In which I admit to being a total moron.

[mandolin]

All -

If you get two-month or more old messages from me on e-mail, I'm sorry. Guess who just looked at her Drafts folder and was horrified to find over a dozen e-mails I thought I actually sent months ago.

On a totally unrelated note, I am in search of good Christmas cookie recipes. Preferably some that aren't too complicated. Mom and I are going to break in her new kitchen the weekend after next. (Okay, she's had it a year now, but I maintain a kitchen hasn't been broken in til you've subjected it to Christmas cookie baking madness.)

Anyone? ;)

Comments

[germankitty]

Want to try a German recipe? It's called "Heidesand". (Heide is a term for moorland/heath in German; the cookies' color is reminiscent of the sand in the area, hence the name. Look up Lüneburger Heide to get a feel; the recipe originates in that area. ^_~)

Heidesand




125g unsalted butter
125g sugar
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
0.5 tbsp milk
180g flour

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it's medium brown, (be careful here; the degree of color reflects in the taste. Better be careful at first!), then let it completely cool down again.
Whip it until creamy, then add sugar, vanilla extract, salt and milk, continue whipping it until light and fluffy.

Add the flour and knead everything into a firm dough, form it into a rope (~ 1" diameter), wrap it in wax paper and put it into the fridge until chilled through.

Then slice the rope into disks (about half a centimeter thick). Alternatively, if the dough is too crumbly, roll out and use a round cookie cutter, place on a papered cookie sheet and bake for 10 Minutes in a preheated oven (middle rack) at 200°Celsius. (Again, be careful not to let the cookies brown too much!)

The cookies will still be soft-ish right after baking; let them cool on the sheet for a while before removing them. Oh, and one recipe is just about enough to fill one cookie sheet; the dough disks won't get much larger in diameter during baking.

(I must admit, the butter-browning and baking is a little bit trial-and-error to get right, but there's very little chance of really getting it wrong; next time just adjust times/degrees to your taste. The Heidesand should be light and crumbly and more or less melt in your mouth when done perfectly. :) Enjoy!)

[beesandbrews.livejournal.com]

Eh, you've been busy and distracted?

[bktheirregular]

Crazy life, recalcitrant computers, stuff happens. :)

Would you believe I was delusional enough to think that because I'd closed on my apartment before October 1, I might actually be ready to cook a small ad hoc Thanksgiving dinner by late November? (Here it is, four days away, and there's still cabinet doors to be sawn, walls to be tiled, and all my kitchen stuff is still boxed up.)

(Not that I'd know where to find a Thanksgiving-caliber turkey in this town anyway. Turkeys are for Christmas here.)

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

Oooh. I'm going to write this one down. Thanks! (And I'll remember to be careful with that first step as it's not my saucepan and kitchen - and a very nice kitchen...)

[germankitty]

Have fun. :) Let me know if they turned out well?

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

Not that busy. At least, I don't seem to have that much to show considering the amount of time that keeps going down the drain.

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

Can you get sliced turkey and improvise? :)