kareina: (fresh baked rolls)
My step sister reported to me this morning that while they were hanging out with mom one of them mentioned having cookies, and my mom said "Cookies!?!" in a happy tone, but when given the choice of chocolate chip or raisin she said "Oh." in a rather disappointing tone, so my sisters asked "what kind of cookies do you want?", to which she replied "lemon", so they all promptly said that they would make the suggestion to me, and perhaps I would bake some. Bake cookies? Of course I would love to!

Kirsty thought that something nice and soft would be wise, and this is what I came up with:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
zest and juice from one lemon
2 t baking powder
1/4 cup corn starch
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup almond meal
2 cups white (wheat) flour


Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in one egg at a time, add the lemon, then stir in the baking powder, corn starch, rice flour and almond meal. Add the wheat flour last. Measure one table spoon of dough at a time, roll into a ball and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake at 350 F for 5 to 7 minutes. (Don't use my sister's oven, lest the bottom pan get a bit dark on the bottoms.)
kareina: (Default)
A friend of mine asked me on FB today "I know you don't really do sweets so much but i'm on a 'thinkin' about Baking Cookies' binge. Wondering if you could suggest traditional Christmas cookies or other treats from the places you've lived?" She specified that she was asking friends in quite a few different countries, in hopes of getting a good mix. Having taken the time to find some on the computer, and type in others, I thought I would post them here, too.

First the ones mom always made, that her mom also always made:

ExpandBlond Brownies )

ExpandGrandma’s sugar cookies )

ExpandPeanut Bars )

ExpandSoft Molasses cookies )

ExpandChristmas Wreath )

Now on to the ones I have picked up in my travels:
------------------------------

First one of my favourites, from Eugene Oregon, from some SCA friends (Marion and Raven)

ExpandGinger Cookies )

This next one is from my sister's travels--from when she was an exchange student in Finland--her host family made these, and I am told they are common throughout Finland:

Expand“Joulutorttu” )

The next one I call "St. Gildas Biscuits", because I got the recipe from some of the students in the SCA college of St. Gildas (University of Tasmania). I think that they just called them "Vanilla Biscuits" They can be cut into shapes and frosted and decorated, like sugar cookies, but I like them best dusted with cinnamon. I still make them often, and they are the most requested cookie from David.

ExpandSt. Gildas Biscuits )

Here is another really yummy Australian cookie. Crian's mum makes them for Christmas:

ExpandMelting Moments )

Here is one I invented while I was living in Australia, because one of our friends was gluten intolerant. These are so yummy I still make them often, even when I have no gluten intolerant people to help me eat them:

ExpandGluten-free almond & coconut biscuits )

And from Sweden, THE classic Christmas cookie that everyone eats here, and all of the stores carry many varieties of store-bought versions:

ExpandPepparkakor )

My all-time favourite Christmas food, ever, is the Swedish Risalmalta. A desert, not a cookie, but it is the gift of the gods, so I will share on this list anyway.

ExpandRisalmalta )

Of course, having typed all this up I now feel like it would be good to bake something this week. I hope that someone comes over for my birthday fika next Sunday to eat whatever I wind up making...
kareina: (fresh baked rolls)
[livejournal.com profile] lord_kjar and I did a major grocery store run today, stocking up on a fair few things that had been running low, and tossing a few impulse items into the cart while at it. One of the things that hadn't been on the list was the ecological cinnamon that we hadn't seen before, and, while we were at it, the ecological licorice powder by the same company. I don't actually like licorice, but he really does, which is why I pointed it out to him when I noticed it.

When we got home and put the groceries away I discovered that we had just enough of the almost empty sugar to mean that we couldn't quite put all of the new sugar into the jar. Therefore I suggested we make some cookies with the sugar that didn't fit, and, since we had the licorice, I suggested we try doing some licorice cookies, so that I wouldn't eat them.

He liked that idea, but couldn't decide between putting the powder into the dough, or sprinkling it on afterwards, like we do with cinnamon. Therefore we tried both--I mixed the butter, sugar, and eggs, divided it in half, put flour and baking powder into half, and licorice, flour, and baking powder into the other half. Then I rolled out the plain dough, cut cookies, and sprinkled them with the powder, and rolled out the flavoured dough and cut those cookies, too. He tells me that both are good, but the ones with the powder on top are slightly nicer. I am content to believe him--I have no interest in tasting them.
kareina: (fresh baked rolls)
Not too long back I baked a batch of cookies for our band. One of our members can't eat gluten, so I decided to adapt my favourite peanutbutter cookie recipe to one she could eat:

1/2 c butter
1/2 C + 1 T peanutbutter, the kind made from 100% peanuts, +/- a dash of salt, and nothing else (that is how much happened to be left in the jar--the original recipe only wanted the half cup, but the last spoonful didn't look worth saving)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup cornstartch
1/2 cup peanuts, lightly chopped

Cream together the butter and peanutbutter, mix in the sugar and then the honey, and then the egg. Add the dry ingredients, roll into balls and press with a fork. Bake at 175 C till just starting to turn golden.

This recipe makes a delightfully soft cookie. The original recipe, which I got from a friend in Alaska years ago) used 1/2 cup of white sugar instead of the 1/4 c brown I used. I like my version better, though, when I first tried hers I was delighted to taste one with so little sugar in it compared to what others had tried to feed me in the past. The only other differences with the original is that it was all wheat flour instead of oat/rice/corn, and didn't have extra peanuts added. However, the "chunky" peanutbutter I had didn't have enough chunks, so I added more.
kareina: (stitched)
I made up a yummy batch of cookies for my minion this weekend, and one of my friends asked for the recipe. I should have written down what I did sooner, when I had a better memory of what I tossed into that bowl! Here follows my best attempt at remembering what I used. Sadly, I can not make any guarantees that these amounts are accurate, since I am translating vague memories of "some, a little, lots" into numbers. (note for Americans: 1 dl is just smaller than half a cup, "msk" = tablespoon, and "tsk" = teaspoon)

cream together:

200 g smör (butter)
1 dl socker (sugar)

beat in:

1 ägg (egg)

stir in:

2 msk nyponmjöl (rosehip flour)
1 dl havregryn (rolled oats)
2 t bakpulver (baking powder)

then add:

1.5 dl vetemjöl (white flour) (or enough to make a decent textured cookie dough)

roll 1 msk of dough at a time into a ball, press with thumb to make a cup and fill with a 50-50% blend of:

fikonmarmelad (fig marmalade)
mandelmjöl (ground almonds)

bake at 150 C till golden brown (7 min???)

If anyone tries this please let me know how they come out. They were really yummy when I did them.
kareina: (stitched)
A week or so before our housewarming party I felt like making cookies, and felt like experimenting. Since one of our friends needs gluten free food and was coming to the party, we decided on that day to see if we could come up with something yummy he could eat. We did the first draft using the same organic oats I put in my muesli, since he wasn't present to worry about if they were contaminated with gluten or not, and it came out so well that we didn't make any changes to the recipe, other than using oats that are certified as gluten-free and making a double batch for the party.

I have finally remembered to email him the recipe, so I thought I would share it with the rest of you, since he is not the only one who needs gluten free food...

ExpandCoconut-oat gluten-free cookies )

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