Gevulde Koek

Tags

Cookie, Almond paste, Dutch, The Netherlands

Almond Filled Cookies. They’re a dutch thing. A beautiful, tasty, delicious dutch thing. They are a pretty standard treat around the holidays in my family, but this Christmas we didn’t make any. In order to make up for lost time, baby sister and I hit the kitchen one Friday night and made a batch.

First things first– make and chill your dough. Then roll it out until it’s about 1/8th of an inch thick.  Using the top of a glass, a ring of a canning jar, or a biscuit cutter in the size of your choosing, cut the dough into circles. Lay them out on a cookie sheet, and add a teaspoon of almond paste to the center. (Excuse the poor lighting in the photo below. You get the idea.)

Roll and cut one more time, and top the cookies with another disk of dough. Using your fingertips, gently push the edge of the top cookie into the bottom cookie to seal in the almond paste. If the cookies won’t stick, get your fingertip wet, and run it along the outside of the bottom cookie. Try again.

Right before you slide them in the oven, whisk one egg, and wash the top of each cookie, using a basting brush. Stick an almond slice on the top. Bake! Cool on a baking rack for a few minutes before consuming. Enjoy with a cup of coffee, a good friend, and good conversation.

Visit The Dutch Table for a recipe and a taste of dutch culture. NOTE: Instead of making her filling, I used straight almond paste.

P.S. These cookies freeze really well! Make a double batch, and freeze the extras for later.

Chocolate Striped Shortbread Cookies

Tags

Cookie, Fudge, Ina Garten, Shortbread

A highlight of going to my Oma’s (Dutch for grandma) house was her endless stash of fudge striped cookies. My grandfather is a baker, and what did I look forward to at their house? The Keebler fudge striped cookies. Looking back, that feels a bit ridiculous. But there you have it.

This weekend, I made a couple of batches of cookies for a couple of events that I have this week. Two birds. One stone. That’s how I roll. I made one monster batch of Peanut Butter Reese’s Pieces cookies and another batch of shortbread.

I can hear you thinking, “Shortbread? Really?” Shortbread on it’s own is a bit dull. You’re right. In the spirit of fudge striped cookies, shortbread needs a drizzle of chocolate to liven things up.

For the cookies, I used this recipe from Ina Garten. In order for the dough to hold together, I needed 1 more Tbs of butter than she requires for the recipe. Just so you know.

For the drizzle, melt half a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave. Simply put chocolate in a bowl, and then put it in the microwave for 30 second increments. After each increment, take the bowl out and stir the chocolate. Continue like so until the chocolate is melted.

Happy shortbread making!

Peanut Butter Reese’s Pieces Cookies

Tags

Cookie, Peanut butter, Reese's Pieces

I posted a link to this recipe in a recent Saturday Small Talk. And I just had to make them. I couldn’t stop thinking about them. They were haunting my dreams. When a batch of cookies that contains three bags of Reese’s pieces and a full bag of milk chocolate and peanut butter chips (Nestle blend!), it’s something to talk about.

This is a pretty basic cookie dough. You’ve got your butter, sugar, flour, with a bit of peanut butter thrown in to keep things interesting. Add over 3 cups of candy filling, and these cookies go from run-of-the-mill straight to awesome! Cookie dough testing highly recommended.

Head on over to Brown Eyed Baker for the full recipe and instructions. You’ll thank me.