Plum butter snow crescents

"What's in a name..." right? Plum butter snow crescents. Or shape them differently (like my Mom does) and name them Frog's lips. Flaky vanilla scented dough + thick, creamy plum butter + powdered sugar = perfection.
For the less faint hearted I recommend making them with lard. The original recipe which comes from my grandmother uses lard instead of the butter and sour cream. Now, to some of you this might sound strange, to say the least. But don't diss it till you try it! Lard makes any pastry incredibly flaky. You cannot fake this level of flakiness. No butter, no shortening, nothing will rise up to the challenge. That said I always make them with butter and sour cream. It's healthier and my palate is more used to that buttery taste.
So my friends, call'em what you will just make sure you give them a try. You'll thank me later.

Ingredients:

100 g butter, at room temperature
120 g thick sour cream
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
250 g flour
2 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
generous pinch of salt

150 g plum butter
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375F.
In a bowl mix flour, powdered sugar and salt.
In another bowl mix butter and sour cream. Add egg and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour mixture and work dough until very smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, roll out chilled dough( keeping dough and surface floured) to about 16" square.
Cut into 20 squares. Place a small tsp plum butter into one corner of square, roll it up and form into a crescent.
Continue with remaining dough and plum butter. Place crescents on baking tray. Bake cookies for about 20 to 25 minutes, until golden around the edges. Roll crescents into powdered sugar while still warm.

Chocolate almond macaroons

I'm one of those people who thinks that food has an amazing ability to change one's bad mood to a cheerful disposition. This type of food would include chocolate, of course. This past week I met up with a friend who seemed a bit sad. Not too much, just a tad. Or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to make something sweet, something chocolatey. I had this great bittersweet Callebaut sitting in my cupboard that I'd had my eye on for a few days. So what is a girl to do with 100 grams of leftover quality dark chocolate? Macaroons of course. For the hundredth time. Somehow I always seem to think that the next batch will be even better than the previous one. This cookie is not the typical french version, but a denser, chewier one.
It has a delicious vanilla flavoured chocolate filling with just a pinch of sea salt. Salt just takes chocolate to the next level in my opinion. It has to be really good sea salt and just a pinch of it.
Over the years I have tested tons of macaroon recipes. Some of them great, some not so good. Chocolate, caramel and coffee
flavoured ones are favourites with my palate. The colourful ones, filled with butter cream tend too be a feast for the eyes rather than the taste buds. They're just sweet, and not much else. (This applies to all the" designer" macaroons that I had in Tokyo). That said I have never had Pierre Herme's world famous macaroons. I am heading to Paris soon, taking a taxi from the airport straight to the Pierre Herme store (no, just kidding:)). Will definitely let you know of any sudden change of heart that might occur during this ever so important visit.
Oh, almost forgot: it turns out my friend K. was not sad, or down or tired that day. I was all in my had:) But she loved the cookies and promised to be sad, down or tired a helluva lot more often from know on!


Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp sifted cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 tsp almond extract
75 g dark chocolate
10 gm butter
13 ml heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt


Preheat oven to 325F. Beat egg whites until stiff. Slowly add sugar, beating until egg whites are very thick. Mix in cocoa, almond meal and extract. Dampen hands and form about 1 teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Pinch balls to form a teardrop shape. Place cookies on baking sheet (lined with parchment paper), bake for about 15 minutes until slightly cracked. Do not over bake, as they will end up very dry. Cool completely on a rack.
For filling, combine chocolate, butter and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Add vanilla extract and sea salt. Cool to room temperature. Spread half teaspoon of filling on flat side of cookies, then sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing lightly to seal. Store in an airtight container.

Toasted walnut and cassis cookies with some good news

Let's have the good news first. Very happy to announce that my entry Lingue di suocera with star anise for Meeta's Monthly Mingle -World of Spiced Cookies has been chosen the winner of this round.
Anita of Dessert First was kind enough to reward the winner (moi) with a copy of her first book, Field Guide to Cookies: How to identify and bake virtually every cookie imaginable. To purchase Anita's book please click here.
Thank you Anita and Meeta. And to celebrate I baked these wonderful toasted walnut and cassis cookies (only appropriate for the occasion).





Ingredients


2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 cup walnuts, toasted, finely chopped
3/4 cup blackcurrant jam
2 tsp cassis
powdered sugar for dusting


Preheat oven to 350F.
In a bowl mix butter, sugar, salt and vanilla with a fork. Stir in flour and walnuts. Form tablespoons of dough into balls. Put them on a baking tray 2 inches appart. Flatten them to 1/3 inch thick rounds. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden. Cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar.
Perfect with a glass of milk. Enjoy!

Lingue di suocera (Mother-in-law's tongues) with star anise

Weird name. Great cookie.That simple.
Some say cookie season is over. Well, not for me. I like to have my cookie jar full at all times, thank you very much. For me an espresso is not worth the trouble, if there's nothing "on the side".
So here's my contribution to Monthly mingle- World of Spice Cookies, hosted by Meeta of What's for lunch, Honey?



Ingredients

250g plain flour
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 tbsp cold water
1/2 cup citrus marmalade
1 star anise

Mix flour, sugar, salt in a food processor. Add butter and blend well until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add egg yolks, vanilla and pulse to combine. Add water to allow dough to come together. (Add more water if necessary). Wrap in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Using a mortar and pestle, crush star anise. Sift using a fine mesh sieve and stir into citrus marmalade.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 5 mm thick. Cut out rounds, using an 8cm diameter cutter. Spoon 1/2 tsp marmalade into the center of each round, spreading it out slightly. Bring together two ends and pinch to join.
Place cookies on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool. Dust with icing sugar.



Recipe based on Mary Taylor Simeti's recipe in Bitter Almonds.

Cardamom and damson plum cookies

OK. It took a little longer than expected to publish the recipe for this cookie. My apologies. I made these heavenly bites a few nights ago, while the Grinch was stealing Christmas (on TV). It was almost midnight by the time I finished baking them. ( I seem to be doing a lot of late night baking).
Except for the few I kept to take photos of the next day, they were all gone in a matter of minutes. I do have to say though, that they are better the next day, if kept in an airtight container. My damson plum jam is home made. Friends say it's the best jam ever. I tend to believe my friends. If you cannot find damson jam, use a good quality raspberry jam.
Cardamom does it for me, so I used a lot in this recipe. Should you like a milder taste, use less. Same goes for the damson jam. I kinda like it dripping out of the cookies. For aesthetic purposes use less. This is a small batch. You can easily double it.
If you're not thinking Christmas yet, it high time you did folks!




Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup(or so) damson plum jam


Add flour, cardamom and salt to a bowl. Mix well.
Beat together butter, cream cheese, sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Next add flour mixture in two parts.
Mix until dough comes together. Chill in the fridge, wrapped in a plastic wrap for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove dough from fridge.
Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter stamp out rounds as closely together as possible. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart.
Bake cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are golden. Cool completely. Sandwich cookies together with damson plum jam. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.