[Not So] Traditional Swedish Butter Cookies
All Images Credit: Christopher Halloran Photography (c) 2011
I was recently invited to a cookie exchange — my first. The party sounded like fun, but I was completely stumped by what to make.
Let’s face it, everyone knows cookie exchanges are basically beauty contests for baked goods, and even though this one wouldn’t involve judges or prizes (thank heavens!), I didn’t want to be the one bearing the ‘platter of shame.’
I needed to find a recipe that didn’t just taste good, but looked pretty, traveled well, and was unique — yet easily mass-produced.
After polling friends and family for suggestions and experimenting with several different recipes (including these White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal cookies which were very good but rather homely), I decided to stick with tradition: a Swedish butter cookie. I’m a quarter Swedish and my family has been making a version of these old-fashioned cookies — pressed with a fork and dotted with red and green maraschino cherries — nearly every Christmas for four generations.
I started with my great-grandmother’s original recipe which calls for cake flour, an egg and very little sugar and (for me, at least) yielded doughy, flavorless lumps. Not exactly what I was going for.
So I decided instead to try a fresh take on tradition by adapting this recipe. I increased the maple syrup to enhance the flavor and add some chewiness (it’s still not at all maple-y tasting), added a dash of vanilla and salt, and dipped a corner of the finished cookie in melted chocolate to make it a bit more festive — and decadent.
The result? A crispy, slightly chewy, buttery cookie that resembles shortbread in flavor but is lighter in texture.
They were a big hit with the at-home taste-testers, and although I think we were all too sick of making cookies to actually eat them at the exchange, mine passed the most important test: I came home with an empty platter.
Just one batch yields 48 – sufficient for most cookie exchanges. [Note: There are no eggs in this recipe.]
[Not So] Traditional Swedish Butter Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
For decorating:
6 oz. good quality chocolate (I used a combination of ½ dark and ½ milk)
Neutral vegetable oil (optional; for thinning chocolate)
2 oz. white chocolate chips (optional; for drizzling)
In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and maple syrup and mix well to combine. Add 1 c. of the flour, the baking soda and the salt to the creamed mixture and mix until dry ingredients are incorporated. Add remaining flour and mix just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (At this point the dough can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped in plastic, then allowed to rest at room temperature before proceeding.)
Preheat oven to 300°F. Divide the dough into eight equal portions (I patted it into a disk, then cut the disk into eight wedges) and form each portion into a semi-log shape.
Flatten the logs (I used a rolling pin) to make 9”-long rectangles and place about 1.5 inches apart on two ungreased baking sheets. Don’t worry about making the rectangles too perfect — they’ll flatten and im-perfect themselves during baking. Just part of the homemade charm.
Bake at 300°F for 20 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Use a pizza cutter to trim ends (if needed) and cut six cookies from each rectangle; cool on wire racks.
While cookies are cooling, put 6 oz. of chocolate in a glass bowl (a coffee mug works perfectly for the size and shape of these cookies) and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue to heat and stir, 15 seconds at a time, until completely smooth and glossy. Allow to cool slightly. (You can add a small amount of vegetable shortening or neutral vegetable oil, such as canola — ½ teaspoon at a time — if chocolate is too thick.) Happy accident: When baking my last batch, I needed more chocolate but didn’t have the time or inclination to make yet another trip to the grocery store. I used 3 oz. butterscotch chips and 3 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli) — just enough butterscotch flavor to complement the buttery-ness of the cookie without overpowering.
Dip a corner of each cookie into chocolate and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let stand at room temperature until chocolate is set, about 20 minutes.
Put white chocolate chips in one corner of a snack-size Ziploc bag and microwave about 10 seconds or until melted. Snip off a tiny corner of bag and drizzle over the chocolate portion of each cookie.
Image credit: Christopher Halloran Photography (c) 2011
Linking to Kate’s Cookiepalooza Party at CentsationalGirl.com.
Edited Entry: Painting Door Hardware
As is the plight of many homes in Arizona, the street view of our house is dominated by a three-car garage. Blech.
Our lipstick-on-a-pig solution was to paint it a solid color and attempt to dress it up with modern mission-inspired light fixtures and windows. But since the garage still makes up nearly half the facade, the front entrance needs to be a standout to get noticed at all.
While cleaning up the aftermath of a recent haboob (which is way more fun to say than it is to experience), I realized our entry was standing out — just not in the way I’d hoped.
Our front door is looking tired and neglected, the welcome mat is not welcoming anyone, and the weathered bench is barely holding it together.
Time to spruce it up — starting with the door hardware.
Favorite Summer Dessert: Fresh Fruit Tart
Image ©2011 Christopher Halloran Photography
My Aunt Stewart was a born hostess. She made entertaining seem effortless — a trait she passed along to her children. My siblings and I have fond memories of her huge holiday shindigs where she welcomed with open arms every friend and family member who happened to be in town.
She had a quick wit, a deep, throaty laugh, and a classic, honeyed Southern drawl. She took a genuine interest in people and had a knack for making them feel unique and loved.
Non-traditional life list.
Most of the time I love my job as a freelance writer – the freedom to work from home, the flexibility to set my own hours, the variety of projects, the great clients.
Problem is, all that freedom and flexibility means my business — and busy-ness – can fluctuate wildly so when work comes in I tend to take it.
Perhaps that explains why I took on nine major new client projects last month.
But, like a bad infomercial, that’s not all!
In the same time span, my only child graduated from high school, I hosted house guests for 15 days, and I dealt with the deaths of three people I loved. Between funerals and commencement ceremonies, there were times I wasn’t sure I would get through it.
DIY 100-Calorie Packs
Image © 2011 Christopher Halloran Photography
About four years ago I did a stint at Weight Watchers. What I liked about the program was that it worked – it forced me to think about every single thing I put in my mouth and I dropped the weight in about three months.
What I didn’t like so much was attending the weekly weigh-in meetings. They were long. They were rah rah. And they mostly seemed to be about hawking goods or services rather than providing genuinely useful suggestions.
Somewhat ironically, nearly every meeting would end with a free sample and coupon for some new diet snack.
Since this was the beginning of the 100-calorie pack phenomenon, they were frequently the snack sample du jour. Most of them tasted fine — I even bought a couple boxes — but I didn’t like getting so little for my money, even with a coupon.
How’s your ensō today?
Imperfect Ensō #32 by J. Halloran
I had a very short-lived career as an interior designer — it was great until I discovered that making it my job sucked all the fun out of it for me.
But I still love design, and I’ve amassed hundreds of magazine tear sheets over the years. I store them in plastic sheet protectors and file them by category into three-ring binders. Call me OCD, but they’ve been a great resource – not just for me, but for friends, relatives and even the occasional client.
About a year ago I was leafing through a binder to find a paint color for a friend when I stopped, mesmerized by a painting in a room I’d clipped nearly five years ago:
Art: Drip Circle by Mario Uribe; Designer: Kelly Wearstler; Source: Western Interiors Sept/Oct 2006
Got $3? Get this sweater.
Images from L-R: In Style mag (Aug. 2005); Michael Kors for Nordstrom ad (c. 2002); thebudgetbabe.com
It’s going to hit 95° later this week in Phoenix, so the last thing I’d intended to be writing about today is a sweater. Or anything fashion-related, really. But a bargain this good simply must be shared.
Yesterday I went to Old Navy — the plan was to exchange something there, then head to the In-N-Out drive-thru across the street for a cheeseburger. But when I saw the stacks and stacks of sweaters on the clearance table, the plan changed.
15-Minute White Bean Chicken Chili
Image ©2011 Christopher Halloran Photography
I was in Virginia earlier this year to lend a hand after my father’s heart surgery. I wanted to prepare a simple but nourishing meal for his first night home from the hospital, so my mom suggested I make his favorite white bean chili with chicken.
I glanced over the recipe she handed me — noting the extensive use of cans — and said somewhat skeptically, “hmmm, this looks … easy. Who gave it to you?”
My mom looked at me oddly. “You did.”
So despite my wariness and complete lack of recall, I followed “my” chili recipe. It was surprisingly good. And it occurred to me that at some point along the way, I’d become a recipe snob. I’d abandoned many easy, low-cost, delicious meals simply because they didn’t include exotic ingredients, or require sufficient chopping, or called for (gasp!) something from a can.
What to Wear to the Beach: A Copycat’s Guide
(Image sources L to R: Photo by Bauer Griffin via Stylebistro.com, Stylebistro.com, Babble.com)
For 15 years, my beach ‘uniform’ has not changed: Swimsuit, board shorts, t-shirt, baseball cap and flip-flops.
This has suited me just fine – in my experience (which doesn’t include Miami Beach, btw) most people don’t seem overly concerned with what they wear to the beach.
But with a couple beach trips looming this summer – trips on which I will likely be with fashion-conscious people I actually know — I decided it might be time to step up my game.
Truth is the baseball cap neither keeps out much sun nor sufficiently contains my crazy, exploding beach hair; the board shorts and t-shirt tend to get wet – then sandy – then heavy; and the flip-flops fling sand everywhere.
So while admittedly this is not a blog about fashion — nor am I any kind of fashionista — it is a blog about simplifying my life. And coming up with something to wear to the beach this summer does simplify my life in a big way, especially since I’m likely to wear it for another 15 years. At least.
The Mission.
Find travel-friendly, affordable beachwear that offers sun protection, dries quickly and has a modicum of style.
Origami rabbit cards for every occasion.
While living in Japan in the late ‘80s, I got really sick. Go-to-the-hospital sick.
When the doctor came in to review my x-rays, his expression was grave but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. (Even though I spoke Japanese, my medical vocabulary was, um, sparse.)
The one part I could make out was “gan mitai.” I knew that “mitai” roughly meant “looks like,” so I frantically paged through my Japanese–English Dictionary to find out what my illness ‘looked like.’
As is common with Japanese kanji characters, there were a bunch of different definitions for gan – wish, duck, alcove … even gun. But I was fairly certain which kanji he meant.
Cancer.
So I did what anyone in their early 20s would do when they’ve just been told they have cancer: I got a second opinion.
