Christmas cookies never happened this year and I had two appointments that prevented me from baking cookies for the funeral of a friend on Friday. Thought we might bake cookies when my daughter came on Friday, but I was too tired. Finally felt up to it late this afternoon.
It was good to be baking again. These sweet cookie fingers have a butter base and some raspberry jam sweetness, plus a little crunch from the almond slices and the tang of Meyer lemon (or any lemon, really) in the glaze. The dough was crisper than I had expected, but that might have been because I forgot to add the 2 tablespoons of milk that went in before the flour mixture. I also only made a half recipe because even though I was wanting to eat some cookies, I really don't want to eat 40 of them. You can easily double the recipe if you do want to make 40. That's how the recipe was actually written.
On the good news front, my nephew in Colorado and his wife are the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. Congrats to grandpa NoName!
Raspberry Ribbons
from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book
makes about 20 slices
5 tablespoons (about 1/3 cup) butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
about 1/2 cup raspberry jam
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Lemon Glaze (see below)
Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until well blended. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat until light in color.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt (I used a sheet of waxed paper and a whisk), then add to the butter mixture. Beat well until mixed. Mixture will be firm. Divide into two pieces as close to the same size as possible. Wrap each and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (I chilled them for about an hour and a half and that was still fine.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet. (I used a half sheet pan.)
Work with one piece of dough at a time, keeping the other refrigerated.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll one of the pieces of dough into a rectangle about 11 x 3 inches.
Transfer the dough to the cookie sheet...you may need to use a spatula, but I didn't.
Using your fingers, press a 1-inch wide trench down the center of the rectangle. Spoon about 1/4 cup raspberry jam in the trench, smoothing with a wet finger.
Repeat with the second piece of dough. The cookie sheet should hold both rectangles of dough.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges just start to take on color. Scatter half of the almonds on each rectangle, sprinkling them over the hot jam. Return to the oven and bake another 1-2 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown.
Remove the pan from the oven and brush or drizzle the Lemon Glaze over the rectangles. Slice each rectangle into about 10 slices.
Store in an airtight container with waxed paper between the layers, or carefully place in a plastic bag, tie snugly, and freeze.
Lemon Glaze
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (Meyer lemon here, too)
1/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
Mix the lemon juice and zest. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Add the juice mixture and stir or use a small whisk to combine until smooth and well blended.
No comments :
Post a Comment