The Funky Kitchen

I seem to have developed a rather large collection of cookie cutters. Cookie cutters are a collection that kind of works for me, I think, being all cooking and baking interested and all.

Some of my favorites are the hippos (big one and wee baby one), the dinosaur, and the elephants.

So I made sugar cookies, orange cardamom sugar cookies to be precise, because sugar cookies are just perfect for some cookie cutter fun. In the name of science, I decided to see just how expansive my cookie cutter collection has become. I made a whole batch of cookies and got to use each cookie cutter once! It started getting to the point where I was running out of cookie dough, so I had to cut a couple of cookies out of other cookies (concentric hearts, little chick cut out of a big bird).

I’m starting to worry that this collection is too big…

but there so many cute ones out there!

Orange Cardamom Cookies

(adapted from Gourmet December 2007)

2 1/2 Cups flour

2 Tbsp orange zest

2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp salt

1 Cup butter

1/4 Cup sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, orange zest, cardamom and salt.
• In a second, smaller bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are fluffy. Next, incorporate the egg, whipping cream, and vanilla.
• In batches, add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until the dough forms.
• Cover your dough in cling film and refrigerate for an hour.
• Next, roll the cookie dough out 1/8″ thick, and cut out shapes with cookie cutters, reserving scraps and rerolling to make more cookies.
• Put the cookies onto baking sheets, and bake in  350° oven until the edges are golden brown (~9-12 minutes).
• Optional: after the cookies have cooled, decorate them with Maple Brown Sugar Icing (recipe to follow).

What I really liked about these cookies was that there is really not that much sugar in them (until you cover them with icing), but you get a really nice flavor from the orange zest and cardamom. I’ll definitely be making these again.

Maple Brown Sugar Icing

(from Dandelion’s recipe on Group Recipes)

2 1/2 Cups icing sugar

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup butter

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 Cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

• Beat sugars, butter and salt together until fluffy. This is easiest using a machine mixer.
• Continue beating, and drizzle in slowly both the maple syrup and vanilla.
• Ice whatever your heart desires!

This icing is so tasty! The color isn’t awesome, but I think it would take some color by way of food coloring really well if you were decorating something like a cupcake.

Mr says: These cookies have a super good combo of subtle flavors. There isn’t one that really jumps out at you, but everything works really well in combination.

This time last year: Deeply Chocolate Ice Cream

“Be careful not to overfill them. When they overflow you’ll lose almost all of the filling.“ She warned, across the city, through the phone line.

I wrote it down at the bottom of the recipe; do not overfill. It’s just that after the whisking, the rolling, cookie cutting and pressing I stood with a great big bowl of filling and overfilled almost every tart shell. The debate of whether or not to risk overflowing butter tarts by maximizing the ratio of gooey delectable filling to pastry went to the side of risking overfilling.

The moral of the story? Listen to your Mum, she knows what she’s talking about. If she says to be careful not to overfill when she gives you a recipe, don’t push your luck. To my good fortune though, another batch is not too difficult to make, and an overflown butter tart is still very much worth eating.

Butter Tarts

1/2 Cup raisins or currants

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C corn syrup

1 egg

2 Tbsp softened butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp white vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

Not-So-Secret Pie Crust

Directions

• Put your raisins or currants in a bowl and cover with hot water from a recently boiled kettle. Allow them to sit and plump up while you prepare everything else.
• Gather a bowl and a whisk for making the filling.
• Put the brown sugar, corn syrup, egg, butter, vanilla, vinegar and salt into the bowl and whisk frantically until the filling is uniform.

Why does it seem like this is a lot of filling for what the recipe calls? I made a triple batch.

• Roll out the pie crust to 1/4-1/8″ thickness. Cut out rounds of pastry with a biscuit cutter or an inverted cup.

• Press the pastry circles into the wells of a muffin pan (or mini muffin pan for mini butter tarts).
• Drain your raisins/currants. They should be nice and plump now. Put some of the fruit into each of the tart shells. Different people like different amounts of raisins, I like enough to at least cover the bottom of the tart.
• Pour the butter tart filling into the shells, being careful not to overfill.

See the upper left corner? That is overfull.

• Bake in a 425° oven until the pastry is golden and the filling is puffed (~1o minutes).

From what I’ve read, it seems like butter tarts are kind of a Canadian thing. I cannot imagine Christmas, or trips to West Hawk Lake for that matter, without them. And these ones, my mum’s gooey butter tarts are the best. The sticky-sweet brown sugary filling is somewhat reminiscent of a pecan pie (just trying to give those of you who haven’t had them a reference point) without the pecans, or the Quebecois tarte au sucre. Neither are the same though. We’re already running out of them, so we’re going to have to make another batch in order to have some remaining at Christmas!

Mr. says: I love butter tarts during the holidays. They are a party platter staple. If you cheat and buy the tart shells it shortens the process of making butter tarts greatly.

This time last year: Cheater Labneh Tortellini

There is some part of me that is resolute in its belief that I am, in fact, an emotional ninja; that unless I want someone to know how I feel, they won’t be able to tell. Like a ninja, my feelings won’t be apparent until I allow them to be.

All too often, though, I realize that this isn’t quite right. Yes, I apparently am an emotional ninja, just not at all in the way I believe myself to be. Instead of having how I feel stealthily camouflaged, people generally have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. I was discussing this with a friend of mine, and she told me I was an emotional ninja in that my heart is on my sleeve, and it’s more of a case of “Hi-yah! Karate chop of glee!” or “Pow! Flying kick of something’s bothering me! “ 

Mr agreed with her, but reminded me that it isn’t a terrible thing to have people know how you’re feeling. It’s strange how the way you see yourself can be so different from how other people experience you.

Hi, my name is Dana. And I am an emotional ninja.

Shortbread

(a recipe from Merle, Mr’s maternal grandmother)

1 pound butter

3/4 Cups brown sugar

1/4 Cup icing sugar

1 Cup corn starch

3 Cups flour

Directions

Cream together the butter and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining three ingredients. Incorporate the bowl of dry ingredients into the butter mixture. When the cookie dough comes together, roll it out to a 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut out cookies in whatever shapes your heart desires. Arrange the cookies on a baking sheet, they do not need much space between because they only expand minimally. Bake in a 325° oven until golden around the edges, around ten minutes. Let the cookies cool, and then enjoy!

These tasty little gems are especially good with preserves! We used raspberry jam. Shortbread generally appears around Christmas, but just between you and me, they’re a good cookie for all year round.

The inclusion of brown sugar in the shortbread suggests the recipe is of Scottish origin, and I really do suggest you give it a try if you haven’t had shortbread with brown sugar in it before. It makes a world of difference to the flavor of the cookie.

Mr doesn’t say anything because he’s getting some sent with him while he’s away army-ing for the next couple of days. Shh! Don’t tell him!

**UPDATE: Mr says he loves these shortbread cookies. Just like Grandma used to make!**

This time last year: Pear Upside Down Brownies