Grandma’s Split-Second Cookies
My title does not lie—these cookies are near and dear to me because the recipe comes from my grandmother. A while ago she wrote down several of her go-to recipes for me in a little journal—the first time she had shared most of these recipes, and now I am sharing this one with you.
These are my absolute favorites of my grandmother’s cookies, and I had never made them myself—I’d been waiting until the right moment. Which was a few weeks ago.
My Grandma must have the magic touch, because hers come out looking way more perfect, and I think they taste better too. But, these were still delicious and a definite crowd pleaser!
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Recipe
(About 50 1/2 inch cookies)
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- About 1/3 cup jam/preserves
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder and sugar. In a separate bowl, blend the butter, egg and vanilla. Gradually mix them all together (grandma doesn’t specify wet to dry or dry into wet).
- Place the dough on a lightly floured board, and divide it into 4 parts.
- Shape each part into a roll about 13 inches long and 3/4-inch thick. Place on an ungreased bake sheet 4 inches apart and at least 2 inches from the edge of the pan.
- Use a knife handle to make a lengthwise depression about 1/2 inch deep down the center of each roll. Fill the depression with jam (Grandma uses raspberry preserves but of course you can use any. I used orange marmalade and strawberry).
- Bake until brown, about 15-20 minutes. Cut into bars while warm.
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Orange Cardamom Cookies
I love these cookies! They are so light and buttery. The warm flavor and delicate texture are made for each other. I particularly like that these are not overly sweet.
I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t run into any problems. They’d probably be excellent with other citrus zest/spice combos (lemon and ginger maybe?) as well.
Thanks for the great recipe!
blog comments powered by DisqusAssignment 7: Orange Cardamom Cookies
These cookies are delicious.
They come from a beautiful memoir of a chef that includes recipes—Maman’s Homesick Pie. My friend Jackie is doing a giveaway of the book which may be your only chance to win it before the October 11 publication—so make sure you follow her and enter to win!
Anyway, the cookies themselves are gritty from the poppy seeds, citrusy and light from the orange zest, and perfect for tea since they have a shortbread-like consistency. They’re a Persian cookie I’m sure I’ll return to time and time again. They were super, super, super easy to make, and I saved some of the dough and put it in the freezer as Chef Donia notes that the dough keeps well frozen for 2-3 weeks.
BUY this book. It’s a great read and the French/Persian/American fusion cuisine recipes are mouth-wateringly delicious sounding. I can’t wait to try out more of them!
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Orange Cardamom Cookies
Makes 3 dozen
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- Grated zest of 2 oranges
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
(abbreviated instructions)
1. Beat the butter. Add in sugar until creamed. Add egg yolk and orange zest and stir. Combine flour, salt, cardamom, and poppy seeds in a separate bowl and fold in. Form the dough into 2 logs, placing in parchment paper (or wax paper or tinfoil or whatever) and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Slice the logs into 1/2-inch thick rounds and place 1 inch apart on a nonstick pan. Bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees F until dough is slightly golden on the edges.
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Bake these cookies. Post your results. We’re waaaaaaiting!
XO,
Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusGot Butter? Assignment 2.
I finally got around to making the oatmeal-coconut cookie bars tonight, and BOY are they buttery!
I didn’t really make any modifications to the recipe, other than instead of buttering the pan I just sprayed it with olive oil. I don’t think doing that effected anything negatively at all.
I grabbed my pan out of the oven at the perfect time. Just slightly browned on top.
I think this recipe is honestly a bit too rich for me. I ate one bar by itself, and am yet to try it with some ice cream as the recipe suggests. I think that with ice cream the butteryness would perhaps be balanced out a bit somehow, and if it is then I would like these a whole lot more.
As is, if I were to make these again, I’d definitely add some raisins, apricots or dried cherries to give them more pizzazz. But like I said, they’re just so rich I’m not sure I’ll be up for another round of these suckers.
—Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusTwo Sisters in the Kitchen: Assignment 2
I printed off this recipe to make and my sister stopped by my place, saw it, and insisted we had to make it together. My sister is just learning how to cook and it was such a simple recipe for her. We did not make any changes to the recipe. It came out so good, I will make it again soon. My fiance is so impressed he wants me to start making it as snacks for him.
The only mistake we made was only waiting 1 hour before eating the cookie bars. We just couldn’t resist. This caused them to fall apart. The next day what was left stayed together perfectly fine, so I would recommend letting it sit like the directions said to.
—Two Sisters
blog comments powered by Disqus(Cookies from Cakelin)
Though I’m posting right before the deadline, I actually made Assignment 1 quite a while ago, and looking at these pictures is making me want to make the cookies again! These were delicious.
If I make them again, though, I might follow the lead of the poster before me and not bother with shaping the hearts. I generally love Martha’s cookie recipes but all the ones I’ve made seem to have one extra, labor-intensive step that must be done to every individual cookie — pressing heart shapes, sticking on individual almond slices, inserting peanut butter into the middle (well worth it)…
Like the others who made this, I used all-natural peanut butter with no added sugar. I think that with typical peanut butter, these might have been overwhelmingly sweet. As it is, the sweet jam (I used Bonne Maman raspberry preserves) complements the simplicity of the cookie.
Had I not happened to be running low on peanut butter, I wouldn’t have had to purchase anything to make these, so they’re a welcome addition to the “pantry baking” list.
Looking forward to the next assignment!
Love,
Cakelin
Photos by Bryan McKay
blog comments powered by DisqusHow I Baked Assignment 1:
I finally got around to making our first assignment, so hopefully this post will inspire everyone else to get their baking done soon as well.
These are the ingredients I used—you’ll note that I substituted blackberry preserves instead of raspberry jam.
My cookie dough was really dry, which I think was probably because I used organic unsalted peanut butter, which tends to have less oil than other varieties. I was worried the cookies would crumble too much, so I added in a few dashes of water which brought back enough moisture to the dough. I don’t know if that’s really kosher or not, but it worked!
These cookies were moist and yummy. VERY peanut buttery and rich, and the hint of jam really was just perfect to balance out the cookie so I didn’t get that icky dog-licking-peanut-butter mouth thing going on. I’m interested to see how people that use other ingredients (non organic, peanut butter with sugar in it, etc.) feel about this recipe. I can’t imagine it being sweeter than it already is.
The cookies themselves don’t really look fantastic, but I think that’s more to do with my imprecision than anything else. If and when I make these again I would try to spend more time shaping the cookies more nicely.
All in all, these get my (and my husband Tom’s) stamp of approval.
Happy baking,
Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusAssignment 1: Peanut Butter and Jam Heart Cookies
Don’t these cookies look amazing? I’ve been salivating over them from my February issue of Martha Stewart Living for a good month now. I was originally planning on making them for Valentine’s Day, but then this recipe made so many that I had tons and tons in the freezer and didn’t want to make a new batch of anything. Sensing a theme? This blog will probably feature a good amount of Martha’s recipes, because they’re usually pretty easy to make on top of being delicious.
Anyway, for our first challenge, we’ll make these Peanut Butter and Jam Heart Cookies. It’s never a bad time to add an extra heart or two to your day, even if it is past Valentine’s.
Make sure you take some photographs of your treats, and I’ll do a post on how to submit your photos and thoughts later on (so watch out for that). Let’s give ourselves a deadline of a little over two weeks from now on March 12, so be sure to be ready to blog by then!
Recipe and Directions
Makes about 2 dozen
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup raspberry jam, stirred to loosen
Directions
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in peanut butter, then egg. Reduce speed to low, and beat in flour mixture until dough forms. If dough is sticky, refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (about 2 tablespoons each). Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Press into 1 3/4-inch rounds. Press hearts into centers using your fingertips. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven, and reshape hearts using your fingertips or the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill indentation of each with a generous 1/2 teaspoon jam to form a heart. Bake until cookies are firm, 6 to 7 minutes more.
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