[Cookie 061] Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

Remember when I mentioned last week about the craziness that is Dean & Deluca? Well, I still stand by everything I said (and today I plan to head on over there and buy a little something called Sir Francis Bacon's Chocolate Covered Peanut Bacon Brittle--don't judge me), but I also mentioned that they sell Chocolate Mint Sandwiches in a set of 27 for $65. And that I have a recipe for you to make your own. And that we can all put 2 and 2 together and realize that this will probably save us a penny or two, right?

Now, in theory, I would think that no amount of physical labor and/or exquisite Valrhona chocolate could ever justify a price like that at...well...anywhere, but truth be told, I would need some substantial compensation in order to make these guys again. They were very tasty, chocolatey and super minty, but they actually took quite a bit of effort.

Let me elaborate, oui? Making the dough--a total breeze, no big deal. But things got a little sticky (pun...intended) during the rolling and re-rolling of the dough. This stuff does not want to leave the warm comfort of your cutting board. It coils itself tightly around your rolling pin like a boa constrictor around an innocent and unsuspecting daschund. No amount of powdered sugar or flour will allow your rolling pin free reign over the sticky expanse of dough. Really, I tried.

So, seeing as I was working with my dad, Fix-It Man 2010, he suggested that we abandon the rolling pins (we tried every variety that we owned, all to no avail) and use our bare hands instead. So we pressed down on this metaphorical boa constrictor (I should abandon that metaphor I think...) wherever we saw lumps and bumps, and eventually got it thin enough to work with. Unfortunately this meant less than perfect cookies, because the dough was never uniformly thin, but what can you do! Gotta make it work once you've already invested a couple sticks of butter and about 30 pounds of cocoa.

Side tangent: We had leftover ganache, so we thought, "Hey! Minty hot cocoa anyone? Hell yes!"

It didn't work. As you can see. Good try, though.

Pressing on (har har), we began to cut circles of dough out. Obviously, this wasn't too simple either considering that the dough had seeped about halfway through the thickness of our wooden cutting board. But we ended up with enough circles to make quite a few sandwiches.

After baking the cookies, you fill the centers with the minty filling--which is easy--and the you let them dry. Make sure you stick them in the fridge for that so they can be easily dipped into the ganache later. Yep, that's about it. It's a fun recipe if you ignore the trials of rolling the dough, so I still suggest you try it if you're feeling feisty! Plus, they are a chocolate lover's dream come true. So dense. So dark. So rich, minty, indulgent, awesome, make them, bake them, do it, I compel you.

And when you're done, maybe you'll be more likely to spend $65 on some more. Or maybe you won't. But maybe you'll understand. Or maybe you won't. I still don't. Whatever.

Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

• FOR THE COOKIES
• 1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• Confectioners' sugar, for work surface
• FOR THE GANACHE
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• FOR THE GLAZE
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped

Directions

1. Make cookies: Whisk together cocoa powder and flour in a bowl. Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg until well blended. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer dough to a work surface lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out cookies using a 2-inch round cookie cutter; space 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining scraps of dough. Bake cookies until firm, rotating sheets halfway through, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
3. Meanwhile, make ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chocolate. Cook, stirring constantly until chocolate is smooth. Stir in peppermint extract. Let cool slightly, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Spoon 1 teaspoon ganache onto the bottom of 1 cookie; sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and ganache. Refrigerate until firm, about 10 minutes.
5. Make glaze: Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring constantly. Let cool slightly. Dip one flat side of each sandwich into melted chocolate to coat; gently shake off excess. Place sandwiches, chocolate sides up, on wire racks set over baking sheets. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Cookies can be refrigerated in a single layer in airtight containers up to 2 days.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 4/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 3/5
Attractiveness: 4.5/5
Is it worth it?: I don't really think it's worth the effort involved, but hey, what does it matter what I think anyway?

{Pairings}
Drink: Dark chocolate cookie = milk. You should know this by now.

Song: One Piece at a Time -- Johnny Cash
Activity: Assembly line. Imagine: get all your friends in the kitchen, one person bakes, one fills, one sandwiches, one glazes. Bada-bing bada-boom! You are Dean & Deluca!

Favorite Cookie [051-060]

Can you believe that the last time I posted a "Favorite Cookie" post, it was just after Thanksgiving in November?! Whoaa nuts! Time flies/I don't update fast enough. You'll just have to deal with that though--both of those things. Anyway, I hope you are doing well. I hope everything is great. I hope you baked a lot of cookies and other foods. I hope that now that we're technically out of the "Holiday Season," and just about out of the "Post-Holiday Season" diet obsessions, that we can all agree it's time to start eating cookies again. No, I never stopped in the first place, but I'm just trying to get everyone on the same page here. Great! Let's review, shall we?

1st place (Blue Ribbon!): Chocolate Meringues

These were pretty fab, I'd say. What looks like a rather difficult and fancy cookie turned out to be simple and quick to make. They tasted awesome, were light and airy (as meringues should be!) and are too cute for words. Done and done.

2nd place (Honorable Mention!): Rum Balls

These were a close second! I had never had, let alone heard of, cookies like these, so they get extra points for originality. The rum tasted great too, and the coarse sugar surrounding the dense and chewy chocolate--textural perfection. They aren't gorgeous, but they ain't fugly neither! Good for fancy parties too, so dust off that vintage Givenchy gown...or just put on some sweats, gurrrlz (and boiiiz? are there any boys out there? hello???).

3rd place: White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies

Oh yum. These just tasted really great. Plain and simple. I dare you to find someone who doesn't like these. Even if you aren't a white chocolate fan, it works so well with the ginger in this recipe. Great for shipping/packaging too, I bet!

4th place: Sweet Cardamom Crackers

So, mine didn't come out cracker-y enough, but I still thought they tasted awesome. The dough is so intensely cardamom-y, and I would probably be satisfied with eating just the baked dough without the toppings, but the coconut and pistachios on top are a perfect addition. I recommend them muchly.

5th place: Chunky Peanut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Cookies

Definitely winners too. Even though they aren't totally drastically original, the small trace of cinnamon in them is a nice touch. Next time I might add a pinch more cinnamon, actually...either way, though, the chocolate-peanut combo is one of best in The Book!

6th place: Lemon Madeleines

So purdy, right?? These tasted really nice, but they're exactly what you expect and not much more. If you want Madeleines, you should absolutely make these! That being said, I think there were some more interesting cookies this round, that's all...

7th place: Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were another great chocolate-chip recipe, and actually came close to my holy grail of chocolate-chip cookies (ie. the one sold at City Bakery in NYC). However, mine didn't come out as thin as I had hope, which was a bit of a let down. But it don't matter much do it? They taste great and, honestly, who's going to argue with a chocolate-chip cookie? You?! Yeah right.

8th place: Cocoa Shortbread Diamonds

Another tasty cookie, but nothing shockingly original. The title explains it, and other than that, I don't have much to say about them. Oh, be sure to bust out some crazy cookie cutters for these though! And you can practice your icing/cookie decorating skills.

9th place: Coconut Macaroons

These were also really yummy, but I don't think they're the best Macaroon I've had. Maybe I've ranked them too low--they really were quite tasty. I dunno, nothing much to say, that's all.

10th place (Brown Ribbon!): Honey Florentines

Yo, I might be at fault for this one, seeing as I used caramelized honey which might have made them be super gummy and gunky, but even still, they aren't much of a cookie. I guess you'd make them to stick into a fancy scoop of gelato or creme fraiche or some other chic dessert, but other than that, you're probably not going to crave one of these guys in the middle of the night.

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Woof, I'm tired. Are you ready for more? How about some nice Valentine-y cookies? That seems to be a popular thing. Oh HAAAAAY!!!! I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING!!! We're fast approaching this blog's FIRST BIRTHDAY! Holy cow. Holy smokes. Holy moly. Holy hell. Better do something unfuckinbelievable. You just wait.

[Cookie 060] Lemon Madeleines

For my birthday, my brother was kind enough to give me an ample gift certificate to the chic gourmet foods mecca that is Dean & Deluca. Awesome. Lord knows that in no lifetime of mine, or of yours, or of the entire universe's for that matter, would I ever be able to actual afford to shop there purely out of my own pocket. Let me elaborate: 27 Chocolate-Dipped Mint Sandwich Cookies = $65.00. Uh. Twenty seven total. Uh. Okay, maybe they're dipped in platinum, or infused with unicorn blood, or made by ghosts of dead presidents (????????)--the point is, good thing I made that EXACT COOKIE already, and am going to post about it next week! But be forewarned, I did infuse mine with unicorn blood.

Okay, sorry about the tangent. What I'm getting at is that while I was perusing the store today, meandering through their aisles of Truffle-infused Sea Salt (yes, really) and Sage Jam (drool), I took a quick glimpse at their produce prices. Pale, wan tomatoes were going for $5/lb, and all I could think about were my Mom's amazing tomatoes that we enjoy every summer. And when winter rolls around, her Meyer Lemon tree goes crazy producing copious amounts of this citrus fruit. So when I'm at home, I don't get depressed about not being able to shop for ingredients at Dean & Deluca, because I can just grab some FOR FREE (practically) from her garden, and I don't even need to try Deluca's because I'm sure my mom's produce is better. End of story. Don't even try to argue me on this one.

Plus, how awesome is it to not only make your own fancy cookies like Lemon Madeleines that would probably sell for $18/lb at a high-end gourmet food store, but to make them also from ingredients that you grew yourself?! It's all you in your cookies! It takes the term "made from scratch" to a whole new level, and most likely will give you better tasting cookies in the end anyway! How proud you will be of the treats you make!

Now, not all of you have lemon trees in your back yard, this I know. But I still strongly suggest that you give this recipe a go. It's a quick and fun recipe and you can really up your British aristocratic snob-status by bringing them to a party. The recipe is easy peasy and I nearly drank the batter by the bowlful, but I dare say that's a sure-fire way to absolutely demolish your British aristocratic snob-status, and I simply just can't have that. Pish-posh!

(One minor thing to note: I forgot to stir up the batter after I let it sit for 30 minutes (see recipe) so as you can see in the picture above, the top 2 cookies have smooth batter and the bottom are thicker and chunkier. The chunkier ones turned out better! Stir it up!)

Okay, so what if you don't have a madeleine pan. Well, you're screwed. You really should just go and buy one, because if you try to pour the cookies into any other mold/pan, they might still taste good, but Queen Elizabeth will spit on you (notice the first name similarity--ahem). No, you don't have to buy your pan at Dean & Deluca. Just get one. You could even get a mini-Madeleine pan and be extra cute!

In conclusion, I love Dean & Deluca. Oh, you didn't get that vibe from my writing? Yeah, they're way crazy pricey, but their White Bean & Duck Confit soup kicks ass. Wait, wrong conclusion. In better conclusion, growing food is way more awesome! Even more awesome than that soup! Wait, I've got. The real conclusion is: you should make these babies. Yeah, that's it. Good!

Lemon Madeleines

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted (not self-rising)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons total)
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two madeleine pans; set aside.
   Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl; set aside.
2. Put eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and juice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mix in butter. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Let rest 30 minutes.
3. Pour batter into buttered pans, filling the molds 3/4 full. Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through, until edges are crisp and golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly in pans on wire racks. Invert, and unmold. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to one day.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5 (Even if you don't have a tree, I doubt you'll have a problem getting any of these ingredients)
Tastiness: 4/5
Attractiveness: 4/5
Is it worth it?: Yep!! Don't forget to dust them with powdered sugar (I forgot).

{Pairings}
Drink: English Breakfast Tea, or any other type of tea

Song: English House -- Fleet Foxes (ooh I love this song so dearly)
Activity: Gardening! Take a gander at my Mom's blog for some handy tips and gorgeous photos!

[Cookie 059] Chocolate Meringues

I'm all about pretty things. If it looks really nice, or is designed really well, or is just very aesthetically pleasing, chances are I'll overlook it's other flaws simply because I'm so infatuated with it's visual appearance. This goes for many things: dresses, tea pots, shoes, fabric, photographs, animals (like this one). Some call it superficiality, but I just appreciate style in any form I guess.

But, there are limitations. Cookies, though I am often attracted to the prettiest ones, are generally not better tasting when they're better looking (duh). I mean seriously, those Orange Cardamom Madeleines I made ages ago looked like all Madeleines do (read: adorable!), but they tasted baaaaaad. And those Lime Meltaways? Remember? They tasted like rainbows and sunshine and world peace, but they didn't look like much.

What I'm trying to say is that I have reservations when I see a cookie in The Book that's really fancy lookin' and takes a lot of pastry-chef skills--I tend to think it might lack in the taste department. So when I come across a recipe for a super purdy cookie that tastes amazing too, then I'm totally sold. I'm giddy. It's cute? And tastes cute?! When can I organize my next tea party??

Okay, that was a huge preamble to today's adorable and totally amazing cookie: the classic Meringue (this time in Chocolate!). Two particularly notable aspects of this cookie are it's perfect size and it's perfect texture. Oftentimes Meringues are made to be about the size of an egg or a tad larger, and then they're just impossible to eat because once you bite into them they shatter and explode everywhere. Messy. You'll get escorted out of your tea party with behavior like that. Crumbs in your chiffon dress or chiffon cake? Party foul, indeed--call Security.

And other times, Meringues come out too hard and dense, also causing them to be tricky to eat. Broken teeth are another tea party faux pas, in case you didn't know. These, on the other hand, were perfectly bite-sized and light and airy. And their chocolate flavor really tasted like that of chocolate milk or hot cocoa, so you can think of them as crunchy hot cocoa (or don't think of them that way...that's a little weird/gross).

But look at them. Really. They really are cute as a button, right? And despite their fancy looks, they are dead easy to make! All you do is whip up your egg whites into oblivion and then fold them into the chocolate and scoop a bunch of the batter into a star-tipped pastry bag. Then you just squeeze them out one by one and bake for two hours. Yeah, a really long baking time, but it is worth it in every way. Friends will be impressed. You'll swoon the opposite sex. Your boss will give you a promotion. You'll find the meaning of true happiness.

Maybe not. But you'll get to eat a cookie without feeling guilty! And they're perfect for Valentines Day/S.A.D. Day too! So who ever said that pretty things were useless? I'm pretty sure no one did, but here's more proof that that's false anyways. Go forth! Bake! Don you prettiest apron, set out your prettiest China, and go buy some false eyelashes. Beauty calls!

Note: First you make the Swiss Meringue, which is a plain, unflavored meringue, and then you add the cocoa! That's why there are 2 parts of the recipe.

Chocolate Meringues

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

Chocolate Meringue

• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Swiss Meringue

• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pinch cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Chocolate Meringue

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift 1⁄4 cup of cocoa over the meringue, and fold so that streaks of cocoa remain.
3. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a tip of your choice (we used an Ateco #5 star tip); pipe out cookies in small coils or desired shapes onto baking sheet. Bake until cookies lift off parchment easily, about 2 hours. Cookies can be stored in a single layer in airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Swiss Meringue

1. Fill medium saucepan one quarter full with water. Set the saucepan over medium heat, and bring water to a simmer.
2. Combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of electric mixer, and place over saucepan. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Test by rubbing between your fingers.
3. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whip, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use meringue immediately.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5 (If you don't have these ingredients, who d'ya think you are??)
Tastiness: 4.5/5
Attractiveness: 4.5/5
Is it worth it?: Duh!!! The pay off totally outweighs the minimal amount of effort involved in making these!

{Pairings}
Drink: Milk, or maybe a strong tea, like a Rooibus. Coffee would probably over-power the delicateness of the cookies.

Song: Fold -- Jose Gonzalez
Activity: Playing dress up. Or, on the contrary, you could dress like a slob and eat fancy petit-fours and finger food in your basement. It's up to you.

[Cookie 058] Sweet Cardamom Crackers

Well, I'm glad all of you dear readers support my homebody-tendencies, but I've got to break it to you. I'm in New York City now/again, and that means I'm going to resume my life of hardcore partying with celebrities and getting involved in all sorts of illicit behavior. Oh of course I'll continue baking with just as much fervor and relish as I ever had (no real relish though, I hate that stuff), I'm just going to have to share it with the likes of Jude Law and Kate Moss--though I doubt the latter will eat any.

Get it? I'm being sarcastic!! Ha ha ha! But I am in New York right now, and loving it (sorry Ma and Pa). School doesn't start for a few more days, which should give me enough time to get up to date on all this posting I have to do! I made a bunch of cookies over winter vacation that I have yet to post about, so hopefully I'll get that done. And to kick off this goal, I'll start with these Sweet Cardamom Crackers.

I'm a fan. I really loved these. A lot lot. My dad, not so much, but everyone else in my family liked them. However, I didn't roll out the dough thin enough before slicing and baking these, so I had to bake them a lot longer and they didn't get crispy and crackery like they were supposed to. Maybe if I made them thinner Kate Moss would have ate a few, but as it was she gave them all to Jude. Okay, new New Year's Resolution oh-ten: stop making up weird celebrity situations that never happened/never will happen. I'm beginning to creep myself out.

Okay, back to the cookies. They're really easy to make, like most of the cookies in The Book, but they are unlike most traditional cookies. So you can easily impress your famous friends! The flavor of the dough is really cardamom-y and incredible delicious, and then the coconut and pistachios sprinkled on top take them over the top (in a perfect way). Mine, as I said before, came out too thick and therefore underbaked and soft, but if you roll them out thinner I'm sure that they will be much more like crackers and even better!

So maybe I lied about my celebrity contacts. Maybe. But I'm not lying about these cookies when I say that you should make them. And I'm also not lying about trying to get back up to date on my blog posting. But that probably won't happen. Deal with it--and make these cookies ASAP. Sorry, it's just tough love...ciao lovelies!

Sweet Cardamom Crackers

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped pistachios
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg, separated, , white lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Stir together 1 teaspoon sugar, the pistachios, and coconut in a small bowl.
2. Put butter and remaining sugar into the bowl on an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, cardamom, and salt; mix until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer dough to a nonstick baking mat (such as Silpat), or parchment paper. With a floured rolling pin, roll out a 12 by 8-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Use a pizza wheel to create straight sides, discarding scraps. Carefully transfer mat or paper to a baking sheet. Cut into twenty-four 2-inch squares. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with pistachio mixture.
4. Bake until firm and edges are pale golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and run pizza wheel over original cuts. Gently break into individual crackers. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 3/5 (I don't usually have coconut and pistachios around the house)
Tastiness: 4/5 (Great sweet flavor)
Attractiveness: 3.5/5
Is it worth it?: Yes yes yes!

{Pairings}
Drink: Something not too sugary, because these cookies are pretty sweet. Coffee with milk, perhaps?

Song: Skinny Love -- Bon Iver
Activity: Doing lines with Kate Moss (gahhh sorry!!!)--I meant to say, they would be great after a light lunch al fresco...

[Cookie 057] Honey Florentines

Okay, it's really 100% official. I am, without a shadow of a doubt, actually 7o years old on the inside. I even surprise myself sometimes with the extent to which I fulfill the general stereotype of an aging, hokey grandma. Let me paint you a picture to illustrate my point better: Last night, a lovely Wednesday night when I could have been out doing any other number of things that a freshly turned 20-year-old could/should do, I chose to stay home and bake cookies and then...work on my quilt that I'm sewing. Quilting. What the hell. Aren't I supposed to be going to cRaAaAaAaaazy house parties, doing keg-stands, and having drag races down in the L.A. river? Guess it's just not in the cards for me.

And even as I type this, I'm trying as hard as I can to rationalize why I choose these activities over the others that I listed earlier. And I've got nothing. No reason. I just like to do fuddy-duddy, anti-social things, with the company of a few cats. God, I wish you were here so you could laugh at the fact that a Beach Boys song just started playing on my iTunes. Wait, no! I just found a way to rationalize (or at least subdue) my grandmothery ways: As I was quilting last night, I was listening to the music that all the kids listen to these days! I was listening to...102.7 KIIS FM and POWER 106! YEAH! Gotta get my Lil Wayne and Lady GaGa some how, right? Okay, good, so I do have one or two underlying qualities of an average young adult. Good.

Honey Florentines, though, seem like such an old lady cookie to me. I could be wrong--maybe their Beyonce's favorite cookie of all time (doubtful)--but I can only imagine a group of 80-year-old socialites playing Bridge, wearing pants up to their ears, and delicately nibbling on a few of these ultra thin and dainty cookies from a porcelain dish resting on top of a doily.

Unfortunately, these dignified old ladies would probably have turned their noses up at my feeble attempt of making these tea cookies, because in all honesty, mine weren't that great. They came out underbaked, and although I tried crisping them up a bit in the toaster oven, they always got stuck in my teeth after a few seconds of chewing. In all likelihood this was because I used a caramelized honey which had a totally different consistency than regular honey: it was far, far thicker and more viscous, which probably caused the cookies to bake up differently and be a lot less delicate after a few chews. Caramelized honey is totally delicious, however, so I highly recommend buying some to mix into your Metamucil or Benefiber.

But despite the lackluster batch that I produced, I really like the idea of these cookies. Maybe that's just my inner old lady speaking (her name is Agnes, by the way), but these cookies are just so pretty and delicate and lacey looking that they just really appeal to my tea-party-loving, doily-making sensibilities (yes, I crochet doilies too, and I'm not lying). So, if you're like me and relate more to people that are about half a century older than you, or perhaps you are one of these people, you should make these. Preferably with regular honey. And then you could dip them in some chocolate! Or stick them in a scoop or two of raspberry sorbet! Or have them with a tea cup full of Chamomile! With a side of homemade whipped cream and macerated berries! I could call Beyonce to see what she likes to eat with them, but I think she's busy today, you know, dancing or singing to the President or just looking super fly or something.

>>The recipe is not listed on the Martha Stewart website, so I'm not sure if it's kosher for me to copy it straight out of the book. Is that illegal? If you know anything about copyright, let me know! The last thing I want is to be sued by Mama M. Also, I'm too lazy to copy it by hand. Thanks for understanding folks.<<

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5
Tastiness: 3/5 (If you make the cookies with normal honey--as you should--this number should go up!)
Attractiveness: 4.5/5
Is it worth it?: If you're having a tea party, or really any sort of refined celebration, these should totally be on your list.

{Pairings}
Drink: Tea, tea, tea. Chamomile would be nice, but I'm not a huge fan, so maybe a nice herbal tea with rosehips?

Song: Video Phone -- Beyonce ft. Lady GaGa -or- Daydream -- Lovin' Spoonful (depending on how old you're feelin)
Activity: Playin' Bridge with the ladies, or shuffleboard if that's more your style.