The second installment of catching up from my big city adventure. It’s Two-fer Tuesday!
(And happy birthday to Jeanne! We’ve been friends for 24 years, so this day is burned in my brain like my own birthday!)
After the mishap with Food Network’s Eggnog Truffles, I was reluctant to try them again. But they had some interesting recipes in their actual magazine with more than one sentence’s worth of directions, so I decided to give them a whirl.
First up, Striped Toile Rolls.
The ingredients seemed simple enough; though it calls for red food coloring and I had to rebel with teal. Let Alton Brown come over here and beat me. However, the egg whites confused me. It said I was supposed to combine them with the rest of the ingredients and mix, but when I did, it didn’t look so hot.
It kind of reminded me of when I’d mix a bunch of things together for a drink as a kid, and once I’d add milk, everything would get all pukey looking.
But I kept going. Here’s the crime against Food Network:
Suck it.
This is where it started getting tricky. I was supposed to spread one teaspoon-worth on a silicone pan liner and drag the colored batter through. Getting it that thin was hard to begin with.
I am aware that it looks like a hot mess.
After it cooked, I took the pan out and “rolled” them over a spoon. I use that term loosely. I also burned my finger in the process. It’s just not Christmas without a blood-sacrifice.
Rolling these MF-ers was way harder than I thought it would be, though to their credit, they did slide right off the silicone in one piece.
It wasn’t until about batch 5 that I read the last bit of directions, which said to let the pan cool completely before doing the next batch. Which explained why my batter was melty for every subsequent batch. And also, I finally understood the whole “let them cool” thing, because it’s a lot easier to roll these when they aren’t blistering your fingers.
But, like I said, it took awhile before I realized any of that.
And I got a little lazy. But that’s okay, because my cookie-testers were more-than-happy to eat the ugly ones. Disgruntled Husband said they tasted like fortune cookies; I think it was more like a Swedish Pancake. Either way, they are damn tasty.
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Striped Toile Rolls
(from Food Network Magazine, December 2013)
4 T unsalted butter and room temperature
½ c sugar
½ t vanilla extract
¼ t salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/3 c all-purpose flour
2 drops food coloring
1. Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat. (You can also use parchment paper.) Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg whites and beat until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour and beat until just incorporated. Transfer 1 T of the batter to a small bowl and stir in the red food coloring.
2. Spoon 1 T of the plain batter onto the silicone mat; use an offset spatula to spread the batter into a very thin oval, about 4 by 6 inches, Repeat to make 3 more ovals on the at. Dip a toothpick into the red batter and drag it diagonally across the ovals to make thin red stripes.
3. Bake until the cookies are set and the edges are just golden, about 7 minutes. Let cool 45 seconds, then immediately loosen the cookies from the baking sheet with an offset spatula and roll each one lengthwise around a chopstick or the handle of a thin wooden spoon to make a tube. Pull out the chopstick and transfer to a rack to cool completely. (You’ll need to work quickly or the cookies will harden; if they do, return to the oven briefly to soften.)
4. Repeat with the remaining batter, letting the baking sheet cool completely between batches.
Cookies this batch: 21
Cookies this year: 872 and a batch of mints
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Cocoa Palmiers
I still can’t figure out if I’m supposed to call these Pal-MEERS or go all French and call the Paul-me-EEHS. If you know, please tell me.
Again, these are from Food Network Magazine. I like Palmiers, so this seemed like a good one to try. I had to mix all of the ingredients in my food processor, which kinda made me cock my head like a confused dog. I also had to put in 2 Tablespoons of bread crumbs, so apparently, logic is just not a part of this cookie.
Then, you take puff pastry and thaw and unroll it on a bed of sugar.
Then roll it out to a 13 inch square and spread the cocoa mix on it. The spreading left a lot to be desired, so this is how it turned out:
Eh. Whatever.
I rolled each end towards the middle and set it outside to harden for a little while. When I brought it back in, I cut my slices and set it on the cookie sheet.
On the tray and after they baked, they actually looked like Palmiers! Success!
Okay, Food Network Magazine. You might have been right about this one.
Crunchy Granola came over for wine and cookies, and said these might have been her favorite. So there you have it; approved by the discerning taste of the local tree-hugger.
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Cocoa Palmiers
(from Food Network Magazine, December 2013)
4 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c plus 3 T sugar
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T breadcrumbs
1 large egg yolk
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t all purpose flour
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of a 17 ounce box) thawed
1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 425. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Pulse the butter, 3 T sugar, cocoa powder, breadcrumbs, egg yolk, cinnamon, and flour in a food processor until smooth.
3. Spread remaining 1 c sugar on a clean surface. Unfold the puff pastry and set it on top of the sugar, pressing gently to coat. Flip and coat the other side, then roll out the sheet into a 13 inch square.
4. Drop mounds of the cocoa mixture onto the puff pastry and spread in a thin, even layer. Using your fingers, roll 1 side of the pastry into the center, then roll up the opposite side into the center to meet it. Trim the short ends with a knife. (If the rolled-up dough is soft, refrigerate until firm.)
5. Cut the dough cross-wise into ½-inch thick pieces and arrange cut-side down, about 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden on the other side, 4 to 6 more minutes; flip with a thin spatula, switch the position of the pans and continue baking until golden on the other side, 4 to 6 more minutes. Let cool 1 minute on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
Cookies today: 35
Cookies this year: 907 and a batch of mints
24 Days of Cookies 