First of all, these babies:
Nothing says sunshine and warm weather like lemons. With temps in the low 80's last week, I was craving a summer sweet treat like lemon pound cake or lemon meringue pie. With cookies, you get the sugar rush with the added bonus of handheld portability. With www.foodgawker.com already opened on my browser, I searched for "lemon cookies" and came across a recipe from Une Gamine dans la cuisine, which you can view here:
Lemon Almond Cookies
I halved this recipe and also added in some lemon extract and slivered almonds. As for the almond flour bit, don't fret- the almond flour you can procure at your local store is pretty expensive, but you can make it at home by throwing some blanched almonds in the food processor. I didn't roll my cookies because we used one of our two lemons for dinner that night (post to come as soon as Blogger gets its negligent act together) and I consequently didn't have a lot of lemon zest. Next time I'm going to add in some white chocolate chips for a more layered flavor act, and if I get brave, some candied lemon peel.
Halving the recipe was not the best idea, because while my cookie lust was at an all time high this week, Alex gave me a run for my money. Those lemon almond cookies were gone in record time, and I highly suggest making two batches if you can.
When the last cookie was gone, my baking gears got to turning. What would I make next? Simple chocolate chip? Snickerdoodles? Chocolate chocolate chip? We had recently devoured a pint of mint chocolate gelato, and we had just purchased some fresh mint at Findlay Market. Ça y est! That's it! Mint chocolate cookies!
I'll even list the recipe for you this time:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons mint extract (more if you like!)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup Andes Crème de menthe baking chips
- Green food coloring
I placed the sugar and extracts in my mixer and then added the butter once it warmed to room temp. This was when Alex asked why we didn't have a butter dish and I scoffed at the thought of having butter at room temperature. He has a point, though. While the butter was warming up on the stove, I put the baking soda and salt in a bowl with the hot water and mixed it. The eggs went in another bowl, as did the flour, and then the chocolate and mint chips. After I creamed the butter and sugar, I added in the baking soda mixture, and then the eggs, one at a time. During this process, I was sniffing the batter to be sure that I could smell the mint. I listed three tablespoons, but I believe I ended up using six and getting around ten on my hands. The McCormick easy-pour spout is obviously false advertising.
Then comes the flour, in half cup increments. After everything is well integrated, I started adding in a few drops of food coloring. Since the batter itself was not white, I knew that I wouldn't get a nice mint green, and that was okay. Once I obtained an acceptable verdant hue, I started to add in the chips. This is what I got:
Yeah, I didn't think it looked that great, either. But the batter was good, the mint and chocolate flavors were perfectly balanced, and the time in the oven would surely affect the color. I baked the cookies at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. The finished product:
Moral of the story: use more food coloring. To go along with the incessant loop of "C is for cookie, that's good enough for me!", Alex mentioned that the cookies looked like Oscar the Grouch. I have to agree, although I don't like the implication that my baked goods live in a trash can.
What other cookies can I make in the Sesame Street vein? Strawberry rhubarb for Elmo? Blueberry blackberry in an homage to my favorite muppet, Grover? Chocolate chocolate chip for Snuffleupagus? The possibilities are endless, which is very good, because this girl can't get enough cookies.
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