Comments on: Sparkle-icious.

By: May Pedersen

May Pedersen — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:43:37 +0000

Could you please provide a cookie recipe called “kaasstengels”? It is sort of cheese sticks. Originally from Holland. I would appreciate it if you would.
Thank you very much. I am counting on you!

Hi, May - Not sure when I’d get to this, so here’s a Kaasstengel recipe in the meantime - PJH

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:34:46 +0000

I made the vanilla dreams yesterday, and they are delicious. Now, what other recipes are there to use up the rest of my baker’s ammonia?

Cheryl, type ammonia in the search box in our online recipe section, and you’ll find two more recipes. Also, try Gold Standard Cutout Cookies. Glad you enjoyed the Dreams… - PJH

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:02:22 +0000

I made these for a weekend trip and they are great! I did half the batch on parchment and the other half on my Exopat baking mat and the Exopat baked better and slid off so much easier! I will only bake these on the Exopat for now on. I did find that I needed to extend the baking time, but next time I want to try on convection. You definitely need to keep these cookies sealed. I took them to California where it was pretty humid and left the Ziploc bag open for 15 minutes and they started to get soft.

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:33:05 +0000

Thank you so much for this recipe! I made a batch for my husband’s birthday (appropriately on July 9, Sugar Cookie Day!), and the whole family fell in love with them. And here’s a tip for those who don’t have parchment paper on hand . . . it’s essential! I baked the first half of the cookies on waxed paper–bad idea. I had to keep the cookies warm in the oven to be able to pry them off the paper. There were about a dozen that wouldn’t release the waxed paper . . . but all was not lost, my teenager ate them anyway.

A quick run out to get parchment paper made the second half a breeze. These are fabulous with fresh peach ice cream . . . sigh

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:15:07 +0000

I can’t wait to try the crystal diamond cookies - they look wonderful. And I HAVE heard of yeast in a cookie dough. My grandmother’s ruggelah recipe uses both baking powder and yeast. I’ll have to send it to you some time and see what you think. It isn’t like any other ruggelah recipe I’ve ever seen.

Thanks, Barbara, I’ll look forward to seeing it -PJH

By: Rita

Rita — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:55:36 +0000

Dear MaryJane,
thanks so much for your answer to my strawberry shortbread cookie dilemma. I just tried to make some and I think they came out pretty good! Check out my results at www.malgados5.blogspot.com

By: catherine

catherine — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:48:43 +0000

i just took these out of the oven…..patience is definitely rewarded! (250 degrees for 75 minutes).. and they look EXACTLY like your ‘good’ photo! slightly rustic, but i’d bite if i saw them in a bakery…i really appreciate your visuals accompanying the recipe….i might have panicked once or twice without them (particularly in the dough-mixing stage) THANK YOU! that being said, the dough is a dream to work with (i chilled just over 24 hours)….i used 1/4 t lemon zest and one drop fiori….subtle! i used a different sugar on each cookie sheet (demerara, white, and pastel)…now all i need is a really nice tin and perhaps some little paper liners…..next time i will use a fluted pastry wheel and perhaps experiment with a few small cutters…these will be a staple in my house….

Catherine - SUCCESS! Glad it all worked out for you. These aren’t the easiest cookies, but they’re definitely rewarding… PJH

By: chanit

chanit — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:30:37 +0000

I’ve baked this cookie yesterday, adding less sugar-only few TB.
I use AP flour,[ I would like to buy king arthur flour here in Israel, but we can’t ]
The cookie is crispy ,golden brown with a wonderful taste.
I’ll post about it later today,in my Blog .
Thank you so much for this recipe and for this tasty Blog .

By: Rita

Rita — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:20:33 +0000

OK, I have a cookie question. I saw someone selling shortbread cookies with real fruit (mostly berries) in them on etsy but they have since closed their shop. I want to try to make them but I’m hesitant to add pureed berries to my recipe without replacing another ingredient, maybe the sugar and/or butter? I would love to try it with a recipe from the KA Whole Grain Baking book (my favorite cookbook). Can you tell me which shortbread recipe and what I should try?

Thanks!

Hi Rita,

First, I would do some research on the web, to see if you can find some recipes using pureed fruits in cookies. Be sure to look on well established sites such as allrecipes.com and cooks.com. Fat Free baking books from the library may also have some good information.
Next, try making the Scottish Shortbread in pg 332 of the WG cookbook AS IS. This will give you a baseline to shoot for. Then, try substituting fruit for some of the butter. There is no other liquid in the recipe, so you are replacing fat with fruit. It will probably take a few batches to get what you are looking for, but experimenting is part of the fun of baking!

Be sure to let us know your results!

MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline

By: Cleosa Valentine

Cleosa Valentine — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:01:03 +0000

I will be trying these cookies very soon for a family reunion. Can they be successfully frozen? I want to mention that anyone wanting to purchase baker’s ammonia, other than the BC might try to find it in a local cake decorating shop. That’s where I get mine to use in Vanilla Dreams, the ultimate sugar cookie recipe.

Hi Cleosa,

There is nothing in the recipe that won’t freeze, but because of the sugar content and the original crispness of the cookie, the texture may change some with freezing, and the cookies may be a little less crisp and a little more toothy and chewy. The flavors will still be great!

Happy Baking!

MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline