Almond Macaroons

OK, Martha. I hate to do this, but I call BS on your Almond Macaroons. These are officially the first epic failure of this project. Martha's cookies look lovely. They look like they might be a little crunchy on the outside. They're so puffy and pretty. I bet they taste great with that cup of coffee. Sigh... I don't know what went wrong.I even started with mise en place (which is French for 'I have someone else to do the dishes for me'), so I know I didn't mis-measure.
The batter looked a little loose, but who am I to second-guess Martha? I've never done almond macaroons before. They look kind of nice so far.



Now, before you go any farther, go back and look at Martha's Macaroons. I'll wait.





OK?
Sad story... The cookies turned out flat and kind of bendy. The picture doesn't really show how unpleasant these cookies are. They don't have a lot of flavor, and their texture kind of reminds me of clay (sort of malleable).

It's possible that my failure could be due to the fact that our oven has difficulty keeping its temperature lower than 6000 degrees. Despite the fact that I had the oven at the lowest setting, the cookies started burning less than 1/3 into the suggested cooking time. Maybe if you have an oven that can achieve temperatures lower than your average day in hell, you might be able to make some good cookies. I may try them again some day, but for now, I think I'll just eat the left-over almond paste.

Next week: Orange-Cardamom Madeleines, p. 210

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

These cookies have an unfortunate name. Grammy? Really? Not even Grandma? I just don't like it. But, perhaps that's why I'm not Martha Stewart. Maybe she knows more about naming cookies. I would name them Simple Chocolate Cookies. Or Tasty Chocolate Cookies. Or Chocolate Cookies with Extra Sugar. Or Kick-Ass Chocolate Cookies. Like I said, Martha probably knows more about this whole naming thing.
Anyway, onto the baking. These are chocolate cookies with lots of coca, rolled in sugar. Really, you can't go wrong. Pretty simple.
These cookies were delicious! The sugar made the outside all crunchy and a little sparkly, while the inside stayed fudge-y and wonderful. The recipe made a huge batch, so I brought them in to work, where they were snarfed up very quickly. Also, we froze some for later, and they thawed beautifully. They will definitely be made again. I'll just give them a new name. Next week: Almond Macaroons, p. 91

Apricot Windows

Oh, Apricot Windows, how I wanted to love you. I tried, I really did, but just didn't quite make it. I was hoping for a short-bread type cookie with a higher filling-to-cookie ratio. But, alas, no. They were tasty enough at first, but went stale pretty quick. Also, I think apricot filling was a little bland. Maybe cherry or raspberry would be better. These are just thoughts...
The recipe made a huge amount of cookie... a whole big cookie sheet full. The most annoying step though was piping the dough on top of the apricot filling. The dough was just a little to thick to pipe easily. It was a pain. Maybe next week's cookies will be tastier.
Next week: Grammy's Chocolate Cookies, p. 75

Chocolate Meringues

It's Meringue week! Lovely, cruncy, fluffy, light meringues! Yay! These are quite tasty, and easy to make. However, I made a huge mess... egg white were flying everywhere, so I failed to take pictures.

Martha has you make a plain vanilla meringue, then add in cocoa powder, so the resulting cookies taste like hot chocolate! How good is that? I could sit down and eat about 16 of these.

Word to the wise, though, be sure to watch the humidity when you make/eat these. I ate a couple of these out on my porch today and they were sticking together something awful. And no one likes a sticky meringue. Ew.
Next week: Apricot Windows, p. 84

Pear, Pistachio, and Ginger Blondies

This week,I made Pear, Pistachio and Ginger Blondies. They were a little fiddly, but totally worth the effort. First you chop the nuts and fruit. I would recommend purchasing pre-shelled pistachios, unless you're crazy like me and want to spend a good half hour shelling them.

The pears and crystallized ginger are sticky and a little tricky to chop up, but with a sharp knife and some patience, it'll work.
It was difficult not to eat the fixings before adding them to the batter. Nom nom nom.
The Blondies baked up all lovely and golden brown. Their texture was a smidge dry, but they might be a little over-cooked. They smell nicely of pears, and they taste nice and ginger-y. If I was to make them again, I'd probably not chop the nuts so finely. They remind me of something you would eat at high tea in the English countryside. Overall, quite tasty.
Next week: Chocolate Meringues p. 33