Cranberry Marzipan Cookies

So on to the cookies. I did indeed use this recipe but I swapped the poppy seeds with chocolate shavings. I also reduced the amount of sugar since the marzipan and chocolate are sweet as well.

They came out ok. Not as delicious as the ones I picked up in Düsseldorf but tasty nonetheless.
I just need to figure out how to make them crumbly and chewy at the same time...

Ingredients:

• 200 gr flour (sieved)
• 100 gr butter (cold)
• 50 gr sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 30 gr chocolate shavings
• 150 gr marzipan
• 40 gr cranberry marmalade

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C.
2. Combine flour, butter, sugar, salt and egg  in a bowl and mix on low speed using your dough hook. 
3. When the egg is incorporated, continue kneading by hand in the bowl. 
4. When dough starts to come together pull it onto a floured surface and continue kneading by hand for a minute or so.
5. Add bits of marzipan and continue kneading until well blended.
6. Add the chocolate shavings and knead through until well blended. 
7. Make small balls of around 2cm in diameter and place them on a sheet of wax paper. 
8. Pat the balls down and make an indentation in the center with your thumb. 
9. Spoon in your marmalade. 
10. Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Maïzena koekjes

Maïzena koekjes (also referred to as "gomma koekjes") are sweet light cookies made from corn flour. Some people also add custard to their mix but I prefer them without.

In the shop's you'll often find the cookies piped or pressed in pretty flower shapes. The home-style ones my mom used to make were just little patted down balls with fork-added texture. Nowadays I often use a cookie cutter to make them in whatever shape fits my mood. An old lady once told me that way back in the days they were made in little ball-like shapes as well.

Unfortunately my stand mixer was out playing at my sis' so I had to use an old school hand mixer :(
But my cookies turned out perfect! Was actually very surprised on how easy to use the cookie press was.
I had tried it out before, but apparently hadn't used it correctly cause it didn't really work for me back then. Today it was easy breezy. I'm so impressed with the effort-result-ratio that I think I might be using it a lot more in the future!

Omas backgeheimnis

On my trip to Düsseldorf I bought some cookies for my mom. They're called "Omas backgeheimnis" aka granny's secrets. I expected them to be a bit hard and dry but instead they had a really nice texture. They crumble away once you bite into them, but it's still a bit chewy like bitter cookies. I was really surprised to taste chocolate and marzipan as well. And then the middle part is filled with a refreshing cranberry marmalade. Hmmmm, me likey!

I found this recipe online for similar cookies with poppy seeds. I think I'm gonna try it out and switch the poppy seeds for chocolate chips. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Madeleines

The last few days I was busy playing nurse at my sis'. They were all floored by the flu so an extra hand was just what they needed.

On one of the better days my sis felt like making some sweets. She had bought a madeleine pan some time earlier so we gave it a try. I must say they turned out alright. You could really taste the rich flavor of the almonds and the egg whites gave it a nice chewiness. They were just a bit to sweet for my liking, but otherwise yumm :)

We made half a recipe cause it was a try out, but the whole recipe should make about 12 madeleines.

Ingredients:

• 70 gr sugar
• 60 gr almond powder/flour
• 10 gr vanilla sugar
• 20 gr flour
• 2 egg whites
• 50 gr butter (melted)
• pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven at 200 Celsius and butter up your madeleine pan.
2. Mix almond powder, vanilla sugar, flour and 40 grams of the sugar in a bowl.
   
3. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and 30 gr of sugar to a nice and stiff consistency.
4. Bit by bit fold in the dry mix until well blended.
5. Add the melted butter (the butter is suppose to be liquid but NOT hot!) and fold in until you have a thick mix.
6. Fill a piping bag with your mix and pipe into your madeleine molds. If you don't have a bag just spoon it in.
7. Bake for about 10 min or until golden brown.
8. Leave to cool for a few minutes before unmolding.

Enjoy!

Cookie Galore

Cookies for everyone! Or so it seemed the past weeks.

I still tried that tutorial for making your own Totoro cookie cutter, but it seemed a lot easier than it was. At least to me. I wanted to try smaller cookies than the one I made with a stencil but they just didn't look like Totoro and had a lot less cute appeal :(

So I made some more with the stencil for my friend Jo, who is both a Totoro and a cookie lover! Hers are chocolate and matcha, also very yumm. After a while I got so tired of cutting everything out that I made some tricolore cookies for a quick finish.

The last batch I baked was for a housewarming gift. I decided to keep it nice and simple and just made three flavors, vanilla, chocolate and vanilla & raisins.

Can't see another cookie anymore!

Totoro Cookies!

Oooooooh just looking at these cookies makes me happy! 

I had found this great tutorial on how to make your own Totoro shaped cookie cutter. I ordered the Wilton cookie cutter set, but I just couldn’t wait. So I made my own template out of a plastic container lid and I cut out the cookies with a knife. You know just one of those containers you get when buying take away. 

I’m not going to lie to you, it took me about an hour to finish the first three cookies, but they came out perfect. They were really yummie, had a nice crunch to them and soooo cute!

I made the cookies for my baby niece, so they were made with all vegetable margarine and without eggs and milk. She didn't really seem to care too much for them (typical huh) but I enjoyed them even more (I ate them all :)

You can find the recipe here!