Cookie night!

Holy wow, guys, tonight's a doozy. I've been at this since I got home around 5. 5 hours ago. Yeesh!


Anyway, tonight's exercise in getting off my ass involves ... well, my ass. Indirectly, of course. This isn't that kind of blog, people!

No, I'm talking, of course, about baking.

Important note: I am not such a glutton that I'd be making many different kinds of cookies only for my own consumption! We're also just going to ignore the bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough that's already sitting in the fridge. ANYWAY, I am participating in a cookie swap! Which is, by the way, pretty much the awesomest thing that's ever happened to bakers, far as I'm concerned. Because if we're going to be honest, I'm actually not that wild about sweets. I know, I know. I'm a foodie who spends most of her time in the kitchen, but while I would trample you for good cheese, I'm kind of "meh" about desserts. So this way, I get to be creative, get to spend lots of time bonding with my teeny tiny kitchen, and there's no guilt about the dozens of cookies I have no interest in eating but don't want to waste. WIN.

So, first things first. It is a known fact that liquor is an excellent first step to regaining one's lost mojo.

 (This is a Glenlivet 12-year-old. Not my favorite, but it's a very nice, inoffensive whisky - perfect for a self-indulgent night of baking.)

Now then! Cookies. Cookie number 1: the unspeakably brilliant Deb of Smitten Kitchen's green tea cookies with white chocolate ganache, somewhat altered.

I've made this recipe a number of times before, and I've learned a couple things:
1. When you're using the quality matcha I use, 3 tablespoons is enormously more than what I'm pretty sure Deb intended;
2. White chocolate ganache is a pain in the ass to get perfect;
3. I haaaaaaaate rolling things out. Haaaaaaaaaate. 

In answer to the Thing I've Learned:
1. I love matcha. 3 tablespoons it is! If you like a more delicate flavor, though, I'd definitely cut it down to 2, or even 1.
2. Give up on perfection! It's the answer to happiness! MWAHAHAHAHA! (Seriously; I don't care that the color's not very good or that it can tend to separate a little. Whatever. It's going to be just as delicious.)
3. Screw it! I rolled it into a log, froze it, and sliced it thin. Done and done.

(OK, so maybe it wasn't quite that easy. The slicing was kind of finicky; it took me until about a third of the way through the log to get the hang of how to do it without making them crack and crumble. That, or the log started to thaw enough that they weren't so brittle. Whichever.)

(Sorry for the nighttime photography; this is what happens when my creative time is post-work. Also, I had to run out in the middle and get cream for the ganache. *le sigh*)

Verdict: Tasty as always, but holy god for some reason the sandwiching part broke me tonight. Either my ganache was too stiff (that's what she said, hurr), I did something funny with the shortbread, mercury was in retrograde, or I don't even know what -- just about every cookie crumbled as I was trying to assemble them. Woe!


Cookie number 2: these lovely-looking little folks, altered a little to suit my nefarious purposes (and exacting tastes). Mostly in that I used my beloved pastry blender (and actual blender, to break up the lavender) instead of a food processor, and in that I added more lavender and lemon juice, because it seemed like the lemon was going to be super subtle.

And if you've never met me in person, please allow me to clarify: I don't do subtle.

(Oh, also -- I unabashedly slipped in 2tbsp of sweet rice flour because I had neither arrowroot nor, as I was horrified to find, cornstarch. WTF, Maggie's kitchen? When have you ever not had cornstarch?)

So! Here's the result of that little experiment:

Verdict: YES. Delicate, not very sweet, very buttery -- YUM. If I were to make them again, I'd add a little more sugar (I know, I know -- even I would add more sugar!). Or better yet, roll them in granulated sugar before baking! I think I'd also up the lemon juice content even further. Oooo, or better yet, to both issues, make a glaze like the one on these. Hm. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow?

Cookie number 3 I think is going to have to wait til tomorrow because I'm not sure I've got the energy for macarons after a full five hours of baking already today.

So there's today's project. Let's hope they're not always (or even usually!) going to be so all-consuming!