I’m a member of Tuesdays with Dorie because it encourages me to bake often and to keep trying new recipes. But I also like how it challenges me to be creative about presentation. When I’m writing a blog entry about the same recipe as hundreds of other people, I want to think of some sort of display that will look impressive or original. This is the real challenge for me.
Not that square cookies is the most unique presentation ever. I’d heard that the cookies hold their shape in the oven really well, so I thought this might be a good cookie to use a cookie stamp on. But I don’t have one. My almost-3-year-old nephew is just starting to learn shapes, so this idea came from him. For the circles, I used spoonfuls of dough like the recipe calls for, and for everything else, I rolled the dough into about a ½-inch thickness and then used a knife to cut the shapes.
The recipe was very easy. Just like a standard cookie recipe, the butter and sugar are creamed together, the egg and vanilla are added, and then jam is added before the pre-mixed dry ingredients are mixed in just until blended. The dough tasted pretty good, which is always a good sign.
The cookies were decent. As soon as I saw that the recipe only called for ¼ teaspoon of salt for 2 cups of flour, I was concerned. I’m finding that I like my baked foods on the salty side. I added more, about ⅛ teaspoon, but I still would have liked the cookies to be saltier. They seemed a little bland. It didn’t help that I couldn’t taste the ginger at all. My powdered ginger is very old, so I’m sure that’s why. I suppose I should break down and replace it with fresher stuff.
So they didn’t knock my socks off, but I’m glad I tried them. Dorie has a lot of fun ideas for cookies that I wouldn’t think of on my own. Heather has the recipe posted.
One year ago: Braised White Beans with Tomatoes, Zucchini and Garlic. This is still one of my favorite meals.
Love the shapes!!
I agree – there’s a lot of pressure to have unique presentation when a few hundred people are baking the exact same thing! I like the shapes though, especially the triangles. Not sure why, I just do 🙂
I know what you mean.. I wish I was as creative as you are. I was just thinking about how my cookies would look as blobs ( as soon as I bake them.. they’re still in the freezer). Your cookies look really great and so do your picitures! I totally agree with you on the salt, I ususally use salted butter and almost 1/2 tsp of salt per 2 cups of flour in cookies, but adjust depending on the amount of sugar. I definitely don’t want to revisit my saltless baked good experiences.. haha
I think you succeeded with the unique presentation.
Very creative!! Love how you made your cookies….hmmm I might have to copy!
I love your shapes! Even though they weren’t the greatest cookies ever, you did a great job with the presentation.
I can’t believe you actually made these into shapes. Mine were like little puff balls. But I love them. Very tasty. Yours are very creative!
cookie geometry–love it!
You always manage to have beautiful photos even if the recipes weren’t as good. Cute shapes!
Very creative with the shapes! Good job.
Very cool. I dig the little rectangles.
Aww! I just melted when you said that you were also helping your nephew with shapes! 😀 Of course, it doesn’t hurt to distinguish yourself in the process. I went through my dry ginger pretty quickly– the recipes I used it in called for amazing amounts of it! (Well, they were gingerbread, lol.)
Those look cool. Nice work!
Love the idea of various shapes! Very cute!
looks like you had fun w/the shapes! using ginger preserves gave mine a better ginger flavor. adding crystallized ginger bits would make them even better i think