I really wanted to make a cake for my friend for her birthday! Since she lives in California and I in Michigan, I decided to bake her some cookies. (They are much easier to transport!) I couldn’t settle on just one type so I made three different kinds of cookies.
The first were lemon sugar cookies. For the first batch I rolled half of them in sugar…
The cookies that were sugar-coated didn’t spread as much and looked better overall so, after that I rolled them all in sugar.
The second type was Lime Cornmeal Shortbread…
I creamed together the butter and sugar, and then added the lime zest. I used the zest of one lime, next time I think I will use the zest of two.
Next, I mixed in the rest of the ingredients, and finished with a very crumbly pile. I turned the dough out into a tart pan, packed it in, pricked it several times with a fork, and scored it into wedges. When it was done baking, the shortbread was nice and golden around the outside. The edges were a lot more crumbly than the inner part. Next time I think I will let it get a little darker and, hopefully, flakier.
The last, but definitely not least, were black and white sugar cookies, for these I followed a recipe from Simply Sensational Desserts by Francois Payard. These cookies were another first for me and really fun! They dough was very simple with a little lemon zest and cocoa powder.
After I mixed the dough, I separated it in two. The smaller portion was for the “white”. I rolled it into 4 logs and put them in the freezer. Meanwhile, I added the cocoa powder to the rest of the mixture, rolled out 4 more logs and a couple of sheets. After everything was chilled, it was time to assemble. I glued the logs together with egg whites and wrapped them in a sheet of chocolate dough.
After the assembly, I had two large checkered logs. These logs went back into the fridge for another chilling before being sliced into discs and baked.
When all of the cookies were baked and cool, I bundled them up in waxed paper and ribbons and sent them off to be devoured!
What a delicious care package!!! A totally special homemade Heli birthday treat!!!
again, i would like a cookie or two, perhaps with my monday morning coffee (that gives you almost a week to get the envelope into the mail. hehehe)
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