(My) Cookies - Page 11

BigV · 12-04-2012, 11:38 AM

Or a tripod.

Lola Bunny · 12-04-2012, 12:08 PM

I have a tripod. I'll think about it.

Sundae · 12-04-2012, 02:28 PM

I did mean Adam Richman by the way.
I know Alan Richman is a very talented man, but he wasn't who I had in mind when writing.

DanaC · 12-04-2012, 02:32 PM

Is that the Man v Food chap?

Sundae · 12-04-2012, 02:37 PM

Aye.
He was on Fighting Talk (11.00 Staurday on BBC Radio Five with Colin Murray - recommend) the other week. Spurs fan, really knows his football.

Apols, just had to ETA because I had the two Northern Irish 5 Live presenters mixed up.
Well, they all look the same don't they...

DanaC · 12-04-2012, 02:38 PM

I love that guy.

Chocolatl · 12-16-2012, 11:58 AM

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Happy tears in my eyes as I'm making my great-grandmother's famous Christmas cookies today. She brought the recipe with her from Spain. She passed away in 2000 and my grandmother passed away in 2008. My family thought the recipe was lost, but I got it from my grandma before she passed. Through lots of research I was able to closely mimic the wine the recipe calls for, and so now I'm having these cookies for the first time since 2006. Lots of very happy memories, here.

orthodoc · 12-16-2012, 12:18 PM

What a wonderful tradition this is and will be for your family and children, Choco. It's a great thing to preserve and pass on heritage recipes and family memories.

The cookies look delicious! Is it a sweet wine, a type of sherry or port, that the recipe calls for? What is the overall taste? The cookie part looks rather like shortbread. I'm not asking you to divulge a secret recipe, just interested; I love learning about taste combinations and especially how traditional recipes combine ingredients, and why.

Chocolatl · 12-16-2012, 01:08 PM

Yea, I think it qualifies as a shortbread. The wine specified by my grandmother was Domecq Viña 25, which is a mahogany-colored, syrupy sherry with notes of nuts, raisins, molasses, and toast. I'm using a sweet marsala that had very similar tasting notes.

The recipe is actually very simple. Here it is, should anyone care to make these.

Abuela Catalina's Pastisettes
(Makes a gazillion cookies.)

Mix 12 egg yolks with 1.5 lbs sugar. Add in 1.5 lbs lard or shortening. Mix well until lumps are gone. Gradually mix in 3 lbs of flour, then about 1/3 cup of the wine. Knead until it forms a dough. (I've been adding a bit more wine when the dough gets too crumbly. Should be similar in consistency to a pie crust.)

Roll a chunk of dough out about 1/8" thick. Use a cookie cutter or a cup to cut circles. Dab a little bit of fruit preserves -- strawberry and apricot are my faves -- on to the middle of half your circles. Use a thimble (or anything similar in size) to cut holes in the other half of the circles. Lay these on top of the jammed circles, press the edges, and re-cut with the cup to seal.

Bake in a 300F oven in the middle rack for 12-15 minutes per batch. Allow to cool completely on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and enjoy!

orthodoc · 12-16-2012, 01:22 PM

Thank you for the recipe! It sounds delicious - can butter be used in place of lard or shortening, do you know? Maybe not if this is your first time making them ...

I'll give it a try during the holidays.

Chocolatl · 12-16-2012, 01:43 PM

I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I imagine there'd be texture issues.

Lola Bunny · 12-16-2012, 01:49 PM

Someone told me recently that he replaces all shortening or oleo in cookie recipes with butter. He said shortening makes the cookie crunchier. He just likes butter better.

Chocolatl · 12-16-2012, 02:23 PM

http://www.differencebetween.net/obj...ng-and-butter/

They mention you can usually substitute shortening with butter, but not the other way around. The butter would melt faster, though, so I don't know if the cookies would hold their shapes.

orthodoc · 12-16-2012, 04:07 PM

Yes, there's definitely a texture and baking difference in some items - I guess I'd have to try a small fractional recipe and see if it worked. Or use lard. I don't like to use hydrogenated fats, that's all. Did you use lard or shortening in your cookies today? Some people swear by lard for pie crusts; I used to use shortening and then switched to butter.

Chocolatl · 12-16-2012, 04:32 PM

I used shortening today. My grandmother recommended lard, but I was baking for vegetarian neighbors and so wanted to avoid making cookies that were 20% animal fat!

12-04-2012, 11:38 AM	#1
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	Or a tripod. __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.

12-04-2012, 02:28 PM	#3
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	I did mean Adam Richman by the way. I know Alan Richman is a very talented man, but he wasn't who I had in mind when writing. __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

12-04-2012, 02:37 PM	#5
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	Aye. He was on Fighting Talk (11.00 Staurday on BBC Radio Five with Colin Murray - recommend) the other week. Spurs fan, really knows his football. Apols, just had to ETA because I had the two Northern Irish 5 Live presenters mixed up. Well, they all look the same don't they... __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac Last edited by Sundae; 12-04-2012 at 02:44 PM.

12-16-2012, 12:18 PM	#8
orthodoc Not Suspicious, Merely Canadian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 3,774	What a wonderful tradition this is and will be for your family and children, Choco. It's a great thing to preserve and pass on heritage recipes and family memories. The cookies look delicious! Is it a sweet wine, a type of sherry or port, that the recipe calls for? What is the overall taste? The cookie part looks rather like shortbread. I'm not asking you to divulge a secret recipe, just interested; I love learning about taste combinations and especially how traditional recipes combine ingredients, and why. __________________ The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Ghandi

12-16-2012, 01:22 PM	#10
orthodoc Not Suspicious, Merely Canadian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 3,774	Thank you for the recipe! It sounds delicious - can butter be used in place of lard or shortening, do you know? Maybe not if this is your first time making them ... I'll give it a try during the holidays. __________________ The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Ghandi

12-04-2012, 12:08 PM	#2
Lola Bunny Junior Master Dwellar Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 2,728	I have a tripod. I'll think about it.

12-16-2012, 11:58 AM	#7
Chocolatl Glutton for Gluttony Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 1,409	Happy tears in my eyes as I'm making my great-grandmother's famous Christmas cookies today. She brought the recipe with her from Spain. She passed away in 2000 and my grandmother passed away in 2008. My family thought the recipe was lost, but I got it from my grandma before she passed. Through lots of research I was able to closely mimic the wine the recipe calls for, and so now I'm having these cookies for the first time since 2006. Lots of very happy memories, here.

12-16-2012, 01:08 PM	#9
Chocolatl Glutton for Gluttony Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 1,409	Yea, I think it qualifies as a shortbread. The wine specified by my grandmother was Domecq Viña 25, which is a mahogany-colored, syrupy sherry with notes of nuts, raisins, molasses, and toast. I'm using a sweet marsala that had very similar tasting notes. The recipe is actually very simple. Here it is, should anyone care to make these. Abuela Catalina's Pastisettes (Makes a gazillion cookies.) Mix 12 egg yolks with 1.5 lbs sugar. Add in 1.5 lbs lard or shortening. Mix well until lumps are gone. Gradually mix in 3 lbs of flour, then about 1/3 cup of the wine. Knead until it forms a dough. (I've been adding a bit more wine when the dough gets too crumbly. Should be similar in consistency to a pie crust.) Roll a chunk of dough out about 1/8" thick. Use a cookie cutter or a cup to cut circles. Dab a little bit of fruit preserves -- strawberry and apricot are my faves -- on to the middle of half your circles. Use a thimble (or anything similar in size) to cut holes in the other half of the circles. Lay these on top of the jammed circles, press the edges, and re-cut with the cup to seal. Bake in a 300F oven in the middle rack for 12-15 minutes per batch. Allow to cool completely on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and enjoy!

12-16-2012, 01:43 PM	#11
Chocolatl Glutton for Gluttony Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 1,409	I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I imagine there'd be texture issues.

12-16-2012, 01:49 PM	#12
Lola Bunny Junior Master Dwellar Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 2,728	Someone told me recently that he replaces all shortening or oleo in cookie recipes with butter. He said shortening makes the cookie crunchier. He just likes butter better.

12-16-2012, 02:23 PM	#13
Chocolatl Glutton for Gluttony Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 1,409	http://www.differencebetween.net/obj...ng-and-butter/ They mention you can usually substitute shortening with butter, but not the other way around. The butter would melt faster, though, so I don't know if the cookies would hold their shapes.

12-16-2012, 04:07 PM	#14
orthodoc Not Suspicious, Merely Canadian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 3,774	Yes, there's definitely a texture and baking difference in some items - I guess I'd have to try a small fractional recipe and see if it worked. Or use lard. I don't like to use hydrogenated fats, that's all. Did you use lard or shortening in your cookies today? Some people swear by lard for pie crusts; I used to use shortening and then switched to butter. __________________ The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Ghandi

12-16-2012, 04:32 PM	#15
Chocolatl Glutton for Gluttony Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 1,409	I used shortening today. My grandmother recommended lard, but I was baking for vegetarian neighbors and so wanted to avoid making cookies that were 20% animal fat!

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