[Cookie 096] Homemade Graham Crackers

A few weeks ago I went to the Mojave Desert with my parents, just to get my dose of the wild west before I had to go back to the tame east. It was insanely beautiful, as usual, with its vast expanses of beautiful muted colors and variations of textures everywhere. I really love the landscape in California--it really has everything, from mountains to oceans to deserts to woods. And it's all pretty spectacular. This was no exception!

Since we had to spend the night out there, we decided to car camp. Definitely felt luxurious compared to backpacking, since we got to bring as much snacks and frivolities as we wanted. So that, of course, included marshmallows to roast over the fire. However, we had no graham crackers, and no chocolate, so no s'mores. Sad! Should have made these Homemade Graham Crackers before we went on the trip!

I've been waiting to try out this recipe for quite some time now. I love store bought graham crackers anyways, so the thought of making my own and knowing exactly what was going into them really appealed to me. They have both whole wheat flour as well as wheat germ, which makes for a hearty, wheaty flavor with a nice crunch to it. Perfect!

For the honey, I used some of this super expensive stuff my mom picked up on a whim at the farmer's market (did I get that right, Mom?). Anyways, it's the kind that has an almost waxy texture, not clear and runny at all. You scoop it with a spoon and it even has granules of honey comb inside it. The flavor is much more complex than your regular old honey bear squirt tube kind that you buy at the supermarket, and this flavor really added to the cookie. I would recommend splurging on a fancy honey with a nice flavor (have you heard of Caramelized Honey? Got some from this guy--amazing!), because it really does make a difference.

The recipe itself is pretty much your standard cookie-cutter recipe, except you divide the dough with a fluted device (which I didn't have--used a knife, not as purdy); but you could totally use cookie cutters if you want! But if you're looking for that traditional 4 rectangle graham cracker that you can split in half, follow the directions. And make sure to bake them fully, or else they won't be crisp and crackery. What could be worse than a slightly soft graham cracker? Well, a lot of things, but don't mess with something that's so classic!

So, obviously the next logical step, after letting your graham crackers cool, is to make s'mores. I don't know about you guys, but I've always been a little irritated with the whole Hershey's bar thing. I know s'mores are supposed to be messy, but it's just impossible to bit into one and get an adequate amount of chocolate per bite. So, my dad had the brilliant idea to melt some chocolate chips and spread them on the graham crackers. Seems really obvious, but it's so much better! I'd try Nutella next time...

Now get to makin' these so you can whip up some s'mores for the cold cold weekend ahead!

Homemade Graham Crackers

Makes 20

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for working

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup untoasted wheat germ

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 tablespoons high-quality honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flours, wheat germ, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter, brown sugar, and honey into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture, and mix until combined.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface, and divide into quarters. Roll out each piece between 2 sheets of floured parchment paper into rectangles a bit larger than 9 by 6 inches, about 1/8 inch thick.

Using a fluted pastry wheel, trip the outermost edges or each rectangle, and divide into three 6 by 3-inch rectangles. Pressing lightly, so as not to cut all the way through, score each piece in half lengthwise and crosswise, to form four 3 by 1 1/2-inch crackers. Stack parchment and dough on a baking sheet and chill in freezer until firm, about 20 minutes.

Remove two sheets of dough from freezer. Pierce crackers using the tines of a fork. Transfer to large baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake, rotating halfway through, until dark golden brown, 8 to 9 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Let cool on sheet 5 minutes; transfer crackers to wire racks to cool completely.

****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 4.5/5
Attractiveness: 3.5/5
Is it worth it?: Yes! A must try...

{Pairings}

Drink: Have you heard of this Marshmallow Milkshake? I'm a bit wary...

Song: Ecstasy -- jj
Activity: Camping, duh! Or making s'mores by the stove, if you're lazy.

[Cookie 092] Sand Tarts

I tried. You know, I really did. I gave it the ol' yeoman's effort, as my high school math teacher would say. But when I put a bunch of hours worth of effort into producing a cookie that is sad, soft, and definitely NOT baked to golden perfection, I get a little disheartened.

It's become quite obvious by now that I've not been baking nearly as many cookies as I should be this semester. Living in Ghana means that chocolate is ridiculously expensive (despite the fact that this country exports some of the finest cocoa and chocolate products out there! But why sell it domestically when you can make more money abroad?), and nuts other than cashews and groundnuts (read: peanuts) are nearly impossible to find. And then there's the crazy oven with no temperature reading, and then there's the fact that I only have a 1/2 cup and 1 cup measure, no teaspoon measures, and no baking sheet, and no cookie cutters. I promise to stop whining about all of this, but I just gotta give some context/cover my ass, because these cookies are pretty shameful.

So let's have a run-through of how the baking of these Sand Tarts went. I got out the butter, and seeing as I'm living in AFRICA near the EQUATOR, it came to room temperature in about 20 seconds. Whip that up, add sugar and all that shit.

Measure out the flour in a measuring cup that of course doesn't fit inside the flour bag. So instead of doing something logical and pouring a bunch into a bowl and then measuring it, I pour the flour directly into the measuring cup and try to get it exactly right. And spill a bunch, DUH. Ugh. Okay, moving on…

Mix wet and dry ingredients and make: the most boring dough in the world. Oh, did I mention that I just didn't even add the lemon zest? Lemons are not really abundant here, so I was just like "EH! Who cares!" My tastebuds care, that's who. Oh well--punishment for ignorance, I suppose.

After refrigerating the dough for a while, it's time to roll it out. Oh wait! Guess who doesn't have a rolling pin! Never mind that, we just used a glass bottle (one that used to hold a bunch of delicious, delicious groundnuts…). Okay, so that works out decently. Now time to cut out circles with…a cup. Because I don't have a cookie cutter. Whatever! It still works! Awesome! Stick those babies on the "cookie sheet" which is really a roasting pan, which I'm pretty sure is one of the main factors that is fucking up the baking time of my cookies…

And then you have to get a hand print on your ass and pose for a picture looking like a complete...ass. I still can't figure out how that got there, considering it was my own hand. Awkward…I'll post a small picture to retain some shred of dignity.

Alright, so thus far nothing bad has really happened. It has just been an exercise in makin' in work! We bake up the first batch, and of course the oven burns the bottoms and doesn't toast the tops. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to fix this? Should I put a bain-marie underneath the tray in order to circulate heat? Ideas??

Here's the best part of this baking experience: about 2 minutes into the second batch WE RUN OUT OF GAS. Welcome to Africa. Arrggggasdflkajh! So I scrape off the warm blobs of uncooked dough, put them into a tupperware container, and then…voila, we have gas again. By this point I'm pissed off, so I quit. The cookies taste okay, but definitely not how they should.

Obviously, the main reasons that my cookies came out so poorly were because of my own situation, but I still think that the recipe itself is pretty boring. There's not really a dominant flavor, other than "sweet" and maybe a little bit "vanilla-y." I bet if they came out crisp and crunchy like they were supposed to, I might have liked them better, but alas. They did not. I ate them anyways. They were good with coffee. I mean Nescafe. No coffee here.

Fortunately, they make the deplorable Nescafe taste better, and the Nescafe makes the cookies taste better. And if you have a kitten mug, EVERYTHING TASTES BETTER ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

See the kitten cup in the background?!!? My favorite purchase I've made in Ghana. But still, the end result of the cookies is a little disappointing. I miss my oven.

Xoxo

Sand Tarts

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large whole egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 large egg white

1 teaspoon water

Sliced almonds, for decoration

Cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, and beat until light-colored.

Beat in egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and lemon zest. Sift flour with salt, and add to butter mixture. Mix on low speed just until dough comes together. Wrap and chill for several hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk egg white and the water in a small bowl. Set aside. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch round cutter, and place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush with egg-white mixture, decorate with 3 sliced almonds, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove from oven; allow to cool.

****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 2.5/5
Attractiveness: 3.5/5
Is it worth it?: I dunno...they are easy, but you could find a more interesting, tastier cookie that is just as simple to make.

{Pairings}

Drink: Nescafe (if you want to cry yourself to sleep)--otherwise, real coffee please.

Song: Remember (Walkin' in the Sand) -- The Shangri-Las
Activity: Eat these while at the beach, because they look like sand dollars...??

[Cookie 089] Spiced Almond Wafers

Hey there. I'm still in Ghana. Very much so. It's really starting to set in that I'll be living here for 3.5 more months, which is so strange, but also pretty awesome! You know what goes down after my classes?? Everyone goes to this awesome cafe (if I can even call it that) that is essentially just a few tables and plastic chairs set on the side of the quiet road leading to the NYU Academic Center, and we all get a Star beer (Ghanaian!) and chill out. Uh, YES. Yeah yeah, I can hear my mom and dad groaning all the way across the Atlantic ocean; "Lizzie, do you even do any work there?! What are we paying for!?" Well, I do do work, thank you very much--it's just that Ghanaians really know how to relax. When in Rome/Accra…

Anyway, this is a cookie blog, and not a travel blog! I haven't yet made any cookies here yet, but this weekend it is SO happening, I promise. It has somehow spread around amongst the other students here that I bake cookies often, which is a bad sign because I think there might be a hype that I can't live up to! The pressure!! Anyway, there are a couple recipes that call for ingredients that are super pricy in the states--like Lyle's Golden Syrup--which are very cheap here, but other things are really expensive here, like chocolate. Basically anything imported has a huge price tag, even for American standards, which makes things a little difficult. Nah, actually, I'll just treat grocery shopping like a treasure hunt or something. Eventually I'll find all the cheap flour and sugar! Do you know they have COCONUT FLOUR here?! Awesome!! How do I use it/what do I use it in??

Okay, well this post is actually about another old cookie recipe that I baked right before I flew off to this other side of the globe. Spiced Almond Wafers! Thin, crisp, and spicy--and pretty too. The dough, surprisingly, tasted more spicy before it was baked, which is pretty odd since usually the flavors get enhanced after baking, and after having a day to set in. These cookies ended up tasting nice, but nothing shockingly flavorful or anything. I also wished they were a little thinner, like the pictures, but maybe I just didn't slice the dough thin enough. Oh hey! Idea! Maybe you could use a cooking mandolin to slice the dough evenly! Would that work??

The recipe itself, however, is a little more interesting than most of her recipes. Whipping up the dough is the same as usual, but once you've made it you stick it into some mini bread loaf tins so that the dough freezes into a brick shape. I didn't have any mini loaf pans, so I just used regular sized ones and didn't fill them up bigger than I wanted the dimensions of the cookies to be.

Once you freeze the dough for a while, you slice off cookies and decorate them with almond slices. It can get a little tedious, but if you've got some jams playin' it shouldn't take you too long. And the end result is pretty dang adorable, and I can't deny an adorable cookie. Some people can't deny adorable children--I can! But an adorable cookie, that's another matter.

As you can see, the cookie travels well and is perfect for picnics too! A good snacking cookie, nothing all that heavy or dense, so you can bring them to a party and people won't complain that you're trying to fatten them up (a problem, I must admit, I have encountered a couple of times).

So, in conclusion, these cookies are cute and people will like the way they look and most will like the way they taste. They will probably fall in the middle of my rankings of best cookies, but they ain't bad!

Ciao puppies

xx

Spiced Almond Wafers

Makes about 6 dozen (it's true!!)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed dark-brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 cup sliced blanched almonds

Directions

Line 2 mini loaf pans with plastic wrap.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed for 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs and spices. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions.

Press cookie dough into pans, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze for 1 1/2 hours (or up to 1 month).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from 1 pan. Let soften slightly. Cut eight 1/8-inch-thick slices with a sharp knife. Cover remaining dough, and freeze in pan until ready to slice and bake.

Place slices 1 1/2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat. Top each with 2 to 3 almond slices. Freeze until firm, 5 minutes. Bake until dark golden brown, 10 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack. Repeat.

****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 3.5/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 3/5
Attractiveness: 4/5
Is it worth it?: Yeah sure, why not

{Pairings}

Drink: Aw, a nice light wine, if you wanna get fancy romantic.

Song: Skinny Love -- Bon Iver
Activity: A picnic, complete with cherries, a baguette, and kettle corn. And that wine. Trust me when I say that can't be beat...

[Cookie 087] Chocolate-Ginger Leaves and Acorns

Well, well, I ain't gone yet. Technically I am, but at the very moment I'm enjoying a relaxing, peaceful stay at the JFK airport...for eight hours. Eight hour layover. I love traveling. Turns out that the student-discount website that I bought my tickets from neglected to inform me that my flight number was changed to a flight leaving an hour later than I had expected, thus giving me eight hours to hang out in the airport. If I had known sooner, I would have taken a later flight to JFK from LAX, and not had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning, but that wouldn't have been any fun now would it?

Okay, okay, it's not so bad. It could be going the other way--me missing my flight by eight hours. And hell, I'm going to AFRICA so I guess I shouldn't really be complaining. I'm doing what I can to pass the time (I bought wifi access for the day, which is how I'm writing this duhhh), and I ate at one of those ridiculous sit-down "restaurants" in the airport, the food at which was thoroughly mediocre. Maybe after this I'll watch some episodes of The Daily Show or Community, or work on my portfolio website. Oh the things I can get done! All while sitting in this vomit-colored leather chair by a window overlooking a massive jumbo British Airways jet. Productivity AND ambiance!

So let's talk about these cookies that I made like 6 weeks ago (whoops, lazy blogging--I couldn't care less). These Chocolate-Ginger Leaves and Acorns really didn't seem like the right cookie to make in July, but I had the ingredients hangin' around--minus the molasses, which warranted a quick trip to Pavilions. The recipe is very simple, even for this cookbook, and satisfied my urge to bake something. However, the resultant cookie wasn't really anything to write home about. It tastes nice, but nothing unusual. And as you can see, I didn't really feel like going out and buying leaf- and acorn-shaped cookie cutters, so I made cats, hearts, and misshapen free-form circle things!

I bet I'm not alone when I say I hate rerolling scraps of dough a million times for cookie-cutter recipes, right? So after a while I either just give up and eat the rest of the dough (NO SHAME!!!) or I roll the dough into balls and flatten them with a fork. Yeah, yeah, they don't cook the same way as the thin cookie-cutter cookies, but this way I get a few under-baked ones, which I love. Everyone's happy, especially me.

So, I guess that's all I have to say about these. I wish I had some epic, hilarious, and tragic story to tell that's related to making these, just so I could pass some more time here at Gate 6 in Terminal 7, but I don't. I guess it's time for me to start playing Farmville again...kidding!! Sort of.

Chocolate-Ginger Acorns

Makes 4 dozen

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1 tablespoon peeled, grated fresh ginger

Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in medium bowl.

Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg, molasses, and grated ginger; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.

Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft at any time, freeze until firm.) Cut out shapes with 3-inch acorn- or leaf-shaped cookie cutters; space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.

Score designs with a paring knife; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 3.5/5
Attractiveness: 4/5
Is it worth it?: Yeah, I guess. I am thoroughly indifferent about these.

{Pairings}

Drink: Because they are pretty subtle in flavor, I wouldn't drink anything with these, per se.

Song: Who Knows Who Cares -- Local Natives
Activity: I could see serving these at an autumn party--a Harvest Party!! Ooh someone please do that! I'm so sad I'm going to miss fall, my favorite season...but I just don't think the leaves are going to change in Ghana all that much.

[Cookies 085] Almond Horns

Good day, folks. Long time no see. I went on a bit of a vacation, if you can call sleeping in a tent for 5 consecutive nights without any showers or toilets or fresh coffee (God Forbid!!) a vacation. I was backpacking in the Sequoias for a week, trekking upwards of 20 miles in between the spindly pines and fields of wildflowers. Like last year! It was beautiful, duhhhhhhh, and I loved it. Extremely tiring and hard, hard work, but how else am I supposed to work off all the cookies I've been eating this summer?

So now I'm back in the comfort of my own home, equipped with all the "necessities" that supposedly I can't live without: internet, cars, TV, whatever. Hmph. And here I am updating my blog--how 21st century of me. Well, whatever, enough musings on modernity, I'll save it for another day. Maybe for the day when I finally buy a 1950s camping trailer and drive across the United States; or maybe for the day when I finally move into an old run-down Victorian estate out in the cornfields of Nebraska or the grasslands of Montana. Oh, yes, that will be the life.

Until then, I'm here. And in only 1 weeks time, I'll be.....IN GHANA! I'm studying abroad for 4 months in Accra! Ahhh!!! I make no promises about what the cooking situation will be once I'm there--I will have a kitchen, but I don't know what ingredients I'll be able to get (I'm hoping I'll be able to get some KICKASS chocolate though!). Yep, it's a big question mark over my cookie career, but I'll try my best.

But, hey, I haven't left yet. So I shall update on these last few recipes I've made before I head on out. Today: Almond Horns. Cute, right? And even though they sound a little on the simple side, they are really really delicious. Full of almond flavor, and though they are crunchy like shortbread, they don't taste as buttery. They aren't overly sweet either, so the sprinkling of powdered sugar on top of them really adds a nice touch. The cookie itself has a kind of toasted flavor, rich and nutty, and the sugar on top is just enough to heighten the slight saltiness of the cookie. Really, quite nice!

As for the ease of the recipe, you shouldn't have any problems making them. The recipe calls for 1 cup of almonds which you essentially grind up into almond meal, but I used my own pre-made almond meal that I had bought for some other recipes and it worked just find. However, 1 cup of almonds is not the same as 1 cup of almond meal (duh), so I added about 1/2 cup of almond meal at first, and then added a little more until the dough formed a workable shape. You're going to be shaping the dough into horns, so you don't want it too wet and sticky, but it should be able to hold it's shape and not be too dry either. Just use your best judgement, or follow the recipe and make your own almond meal--it's probably better anyways.

So if you're looking for a recipe that's perhaps more for your friends with rather sophisticated palates that can appreciate subtle flavorings (ah, yes, quite fancy and refined I dare say), then I'd absolutely suggest this cookie. Cute looking, has a nice warm and nutty flavor, and great with tea or coffee. I could eat them for a long time. Maybe for the entire plane ride to Ghana. Or not...even I have my limits.

Until later this week, my summery friends...

P.S. Have any of you been to Ghana? Are any of you from Ghana? If so, I'd love to hear about it! Advice? Things to see/do/eat? Anything! Everything! Tell me, tell me, I'm so excited!! Send me an email, or comment on this entry, whichever's your fancy.

Almond Horns

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus more for dusting

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup whole raw almonds, toasted and finely ground in a food processor

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and extracts. Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture and almonds until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a 4-inch log; gently shape into a horseshoe. Repeat with remaining dough. Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment.

Bake cookies (rotating sheets halfway through) until pale golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely. Transfer to waxed paper. Sift sugar over cookies. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature 2 to 3 days.

****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5
Tastiness: 4/5
Attractiveness: 4/5
Is it worth it?: Yes yes! Nothing that exciting or snazzy, but more of a cookie you can bring home to your parents. Is that weird? Did I totally mess up that figure of speech?

{Pairings}

Drink: A subtle tea, maybe an English Breakfast with milk.

Song: Horn -- Nick Drake (Not only does the title match, but the music pairs well with the cookie. I am a big nerd.)
Activity: These would be good at a craft party! Don't ask why, I just think they would. Knitting party, yeah? They don't get chocolate all over your fingers and are great to munch on. Yes. Yes, I paired this one well, pat on the back.

[Cookie 080] Stained Glass Trees

Happy Solstice! Happy first day of summer! Are you celebrating? I absolutely am! I'm sitting here in my living room, windows and doors open to the backyard, with The Beach Boy's "Endless Summer" on the turntable. While it's not my favorite Beach Boy's album, it seemed like the thing to do--songs of surfing, sun, summer, sand, and other sibilant synonyms. But, as those of you who live in California can attest, June is never that hot and summery; it's actually a little on the cool side, temperatures staying in the mid-70s with the occasional overcast sky. Weird. But, in my opinion, nothing beats a nice cool breeze as the sun beats down through the smoggy air. None of that nasty humidity that those east-coasters have to suffer through, oh no. Just dry, arid days ahead of me. But until those truly Californian oppressive heat waves really begin to set in, I'll be able to rev up my oven without worrying about dying of heat stroke in my kitchen. Good! Good! That's very promising, don't you agree?

So what's a nice summer cookie? Something colorful? Yeah! Something sweet, like popsicles and snow cones! Something a little childish, because summer is really a season owned by children and childhood memories, right? Something fun to make, definitely not boring or too sophisticated for that matter. Okay, okay, I've got it. Although these Stained Glass Trees might seem like a Christmas cookie, screw it--make them into stars, and you've got an instant 4th of July cookie.

Okay, so I'll admit, these cookies were literally at the bottom of my list. I did not want to make them. Nope, they looked pretty gross in my opinion. Jolly Ranchers in my cookie?! No!! Sounded entirely blasphemous and contrary to all my beliefs regarding the noble baked good that is the Cookie. You don't mix candy and cookies. One or the other, choose. So, I decided to make these and give them away so I wouldn't have to eat them.

So I did just that--I gave them away. But, truth be told, they were actually pretty tasty! Besides being quite beautiful in their own right, the super thin layer of melted Jolly Rancher in the cookie's "window" provides just the right amount of sweetness and delicacy. If the layer of candy was any thicker it would probably be gross and hard to eat, but as it is, the thin glass-like layer melts in your mouth without getting all stuck in your molars. And it shatters in such a fun way when you bite into it--really, just like glass, except totally NOT deadly to eat!! Awesome!! No trips to the hospital! Ok, what I'm trying to say is that these guys were a pleasant surprise and far better than I had expected.

And they are really fun to make: You get to unleash your inner fury and smash the hell out of these candies! I used a big ol' hammer to crush the candies (which are actually a little difficult to break), but that was only after I had tried to break them with the bottom of a can of sardines, which got badly dented. Could have had a really disgusting disaster on my hands if I broke that can. Sardines and Jolly Ranchers. Let's not talk about that.

So, use a hammer. Or rolling pin. Or your BARE HANDS, which I think is what Martha probably did (great mental image, amirite?!). Wouldn't want to mess with her, no no no. Once you've broken them up, you roll out the dough, use your favorite cookie cutter and then take a paring knife or small round cookie cutter to cut out the windows in the center of each cookie. Sprinkle a few chunks of Jolly Rancher into the middles and bake. Use just the blue and red candies inside star-shaped cookies and you are ready for your Independence Day picnic! Or use yellow and purple candies and you can go ape-shit over the Lakers like everyone else in Los Angeles, except myself. Am I really the only person who doesn't give a shit about sports?? Sorry, tangent--back to cookies.

Anyway, I hope you give these cookies a try and not be as judgmental of them as I was when I first laid eyes on the recipe. If you're looking for a good cookie to give to kids, or to make with them, I'd definitely recommend these. But I think grown-ups would like them too--especially grandparents! Aren't grandparents the patron saints of hard candies?

Stay cool, folks...

Stained Glass Trees (or Stars)

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 7 ounces assorted clear colored hard candies, such as Jolly Rancher, colors separated and finely chopped (about 30)

Directions

1. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until smooth, 1 minute. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and mix until combined. Stir in vanilla.Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, about 45 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.with racks in upper and lower thirds. Roll out chilled dough on a well-floured surface to a little more than 1/8 inch thick. Cut out shapes using a 5-inch tree-shape cookie cutter. Using a metal spatula, space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Using the tip of a paring knife, make a triangular cutout in center of each cookie for candy filling. Reroll scraps, and cut.
4. Sprinkle candy in a single layer in hole of each cookie, avoiding edges of triangle. Refrigerate until dough is firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Bake cookies until candy has melted and completely filled cutout and cookie edges are just starting to turn pale golden brown, 11 to 12 minutes. Do not let the cookies brown, or the candy centers may become bubbly. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Use a metal spatula to remove cookies from parchment. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 3.5/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5
Tastiness: 2.5/5 (The cookie itself has no flavor, a little disappointing)
Attractiveness: 4.5/5
Is it worth it?: Maybe. Not for the taste of the cookie, but worth it for the uniqueness of the end result, I guess.

{Pairings}
Drink: Iced tea! Something cold and refreshing and summery. Maybe this delicious fizzy cucumber drink?

Song: Good Vibrations -- The Beach Boys
Activity: It's time to relax on the back porch, I say. Or don you best bikini and head to the shores!