i did not wear the gold bikini to class.

though there was a star wars themed final exam. and i made star wars cookies: yoda, darth vader, and stormtroopers. in appropriate colors (and flavors) and iced.

williams-sonoma sells these miraculous cookie cutters, and i followed the recipe on the packaging. for the cocoa darth vaders, i used a bon appetit christmas recipe. they were definitely the superior cookie.

a short photo essay (the pictures really tell the story here):

1. the recipe. on the wall. i made two batches, one dyed light green for yoda. 

 

2. the butter. more than a pound in total.
3. fresh bags of sugar and flour. because well, i made about 100 cookies.

4. the stormtroopers, before they went into the oven.
5. the yodas, freshly cut. i added green balls for eyes.

totally amazing. those fancy cookie cutters are worth every penny. the detail was amazing. and the students were totally impressed. 

we won't be your babies anymore.

spring break staycation means pie in the morning and ice cream sandwiches with sprinkles in the afternoon. (homemade oatmeal raisin cookies and homemade vanilla ice cream) with alex, of course.

and a sprinklely sink, for good measure.

(title song lyric courtesy of LCD soundsystem)

all about deb (mostly).

i've pretty much been hanging out and making smitten recipes. in the last week:

• light wheat bread
• light brioche burger buns
• grapefruit olive oil cake (you're going to have to buy the book)

additionally:

• lemony hummus
• cowboy cookies (adapted from baked)
• strawberry-blueberry jam (inspired by cookfight)

photographs and details to come. 

purim delicious.

purim celebrates the story of esther. i am not going to get into this here, but there's a bad guy in the story with a triangle hat. so we eat cookies shaped like triangles called hamantaschen.

hamantaschen are much like a sugar cookie (with juice in the batter) and jam inside. mine are raspberry, peach, cherry, and lemon curd. i made shira's mama's recipe. i am not going to post it here; i'd like to believe it's a secret. (i know that's not true.)

yes. i burnt the bottoms (don't bake cookies at 400F even if the recipe says to do so). but they were awesome all the same.

that mariah carey christmas song is still stuck in my head.

so, this year, i baked christmas cookies for the neighbors (the one who my dog has a HUGE crush on, the one who loans me sugar, the one who rakes my yard, and the one who lets me use his internet) and the mail man (who chloe relentlessly barks at, fulfilling a stereotype).

given that i didn't grow up with christmas, i also don't have an arsenal of christmas cookie recipes. but i was ready to cook the cover of the december 2012 bon appetit. it also allowed alex and i to take a trip to southern season for fancy sprinkles and taste the bounty of the shop.

some notes on the recipe:

• i left out nutmeg because i didn't have any, but added in all-spice instead.
• this is a 3-step cookie which means you should plan ahead. do one step each day and it's not a big deal at all. each part is about 30 minutes.
• dusting sugar is stupid expensive, so i rolled the dough in non-pareils and raw cane sugar. 
• it said it would make 90, but mine made 70 and they aren't huge. this is totally fine, but if you are cooking for a big group, i'd make extra.
• i made half the amount of icing and had plenty. 
• they smush a little (the icing) when you bag them up so if you are giving them as gifts, be careful if you want them to look just so. they would be amazing at a party as they'd make even an ugly dish look delicious.

two days.

two mornings of bagels. the second, at la bagel delight, ended with the italian rainbow cookie or tri-color pastry, which casey had never had before. it's an almond extract-laden cake surrounded by chocolate. of course michelle had to make sure he had one immediately. she's a good one, even if she thought it made sense to move to LA.

the shake shack 'shroom burger: a huge mushroom stuffed with melty cheese and deep fried and then put on a soft bun with special sauce of who-knows-what. we ate ours with fries and a rootbeer on a lovely upper west side bench while doing some good people-watching. mainly kid-watching. those museum-going kids are funny ones.

yes, we had already consumed the meal when i snapped this photo. we'd also been awake since 4am.

fancy water fountains that TALK TO YOU on the highline. we received advice on hydrating and skin care and social anxiety.

it was imperative that i consumed a people's pop on that hot hot hot day. i ate mine so fast i cannot remember what flavor it was (it was pink and delicious), but i know casey had a blueberry-chai. holy hell. i am going to have to step my pop-making.

yeehaw.

i am back, kids. back to the baked sundays. this week, cowboy cookies. with pretzels and chocolate chips. but i bet you could put practically anything in them--potato chips, nuts, candies.

you have to think about these ahead of time, as the dough is to be refrigerated for 4 hours(!) before baking.

 

also, the recipe calls for espresso powder but i didn't have any, so i just left it out. i am sure they would be EVEN BETTER with it, but they are pretty awesome as is.

 

and! last night, casey was a super helper in the kitchen, making mint juleps as i got everything ready and decided it was "the night" to learn to use the stand mixer. all very exciting.  we're off to a cook-out in a bit so i am taking this trove of cookies with me.

adult oreos.

salt and pepper cookies. yeah, i said it.

this week's baked adventure was salt and pepper cookies. pretty easy except for a dough glitch. i prepared the cookie dough the night before and put it in the fridge for hours like the authors said. but then it was too hard to roll out! one of the baked kids told me to just try my hardest, that if i smushed it hard enough, it would get soft and ready to roll. he was absolutely right. i just needed to use my body weight to do it.

and they are great, except for the fact that there's quite a bit of crisco in that filling. not my favorite product to incorporate but it certainly made the icing easy to put inside the cookies.

so, yes. an adult oreo, if you will.

and sunday lunch: grilled cheese with two kinds of cheddar and tomato, anjou pear slices, seeded corn chips and a dollop of hummus.

sorry so late. the weather was so nice i eventually just had to get out of the kitchen.

wah.

the insane cookies at the biweekly policy seminar. the size of my head. maybe bigger.

please note that someone actually placed each individual m&m into the top of the cookie. they are not mixed into the batter. the whole experience was silly.

you know,

i am still on twitter if you want to know what i am doing. right now, it's baking for my advanced us history class. they are so lucky.

mostly organic, homemade chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies.