Category Archives: cookies

Key Lime Ginger Doodles + 5 Can’t Miss Cookie Links

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A change in perspective was all Ann needed.   As the plane hurdled down the runway, ascending through a layer of gauzy clouds reaching an abyss of pale blue nothingness Ann took a deep breath then expelled the air from her lungs bit by bit.  It hurt to breathe so slowly, it hurt to be quiet, to silence her breath so no evidence of relief was obvious to the couple seated next to her.  She did it anyway.

Four hours later she was in a different time zone, breathing thinner air while standing on an empty train platform.  Waiting.  Ann could feel the strength of the mountain sun on her pale Northeast skin.  She thought for sure the tan, athletic woman sitting on the bench could hear her skin sizzle, as if announcing I’m not from here.  This feeling unsettled Ann.  She liked to blend in.

The train pulled into the station making no sound as it came to a stop.  The doors opened with ease.  No one rushed out or pushed her aside, swatting at her like a fly.  Inside the train smelled fresh with no hint of old urine or forgotten food containers, a welcome change to the trains she knew at home.  Ann chose the window seat.

[Always choose the window seat.  His simple instructions resonated with Ann.  Most of the advice she received from well-meaning friends and lovers caused her belly to burn, her jaw to tighten as if Ann’s body knew before her mind she would never take their advice anyway.]

She plopped down in seat, rearranged her shirt, pulled on her too tight jeans until satisfied and somewhat comfortable.  Across the isle three women from Minnesota, friends, chatted about margaritas, Mexican food they couldn’t wait to devour and the Zach Brown concert they would attend with full bellies and foggy brains.  Ann listened to them chat for a while, a little jealous of their intimacy, yet relieved to be alone. Unrecognizable in a city she barely knew.  Free.  And when one of the women turned and smiled at Ann, a gesture of kindness to most, Ann turned and faced the window.  The stranger’s smile seemed to say I see you, Ann.  The last thing she wanted today, and yet the only thing she wanted most days.  Careful what you wish for her mother said.  You just might get it.  Ann picked at her nail bed until it bled.

The train picked up speed and the station disappeared.  The land lay this way and that appearing painted and untouched.  Ann found the flat earth, dry and scorched from the sun, the sapphire sky, the still snow-covered Rockies in the distance disorienting.  It hurt to look at the mountains, to see something new and beautiful, after so many years of the same.  The mountains have a funny way of drawing you back to yourself when you have strayed too far. 

Ann put on her sunglasses, hoping her eyes would stop aching.  Soon her stop would be announced.  She would exit the train, breathe in the mountain air.  Across the tracks her sister, Gracie, would be waiting for her, eager and beautiful in the world she created thousands of miles away from Ann.  They would hug.  Gracie’s hair would smell like the baked snickerdoodles they ate as kids, weed, and sweat from her morning run.  Ann relieved to be in her arms again would hug longer than expected.

All of this would happen or none of it.  Ann hadn’t decided yet.

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Key Lime Ginger Doodles

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Recipe adapted from BraveTart

Ingredients:

2 + 1/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 + ½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons of key lime juice

1 large egg

¼ cup raw sugar

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

1-2 tablespoons key lime juice or to taste

Pinch of salt

Directions for cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and ginger in a medium bowl.   Set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat on medium speed the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice.  Reduce speed and add the egg.  Mix on medium speed until combined.  Next add the key lime juice.  The mixture may curdle but don’t worry it will come back together!  Reduce the speed and add the dry ingredients.  Mix on low-speed until just combined.

Use a cookie scoop (I used a medium scoop or 1+1/2 tablespoon scoop) to form round balls.  Roll the balls in the raw sugar.  Divide the dough between the two cookie sheets, twelve cookies per baking sheet.   Bake the cookies until puffy and lightly golden brown, about 8 minutes.  (Be sure not to over bake so check at 6 minutes!)  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cookies cool, make the key lime icing.  In a small bowl mix together the confectioners’ sugar, key lime juice and salt until completely smooth.  Add more juice if needed.  Add more sugar for desired consistency, if needed.   Set aside.

Once the cookies are completely cool, decorate with key lime icing as desired.  Enjoy!

***Cookies taste best the day they are made but will last in air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.***

 

5 Can’t Miss Cookie Links

Looking for a unique spin on a shortbread cookie? Check out Food 52s honey-butter chip shortbread cookie recipe. Honey, butter and potato chips? How can you go wrong!

Vegan shortbread cookies do exist.  Head to Love & Lemons for their vegan almond shortbread cookie recipe.

I love chocolate and ginger together especially in cookie form.  Head to i am baker and check out Amanda’s chocolate caramel ginger cookie recipe.  Don’t wait until the holidays to make them!

Celebrate summer with mojito cookie bars! Go Bold with Butter has the recipe for you.  Check it out!

S’mores cookies by Sweet Paul magazine claims to be better than sex.  Curious?  Head here for the recipe.

 

 

Pineapple Coconut Granola Biscotti + 5 Biscotti Links!

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Ann drove away from her childhood home knowing two things: her mother would be dead soon and her marriage was over.  The sudden clarity of her situation sucked all of the air right out of her dirty, crumb covered car.  She thought of pulling over, taking a minute, breathing but there was no time for something so self-serving.  School would be out soon.  The kids expected her, as they did every weekday after school.  She didn’t want to disappoint them.  [Disappointment would come soon enough.} So Ann drove with the window down taking in big gulps of the damp, early spring air, her fingertips turning white as she gripped the steering wheel as if gripping the wheel hard enough would somehow change the direction of her life.

Ann reached a stop sign just as the sun split the clouds.  She glanced at her dry, pale hands, spun her mother’s sixty-nine-year-old engagement ring which sat nestled underneath her own wedding band.  Every spin reminding her that Tess had been married for sixty-two years, fifty years longer than Anne’s volatile marriage to David.  She resented her mother’s successful marriage.  Tess had always been a difficult and demanding woman, putting her needs far above Ann and her father.  And yet, William adored Tess.  [William’s one indiscretion early in their marriage, followed by a mysterious tire slashing and a six-month stint at a local apartment complex changed the trajectory of his married life.  His daughter, too young to remember, would see a devoted husband. A doormat if she was being more honest.  William saw survival.]

Ann never understood her mother, nor, did she care to look closer at Tess.  And just to piss Tess off, Ann chose to be accommodating, easy-going.  She twisted herself like a noodle fitting into the crevices of others, never understanding the more she let go, the more she lost.  By the time she met David, Anne was like a patched quilt, mismatched bits and pieces, thoughts, likes, and dislikes of all she had encountered sewn together forming an unknown woman.

And now?  Anne liked what David liked.  His thoughts were her thoughts.  Ann’s every imaginable need or desire mirrored David’s.  She felt content in his image.  Until that morning she thought for the first time, Tess will be dead soon. [Relief flushed her cheeks.]  Until some hour later that morning she watched her kids nibble on the biscotti she had made the day before, their heads bowed down, barely looking at her as she gave her husband, their father, a perfunctory kiss goodbye.

[What do they see when they look at me? They saw a lost woman. 

Ann would never know this harsh truth.  A blessing and a curse.] 

Ann’s belly tightened.  She felt beads of sweat under her sagging breasts and acid in her throat.  She stared at her children and wondered if her own mother ever felt so invisible.  Did it matter if she had?  Would it have changed anything for Tess?

 “Mama?”

“Time to get dressed.”

The day would start the same, the day would end the same, and in between, Anne would make a decision.  There was no good decision or bad decision, just a choice which led to a path and all that followed.

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Pineapple Coconut Granola Biscotti

Makes about 36 cookies

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour plus more for rolling out

1 + 1/2 cups rolled oats plus 2 tablespoons

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup raw sugar or granulated (I used raw sugar.)

1/4 light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

1 cup dried sweetened pineapple, chopped into small pieces

zest of 1 orange

1 egg white

Directions:

Using a small bowl, mix together the flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Grab a large bowl.  Add the melted butter and sugars.  Whisk well.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and orange zest and whisk until well combined.   Stir in all of the dry ingredients.  The batter will be stiff.

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Like a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Put a bit of flour on your hands and on a clean countertop.  Roll half of the dough into a log about 12-14 inches long.  Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet.  Pat and roll log until it becomes more oval-shaped.  Repeat this process with the second half of the dough.  Beat egg white until foamy.  Using a pastry brush, cover the dough logs with the whipped egg white.  Bake until beginning to crack and turn golden brown, 20-30 minutes.  (Check at 20 minutes!  I baked the dough for closer to 30 minutes.)

Allow to cool completely, about 1 hour.  Using a serrated knife gently cut the biscotti on the bias into 1/2 inch slices.  Spread out cut biscotti on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake for another 20 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes after removing from the oven, then allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Store biscotti in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.  Enjoy!

5 Biscotti Links To Check Out!

Celebrate a friend’s birthday this year with funfetti biscotti.  Molly Yeh from My Name is Yeh has the recipe for you.  Check it out!

Looking to bake something sweet and bright to lighten up a gray spring day? Check out King Arthur Flour’s lemon almond biscotti or Vegetarian Ventures citrus biscotti with hibiscus glaze. 

Craving chocolate? Me too.  Once Upon A Chef has a recipe for a double chocolate biscotti that is making my mouth water!

If you prefer savory over sweet, check out Molly Yeh’s parmesan rosemary biscotti.  I bet it pairs well with a nice glass of white wine and a sunny, seventy-degree day.