December 1 -- yummy holiday things for BroadlyBrazen

for BroadlyBrazen on Tumblr


Better Homes and Gardens Ginger Cookies -- I don't make them huge as the recipe calls for.  It's an enormous recipe but the dough freeze beautifully, so I make a dozen, rolling them in Wilton Sugar crystals and baking them on parchment.  I freeze the rest in rolls and have cookies reading in 15 minutes as long as the dough lasts.

Another recipe, also from BHG, with no picture, alas, is Salted Caramel Chocolate Thumbprints.  They are one of the best cookies in my repertoire.  My family loves them.

For a wonderful chewy sugar cookie, I really recommend the King Arthur Flour Essential Chewy Sugar Cookie recipe, printed here.

One of the first really serious cookies I started making was from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Christmas Cookie's book.  I think it's out of print now but an enterprising person on Tumblr walked through the whole, complex recipe for Caramel Chocolate Chews here.

I really love Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, too.  (With cake flour!)



King Arthur Flour's Dried Cherry and Pistachio (Cranberries work too) Biscotti


I haven't really talked about the yummy aspects of this.  I love cookie baking.  I'm a bit intimidated by a co-worker who makes GORGEOUS things that are always perfect.  Mine are not.  All of the above have several things in common -- they are not piped, they are not sandwiches, they are not meringues.  Some are more involved -- especially the biscotti and those caramel bars.  I don't even make the caramel bars anymore because they are just too rich.  I cooked from Joy of Cooking's cookie recipes first as a child (Angel bars, lemon bars, sugar cookies, and ginger thins).  From there I graduated to Rose's book and some of her recipes I do still use.  I have a great recipe from that book for pecan tassie tartlets, where the pecan filling has added chocolate.  And then, a few years ago, I discovered the glories of the Better Homes and Gardens special publications, the slow cooker collection, Fall recipe collection and the holiday cookie magazine.  I have many sets of them now, all batter stained.  I've enjoyed King Arthur too, but I find the BHG is just really, REALLY good.  I've never had a bad batch.  I used to do between oh....  5 and 10 different Christmas cookies a year.  I've scaled back a bit.  it takes a huge amount of time and we in the household really don't want to eat THAT many cookies.  I've hosted cookie decorating parties too.  I've got Meringue powder, a hundred cutters, paints, dyes, and things but in the end, my cookies taste wonderfully but are not usually beautiful.  I've never been able to paint or pipe frosting decoratively.  That lack of skill makes me sad.  I hope you enjoy these!  It's a great way to start the December meme!

help! I'm drowning (in Miss Fisher)

Why, oh why did I have to discover Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries while I am seriously UNDER WATER in work, fic, and everything else.  I have a zillion things to do and all I want to do is stay up all night and binge on Season 2 of Miss Fisher.  Why did I not discover this sooner?

Oh My Gerd.  I've not shipped anything this hard since, like Remington Steele.  Or Scarecrow and Mrs. King.  I ship this harder than I ever shipped Luke and Mara or Anne (with an E) and Gil or Lizzie and Darcy in every single incarnation which I will have you know is my touchstone for all ships.
I've watched 12 episodes in 5 days.  This is UNHEARD of for me.  And it's all streaming on Netflix.
The clothes!  The characters!  The clothes!  The ridiculous mysteries!  The flirting!  The music!  Oh sure, it's got it's problems and I really don't like when it turns grimdark!  BUT... fan dancing!  Tango!  Jazz!  HATS!  Motor Cars!  SO MUCH BOOZE.  I know, I'm like so far behind the rest of the world with this but seriously, I love it.  Also, and I mentioned this on Twitter, it's something that really, really makes me miss my mom.  Oh she'd have her issues with the sex and sexuality and be all "Why did they have to go that far!" but it's the kind of thing you watch with your mom, or your sisters, or your lady friends.  You'd drink side cars and cosmos, put on a feather boa and a sparkly crown and dance with each other to Cole Porter.  (and yes, I've already watched the short where Phryne and Jack sing Let's Misbehave.

"Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Series 1 trailer" (Watch on YouTube)