Meeting-friendly snacks to bake

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 

 

 From the King Arthur Flour site. Key Lime Sparkler Cookies. No key limes and no sparkles were harmed in the making of these cookies. I had lime juice frozen in an ice cube tray but I’m afraid it did not come from key limes. As for the  sparkles even my grandkids are too old for me to keep those in the house.  These are very much like meltaways.  I am sure they will go over well with the meeting crowd. I will also send along the Cornish Fairings that I made.  Might make up for the lack of goodies last week.  I could not bring myself to send the boring Shrewsbury  biscuits. 

My mouth is watering just looking at your photo.  Will look up the recipe.

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, Darienne said:

My mouth is watering just looking at your photo.  Will look up the recipe

They are very good. I’m thankful they will be leaving my house first thing in the morning. 

[Anna N]

 

Ooey, gooey simple butterscotch cookies. 

[Anna N]

Over here  I expressed my concern about the failure to mention the largely gluten-free dessert section of Tartine Everday by Elizabeth Pruitt.  But since I had purchased the book I was determined to at least try a couple of the recipes and bought the necessary gluten-free flours to do so. I was not impressed with the brownies but tonight I attempted the Fresh Ginger Cookies.  Texture wise they don’t quite measure up to my ideal ginger cookie but these are good enough that I suspect not many would realize they are gluten-free.  I think they are good enough to send off with my son-in-law tomorrow without pointing out their gluten-freeness. I know how I react when somebody offers me something and tells me it’s gluten-free so I’m hoping that by not mentioning it I will get some sort of report back that is free of any such bias. 

 

[Anna N]

 

 

The naturally gluten-free cookie – – coconut macaroons. These are from the Joe Pastry site and use coconut cream. I think they are on the dry side but I don’t blame Joe for that. I did not have the right coconut and some of the coconut I had had been around a little while!   But they are quite edible and I need to get them out of here before I  over prove that statement. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[kayb]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 

 

The naturally gluten-free cookie – – coconut macaroons. These are from the Joe Pastry site and use coconut cream. I think they are on the dry side but I don’t blame Joe for that. I did not have the right coconut and some of the coconut I had had been around a little while!   But they are quite edible and I need to get them out of here before I  over prove that statement. 

 

 

I love a coconut macaroon, and make them often for my celiac daughter. I use a bag of sweetened, flaked coconut; a half-cup of sugar, two eggs and a quarter cup of almond meal, with a little almond extract beaten into the eggs. This seems to give them enough cohesiveness to shape and bake. They do not last long around my house -- or hers!

 

I am contemplating shaping some like nests for Easter, and putting jelly beans in them.

 

[BeeZee]

My Mom often makes them for Passover and dips the tops in semi-sweet choc then sprinkles with finely chopped salted pistachios.

[Anna N]

 

Thick and chewy oatmeal cookies from Smitten Kitchen. Raisin haters need not look away. What you see are dried tart cherries. 

[Tri2Cook]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 

Thick and chewy oatmeal cookies from Smitten Kitchen. Raisin haters need not look away. What you see are dried tart cherries. 
 

While I greatly prefer cherries over raisins, I'm not looking away from homemade cookies even when raisins are involved.

[Anna N]

 I could have sworn that I posted this yesterday but apparently not!

 

 

 Crisp peanut butter cookies from Leite’s Culinaria  by way of Miette: Recipes from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop.  These have an unusual sandy texture and I was concerned that perhaps they would not go over well. But I had nothing to worry about.  

[rotuts]

My mother was not a ' great ' cook.

 

she was an outstanding self-made gardner.   Stuck a shoot of a rose in the ground , and it id made it , it made it,

 

but we had a home cooked meal every night and my sister and I had a hot breakfast every day before school.

 

she did make cookies :

 

the above pic reminds me of some Fine Peanut butter cookies she made.

 

hers had a singe fork indentation on them  :   s series of troughs , if you sill

 

so here is the question :

 

how is indentations of some kind so common for peanut butter cookies ?

 

[rotuts]

not really trying to get into Trouble

 

just right now  

 

there is then this :

 

https://www.proflowers.com/blog/history-of-peanut-butter-cookies-why-peanut-butter-cookies-fork-marks

[Anna N]

 

The recipe actually called for the business side of a meat mallet to mark the cookies. But sometime ago, when I used to make chocolates, @Kerry Beal inspired me to use this or something similar to mark/ decorate chocolate confection. 

 

 I had a suspicion someone might ask and so I took photo at the time.   Probably helps the cookies to cook faster but it’s also attractive. 

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

My mother was not a ' great ' cook.

 

she was an outstanding self-made gardner.   Stuck a shoot of a rose in the ground , and it id made it , it made it,

 

but we had a home cooked meal every night and my sister and I had a hot breakfast every day before school.

 

she did make cookies :

 

the above pic reminds me of some Fine Peanut butter cookies she made.

 

hers had a singe fork indentation on them  :   s series of troughs , if you sill

 

so here is the question :

 

how is indentations of some kind so common for peanut butter cookies ?

 

I always thought the fork marks were the universal symbol to tell you that it is a peanut butter cookie.  Have I been living in a delusion my whole life?

[Anna N]

Here’s  a link to the recipe I used so you can see the attractive markings that can be made using a meat mallet.  Mine is MIA although I have a suspicion that if I went looking I would know exactly where to find it and in whose house.   

 

This is another take on why they are scored the way they are. 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Anna N
Add link to Wikipedia article (log)

[heidih]

4 hours ago, rotuts said:

so here is the question :

how is indentations of some kind so common for peanut butter cookies ?

 

 

Growing up that is how everyone immediately recognized peanutbutter cookies - the fork crosshatch. 

Edited April 11, 2018 by heidih (log)

[heidih]

There was no discussion of peanut allergies in the common vernacular of the 60's and 70's so not a reason I'd bet

 

Edited April 12, 2018 by heidih (log)

[Kim Shook]

7 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

The recipe actually called for the business side of a meat mallet to mark the cookies. But sometime ago, when I used to make chocolates, @Kerry Beal inspired me to use this or something similar to mark/ decorate chocolate confection. 

 

 I had a suspicion someone might ask and so I took photo at the time.   Probably helps the cookies to cook faster but it’s also attractive. 

Genius.  I make a LOT of PB cookies (especially at Christmas) and this will come in handy.  Any issue with the cookies sticking to the bottom of the rack?  I sugar half of mine and put sea salt on the other half.  

[Katie Meadow]

Right before I do the cross-hatch thing with a fork I always wonder...what if I didn't? But then I do, because I think...what if I don't?

[Anna N]

6 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Any issue with the cookies sticking to the bottom of the rack?  I sugar half of mine and put sea salt on the other half.  

 Minimal sticking and a good wack of the rack on the edge of the sheet pan dislodged the odd recalcitrant one.  Mine were rolled in sugar and gently flattened just bit with my hand before being scored. 

[Anna N]

@Kerry Beal  sent me a link to this  recipe  for lemon cream cookies. 

 

 

 No yellow food colour but I don’t think I would’ve used it even if I had it. These seem to be in that space between a cake and cookie.  I am sure they will appeal to some. If I were to make them again I would add 2 to 4 drops of lemon oil to boost the lemon flavour which I think is overwhelmed somewhat by the cream cheese.  They are not an especially attractive cookie which is probably something that I failed to do. Perhaps as @Chris Hennes suggested in regard to another photograph I just failed to choose the perfect ones before taking my shot. 

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, Anna N said:

@Kerry Beal  sent me a link to this  recipe  for lemon cream cookies. 

 

 

 No yellow food colour but I don’t think I would’ve used it even if I had it. These seem to be in that space between a cake and cookie.  I am sure they will appeal to some. If I were to make them again I would add 2 to 4 drops of lemon oil to boost the lemon flavour which I think is overwhelmed somewhat by the cream cheese.  They are not an especially attractive cookie which is probably something that I failed to do. Perhaps as @Chris Hennes suggested in regard to another photograph I just failed to choose the perfect ones before taking my shot. 

I suspect the yellow food coloring helps in the appearance (and picking just the good ones of course)!

[Toliver]

22 hours ago, Anna N said:

...They are not an especially attractive cookie which is probably something that I failed to do. Perhaps as @Chris Hennes suggested in regard to another photograph I just failed to choose the perfect ones before taking my shot. 

Perhaps you could delay the rolling-in-powdered-sugar until after they are baked. That's what I do when I make my Butterball Cookies (click) which are basically Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Tea Cookies. After baking, I let them cool completely then roll them in powdered sugar. I let them sit overnight so the butter in the cookies "sucks up" the powdered sugar. Then I roll them again in powdered sugar and they end up looking pretty (and edible).

 

Another thought could be to add lemon zest to the powdered sugar which would also increase the lemon flavor.

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, Toliver said:

Perhaps you could delay the rolling-in-powdered-sugar until after they are baked.

 The rolling in icing sugar prior to baking appears to be an essential part of this recipe as the instructions require that it be done twice with a two minute wait in between.   I think it is part of the intended appearance and would not be quite the same if added later.  But I don’t claim to be an expert baker by any means. I do like the idea of adding some lemon zest to the icing sugar but I think it would get lost as you require so much icing sugar to properly coat the cookies. 

 

 Word back from the meeting people is that they were delicious and very much like Key lime pie.  I am not sure if that is a compliment.  It seems to me that lemon cream cookies that taste like Key lime pie is some sort of epic failure.   But what do I know of such things? They apparently disappeared very quickly.

[Toliver]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

 The rolling in icing sugar prior to baking appears to be an essential part of this recipe as the instructions require that it be done twice with a two minute wait in between.   I think it is part of the intended appearance and would not be quite the same if added later.  But I don’t claim to be an expert baker by any means. I do like the idea of adding some lemon zest to the icing sugar but I think it would get lost as you require so much icing sugar to properly coat the cookies. 

 

 Word back from the meeting people is that they were delicious and very much like Key lime pie.  I am not sure if that is a compliment.  It seems to me that lemon cream cookies that taste like Key lime pie is some sort of epic failure.   But what do I know of such things? They apparently disappeared very quickly.

I understand the rolling in the powdered sugar before baking. I know there are chocolate crinkle cookie recipes that use the same method. After baking, the contrast of the chocolate and the white of the cracked powdered sugar is part of the "charm" of the cookie. Using this same method for a white-powdered-sugar-on-blonde cookies doesn't strike me as contrast-y enough so it's an odd method to use.

As for the "Key Lime Pie" flavor...at least they tasted the citrus, though erringly so. I wouldn't consider it a fail. Just unexpected results.