092511 Almod Horns

These cookies start with a nice kitchen aroma due to the roasted almonds - yum! The recipe is pretty easy to put together and assemble - take care when making the log rolls (I used the counter top as the rolling board). The recipe has a wonderful almond flavor - reminds me of a Russian teacake. Simple, non-complex, and sweet! Makes exactly 3 doz, as predicted.

091711 Anise Drops

These cookies have quite an interesting flavor - a little savory & a little sweet. I couldn't find anise extract so I used finely ground anise. The dough is "runny" so you have to work fast and get them into the oven quickly. They cookies are very pale, soft, and chewy. My mom enjoyed them but my husband took only a nibble. I don't think I'll be making these again. BTW, this is a delayed post.

091011 Striped Icebox Cookies

I struggled a bit assembling these cookies because I was being frugal and interleaving the dough with the parchment paper - don't do this because the dough is hard to remove and will begin to break. Use 2 pieces of parchment paper per rectangle dough. The filling gets a bit hard to spread, so I re-heated quickly right before I needed it. Other than that, the cookies bake nicely - they're a bit big so next time I may consider cutting them in half. The taste is wonderful! The tartness of the cherries balance out the sweet cornmeal - excellent combination of texture and flavors!

090711Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe was very easy to make and the only big issue I had with it was the estimated baking time of 25 minutes - they actually only took ~12 minutes (almost burned a few). The dough is very moist and the chunky peanuts make it difficult to press in the cross-hatch pattern with a fork - which is the peanut butter cookie "trademark". I embellished the cookies with drizzled semi-sweet chocolate; makes them a bit messy to store but well worth the combo-flavor! Don't expect a soft & chewy cookie - it's more on the "soft" crisp side. Not bad....but I prefer the soft & chewy type.