Thursday, January 8, 2009

TWD catch-up #2: Grandma's Sugar Cookies

Continuing with the cookie theme for "Tuesdays with Dorie," the recipe for December 9th was Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies, chosen by Ulrike of Küchenlatein.

Now, I must confess that plain sugar cookies have always seemed a little boring to me, so I took Dorie at her word when she said we could play around with these! I added the zest of 1 1/2 small navel oranges and 1/4 teaspoon of orange extract, plus 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom. I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup and the vanilla extract to 1/2 teaspoon.


For shaping, I rolled the dough up into two logs, each about 7 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and froze them for later baking. At baking time, I sliced them 1/4 inch thick, brushed the top lightly with beaten egg mixed with some home-made orange-peel-flavored brandy, and sprinkled with Swedish pearl sugar.

Very tasty! These are more of a crisp sugar cookie. I think I may prefer a softer sugar cookie. But these were a great addition to my holiday gift packages for family and friends. So pretty!

For the recipe, visit this link.

1 comment:

Di said...

That sounds like a great flavor combination. I love adding spices to plain cookie dough.