Just in time for Halloween..

I didn't intend to do a special Halloween recipe post, but it just sort of happened. Last night I decided to make some sesame cookies, so I did. That's not really the blog-worthy part. I made the dough, rolled them into logs and rolled the logs in sesame seeds. Along the way I began to notice something funny. Totally without intending it, I was making cat turd cookies. Granted, the color was wrong, but the shape and texture resembled cat turds rolled in kitty litter. They did not look like that in the recipe, but I guess I made them longer and skinnier. And I have three cats, including a very constipated one, who coincidentally had to go to the vet today. And for the vet visit I needed to take along a stool sample. So at the end of the evening I had a large bag of cookies that looked like cat turds, and an actual small bag of cat turds. I wasn't too grossed out to eat the cookies, but if I make them again I am going to shape them into balls, and skip the sesame seeds.
Anyway, since I am sick and twisted and happen to know that one of you lives with a bunch of evil cats and is having a halloween party, I decided to share the experience. So, if you should decide to make cat turd cookies for a Halloween party, take the above recipe, skip the anise and add a spoonful or two of cocoa, roll the cookies in sesame seeds, and bake. Serve the cookies on a plate covered with sesame seeds for the ultimate in gross looking party food.

Recipe Geek: Lemon Bars

My poor lemon tree at my CA house toppled over and had to be put out of its misery. My mom boxed up some of the lemons and sent them to me.
For those of you in the know, they're Meyer lemons, which grow well in CA and are a bit fruitier and less sour than standard lemons. According to wikipedia, they're a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. To me, they're just lemons and the grocery store breed is the outlier, just like Florida oranges taste strange to me since I am used to navel oranges. Anyway, hoity toity gourmets discovered Meyer lemons 10 or 15 years ago and now they're trendy.
Anyway, I had a drawer full of lemons in my fridge. I decided to make lemon bars. I made a batch for the students, and then made a second batch* last night for today's neighborhood party. I used the recipe over at Smitten Kitchen, and used an intermediate amount of lemon filling.
As always, the recipes on smitten kitchen tend to be on the sweet side, and these were no exception. They came out well and weren't overly gloppy like a lot of lemon bars. However, it is important not to bake them too long. The first batch came out nearly perfect, whereas the second batch was slightly overdone. Nonetheless, the recipe is easy and achieves the goal of a lemon layer on top of a buttery shortbread layer, but isn't too fussy in terms of the preparation.

*In a recipe geek first, I made a recipe twice before posting. Don't get too used to it, though.

Recipe Geek: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Spice Cookies with Spices and California Orange Zest

It's still snowing and I am indulging in a lazy Friday night watching UNC open a can of whupass in the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm not a hardcore basketball fan so I decided to bake cookies. I'd been eyeing the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over at Smitten Kitchen. It's a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe with spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves) and the somewhat unusual addition of orange zest. The commenters were divided on the orange zest debate. Some loved it and some hated it. I decided to go whole hog and add the spices and orange zest, and I added a bit less sugar than the recipe called for. For the orange zest, I used one of the oranges from my old house; my parents had sent me a care package.
The dough was very sweet, and the combination of chocolate, spices and orange tasted really good in the dough, and smelled great while baking.

The cookies were very soft when I pulled them out of the oven, but then they firmed up nicely, and are a great combination of crispy and chewy. When they were warm, the orange flavor was a bit too strong. It was still pretty strong the next day. Good, but strong. I will probably use less orange zest next time around, but they are good for those peole who really like the combination of orange and chocolate.

Missy's Macadamia Nut Cookies

A few weeks ago, Missy was rapidly approaching the old biddy milestone of her 40th birthday. She dropped hints that some Mexican wedding cookies would be a good gift. Mexican wedding cookies are buttery nut cookies which I make every year at Christmas. I use walnuts but they also taste good with pecans. They're also known as Russian tea cakes or snowballs. Over the years, I've tweaked the recipe slightly by using a bit of rice flour in place of regular white flour. By lowering the gluten content slightly,the cookies are more buttery and have less of a raw flour taste. They also spread a bit more while baking.
Missy loves macadamia nuts and I wanted to do something special for her birthday, so I tweaked the recipe some more. I'm still partial to the walnut ones, but the macadamia nut ones got raves from Missy and also were a hit as a valentine's day present.
As an added bonus, you can mix in the nuts with your hands. Since the dough doesn't contain any eggs, you can even lick out the bowl when you're done.
One of my cats is obsessed with butterfat. She goes ballistic whenenever I make these. I have to chase her out of the kitchen. The last time I made them, I caught her sitting on the counter next to the cookies with a guilty look on her face.

Missy's Macadamia Nut Cookies
1 cup (two sticks) butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rice flour*
1 1/2 cups finely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup powdered sugar for rolling the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease two cookie sheets. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy and well blended. Stir in flour and rice flour and blend well. Add nuts and mix. You can do this with your hands if you want. Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. After the cookies have cooled, roll them in powdered sugar and store in an airtight container.

*if you don't have rice flour, just use a total of 2 cups flour.