Earlier this month I sent out a recipe for Chocolate Rye Molasses cookies. It wasn’t a coincidence that I sent the recipe out in December since it is the cookie-making month. We have just about two more weeks before Christmas and I have been ferociously baking and working on another recipe to send out. I started with a candy cane and chocolate chip shortbread cookie. A simple shortbread dough with chocolate chunks and crushed candy canes mixed in. They tasted lovely but candy canes are 100% sugar and melt when baked. This is something I learned from my s’mores cookie saga but totally forgot about. The melted candy canes were not necessarily bad but they left some holes and the cookies look imperfect.
The next batch I worked on was orange, almond, and anise biscotti. Besides over baking them and causing them to be hard as rocks, they were tasty. I’m thinking of adding chopped dates to them and I obviously need to work on the bake time.
The final batch, and the ones I spent the most time on, were cardamom and lime butter cookies. Winter is citrus season and I love a hint of citrus in cookies. These cookies turned out the best of the three but I can’t get the decorating down to my liking. They are iced with lime icing for an extra limey punch but I don’t love the way they look. Help!
Thursday I wrapped up the cookie decorating mid-day and I am now taking a cookie break. I will revisit the biscotti and cardamom lime cookies again this upcoming week and I have one more idea for a grapefruit Linzer cookie. If I can get any of them perfect, another cookie recipe will be going out the week of Christmas.
In the meantime, I have a few of my other cookie recipes for you guys to bake. Enjoy!
Broccoli Soup
1 yellow onion OR 1 leek, sliced
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 heads of broccoli, florets separated and stalks sliced
2 medium russet potatoes (about 1lb), peeled and cut into chunks
Optional: sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, garlic
In a large pot, sautee onion/leek with 2T olive oil over medium heat, just until soft and translucent. Maybe saute some garlic too.
Add 4 cups of broth, broccoli pieces, potato chunks, optional thyme or bay leaf, and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes and broccoli are soft.
Remove thyme and/or bay leaf. Carefully transfer soup to a blender and puree.
Pour the soup back into the pot to keep warm. If it is too thick, thin it out with a little more broth or water. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with chives, goat cheese crumbles, bacon…anything you like!
It's High Time for Pie Time *A cute read to help you bake better pies.
My Beauty Uniform: Caroline Schiff *The pastry chef at Gage & Tollner and someone I love to follow.
Pro Tips: How to make even your simplest food look great for the camera
Eggnog Dreams *Cookies
”If you are on a diet, don’t even think about a pâté!”
Treat yourself to Diptyque’s holiday trio. Marco bought them for me and these little candles pack a punch. Plus they are on sale! They never go on sale.
I’m off to make another test batch of grapefruit marmalade and enjoy this unusually warm December weather. Thanks for reading!
See you next week, M