Lemon Almond Spritz Cookies

 

I was hungry.  I needed to practice more piped roses for Angela's wedding cake, and I had almond paste in the cupboard. There are only so many things one can do with almond paste. Spritz cookies tend to be a holiday treat, but what the hey? Holidays are any day for me. 

Preheat oven to 350

(adapted from the Art and Soul of Baking's chocolate almond spritz cookies with orange blossom water)

½ cup almond paste

¾ cup sugar

1 ¾ stick butter

1 large egg plus one yolk

2 cups flour

Zest and juice of 1 lemon 

Pinch sea salt

Put almond paste and sugar in food processor and break into tiny pieces.  Cream butter and eggs and sugar/almonds in a medium sized bowl. Grate lemon zest and squeeze juice into wet ingredients.  Add flour and salt.  Roll out onto counter and cut into desired shape.  If piping the cookies into a shape, then fill a pastry bag less than half full.  This ended up being a huge pain for me, literally.  My hands and fingers where in agony after my first bag.  The dough is rather thick and heavy so it takes a lot of strenght to pipe evenly.  Good luck and may the force be with you!

Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are lightly golden

Share with loved ones

Toasted Coconut Cookies & Ginger Lemon Icing

Coconut Cookies with Ginger Lemon Icing

 So I was craving coconut...and this is what I came up with.  Nice and soft, not too sweet, and deliciously coconutie..Let's do it!  I brought a bunch of these to work and everyone seemed to like them. Coolness.

Preheat oven to 375

1 c. butter

1 1/2 c. evaporated cane juice

3 eggs

1 c. unsweetened coconut

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3 cups unbleached organic pastry flour

1 tsp. vanilla

For Icing

2 c. confectioner's sugar

1 1/2 Tbs. butter soft

3-4 Tbs. half and half

3 Tbs. Ginger

squirt Lemon to taste

Heat a medium skillet to med-low. Put coconut in and stir until it is evenly browned. The fat in the coconut is what will make it toast so you have to move it so it will not burn. If you use sweetened coconut this will happen much faster and may become sticky. Remove from heat

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl

Sift flour, soda, powder, and salt in another, along with coconut

mix all ingredients together. when thouroughlly mixed, take dough and seperate into two sections. Take each section and wrap in plastic, put in fridge for 30 mins.

When dough is chilled roll out into desired shape and bake for 6-8 minutes.

While cookies are baking, prepare icing. You can add ginger and lemon to taste. Mix with hand blender until smooth. Ice as desired

* You can add 2-3 Tbs of Peanut butter to one half of the dough to get an exotic thai thing going on.  Everyone liked these more than the 'only' coconut ones...

Shared with Loved ones

February 2012. Happy Birthday to my best friend ever!

 

• If you are lucky enough to have an aquarius as a friend or lover, check this out! http://www.cafeastrology.com/zodiacaquarius.html
• An interesting article about the Mascho-Piro Indians of Peru.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/peru-mashco-piro-tribe_n_1244204.html?ref=green&ir=Green
• Here are some wonderful Herbal ways to keep warm from other Nature lovers! http://www.cauldronsandcrockpots.com/2010/12/winter-warmers/

My First Valentine's inspired sweet.  Mexican Mocha Hearts..yummy. Look under my recipe tab to get the whole thing

Mexican Mocha Hearts...Preparing for Valentine's Day!

These Babies are soft, chewy, and have the perfect espresso flavor. I originally wanted to make chocolate espresso cookies, but ended up adding sea salt and cayenne to the cocoa drizzle on top! Hope you enjoy as much as I did. My belly kind of hurts, actually.

 

I thought these were so nice looking, with the flecks of espresso throughout.

Getting ready to bake! This particular recipe has a lot of baking powder, so make sure you space them farther apart than I did. They ended up loosing their shape after baking and sticking together. I was so sad...

Recipe:

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

3 eggs

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Tbl instant coffee powder

2 Tbl dark cocoa powder

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

Chocolate drizzle (optional)

1/2 c organic fair-trade unsweetened baking cocoa chopped

pinch sea salt

pinch cayenne

Cream sugar, butter, eggs.

Mix dry ingredients. Flour,baking powder, salt, cocoa powder.

Incorporate wet and dry. MIX until blended. Add instant espresso and mix in with hands...It feels SOOO GOOD.

Transfer to Plastic wrap and let cool in Fridge for 20-30 mins.

Roll onto floured surface until desired thickness is reached. Cut into desired shape.

Bake at 375 for 6-8 Min

Let cool

Melt baking cocoa in double boiler. Take a resealable sandwich bag and put into a coffee cup. Roll the excess bag over the rim of the mug. When cocoa mixture is liquid, add sea salt and cayenne to taste. Carefully pour cocoa mixture into bag. Remove bag and squish liquid into one corner of bag. Cut a small hole with scissors to pipe (drizzle) cooled cookies with chocolate.

Share with a loved one!