Sorry I've been gone for so long - I am on vacation right now in the middle of the prairie, so I've been lazy. I have done hardly any baking - actually hardly anything at all. It's been very relaxing. Next Monday is going to be hell.
I did bake one recipe from Sweet Miniatures, one of the three cookbooks I brought with me to read. What, doesn't everyone take cookbooks on vacation?
I also brought a bag of hazelnuts with me, hoping to find some recipes to use them. That's how I chose this recipe - it called for the most hazelnuts. The cookies are called Daddy Long Legs, which is the strangest name. When I think of Daddy Long Legs, I think of a small body and long skinny legs. I haven't the faintest how these are related to their name. Maybe the nuts look like the insect bodies? If anyone has any ideas, please do let me know.
The cookies are one of the easiest in this book. You soften butter, add sugar, egg, toasted nuts and flour. The soft dough is shaped into a log and chilled for several hours. The chilling not only helps set the dough for slicing, it also allows the nuts to absorb moisture from the dough so they will soften and can be cut more easily.
These crunchy cookies taste better than I expected. There is no salt or flavoring in the dough, which I felt would make them very bland. Toasting the nuts helps boost the flavor, making them quite palatable. Put it this way - I made half a batch after dinner one evening and there were no leftovers. However, I still think a little vanilla and salt would make them pop.
I return from vacation on Sunday, then it's right back into the grind again. Sigh. But cooler weather is just around the corner, and with it baking will become a more frequent event.
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