egg, lime juice and vanilla.
3. Mix in flour.
4. Divide batter into thirds, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate 3-4 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
6. Working with one batch of dough at a time (leaving the others in the refrigerator), roll out dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.
7. Cut cookies out of dough and place on baking sheet.
8. Bake 7-10 minutes--just until edges start to brown (thinner, smaller cookies cook faster).
9. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes then remove from pan.
10. When cookies are fully cooled--decorate as desired.

For the frosting I just mixed together some butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. I think next time I'm going to try a more traditional royal icing recipe with egg whites. Knowing his love of sculpture I gave the last lump of dough to Ross to play with. He made a Wall-E cookie and and Eve cookie. The Wall-E turned out really well. No secrets here--this recipe is from Land o Lakes. I just changed the oj to lj. If I make another batch this week with a different frosting I'll be sure and post the results.