Cookie Recipes and Decorating Ideas #166
IN THIS ISSUE:
Recipe of the Month:
Rolled Chocolate Cookies
Site of the Month -- CookiePots.com
Decorating Inspiration -- Unusual designs
Hints and Tips -- Cookie Chemistry
Help!
What's New and KCI
FROM THE EDITOR
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for
30 years she served the family
nothing but leftovers. The original meal has
never been found." Calvin Trillin
JOKE OF THE MONTH
It was the first day at school. The students were all in their seats, waiting
for the new teacher to start.
The teacher stands up, and says, "Whoever in here thinks they are stupid,
please stand up."
The students all looked at each other, and finally, one boy stood up.
"Do you think you're stupid?" asked the teacher.
"No, said the little boy, "but I didn't want you standing there
alone."
********
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
Rolled Chocolate Cookies
I finally found a chocolate rolled cookie dough recipe that doesn't cause me
problems. Generally they
are too sticky and hard to work with. This one makes a stiff dough that is
easy to cut. I love the look
of icing on a dark cookie.
1 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp extra-strong coffee or chocolate liqueur
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2
minutes. Scrape the bowl and cream the
mixture for an additional minute. Beat in the egg and coffee or
liqueur. Beat until the liquid is absorbed.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the
flour mixture 1 cup at a time to
the butter mixture. Mix well. If you are using a hand mixture you
may need to add the last cup of four
by hand.
Divide dough and chill. Or, as I do, divide the fresh dough into thirds
and roll between sheets of
parchment paper and then chill on a cookie sheet.. Bake 6 to 8 minutes at 350 degrees.
Allow cookies
to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. This dough can
be frozen.
I got about 18 3" cookies out of this recipe.
********
SITE OF THE MONTH
I love to surf cookie bouquet sites -- so full of cute ideas and decorating
inspiration. I get a lot of emails
requesting ideas for cookie bouquet container suggestions. This site will
give you lots of ideas for your
bouquets, cookies, or just a chance to say "Wow!". Check out
Cookie Pots at:
http://www.cookiepots.com/index2.htm
********
COOKIE DECORATING INSPIRATION
I love it when I get decorated cookies using designs I don't often see
"finished". The great ladies from
"Cookies" in Seattle sent me these. (They are shiny because they put a
lacquer on them before they send
them to me -- knowing that I don't plan to eat them.)
The picture below is "borrowed" from a Better Homes and Gardens
site. It included a recipe
for Lime cookies. I love to do our light bulb design for Christmas so I
thought I'd print the recipe
for later use and share it with you.
The recipe can be found at: http://www.bhg.com/bhg/recipe/recipedetail.jhtml?recipeId=37255
********
Hints and Tips
Whenever I teach a class on cookie baking and decorating I always tell my
students to follow
the recipe -- whichever one they use-- exactly because cookie baking is
chemistry. Here is
a site that supports this statement. If you're interested in why you need
to measure carefully
and why you put salt in cookie dough, check this site out: http://www.clabbergirl.com/learn_sarah_ingredients_sugarcookies.php
********
HELP!
If you have made and decorated some cookies you are especially proud of, don't forget
to take pictures
and share them with us. You can generally find me sitting here: lesley@kitchengifts.com
*******
WHAT'S NEW AT KCI
I wanted you to see the finished designs from last months cookie cutter
design contest. Wouldn't the
two piece swimsuit be a fun one to decorate for a pool party? The French fries would
be great for
a cookie bouquet for that fast food crazed friend or client.
We've also added a product I've been using for a couple of years
now, It's called Exopap paper and
basically it's a good quality parchment paper. The box contains 1294.7
square feet of paper! That's
a little more than 18 rolls of our regular parchment paper. I love my
box. I no longer have to worry
about the roll running out in the middle of a project. I can also cut it
into pieces and use it for many
other things -- I just made herb butter this morning and wrapped it in a small
piece of my Exopap paper.
You can see the page I did on it at: http://www.kitchengifts.com/parchmentpaper2.html
*******
FROM THE EDITOR
My almost fifteen year old son, Michael, took up the drums this summer.
Needless to say, I can't
wait for school to start. He goes back Aug 16th and my house will be quiet
again for most of the day.
My tomatoes and cucumbers are coming on like gangbusters. I make and
freeze tomato sauce about every
other day. Friends are starting to avoid me. Perhaps they're afraid
I'm going to unload another batch of
cucumbers on them. Of course, they're the same zucchini growing friends
who don't remember
how many of those uninspiring vegetables they left by my front door last year.
Please help me write this newsletter by sending me questions, suggestions,
pictures, recipes, etc. You
are so much more interesting than I am.
Happy Zucchini Days!
Lesley