emmalish

I agree it's a regional thing. Up here in Vancouver I always hear it pronounced something like "CARE mel". The A in the middle is there, but it kinda gets slurred. Edited to add that as for mascarpone, I'm embarrassed to say that I thought it was marscapone. In my defence, this is how I've always heard it pronounced! And I never thought to check the spelling...

Kim, that looks amazing and sounds delicious (citrus & coconut? swoon!). I love the look of the bare sides so you can actually see both the cake and the filling.

I think we're cookie soul-mates… Thanks for that update. I'm going to make an edit to my blog post with this info. :-)

Good to know! Did yours spread out at all, or hold their shape like mine did? And did you slice yours the 1/2" thick like the recipe states? I found that if I sliced 1/4", they turned out snappier. But I ended up slicing them a bit thicker than that. Sorry for the barrage of questions :-) And I agree about the deep flavour. With flavour like this? I don't really care what the texture is.

Cookies from the last couple of weeks: First I made these Cinnamon Bun Cookies from the CIA Cookies at Home cookbook. I've only made 2 recipes from this book so far and I've loved them both. This cookie actually has a glaze on top, but I like the way they look pre-glaze better, when you can see how the cinnamon layer bubbles up in the oven. I've gotten a LOT of requests to make this one again. And then I made Flo's Chocolate Snaps from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert. I saw FrogPrincesse had posted in the thread dedicated to this book that she'd made these cookies and they didn't turn out "snappy" at all. Same here. They were actually quite soft and tender. But amazing flavour. Very chocolate-y! So I'm not really complaining.

I'd love to have the crunchy one, too, please ma'am! For you? The world... http://wannacomewith.com/2013/11/crunchy-sugar-cookies/

Thanks you guys! Kim, I'm always looking for good cookie cutter recipes too - this sugar cookie one is definitely a good one. I have a crunchy recipe that also holds its shape, but I like the texture of this one better.

Another update of things I've been baking since before Christmas. I'm going to try to post these more often – I had no idea it'd been so long! So, as part of my Christmas baking, I made these walnut shortbread. They're a really nice cookie, but look nothing like the photo in the book. Also part of my Christmas baking were these jam thumbprints from the Gourmet Cookie book. I took a break from baking after this and didn't make anything until mid-January when I made these chocolate cranberry spice cookies. My coworkers all liked them, but I think I was expecting more of a punch of flavour from these cookies. I think they'd be better with dark chocolate instead of the white. Next up were these brown sugar pecan cookies. Now THIS is a good cookie. And dead simple to make. I gave the recipe to one of my coworkers and she made some with chocolate chips added. Even better! Then I made these chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies from Martha Stewart. These are usually part of my Christmas baking every year, but because I'm trying to make new recipes, these got bumped. I was getting so many requests that I had to make them, though. This is one of my all-time favourite cookie recipes. Then I made some milk chocolate orange cookies, which is a variation on a recipe I've made a couple times before, always with good results. Then, because we were into February, I had to make some heart cookies. I tried a new sugar cookie recipe for these and was really happy with the way they turned out. They held their shape beautifully and had a nice soft, tender texture. Still in the heart theme, I had to try out my new linzer cookie cutters (I get way too excited about new cookie cutters). You can see I went a little overboard with the jam (oops).

Whaaaat?? But the cream cheese icing is the best part of a carrot cake!

Interesting, I thought this sort of flapjack was an American invention. It's just a very simple oat cookie made from rolled oats, golden syrup, butter and muscovado sugar. This is the first time I've used it as anything other than a petit four, though. Here's a recipe that's not too far off the one I used. I'm with judiu – the only thing I've ever heard "flapjack" used to describe is a pancake (I'm Canadian, but I've heard Americans refer to them as such). That recipe sounds good tho!

I've never made those myself, but a friend of mine made them shortly before Christmas. Amazingly good cookie. They're on my to-do list.

GREAT link! Thank you :-)

There's a great blog post here that compares several cookie recipes, including CI and ATK, culminating in a blind taste test. Not surprisingly, they ALL got high scores.

Gorgeous. Once again, seeing photos like this makes me want to bake bread. :-)

Ruth, those look lovely. I never bake bread because I don't eat a lot of it, but every time I see something like this, I reeeeeally want to make some.

I'm still aiming to bake at least one thing each week, but I'm WAY behind on updating things on my website. Here are a few that I've managed to upload... Back in November, I made these chocolate-ginger cookies. I was hoping for a really chocolate-y cookie with a punch of ginger, but they're more like ginger cookies with a bit of chocolate. Still a good cookie, just not what I was hoping for when I chose it. Leading up to my Christmas baking, I made my usual peppermint marshmallows. I usually use the recipe from Greweling's Chocolates and Confections, but I've recently started using the recipe from his At Home book instead. The only real difference is the invert sugar is omitted and the quantities of honey and glucose syrup are adjusted to compensate. Then I tried these spiced cardamom cookies from Martha Stewart. I was really intrigued by the idea of using a texture sheet on the rolled cookie dough. I LOVE this idea. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it on my own. I also really love this cookie. I'll definitely be making this one again. I made these lemon shortbread last year as well, and after making them this year, I got a request from a coworker to make another batch for her. They have a nice flavour and a soft tender texture, but not really the texture I expect from shortbread. I have NEVER been able to get them to turn out like the photo in the book though. And finally, some gingerbread caramels. They turned out a little softer and sweeter than I'd like. Next time, I'll caramelize the sugar a bit more first, but I'll definitely make these again too.

The chocolate squiggles are Viennese sablés, also from Pierre Hermé's book. They're my favourite cookie EVER! Recipe on its way via PM. Well, I guess I know what I'll be making in the next couple weeks!

I haven't actually tried this myself, but have heard about it from a few other people who like to use them instead of vanilla extract. Not just angostura bitters, but other flavours as well.

I can't believe that at one point I used to do all my baking by hand. I must have had muscles!

There was just a thread here about storing alfajores recently. Granted, the answer came from a manufacturer, but it has info regarding refrigeration:

Thank you! Not sure I'll make it for Christmas, but I've pinned it and will try it at some point. Same as you, I'll make my own caramel.

Okay, that sounds really good. Can you point us to a recipe?

Wow, you're going all-out. I would have tried to make my own. I know there are kits you can buy too. But if this is something you make every year and the cost isn't too outrageous, it's probably totally worth it. Please post the results! Edited to add this link… http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Cookie-Cutter-L9005/dp/B004QP3F1G

Jaymes, thanks for that link! And Tri2Cook? Those are awesome! There must be a way to streamline that process so you can keep making them. I've been baking cookies every week since May so I wasn't sure whether I needed to do a big christmas cookie plan or not (since everyone gets cookies every week anyway), but I already find myself making a list of everything I want to make. So far it's looking like gingerbread snowflakes, chocolate-ginger crackle cookies, peppermint marshmallows, maybe a thumbprint cookie, and some sort of shortbread. This list will probably continue to grow… maybe I need some caramels or fudge too?

Panaderia, I've never tried it in a house, sorry. And I don't have experience with making gingerbread houses, so I don't know what kind of texture you're looking for. Why don't you give it a shot with some regular cookie shapes and see what you think?