Where it all began...

Apparently I make good cookies. Not just good cookies but awesome cookies. Not my words, the words of my family and friends. Don't get me wrong, I can follow a recipe. But I'm not really sure what makes them so delectible. I almost feel as though I am cheating my family, mostly my husband, out of the tastefulness of life when I make cookies from premade dough or pour them out of a box. They even have their own name: Shari Cookies. These "Shari Cookies" have become the only request of my family as Christmas presents and are a requirement at family parties. It all started Christmas 2005 when I tried to get a cookie exchange going. I made hundreds of cookies in my college apartment all by hand (I didn't yet have a mixer), in an oven that barely fit one pan. My roommate awoke to masses of baked goods covering each and every surface of our living space, save her bedroom and our tiny bathroom. I boxed them all up, well most of them, wrapped them in holiday flare, and placed them under the trees of my unsuspecting family members. With visions of sugar plums fleeing their dreams, they awoke to the sugar spender that has now become the traditional holiday staple. My goal is to get some practice this year. Not that I'm rusty. I absolutely adore baking. However, it seems as though I always go into the holiday cold, without the proper shoes, stretch and warmup. Not this year. This year I plan to outdo all the rest, which will be hard to do, for sure. And so, "The Cookie Project" was born. Each week I plan to make one type of cookie. It must be from scratch and have all the love and tenderness of warm homemade cookies and the subsidial milk, sans the slobber of my husband's spit on the spoon. So, one homemade cookie a week. This can't be good for our waistlines, but he's not complaining...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Xmas cookie #3

Dulce de Leche Cookies
Yields 40 cookies
Recipe from Pilsbury.com

Ingredients:
Garnish
1 cup flaked coconut
Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons dark rum or 1/2 teaspoon rum extract plus 2 1/2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
Filling
1 cup caramel apple dip (from 16-oz container)
 
Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Spread coconut in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Turn off oven. In food processor bowl with metal blade, place cooled coconut. Cover; process until ground. Set aside. Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until smooth. Add egg yolks, rum and vanilla. On high speed, beat about 1 minute or until blended. In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. On ungreased nonstick (not insulated) cookie sheets, place balls about 2 inches apart. Dip bottom of small glass into 1/4 cup sugar; press on cookies to make about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Bake 10 to 11 minutes or just until edges begin to brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes. For each sandwich cookie, spread about 1 teaspoon of the caramel apple dip on bottom of 1 cookie, spreading to edge of cookie. Top with second cookie. Gently squeeze until filling oozes out a little around the side. Roll edges of cookies in ground coconut.

These are little sandwiches from heaven! They look so pretty but they are super easy! I was initially a little intimidated by toasting my own coconut, but it was easier than I thought. Plus, it tasted super yummy and I didn't use it all for the cookies so I ended up using it in some brownies that I made. I was apprehensive that the caramel dip would be too runny to sandwich between each cookie, but after I squeezed it in and rolled it in coconut, it stuck like glue. They were very sweet and caramelly. My husband says they were awesome. I happen to agree...
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