Cooking
Page 164 in the old book / page 201 in the new book
Another in our series of plain brown cookies. These were very crisp and had an interesting combination of spices - cinnamon and coriander. The aroma coming from the oven as they baked was amazing, but I was initially underwhelmed by their flavor. By the next day however, either they or I had mellowed and I enjoyed them much more.
Once again, my laziness moved me to deviate from Maida's instructions for rolling the dough and I have to say, it worked quite well. I have some of that extra-wide plastic wrap, so I rolled the unchilled dough between sheets of it and then chilled it before cutting. The dough softens up quickly and is very sticky, so I peeled off the top layer of plastic wrap, flipped it over onto a floured pastry cloth, and then peeled off the other layer. Most importantly, I had to work quickly. I found cutting the rerolled scraps was a little trickier since I didn't allow them much time to chill.
Maida says that these cookies are traditionally scalloped and the drawing that accompanies the recipe shows a very pretty, almost flower-like, scalloped shape with six deep scallops. I didn't have a cutter like that, but was still happy with how they turned out. Amazing how a little ruffled edge can had some interest to those plain brown cookies. ;)
Here's the panel...
Suzanne: "Delicious! I love the sweet, crunchiness of this cookie. I guess those Swedes know exactly the right spices to put in their cookies because this one melted in my mouth. Rating - 5.0"
Denny: "Very nice. Not too much spice that you couldn't taste the honey. Minus 1 for no chocolate. Rating - 3.0"
Laura: "Yummy cookie! Light and delightful honey spice flavor. Rating - 4.0"
Terri: "I prefer 'chewy' cookies, but these rank high on my list of 'keepers'. The honey flavor comes through as well as the slight spicy taste. These would be perfect with strawberries and whipped cream! Rating - 3.5"
Overall rating by the panel - 3.9
Next Week - Swedish Ginger Cookies
Nutrition Facts
- Mondays With Maida - French Sugar Fans
Page 254 in the old book / page 273 in the new book I like these cookies, but I'm not convinced they're worth the effort. Don't get me wrong - they were very good and went over well in the office, but the dough was difficult to handle. They're...
- Mondays With Maida - Ginger Shortbread Cookies
Page 188 in the old book / page 217 in the new book These cookies are mildly spiced and very crunchy. The texture was verging on a candy-like crunch and wasn't at all what I expected for a cookie labelled as shortbread. When I first read the recipe...
- 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 - Viennese Almond Wafers
Page 170 in the old book / page 205 in the new book It was probably when I saw those little beads of butter sweat on the parchment that I first had the sinking feeling these cookies were going to be a flop in the office. Cookies oozing butter don't...
- Mondays With Maida - Whole-wheat Honey Wafers
Page 160 in the old book / page 198 in the new book Last week was the first of a string of plain brown cookies that will be featured here over the coming weeks. This doesn't make for very interesting photos - hence the bow tie on these fellas. Though...
Cooking
Mondays with Maida - Swedish Honey Cookies
Page 164 in the old book / page 201 in the new book
Another in our series of plain brown cookies. These were very crisp and had an interesting combination of spices - cinnamon and coriander. The aroma coming from the oven as they baked was amazing, but I was initially underwhelmed by their flavor. By the next day however, either they or I had mellowed and I enjoyed them much more.
Once again, my laziness moved me to deviate from Maida's instructions for rolling the dough and I have to say, it worked quite well. I have some of that extra-wide plastic wrap, so I rolled the unchilled dough between sheets of it and then chilled it before cutting. The dough softens up quickly and is very sticky, so I peeled off the top layer of plastic wrap, flipped it over onto a floured pastry cloth, and then peeled off the other layer. Most importantly, I had to work quickly. I found cutting the rerolled scraps was a little trickier since I didn't allow them much time to chill.
Maida says that these cookies are traditionally scalloped and the drawing that accompanies the recipe shows a very pretty, almost flower-like, scalloped shape with six deep scallops. I didn't have a cutter like that, but was still happy with how they turned out. Amazing how a little ruffled edge can had some interest to those plain brown cookies. ;)
Here's the panel...
Suzanne: "Delicious! I love the sweet, crunchiness of this cookie. I guess those Swedes know exactly the right spices to put in their cookies because this one melted in my mouth. Rating - 5.0"
Denny: "Very nice. Not too much spice that you couldn't taste the honey. Minus 1 for no chocolate. Rating - 3.0"
Laura: "Yummy cookie! Light and delightful honey spice flavor. Rating - 4.0"
Terri: "I prefer 'chewy' cookies, but these rank high on my list of 'keepers'. The honey flavor comes through as well as the slight spicy taste. These would be perfect with strawberries and whipped cream! Rating - 3.5"
Overall rating by the panel - 3.9
Next Week - Swedish Ginger Cookies
Nutrition Facts
- Mondays With Maida - French Sugar Fans
Page 254 in the old book / page 273 in the new book I like these cookies, but I'm not convinced they're worth the effort. Don't get me wrong - they were very good and went over well in the office, but the dough was difficult to handle. They're...
- Mondays With Maida - Ginger Shortbread Cookies
Page 188 in the old book / page 217 in the new book These cookies are mildly spiced and very crunchy. The texture was verging on a candy-like crunch and wasn't at all what I expected for a cookie labelled as shortbread. When I first read the recipe...
- 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 - Viennese Almond Wafers
Page 170 in the old book / page 205 in the new book It was probably when I saw those little beads of butter sweat on the parchment that I first had the sinking feeling these cookies were going to be a flop in the office. Cookies oozing butter don't...
- Mondays With Maida - Whole-wheat Honey Wafers
Page 160 in the old book / page 198 in the new book Last week was the first of a string of plain brown cookies that will be featured here over the coming weeks. This doesn't make for very interesting photos - hence the bow tie on these fellas. Though...