Halfhearted Christmas Cookie Self-Challenge #8 – Mocha Madeleines (and that’s a wrap)
And, finally, here we are at the last cookie (well, the last one I attempted to make). Friends, I present to you Ashley’s Mocha Madeleines!
I was saving these for Courtney’s annual Christmas party because they are a fancy cookie and she is a fancy lady. The party was postponed due to unprecedented Richmond snowfall that blew all of our soft Southern minds, and as a result, I had more time to make these in a more relaxed fashion.
Everything went great, except that I couldn’t get the glaze as opaque as I wanted. The recipe firmly insisted upon GROUND espresso in the glaze (i.e. not INSTANT), but I’m not convinced that was the best choice. The consistency was a little weird, and I could have used the extra substance for thickness. Plus now I have this bag of ground espresso in my fridge that I will never use.
However, madeleines are always satisfying to make, and I have no regrets….except that I probably should have left myself enough time to refrigerate these for a bit. They were a little gooey.
Verdict: Make these for a special occasion. Use a little instant espresso in the glaze instead of ground. Refrigerate afterwards. And don’t stress out about how the recipe calls for two madeleine tins. Just wash yours (or borrow mine if you need to). Nobody has two madeleine tins. Don’t worry.
A Grumpy Note About Glaze:
I’ve made a few things lately that involve Martha glazes and all of them make my teeth want to fall pointedly out of my head. So sweet! TOO sweet. How do I keep the glaze as thick as I want without dumping more and more confectioner’s sugar? I will muse upon this until someone helps me. (Flour? Cornstarch?)
FINAL THOUGHTS RE: MAKING ALL THESE DANG COOKIES
Lucinda’s Molasses Drops were the best. You have between now and December to worm your way into my good graces so that you can receive some. “Oh I will just bake my own based on the handy info you provided,” you say. Well, guess what, I have stolen all of your wooden spoons so good luck. Either the Lemon Wreaths, Eggnog Cheesecake Bars, or the Honeyed Almond-Cherry Shortbread (based on crowd response) were second place. I did omit Jennifer’s Graham Cracker Sandwiches, because I just didn’t feel like going to the trouble of making graham crackers just to smear them with jam, but feel free to do so and let me know how it goes.
A big “thanks for tasting” to Thara, my office, the parties of Courtney/Jon and Jen/Jonathan, and definitely Kate and Matt for continuing to allow things like this to happen:
OK I have returned! Rest assured that although work has been a little taxing, I have not forgotten to make cookies. In fact, I made these two while it was still 2009, but, you know how it goes. You bring yourself home from a strenuous day of Microsoft Excel or whatever, and the last thing you want to do is open up a laptop and try to remember where you uploaded your pictures. If I were Martha, maybe I would be able to schedule it on my calendar between “uprooting winter bulbs” and “glitter painting with Empress Tang,” but my calendar is more like “take some Advil” and “ignore mildew,” so here I am, catching up.
I threw together Anna’s Walnut-Rum Wafers before heading to a board game night (high five, Kate and Matt!). The most appealing thing about these was that I had all the ingredients on hand. The least appealing thing about these was that they didn’t turn out exactly like the picture, and that annoys me. Because I have control issues? Who cares! On with the cookies!
At first taste, I wasn’t impressed. I found the wafers unpleasantly candy-like, but after like sixty glasses of wine and another spontaneous dance party, we devoured these like they were being discontinued.
Shira’s Cranberry Thumbprints were made for a cookie party (high five, Jen and Jonathan!), and in my holiday haze, it didn’t occur to me that the stupid purchase I made of course-ground cornmeal (which is good for basically nothing, I have determined) would significantly alter this cookie. I had to add an extra egg yolk to get the dough to bind together, and the cookie itself was dry and too gritty. Like, seriously gritty. My husband thought they had seeds in them.
Nope, no seeds, unless they are the seeds of my own disappointment. They were well-received I guess, but I was too preoccupied tasting my friend Anne Marie’s fennel and fig cookies to notice.
Well, dang, this has been a less than enthusiastic update. Honestly, it’s too depressing to think about those heady days a month ago when work and healthy eating had been exiled into far corners of the mind. It’s time to move onto seeking out the positive as regards the month of January and not allow ourselves to languish in the past. Although, I do have another cookie to share before my quest ended in fresh vegetables, so stay tuned.
In the spirit of this time of all things lean, Martha recommends paillards, which means flattened meat. For the Lemon-Butter Sauce on page 60 of the January issue, I bought thin chicken breasts (six for $4.49). It’s cheaper to buy regular breasts and pound them at home, but $4.49 was pretty cheap.
The sauce is just fresh lemon juice, shallots and butter, so I added mushrooms and capers and served it all over wilted spinach and egg noodles.
And now I know why I never cook with paillards; I always overcook them. The sauce was so lemony it turned my mouth inside out with every bite. James disagreed. He loved it. (What is it with guys and lemon flavor?) He cleaned his plate.
Verdict: Marthable because it’s fast and easy and flexible, but use juice from just one lemon and use paillards only when cooking for a large group and budget is tight. In this house, we prefer our meat a little thicker.
Francesca and Sharkey find a high-tech copier somewhere in the stables and go to town. This makes me & Harrison watching kitten videos on YouTube together seem run of the mill.
Don’t even THINK that I have fallen off the cookie wagon!
Mr. Susan and I blew back into town so that we could race home and sit on the couch with various animals. When I felt I had rested enough from Christmas, I put together a kickass risotto and, while it was risottoing, I made these cookies (Lucinda Scala Quinn’s Molasses Drops). They’re so frigging easy, people! And they require no mixer. You just throw some things together (molasses, some spices, melted butter, flour, and whatnot), add some candied orange peel (I made my own by boiling orange peel in simple syrup for a few minutes, then coating it with sugar, but I’m sure you can buy some if you don’t feel like bothering)*, roll into balls, coat with sanding sugar, and bake. One bowl.
Oh, also, they’re the best ones yet. Good thing I gave most of them to my pal Thara because otherwise I would be too busy stuffing my face to actually upload any photos. We had a tense moment in my house when I felt Cam was consuming the few I left for us too quickly. He had real need in his eyes when he suggested I make more this weekend. Well, guess what, I have four more kinds of cookies to make, so don’t hold your breath. And now, I will get back to doing this:
Five down, four to go!
*I used one orange and it was exactly enough to make the 1/4 c. finely chopped requirement.
Elizabeth’s Eggnog Cheesecake Bars have been the easiest so far, and probably the biggest crowdpleaser. I’m keeping this brief so you can stop what you’re doing and get busy on these.
Also, it seems MSLO is starting to post these recipes online, so get cracking with Eggnog Cheesecake Bars!
Throw a graham cracker crust together, mix up some cheesecake, throw in some eggnog, toss in some alcohol (recipe called for brandy, but mine was stuck ten miles away in a blizzard, so I used dark rum, and it was fine), pitch into the oven, hurl into the fridge, launch on some grated nutmeg, and you’re done.
I took it to my pals Kate and Matt’s Christmas party. They seemed well-received, and then this happened, so I’m calling the night a success.
Four down, five to go!
Halfhearted Christmas Cookie Self-Challenge #2 and #3 – Honeyed Almond-Cherry Shortbread and Chewy Chocolate-Raisin Cookies
Update: Recipes for shortbread and chocolate cookies are now available at MarthaStewart.com
2 for 1!
Well, not really 2 for 1, since it definitely took as much time as you’d expect two cookies to take, but I’m combining them into one post so that I will have more time to make cookies #4 and #5. Unless I succumb to the urge to sit here and allow my eyes to become glassy as I watch The Princess Bride without moving one muscle.
December was my month to treat my coworkers to some snacks, so I made Honeyed Almond-Cherry Shortbread (by Allison Hedges) and Chewy Chocolate-Raisin Cookies (by Sarah Carey) along with the very easy and delicious Cranberry Upside-Down Cake from the Everyday Food Cookbook.
I took a break from baking to babysit and then go visit some friends who were in town temporarily, so the whole process took about a thousand hours. I think it ended up being for the best, as the dough for the chocolate-raisin cookies was too soft to ball up, I think, before I chilled it.
I was amazed at the enthusiastic response I got from my coworkers re: forwarding on the shortbread recipe and CCing various folks as soon as is reasonable for an action item of this nature. The sherry-macerated cherries got a lift from orange zest, and the result tasted unmistakeably Christmas-y. I also enjoy slicing cookies rather than dropping them, which gives this recipe another star in my book, although that star might be canceled out by how annoying it was to coat all those sliced almonds with a honey-butter mixture. Everything in my kitchen became sticky in about thirty seconds, and the resulting almond-brittle situation was difficult to chop as the recipe directed.
The chocolate-raisin cookies weren’t quite as popular, despite their almost perfectly round appearance. I didn’t feel like traipsing over to our local liquor store to get brandy (which in hindsight was really dumb, since I need it for the Eggnog Bars. For a tangent, see the * below. So I ended up soaking the raisins in dark rum instead. The resulting taste was kinda weird, but I’m not sure how the brandy would have tasted either, so who knows. I would get rid of the raisins, add some chopped walnuts, and probably not rolled the cookies in sugar before baking. They were so sweet they almost hurt, and I think it took away from the richness of the chocolate. But look how good they look, seriously.
Three cookies down, six to go! Guide my sword, Martha!
*I got some brandy at another liquor store last night on the way over to a friend’s house, but then a BLIZZARD happened, and I had to leave my car there. I won’t be able to get it until tomorrow, I need those eggnog bars TONIGHT…DO I BRAVE THE TERRIBLE ROADS? Unlikely. I am about to make the same mistake I made with the chocolate cookies, and I don’t even care.
…January 2010 issue of living has arrived.
It has a bowl of healthy soup on the cover.
Actually, I’m not going to lie. That sounds pretty good to me right now. Cookie #2 and cookie #3 have been completed (along with a cranberry upside-down cake from the Everyday Food cookbook), and all that refined sugar has caused my mouth to feel like I’ve been at it with a Microplane. That is so, so sick, I’m sorry. The calories have affected my ability to judge what is appropriate and what is disgusting. HEALTHY SOUP! I AM COMING FOR YOU IN A FEW WEEKS!
WTF is wrong with me that I think it’s a good idea to declare “I will make all of the Christmas cookies in the December 2009 issue of Living before Christmas or maybe New Year’s!”
This is never going to happen. I made an admittedly less doable declaration last year at about this time: “I will play and beat all of the Zelda games (which are completely new to me) all in one year.” Yeah, it’s December, and I’m only halfway through the third game.*
So anyway in case you don’t have the glitter-obsessed December issue on your lap right now like I do, let me clue you in. Among the scarily intimidating “A-Z” of Christmas Activities (the “Q” is a Martha quote about how her farm is “Q”uiet — that one I didn’t find so intimidating) and the three sparkly covers (still not interested in purchasing the Martha line of craft glitters, but keep trying) is this month’s “Cooking” regular, which features a cookie from each food editor, complete with cheerful photos of each editor actually making said cookie.
How cute! An emotional bond was created between myself and the article, due to a false sense of companionship with several smiling, industrious women. And in the heat of the moment, I vowed to make them all.
My “vows” aren’t to be trusted. Ask my husband; I definitely only love him in health and kinda just tolerate him in sickness.
Anyway, here’s food editor Christine Albano’s Lemon Wreaths. One down, eight to go!
They turned out perfectly, even though I had to go to Ben Franklin Crafts to get nonpareils. I took them to a big work event and they were gone almost instantly, even though they were next to a Snickers pie that caused some of the ladies to give out little screams of incredulity and delight.
I’d link you to the recipe, but SOMEbody is stingy and didn’t put it on her website. Guess you have to buy the issue. Sahhryy. (Update: this recipe is now available online!)
*I can’t even give myself that much credit. I hated the second game so much that I started to despise the whole franchise. I was given sound counsel that I could quit it if I wanted to, if it meant that otherwise I would abandon the project. TMI, let’s resume talking about cookies.
Let me just get this out of the way, Lesley made dinner plans first.
“We’re going to cook the November meal for some people at our house next weekend,” she says.
“How about I do the same thing at my place and we can compare notes!” say I, inspired.
“Sounds good.”
How was I to know that she’d end up doing a whole ‘nother menu, and now I look like a real asshole. But, the damage is done, and it was such a treat to have Chris and Emily Lacroix over for the Marthable experience. I’m not just saying that because Chris brought a pumpkin creme brulee pie and Emily brought napkins, they truly are cheerful and tolerant company. The only trouble is, if the dinner had turned out badly, they would never in a million years tell me so. You’ll have to take it on faith that their glowing reports and smiles are genuine (and email them later for the real dirt). At any rate, everyone cleaned their plates, and that’s about the best compliment a billionaire magazine cooking/entertaining expert and her humble servant can expect.
Menu:
- Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest
- Pork Tenderloin and Mustard-Wine Sauce
- Baby Spinach with Warm Olive Oil and Walnuts
- Cranberry Compote with Mascarpone and Cookies Pumpkin Creme Brulee Pie!
Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest
Pasta as a side….how luxurious. This was so simple. You roast a giant head of cauliflower (broken up into little florets) with red onion slices and capers (I didn’t find that the capers contributed much – skip ‘em if you’re not into it), then mix it with pasta and add some parsley, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and stuff. I was supposed to use orecchiette, but small shells were just fine. I could have eaten an entire meal of this, but it was much more satisfying to have it with the pork and the salad. A well-matched medley of flavors. And….I just said “medley,” so I’m going to move on before I embarrass myself.
Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Wine Sauce
My first experience at Belmont Butchery!
Apologies for the grainy, hastily-snapped photo, but I found my own enthusiasm humiliating, so I tried to act like I was just fiddling with my camera. Anyway, a very helpful young fellow (whose name I unfortunately didn’t get) told me with real sorrow in his voice that they were out of the Martha-required pork tenderloin. Instead, he suggested a hunk of pork loin. It was so pretty and reasonably priced that I said “Wrap it up, my good man” (or “Yes, I will take that”).
It’s a good thing I have an oven probe meat thermometer (All-Clad), because the big fat loin took a lot longer (40 minutes) to get to the required temperature (145 degrees) than the tenderloin was supposed to (15 minutes). As a result, the mustard-wine sauce in the pan reduced so much that it was barely there when the loin was finished, but the finished product was still delicious.
Baby Spinach with Warm Olive Oil and Walnuts
Basically just a simple salad, I did learn a trick from this recipe. Toast walnuts IN OIL and then USE FRAGRANT WARM OIL to dress salad! Economical AND fatty! Seems like it would be a little bland and oily, but it worked well with this meal because the pasta side featured lemon and the pork featured mustard. If you put it all in your mouth at the same time and wish really hard, you’ve got the flavors of a vinaigrette!
Pumpkin Creme Brulee Pie!
We went rogue with this one. Well-known for his meat prowess, Chris offered to bring over this delicious pie, probably so that he could have something to keep him occupied while he watched me inexpertly fumble with the pork. Since the prescribed dessert (mascarpone spread on a cookie with cranberry compote on the top) didn’t seem too interesting to me anyway, I was thrilled to accept. As a bonus, we got a demonstration of his new blowtorch.
The pie was delicious and certainly filled the void that my Thanksgiving f-up had left, gaping and disconsolate, in my soul and stomach.
Everyone was nice enough to give me comments on the dinner, but I was too full and happy to bother to write anything down, so now I forget. The general impression I got was “this dinner was good and satisfying” and “the flavors went well together.” So, special thanks to Emily and Chris for the pie, the company, and for not mentioning the fact that two of our chairs were folding chairs.
Stats and substitutions:
- Total time, 1 hr. and 40 minutes (much of this due to pork loin’s extended cooking time)
- Standout course: roasted cauliflower pasta!
- Leftovers: none
- Dessert: rejected
- New dessert: welcomed with open mouths
Susan
lesleybruno