Almond Oat Lace Cookies

Yes, here it is, more cookies.

These are also from the December 2011 issue of Bon Appetit. Months and months went by where it seemed I didn't dog ear a single page in the issues of BA I was getting in the mail. I am not a fan of the changes that have been made with the new editor, and have been left feeling just... blah about each issue. And then we can fast forward to the December issue. Literally every other page dog eared. I figured I would try a few recipes and maybe end up liking two. Wrong. Each and every one blew my socks off. So bear with me, as the next few posts will be from the December issue. Here we go...

Almond-Oat Lace Cookies

1/2 c whole natural unsalted almonds with skins
2 T old-fashioned oats
6 T (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
6 T superfine sugar
2 T (packed) light brown sugar
1 1/2 t honey
1 t all-purpose flour
1/4 t kosher salt
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Line rimless baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Pulse almonds and oats in food processor until coarse meal forms, set aside
4. Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
5. Add both sugars and honey to butter, whisk until blended and sugar dissolves, 1-2 minutes
6. Remove from heat. Add nut mixture, flour, salt, and stir until well blended
7. Spoon batter by 2 teaspoon portions onto baking sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart
8. Using your fingertips, pat cookies down to 1/4 " high and push in edges to form smooth circles
9. Bake, rotating sheets after 6 minutes, until dark golden brown, 10-12 minutes
10. Slide cookies on parchment onto wire rack to cool
11. Using a pastry brush, brush half of each cookie with melted chocolate
12. Let stand until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours

Here we go!

Amazingly few ingredients for something that ends up so delicious.
Now let's all take a second and look at what the cookies were SUPPOSED to look like. That way it will be fresh in our minds while we laugh at how they really look later.

Lining my favorite cookie sheet with parchment. This cookie sheet was actually purchased at a thrift store, but it out performs the ones I paid big bucks for.

My mom actually gave me this mini food processor. At the time I couldn't imagine I would use it a lot. Well I have actually used it almost everyday since. So handy.

Pulse the oats and almonds together...

Until they look like this, then set aside.

Once the butter has melted in the pan, I add the sugars and the honey. Yes, this pan is old enough to be registered to vote. What?! Am I supposed to toss a perfectly good pan? I am far too cheap to do such a thing. On the other hand, maybe if I toss these it would justify buying new ones. Hmmm...

Add the nut mixture, flour, salt, and stir until well blended.

Here is where I was a little confused apparently. When the directions said to spoon by 2 teaspoon portions onto baking sheet, I must have gotten a little generous, you'll see what I mean later.

Pat them somewhat flat, and make sure the edges are rounded.

I popped them in the 350 oven, turning after six minutes, taking out when they were done. Which got me these....

So, like I was saying above, be a little light handed with the blobs of dough you plop onto the sheet. Place the cookies with the parchment paper onto cooling racks. The directions say to brush half the cookie with a pastry brush and chocolate. I decided to drizzle.

Though perfection isn't a strong suit of mine.

Pretty or not, these things were damned delicious.

And incredibly easy. What more could you want?

Yum. Enjoy!

Chewy Ginger Cookies

COOKIES!!

Admittedly I have not tried any recipe lately that has blown my skirt up. In fact, most have made me walk away annoyed that I even wasted the ingredients it took to make them. So when I was half assedly (is assedly a word? It is now) flipping through the December issue of bon appetit I saw a whole section that struck my fancy. So I decided to make the Chewy Giner Cookies. Basically I Saw that they called for molasses, which I not only had, but happen to love. Enough said.

2 1/4 c all purpose flour
2 1/2 t ground ginger
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c vegetable shortening (I must admit here I used butter flavor crisco because I had some)
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1 large egg
1/2 c blackstrap molasses
2 t finely grated peeled ginger
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c finely chopped crystalized ginger (I did not use this)
1 c raw or sanding sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with racks arranged in lower and upper thirds of oven.
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Whisk together flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in medium bowl.
4. Using an electric mixer on med-high speed beat brown sugar, shortening, and butter in a large bowl, until light and fluffy.
5. Reduce speed to low and add the egg, molasses, grated ginger, and vanilla, beat just to blend.
6. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just to blend.
7. Mix in crystallized ginger (which I did not do). At this point the dough will be very soft and sticky.
8. Put the raw sugar in a shallow plate or bowl.
9. Using a tablespoon (T) measure scoop out dough. Using a second spoon scoop dough into bowl with raw sugar; turn to coat well.
10. Roll into a ball.
11. Transfer ball to prepared baking sheet, spacing the balls 1 1/2" apart.
12. Bake the cookies, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are firm 8-10 minutes.

Ingredients as per usual:
This is what the cookies are "supposed" to look like. Yeah, I don't go by that much.

Lining my pan with parchment... exciting stuff right there.

Mix the dry ingredients - flour, ground ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Whisk those together and set aside. In my kitchenaid mixer bowl I put the brown sugar, shortening, and butter.

Then I mixed like crazy.

Until it looked like this. I love how they say "scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then". Uhhh, ya think?

Now add the egg,

And the molasses...

Notice how that sticky stuff flows all nice...

and easy away from the sides of the measuring cup?

That's because I sprayed the measuring cup with PAM spray before pouring in the sticky substance of choice. Works like a charm every time.

Add the vanilla.

Mix just to blend. Like so. Add the dry ingredients and again mix just to blend.

I did not have a bowl shallow enough for my raw sugar. So I used a plate.

For all of that beautiful sugar.

I busted out my brand new secret weapon. THE COOKIE SCOOP. Seriously. Worth every penny.

I scooped out even amounts of dough, just enough to fill the scoop with the top scraped off.

Which I then rolled in the previously mentioned gorgeous sugar.

Once I had several on the sheet they were ready for their main scene in the oven. 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Which resulted in these wonderous beasts.

Just look at them...

I had absolutely no choice but to immediately sample one (or three but hey who's counting?!) with a glass of milk.

If you make these, you will love them. Period. I did.

Angel's Eyes Cookies

Yes, you read that right. I am making cookies called Angel's Eyes.

My mom was born and raised in Bremerhaven, Germany. She moved here to America with my older brother about two years before I was born. Sadly I never learned how to speak German but I was fortunate enough to be raised in a home where there was almost always some kind of baked good in the oven. Ironically enough I have never been a big fan of sweets so I didn't fully appreciate the effort that goes into making the types of delicacies she made.

In the past few years I have made an effort to get more into baking, though I am still far away from mastering the tortes and pies that my mom makes! In January I had a milestone birthday (30 but who's counting!?). For that birthday my mom gave me what has to be one of the best presents I have ever received. Behold:

Well, the best present I have ever received not including my beloved Kitchenaid mixer but I digress. She gave me a German cookbook translated into English! I was giddy with glee, giddy I tell ya!

After leafing through the book several times I could not decide what to make first. As you can see I had about two dozen little post it tags flagging the pages with things I needed to try ASAP. Finally deciding to leave it to the person likely to enjoy the treats first, I handed the book over to my fiance and let him pick whatever he wanted me to make. He picked these:

Angel's Eyes. Leave it to us German's to name a delicious morsel after the optical organ of a celestial being.

Angel's Eyes

For the shortcrust pastry:

2.5 cups all purpose flour

1 level t baking powder

1/2 c sugar

3 drops vanilla essence in 1 T sugar

1 pinch salt

yolks of 3 medium eggs

3/4 c soft butter or margarine

In addition:

whites of 2 medium eggs

2.5 oz blanched chopped almonds

4 T redcurrant or other jelly

2 t water

1. To make dough, mix together the flour and baking powder, sift into a mixing bowl, add the other ingredients and stir with a hand mixer with kneading hook, first briefly at the lowest setting, then at the highest setting until the dough is formed. Then form into a ball using your hands. Wrap the dough in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 325 and line the baking sheet with baking parchment (I used wax paper).

3. Mould the dough into 7 cylinders (16 in long), cut into pieces 2 cm/ 3/4 in long them form them into small balls. (This.... is not happening. Something must have been lost in translation because there is NO possible way this recipe makes the 140 cookies it says it will as you will see below).

4. Whisk the egg whites with a fork. Dip one side of each ball of dough in the beaten egg white, then press into the chopped almonds. Then place the balls of dough with the non-almond side down on the baking sheet and make a hollow in each ball of dough using the handle of a wooden spoon. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake four approximately 15 minutes.

5. When the biscuits are done, remove from the baking sheet with the baking parchment and put on a rack (with the parchment which I obviously missed when reading this and did not do. ::sigh::).

6. Bring the jelly with the water to a boil and fill the hollowed centre of the biscuits using a teaspoon. (I had to make double the amount of the jelly mix even though this recipe only made half of the 140 it was supposed to make.

Here we have the cast. Very simple, not too much involved.

A while back I posted about that fancy new hand sifter I got. Well, yeah. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to buy one for a few bucks at a discount store. That thing doesn't work well at all. So I am back to my tried and true process of sifting it through this metal strainer. It never lets me down.

Toss them in the mixing bowl.

With this cookbook my mom also gave me a whole slew of baking goodies that she knew may be hard for me to find in regular grocery stores. Like this vanilla sugar. You can make your own vanilla sugar by stashing a sliced open vanilla bean in a jar of sugar, or you can make the mix this recipe recommends. 3 drops of vanilla stirred into 1 T sugar. I of course get to cheat because my mom is awesome.

Separate the yolks and the whites. Here I display a classic that never ever let's me down either. That good old Tupperware egg separator. It has a little notch in the side to hang on the side of a bowl and everything.

I add the yolks,

The butter (which is melted because once again I forgot to take it out to let it soften. One day I will get it right).

and remaining ingredients.

When it was transformed into dough I tossed it out onto a floured counter.

Where I formed it into a ball and wrapped it with plastic. Which then went into the fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Which is the perfect time to go ahead and get your oven preheated. And maybe catch up on some Real Housewives episodes you may or may not have DVR'd. I mean, not that I would watch such a show or anything. No! Not me. Not a chance. Hey everyone! Look over there! It's a pink elephant!!

Now after 30 minutes of not watching an addictive reality trash TV show has passed, take the dough out of the fridge.

Shape it into logs and mark where you will cut it to form into balls.

Now, this is where I save you a bunch of frustration and confusion. These little nibs were the size of the tip of my thumb, and as you can see I was nowhere close to getting 140 little balls from it. So I ended up with about half of that amount. These cookies do not rise at all either, so the size they are when you put them in the oven is just the size they will be when they come out.

Dip one side of the ball in the egg white you have beaten with a fork, then dip into the almonds, and place almond side up on your cookie sheet. Like so.

After pressing a little hollow into each ball put them in the oven.

They will come out looking like this. Just slightly browned.

When I put the next batch in, I started on the jelly mix. Where I cheat again. You see, my mom grows currants in her yard. So I just so happened to have some of this fantastic homemade currant and gooseberry jam in the fridge. But of course, not everyone can have their very own Betty Crocker on the German Prairie for a mom, so it is perfectly fine to use store bought jelly of any kind really. I am confident that any kind would taste just as fabulous.

I put the jam and water in a pan, and brought to a simmer to thicken it a bit.

Once it has set, I put a dollop in the center of each cookie. Now these don't look nearly as beautiful as they do in the book but holy cow these have a TON of flavor. It's amazing really how much flavor can be in what turned out to be bite sized cookies.

After telling the fiance that next time I would just triple the batch and make bigger cookies, he asked me to not do that, saying these cookies were perfect just this size. That way you aren't biting a cookie that would crumble and break in your hands. Even if he was just trying to make me feel better, I have to agree. So tiny they will stay.

Enjoy!