Cooking
Page 221 in the old book / page 248 in the new book
These big, sweet cookies definitely have eye appeal, but they are very big and very sweet - too much so for some. I didn't test them on any kids, but I imagine they'd love them. I thought these buttery, crunchy cookies were very good, but my conscience was troubled with the knowledge that there were over two sticks of butter in just 24 cookies - that's 2 1/4 teaspoons per cookie!
They're very easy to make, but I had one little problem. To shape the cookies you roll them into balls, flatten them slightly between your hands, and then use a fork to imprint them with the stripey design. As you can see above, the dough was a little crumbly, so when I flattened the balls they tended to split on the sides. The only remedy I can think of (except - perish the thought - add more butter), would be to try beating the dough a little longer. The instructions are to beat it until the mixture holds together, but maybe I didn't let it go quite long enough.
I found my kitchen scale came in very handy in shaping these cookies. Since I find those cues for sizing cookies confusing (is a well-rounded teaspoon more or less than a rounded teaspoon?), lately I've been using the scale to create sort of an exemplar cookie. I weigh all the dough and then divide it by the number of cookies it's supposed to make to find the weight of one cookie (say 25 grams). Then, I weigh out 25 grams (or whatever the amount is) of dough and I can see exactly how big each cookie is supposed to be. With these cookies, since it's important that they be uniformly sized and it was a small batch, I weighed each portion.
By the way, the beautiful tray the cookies are sitting on was given to me by Zarah when she visited about this time last year. The gorgeous spring weather that has finally arrived has me fondly recalling her visit and wishing we could make it an annual tradition!
Here's the panel...
Suzanne: "The cookies were very attractive with indentation lines going down the center of the cookie. I guess I’m not a fan of sandwich cookies. I’d rather eat one at a time. Maybe that’s why people (me) separate Oreo’s and eat the center filling before eating each cookie separately. I thought the center browned butter filling was too sweet. The cookie was rather plain tasting. Rating - 3.0"
Laura: "Yummy, buttery, delicious cookies with added treat of a creamy sweet icing in between. Rating - 4.0"
Denny: "OK, nothing special, so nothing to say. Minus one for no chocolate. Rating - 2.0"
Terri: "These are delicious - if you like shortbread cookies you'll love these ones. These sandwich cookies are like two shortbreads with butter creme holding them together. Very sweet and buttery. I particularly like the crunchy crispness in the texture. Rating - 4.0"
Overall rating by the panel - 3.3
Next week - Coconut Washboards
Nutrition Facts
- Mondays With Maida - Coconut Washboards
Page 223 in the old book / page 249 in the new book OK, here we go with my big coconut dilemma again. A conundrum that is only aggravated by the fact that I currently possess four different kinds of coconut, all of which must eventually be used up. Ideally...
- Mondays With Maida - Chocolate-chip Pillows
Page 194 in the old book / page 222 in the new book Wouldn't you know... chocolate finally shows up again and Denny is away for the week on travel. It would be hard to imagine anyone not liking these little pie-shaped cookies filled with chocolate...
- Mondays With Maida - Caraway Hardtack
Page 182 in the old book / page 214 in the new book These cookies are very similar to last week's Hot Butter Wafers, the only differences being that they have considerably more sugar and are sprinkled with caraway seeds. They are sweet, hard and...
- Mondays With Maida - Ischler Cookies
Page 171 in the old book / page 206 in the new book I knew these were going to be a hit - how could they not? Two cookies, rich with butter and ground almonds, are sandwiched together with some sweet and tart apricot jam and then given a crowd-pleasing...
- Mondays With Maida - Oatmeal Icebox Cookies
Page 140 in the old book / page 175 in the new book I would classify these cookies as old-fashioned cookie jar cookies. They are sweet and crunchy with a generous helping of walnuts. Though they have an open, crunchy texture, they are quite sturdy and...
Cooking
Mondays with Maida - Danish Butter Sandwiches
Page 221 in the old book / page 248 in the new book
These big, sweet cookies definitely have eye appeal, but they are very big and very sweet - too much so for some. I didn't test them on any kids, but I imagine they'd love them. I thought these buttery, crunchy cookies were very good, but my conscience was troubled with the knowledge that there were over two sticks of butter in just 24 cookies - that's 2 1/4 teaspoons per cookie!
They're very easy to make, but I had one little problem. To shape the cookies you roll them into balls, flatten them slightly between your hands, and then use a fork to imprint them with the stripey design. As you can see above, the dough was a little crumbly, so when I flattened the balls they tended to split on the sides. The only remedy I can think of (except - perish the thought - add more butter), would be to try beating the dough a little longer. The instructions are to beat it until the mixture holds together, but maybe I didn't let it go quite long enough.
I found my kitchen scale came in very handy in shaping these cookies. Since I find those cues for sizing cookies confusing (is a well-rounded teaspoon more or less than a rounded teaspoon?), lately I've been using the scale to create sort of an exemplar cookie. I weigh all the dough and then divide it by the number of cookies it's supposed to make to find the weight of one cookie (say 25 grams). Then, I weigh out 25 grams (or whatever the amount is) of dough and I can see exactly how big each cookie is supposed to be. With these cookies, since it's important that they be uniformly sized and it was a small batch, I weighed each portion.
By the way, the beautiful tray the cookies are sitting on was given to me by Zarah when she visited about this time last year. The gorgeous spring weather that has finally arrived has me fondly recalling her visit and wishing we could make it an annual tradition!
Here's the panel...
Suzanne: "The cookies were very attractive with indentation lines going down the center of the cookie. I guess I’m not a fan of sandwich cookies. I’d rather eat one at a time. Maybe that’s why people (me) separate Oreo’s and eat the center filling before eating each cookie separately. I thought the center browned butter filling was too sweet. The cookie was rather plain tasting. Rating - 3.0"
Laura: "Yummy, buttery, delicious cookies with added treat of a creamy sweet icing in between. Rating - 4.0"
Denny: "OK, nothing special, so nothing to say. Minus one for no chocolate. Rating - 2.0"
Terri: "These are delicious - if you like shortbread cookies you'll love these ones. These sandwich cookies are like two shortbreads with butter creme holding them together. Very sweet and buttery. I particularly like the crunchy crispness in the texture. Rating - 4.0"
Overall rating by the panel - 3.3
Next week - Coconut Washboards
Nutrition Facts
- Mondays With Maida - Coconut Washboards
Page 223 in the old book / page 249 in the new book OK, here we go with my big coconut dilemma again. A conundrum that is only aggravated by the fact that I currently possess four different kinds of coconut, all of which must eventually be used up. Ideally...
- Mondays With Maida - Chocolate-chip Pillows
Page 194 in the old book / page 222 in the new book Wouldn't you know... chocolate finally shows up again and Denny is away for the week on travel. It would be hard to imagine anyone not liking these little pie-shaped cookies filled with chocolate...
- Mondays With Maida - Caraway Hardtack
Page 182 in the old book / page 214 in the new book These cookies are very similar to last week's Hot Butter Wafers, the only differences being that they have considerably more sugar and are sprinkled with caraway seeds. They are sweet, hard and...
- Mondays With Maida - Ischler Cookies
Page 171 in the old book / page 206 in the new book I knew these were going to be a hit - how could they not? Two cookies, rich with butter and ground almonds, are sandwiched together with some sweet and tart apricot jam and then given a crowd-pleasing...
- Mondays With Maida - Oatmeal Icebox Cookies
Page 140 in the old book / page 175 in the new book I would classify these cookies as old-fashioned cookie jar cookies. They are sweet and crunchy with a generous helping of walnuts. Though they have an open, crunchy texture, they are quite sturdy and...