60 in 60: Day 42- Apricot Brandy Macaroons

These delicious things of wonder were originally made on October 3rd, using liquor from my aunt's extensive collection. I was supposed to wait for to make these until my aunt got back from her vacation in Tennessee (that was the deal for using her liquor), but I couldn't wait. She's in Tennessee, with a senior group, and I'm in New York, eating cookies.

Apricot Brandy Macaroons

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1/3 c flour

2 c finely ground walnuts

3 egg whites

1/4 t salt

3/4 c sugar

Filling:

8 oz white chocolate

1/4 c heavy cream

2 T apricot brandy

2 T finely chopped pistachios

Beat the egg whites and salt in a bowl until frothy.

Add the sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Fold in the dry ingredients.

Bake at 275 on buttered cookie sheets for 20-25 minutes.

For some reason, whenever I make egg-white ANYTHING, they never turn out, so BLAH.

They're not as crunchy or puffy as they're supposed to be. (Meaning they're flat and sticky-squishy.)

For the filling, melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler.

Stir in the apricot brandy, taking care not to drink the 2 T that you are supposed to be adding to the filling mixture. Taking a sip from the bottle, just to see how it's supposed to taste is totally okay though.

Plunge the pan into a bowl of ice water and stir until the mixture has cooled.

With the mixer at high speed, beat until creamy.

Stick the cookies together in pairs with the filling.

Roll in the pistachios.

I got really bored rolling the cookies in the pistachios after two or three, so I started putting the pistachios in with the filling. I think this made the cookies taste better. They didn't rise, like they were supposed to, but that didn't matter in the taste. And yes, so you know, I saved some for my travelling aunt. She has six cookie sandwiches in the freezer, waiting for her to return from Nashville.

Book Yield: 20 cookies

My Yield: 12 cookies

(I can't remember if that's 12 sammiches or 12 cookies, though. I suppose if my aunt is getting 6 sammiches, it's 12 cookie sammiches.)

60 in 60: Day 41-Raspberry Tartlets

Made these on Oct 2nd. I'm not going to give you the recipe for tartlet shells, because it was just gross and useless and you're better off making your own up or buying them from the store.

Raspberry Tartlets

Ingredients:

12 tartlet shells (store bought or prepared)

2/3 c confectioners' sugar

Zest and Juice on 1 lemon

2/3 ricotta cheese

1 1/2 T unflavored gelatin

1/4 c cold water

1 c heavy cream

17 oz raspberry yogurt

Stir together yogurt, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and ricotta cheese.

Sprinkle gelatin over the water in a small saucepan over a low heat.

Let stand for a minute then stir until gelatin has dissolved completely.

Stir the gelatin into the raspberry mixture and refrigerate until thickened.

If you didn't follow my warning, and looked up your own recipe for tartlet shells, now would be the time to bake them. If you bought your own, set them out now.

Beat the cream in a medium bowl until stiff.

Fold cream into raspberry mixture.

Spoon mix into shells. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.

I suggest buying your own tartlet shells, because this recipe for tartlet shells is DISGUSTING. That, and, the tartlet shells kind of all fell apart so they were unusable. Also, this recipe made WAY too much filling for twelve tartlet shells. (I know I didn't get to fill all mine, but I'm pretty good at guesstimation.) The filling was okay, but overall this recipe was blah.

Yield: 12 tartlets

My Yield: 2 tartlets, a bunch of crust crumbs, and a big bowl of filling.

60 in 60: Day 41-Gypsy Creams

These cookies are a bit messy, but they're also a bit delicious. I made the Italian Buttercream for them first, but you should probably make the cream while the cookies are in the oven. These cookies (and the buttercream) were originally made on October 3rd.

Italian Buttercream

Ingredients:

'

1/2 c water

3/4 c sugar

3 egg yolks

1 c butter, softened

Stir the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches the "soft-ball stage" (I just cooked it until it was really, really hot.)

Beat the egg yolks in a double boiler until pale.

Add the sugar-syrup to the yolks.

Place the mixture over barely simmering water and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture lightly coats a metal spoon.

Put the pan in a bowl of ice water and stir until cooled. Or until your arm falls off, whichever happens first.

Beat the butter in a bowl until creamy.

Beat into the egg mixture.

Set aside until you're ready to use it.

Gypsy Cream Cookies

Ingredients:

1/4 c margarine

1/4 c butter

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp corn syrup

3 tsp boiling water

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 c self-rising flour*

1 c rolled oats

1/2 tsp vanilla

*For the self-rising flour you can add 1 and 1/8 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp salt, and a pinch of baking soda to 1 cup of AP flour to substitute.

Beat margarine, butter, and sugar until pale and creamy.

Melt the corn syrup in the water and stir into the butter mixture.

Gradually beat in the flour, baking soda, oats, and vanilla.

Bake at 375 on parchment paper lined cookie sheets for 15-20 minutes.

Cool completely.

Add red food coloring to the Italian Buttercream for a festive flair!

Sandwich cookies together with buttercream.

These were yummy, but messy. A fun treat when you're in the mood for something colorful!

Book Yield: 24 cookies (so 12 sandwiches)

My Yield: 22 cookies (11 sandwiches)

60 in 60: Day 36-Raspberry Pinwheels

Still getting caught up on blog posts. I made these cookies on October 1st. Easy, but messy.

Raspberry Pinwheels

Ingredients:

2 Cups AP Flour

1/8 Tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Finely Ground Almonds

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Butter, Cut Up

1 Large Egg, Lightly Beaten with 2 Tbsp Cold Water

1/2 Cup Raspberry Jam

Mix the flour, salt, almonds, and sugar together.

Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Mix in the egg mixture to form a firm dough.

Roll out your dough into a rectangle.

Spread the raspberry jam on the dough. Don't add too much, like I did, or it'll all squeeze out of the end when you roll it up.

Roll it up and cut it in to 1/2 inch pieces. My jam all squeezed out the end, so I slathered it on top and on the bottom.

Place on to cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

Cool, then move to a wire rack. Or, do like we did, and just eat as soon as the cookies are cool enough to where they don't burn your mouth.

They're not pretty, but they're delicious. I think my boyfriend liked them a lot more than I did. (Or he ate them quickly so he could get some, because I ate all the Hazelnut Spirals.)

Book Yield: 25

My Yield: 14

60 in 60: Day 35-White Foam Meringues

You almost can't call these cookies, but they're in my cookie book and they looked delicious, so I made them on September 29th.

White Foam Meringues

Ingredients:

4 Large Egg Whites

1 Cup Firmly Packed Light Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Coarsely Chopped Almonds

In a bowl over simmering water, melt the brown sugar and egg whites together.

Keep stirring until the mixture is warm to the touch.

Remove the mixture from the heat and beat with an electric mixture until thick and cool, for around 15 minutes.

Fold in the almonds.

Drop onto cookie sheets covered in parchment paper.

Sprinkle more almonds on top.

Bake at 300 for 15 minutes.

These cookies just didn't turn out for me, after 25 minutes, they still weren't cooked. They basically tasted like sugary marshmallows with almonds in them. They also looked NOTHING like the picture in the book.

Book Yield: 12

My Yield: 18 very large cookies.

60 in 60: Day 34-Hazelnut Spirals

These delicious cookies were all consumed within 4 hours of their being made. They would have been finished off sooner, but I made them while my boyfriend was sleeping, so I figured I should save him a few. They were baked on the 29th of September.

Hazelnut Spirals

Ingredients:

1 3/4 Cups AP Flour

1/4 Tsp Baking Powder

1/8 Tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Butter, Softened

3/8 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Large Egg

1/8 Cup Nutella®

Stick 2 cookie sheets in the fridge.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until creamy.

Add the vanilla and the egg.

Mix in the dry ingredients to form a soft dough.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread the Nutella on the dough.

Don't forget to write a secret message in the Nutella. (Sadly, it was 5 am and I wasn't all that creative when I made these.)

Roll the dough up tightly, wrap in plastic wrap/parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so.

Eat the remaining Nutella with either a spoon or your finger.

Cut the dough into 1/2 inch sliced. Place 1 inch apart on cookies sheets.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy completely and without reason.

Book Yield: 33 cookies

My Yield: Not enough (which equals about 21 cookies)