Do you ever think about what things were like when you were little? I don't mean when you were seven or eight, I mean back as far as you can think. Do you remember what it was like to see things that were different from the way you were used to them being for the first time? Boy that's vague. Let me see... Ok, I remember sleeping over at my cousin's house for the first time and I was shocked at how different the night time routine was at my aunt's house! Everything was so strange. When we took a bath, she used what she called a "washrag" instead of a "washcloth"- never mind that it was identical to the "washcloth" my mom used at home- she called it something odd and that made it odd. It's very funny when I think back on how freaked out I was about little stuff like that. I see it a little in Helen. When someone reads her a book that I've read to her a thousand times and they don't do the same silly little voices or sound effects etc. that I always add in she looks at them suspiciously. I started thinking about that when these two
Tuesdays with Dorie cookie recipes popped up for December.
You see, sables are a lot like shortbread cookies- in fact they look almost exactly the same and they taste pretty darn similar too. The big difference is that the sables have egg yolk in them. Egg yolk? That's the big difference? Not such a big difference, but honestly I was hesitant to try these because I always, always make my great-grandmother's shortbread and they are really perfect. Then I said to myself, come on! Live a little! Besides, Dorie included a bunch of variatons so I decided to make some orange pecan sables and then went all the way and dipped them in dark chocolate. These are really great cookies! Extremely versatile and easy to make- you could also roll them in red or green sugar for Christmas. These were selected (last week-I'm late!) by Barbara of
Bungalow Barbara.
Now the Cafe Volcano cookies are another story. Why was I hesitant to make these? Well these were SO different sounding- such an unusual method that I was positive they would not work. Yeah, I'm really thinking outside of the box these days- I blame it on sleep deprivation. Anyway, they did work and although they were not my favorite, I knew immediately when I tasted them that my dad would LOVE them. Boy was I right- he ate the whole batch! These are so easy to make- you stir the egg whites, sugar, espresso powder and nuts together on the stove until the sugar melts into the mixture and then place spoonfulls on the cookie sheet and bake them up. You could use any nut combination- I did pecan and almond. These cookies were selected by Macduff of
The Lonely Sidecar
