Isn’t the weather so odd? The two halves of our country are experiencing diametrically opposite winters. In the North, it’s brutal, cold and icy and snowy. In the South it is weirdly hot, and Spring is making an early entrance. It’s emblematic of where we stand on so many things. But here’s one thing we can agree on: cookies. Specifically, soft cake-like cookies, topped with a zingy lemon frosting. They sing of spring and daffodils. Which, for those of us in the South, is perfectly suited to the warm sun and early spring we are enjoying. And for my friends in colder places, I hope it ...
Cookies
HEARTS FOR VALENTINE’S DAY: OATMEAL LINZER COOKIES
Not a cake baker? Let’s make cookies for Valentine’s Day. A little oatmeal brings a nutty crunch to this raspberry jam-filled sandwich cookie. Cut a little heart in the top cookie so the jam peeks through. Every child and adult in your life will love you for it! When I was a little girl, Valentine’s Day brought color and fun to the otherwise dreary, cold month of February in Connecticut. My mother was too busy with our family of six children to do much more than give us each a hug and kiss but school stepped in. We bought boxes of simple valentines and laboriously labelled them for ...
PINEAPPPLE TARTS FOR THE LUNAR NEW YEAR
January is named after Janus, the Roman God of duality: beginnings and endings, comings and goings, transitions, doorways, ins and outs. This duality is true for my month of January. For me, January is two faced. On the one hand it is the month of reset: dry January, diets, return to exercise and a lot less partying. On the other hand, in many of the places I have lived it is a month of celebration: eating, drinking and partying! In my last blog, I brought you a piece of the French celebration of twelfth night with its Galette de Rois In this blog, I am going to take you to Asia ...
HOLIDAY PINWHEELS: COOKIES IN 20 MINUTES OR LESS
It’s crunch time. Christmas is 4 days away. Maybe you have a freezer full of Christmas cookies, ready to pull out at moment’s notice. Or maybe you haven’t baked a thing. And that’s okay! This is what bakeries are for. But If you wish you had baked something, and you are a little sad you haven’t but you just don’t have time , this recipe is for you. Puff pastry is wrapped around a filling of sugar, lime zest, and cardamom then finished with some holiday sprinkles. Cookies you will be proud of, from start to finsh in 20 minutes or less! Start with a roll of ready-to-bake crescent ...
HAZELNUT LIME SHORTBREAD COOKIES
I took a break last week as I worked on my Christmas shopping. It felt like I needed to get going on that but then I realized, because of the early Thanksgiving, I had more time than I thought. So here I am on this dreary, chilly Saturday, free to get back to baking cookies and sending the recipes your way. In between making my old favorites I have been trying out some new recipes. I chose this one because there is someone in my life who loves lime desserts. This shortbread cookie is flavored with lime and topped with a lime and cream cheese glaze. I could have stopped ...
CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE GEMS
I made my first Christmas cookie today. It's November 29th. Jumping the season? Maybe a little. But I love an early Thanksgiving and the extra week it gives us before Christmas. So this morning I turned on "A Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" (Don't ask, it's a personal tradition) and started baking. I've been leafing through magazines and cookbooks for weeks looking for inspiration and today I got to start! These Fruitcake Gems will please those who love the candied fruits of a holiday fruitcake as well as those who enjoy the more subtle flavors of dried fruits and nuts.The cookie ...
JANUARY DUMP COOKIES
I don’t know about you but I am sweeping the remains of this January out! Cold, snowy, disease ridden, oh-my-god-will-covid-never-be done-with-us-January is history. And in celebration I went through my cupboard and made some cookies out of every remnant I could find of the previous month. They started with my Murray cookie recipe and ended up somewhere in the next stratosphere. I dumped January into a bowl and sweetened it up. Two fats: butter for flavor and Crisco (vegetable shortening) for texture. Two sugars: brown sugar gives depth and cane sugar gives a little extra ...
FRENCH 84’s: ALMOND, STRAWBERRY AND TOFFEE COOKIES
Inspired by a walk through the markets of Paris in the Spring of 1984, these thin cookies snap when bitten revealing an interior filled with the flavors of almond, strawberry and toffee. Thanksgiving 2021 was very special at my house. All three of my daughters were present, each with a lovely baby boy born this year. And as if that weren’t special enough, we were also joined by my middle daughter’s British in-laws who were seeing them for the first time since 2019. Gratitude was definitely on the table! It was such a treat to be able to feed all of them and host them at my ...
PUMPKIN BISCOTTI WITH GINGER AND CRANBERRY
And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves. –Virginia Woolf Autumn is a time of reflection. As the light softens and changes; as the mornings darken and the evening comes earlier; as rain drops drearily, dragging reluctant leaves from their hold on branches, my coffee break demands a little more. It asks for biscotti. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, flavored with warm spices, candied ginger, cranberries and fragrant pumpkin, my biscotti reminds me of the past and future combined in each season. Spring, summer, fall and winter, ...
PUMPKIN SPICE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Sometime in late August or early September, Starbucks and other retailers pull the trigger on Autumn, and Pumpkin Spice Everything appears in stores throughout the country. This feels premature to me. Pumpkin Spice calls for sweaters, chilly evenings, and brilliantly colored leaves. I don’t know where you live but that is not how my September rolls. Where I live it’s still pretty hot. How to satisfy that yen for the cool days of Autumn on a sweltering 85-degree day? Ice cream sandwiches of course-- specifically yummy vanilla ice cream sandwiched between pumpkin spice cookies ...
