Spring Cookie Craze # 2

Hey again, so first off, I found how to reduce the view of my Google Chrome.  Yes, you're right, it is so easy I should have figured it out forever ago, but what can I say?  I do SAP, not web stuff for a living.

I took cookies in this morning and got lots of good feedback.  Honestly the biscotti that I posted about last night were probably the biggest hit.  They really are THAT good, folks.  This recipe gives just the right amount of crunch, and the lemon glaze/almond bark combo is just enough to give a a burst of flavor - a little tart and a little sweet at the same time.  One lady said that she had never had a biscotti so soft yet crunchy and so full of robust flavor...yum yum yum!  I think this biscotti recipe is a keeper, and if you are so inclined to try your hand at some biscotti, I can heartily suggest trying the one from KAF that I posted last night.

Now for our second Easter cookie - Italian Easter Knot Cookies.

It doesn't look like much in either of these pictures, and that's pretty much my fault.  I never really got a great pic of just this cookie.

It's also "supposed" to have colored sprinkles on top, but I'm not much of a colored sprinkle kind of gal, so they got sprinkled with gold, silver and white sparkling sugar, which I almost always have on hand.

When I first baked and glazed these, I thought that they were too sweet, but a few days of resting in the freezer mellowed the sweetness, if that makes any sense at all.  These were also a hit with the coworkers today.

Absolutely magnificent!  I was blown away by the different tastes and textures I found within the relatively small cookie.  The base of the cookie was slightly crunchy, but not too hard.  The middle of the cookie was soft and moist where the icing and fresh-baked cookie fused together, something like an amaretto ganache. (How cool is that idea, huh?  Amaretto ganache...gotta think on that one..)  The flavor of the cookie itself was modest and made the perfect stage for the star of the show - the intensely almond icing on top.  Sweet, powerful, complex...I love it!

[These] look like a little angel cloud, looks like the perfect cookie to serve at a baby shower or a christening.  I enjoyed the light flaky taste to this one. (If you want this sort of look rather than a knot, reduce the flour to the original amount as I explain below.  I think the cloud idea for a shower is a fun idea!)

I just loved the Italian Easter cookies!!!  They were my absolute favorite, so soft and tasty!!!  I love them!!  (This lady believes in exclamation points.  I like that in a person.)

I began with this recipe I found online, but my guess is that this lady doesn't measure flour the same way that I do, so next time I will add another 1/2 cup of flour, which is the way I've written this out below.  In other words, the original recipe calls for 3 - 3/4 cups of flour, but I think they need a bit more structure to retain a knot shape, so I'm writing to use 4 - 1/4 cups of flour - although I must admit that I haven't made them using that amount of flour.  But based on the butter and oil to flour ratio in the options on the King Arthur website, I feel confident that this is not too much flour.

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
Splash vanilla and almond
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
4-1/4 cups of flour
5 t. baking powder (yes, 5, even though that sounds like a lot)

I creamed the butter and sugar together until fluffy, and then added the eggs, flavorings, milk and oil.

I measured the flour and whisked in the baking powder on a sheet of waxed paper.

I added these to the mixing bowl...

...and mixed until combined.

Then it was time to shape them into knots.  And this is why I think the recipe needs that extra 1/2 cup of flour.  I was able to shape them from balls into ropes and into knots...

...and place them on a cookie sheet to bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

But they spread a bit too much in the oven rather than holding their shape and standing up like knots.  Not a deal breaker, but I think a bit more flour will help make that happen.

I let them rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing the parchment to finish cooling.

Once cool, I dunked each one in this simple powdered sugar glaze.  (Yes, "dunked" is a valid baking term.  I promise.)

3 cups powdered sugar
2 T. butter
Splash of vanilla and almond
Dash of salt
2 - 4 T. milk

I mixed these together to my desired consistency and then started dunking and sprinkling!

I had to do a test dunk and rest to see if it was the right glazing consistency to meet my taste.  And if I was a colored sprinkle kind of gal, I would have sprinkled before the glaze dried, but I did sprinkle the sparkling sugars I had on hand while the glaze was still wet.

And then I let them dry until the glaze had hardened.  As I said above, I tasted one soon after this, and it was a bit too sweet.  But after freezing from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, they were no longer too sweet.  These were great with a cup of chai tea this morning.

I hope you'll try these sometime!  I find them a nice, light, spring cookie.  I'm glad we have a few more for our family's Easter snacking!

So many cookies!  So much posting!  So little time!  I hope you're able to stop by tomorrow for the official Baking Friday Cookie # 3 post!  Although I'm pretty sure that will actually be split into two posts as well!

See, I do know how to self regulate and limit Deb Dissertations to some degree!  Well, at least a little bit...