Cookie Collection Recipe 9

This recipe for Greek Toast is an old family recipe of my grandmother's. I've never seen anything like it in any Greek cookbook, but have seen similar recipes in Italian cookbooks. Perhaps it is the addition anise seeds that make it "Greek". It is an easy method of making biscotti because it is a batter that is poured into a loaf pan for the first baking rather than being shaped into a free-form loaf.

My grandfather always dipped these cookies in his coffee before eating them, but since I don’t drink coffee, I like them plain.

This recipe is easily doubled or tripled or quadrupled and the cookies can be stored for a very long time before there is any loss of quality.

Greek Toast
16 biscotti-like cookies

2 large eggs
⅔ cup sugar

1 teaspoon anise seed
1 cup bleached, all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease and flour a 4½”x8½” loaf pan.

In a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs and sugar and beat well until thick and pale in color. Mix in the anise seeds and gradually add in the flour. Mix the batter until well combined and pour into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake 20-30 minutes until the top is lightly browned and springs back when lightly touched. Remove the loaf from the pan and cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

Cut the loaf into 16 slices and place the slices on a half-sheet pan and bake 5 to 7 minutes until toasted, turn the slices over and bake an additional 4 to 5 minutes or until desired crispness. (Keep in mind that they will become more crisp as they cool.)

Allow the toasts to cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

Cookie Collection Recipe 8

“Butches” is a RWT-ism for Snickerdoodles. They are one of his favorite cookies, but he absolutely refuses to say such a silly word as “Snickerdoodles”. Hence, the term “Butches” was born. My niece immediately questioned her uncle’s authority to unilaterally change the name of a cookie, but she could not sway him in his conviction. So call them whatever you’d like, but this is the best recipe for this type of cookie that I’ve found.

Butches

Makes ~2½ dozen cookies

3 cups bleached, all-purpose
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1⅓ cups sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs

¼ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar and nutmeg. Set aside. In a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, the 1⅓ cups sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, Scrape down the bowl and add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until thoroughly mixed.

Mix the ¼ cup sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Form tablespoon-sized pieces of the dough into balls and roll them in the cinnamon-sugar to coat. Place each ball 2” apart on a lightly-oiled or parchment-lined half-sheet pan. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the cookies are very lightly browned and firm. Remove the cookies from the pan, cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

Shiny Happy People

I was recently discussing with a single friend what qualities she looks for in a man and her response was: “an old soul”. I know what she means…

In college, I dated a guy who’d led a very sheltered life. He was born very premature and his family never got out of the habit of protecting him from even the smallest of hardships. He was sweet, he was thoughtful, he was sensitive (it was the only relationship I’ve ever been in where the guy cried more than I did), he was romantic, he was devoted, he was every girl's dream guy. And I found him mind-numbingly dull.

It was not the poor guy’s fault, but we looked at the world from totally different perspectives. He only saw the good and pleasant things, while I could not overlook the negatives and dangers. It was like the thestrals of the Harry Potter books – how only those who have seen death can see them and, to everyone else, they are invisible.

Over the years, I’ve found that the people I am closest to are those who have also gone through some misfortune and heartache in life. They understand how surviving the rough times forces you to use a different scale in defining when things are good (and bad). There is certainly nothing wrong with people who've lived charmed lives, but I simply do not relate well to them.

And what ever happened to that nice guy I dated in college? I dumped him and then dated his roommate. I guess he did finally experience a little bit of tribulation after all.

More Guilt

Okay, this blog has become a total source of guilt for me. I feel bad when I don’t find the time to post things here, but I also feel bad spending all sorts of time writing things to post here.

Bad, bad, bad. But not bad enough to change anything.

It brings to mind my favorite passage from Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”:

Mr. Bennet: Say nothing of that. Who should suffer but myself? It has been my own doing, and I ought to feel it.

Elizabeth: You must not be too severe on yourself.

Mr. Bennet: You may well warn me against such an evil. Human nature is so prone to fall into it! No, Lizzy, let me once in my life feel how much I have been to blame. I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. It will pass away soon enough.

For those who have not already heard my tale of woe, the owners of the house we are renting are returning to the area in August, so we will have to move to a new house. We found a place only about eight blocks away and will take possession on the 29th of June. So for the immediate future, I will probably be too busy moving to even think about my blog and too tired to feel any guilt over it.