Chocolate Drops

It's is finally a new year! I am ready for new and exciting things. I usually don't do New Year's Resolutions because I am too lazy to keep them but this year I thought I would try to make and keep a few. Starting off simple with just a little bit of exercise every week and drinking less soda. I am also going to try to update my blog more regularly. No promises. Especially since January is almost already over... Perhaps I should start in February.

For my first baking adventure for the new year I decided to go easy. I pulled out the wonderful 1940's Christmas Cookies pamphlet from Wisconsin Gas & Electric. They are nice and easy to follow! And usually turn out great. I want to start on a good note.

I had a whole bag of walnuts so had to use those. A little bit of online hunting revealed that 1 square of chocolate equals 1 ounce and that sour milk is 1/2 a tablespoon of vinegar then whole milk added to the 1/2 cup line. And sour milk looks and smells gross so don't think too much about it.

I hate chopping chocolate. Can't tell you why but I find it annoying and messy.

When you are melting chocolate in the microwave, take your time! Do it 15 seconds at a time and mix in between heatings or you will end up with a bubbling mess that is only good for the trash.

So light and fluffy! I'm kind of concerned that these are going to be too soft. I might have to chill them in the fridge for a while.

Well, these actually didn't need any chilling. They stayed together quite well on the tray, ready to be topped off with an walnut.

The smell of cookies is in the air!! I should bake more often... 

It was way too cold to go outside for a picture so I had to actually clean off a table. Boo. 

Little chocolate clouds!

These are amazingly light and airy!! Adding baking soda and sour milk causes a cool chemical reaction which creates cloud cookies! I added chopped walnuts in addition to the one on top. For variety. It was too easy to eat too many of these. Just sit down and start snacking and soon the bag will be empty. The one change I would make would be to add mini-chocolate chips to the mix. I definitely felt that there wasn't enough nuts in the cookies but I think mini chips would be even better. Keep an eye out for an update!

My Rating: Keeper! Must try again with mini chips.

Dylan's Rating: Sooo good! Sooo light. I could eat the entire bag. Can I eat the entire bag?

Candied Cherry Macaroons

Busy times means less time to bake and share. Sorry for such a long delay!
Here is a bright cookie for the Holidays! I wanted something a little different since I figured that everyone would be getting a ton of chocolate in December. This is from the fantastic Christmas Cookies booklet from the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company.

 Just in case you didn't realize, macrons and macaroons are very different cookies. Both delicious! But very different. Macrons are meringue based and come a a variety of colors and flavors. Macaroons are coconut based and a lot easier to make.

I happened to decide to make these just before all the candied fruits came out in the stores for all us crazy people who like making fruit cakes. Luckily I found a wonderful recipe online. Easy and cheap! And they ended up being a lot tastier than the store brand. Image that.

 Super simple ingredients. Can't beat 4!

 I didn't have to bring out the standing mixer for this one.

 It will take a little bit of arm muscles to make sure everything is mixed well together and the coconut doesn't still together.

 These are sticky little things so I recommend using spoons and not your hands to drop the cookies.

 Since these won't bake up you have to keep an eye on the coconut. It will burn!

 These looked beautiful and surprisingly festive!

Despite looking a little crisp, these were very soft and chewy and they had almost a sticky texture to them. And very sweet! I liked them! Easy to put together and cheerful. You can use store bought candied cherries but I would recommend making them yourself. It was easy and they taste amazingly different. I would almost bet that everyone who says they hate candied fruit has never had homemade ones. 

My Rating: Good but sweet. Love the color!

Friends & Family Rating: I don't know...no one said anything but they only lasted 3 days. 

Mondchens

Despite all appearances I have not been a slacker lately. I promise! I actually have done quite a bit of cooking but it is taking a while to actually type it up. And I have too many craft projects that I am working on. Working on some sewing. Taking care of some plants. Baking and thinking about posting it. This recipe is from the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company's Christmas Cookies pamphlet. I was looking for a way to use some of my huge, expensive bag of ground almonds. I have never heard of these cookies and a quick search online showed nothing. If anyone else has heard of them, let me know!

Another easy to follow recipe. I love this pamphlet!

 Yes, I used dried lemon rind. I had it on hand and needed to use it.

 The dough was very, very soft. Not certain if I can roll this out...

 Looks so pretty! But I still have my doubts.

 As I thought, the dough was way too soft. I decided to chill it for an hour, which helped but not a whole lot. I gave up trying to roll it out and just create my own circles.

They are round-ish...

 I don't know if I made them too thin but 12 minutes was way too long. Half the cookies ended up burnt. I kept a close eye on the next batch and it looks like 9 minutes was the longest before burning. Yes, the pan is missing one. Yes, I ate it.

 I decided to ice only half of the cookies because they tasted pretty good on their own even the burnt ones. But icing the burnt ones helped to salvage them. This recipes did not make as many cookies as I though it would.

 I also iced some non-burnt ones!

These cookies had an almost gritty texture but not in a bad way. It's difficult to explain. They were very light and practically fell apart in your mouth. They were delicious both without the icing and with the icing. I would chose to ice them as that seemed to put the finishing touch on them. I was disappointed in how soft the dough was. I would make them again for the flavor if the dough was easier to handle. I attempted to look mondchens up online to see what I could do differently but I couldn't find anything on them. If anyone knows anything, I'd love to hear about it.

My Rating: Delicious but a pain to make.

Friends and Family Rating: "Yum!" "I like the iced ones better."