cuisine

Perhaps it was wrong, but it was an innocent accident: I took someone else’s coffee from the bar this morning.  I didn’t realize I’d done so until I was in the car, and then I was off.

My first thought was of regret: she was ahead of me in line with three young girls and she seemed nice.  But, I thought, she’d like my drink: a nice vanilla latte.  My second thought was that this would be one of those surprising minor diversions life sometimes presents.  Chillin’ like the villain I felt myself to be, I prepared for a few ounces of serendipitous discovery.

Briefly, briefly, just until I drank the coffee. It was nasty.  Some kind of a sugar-free-mocha-soy slurry.  I was cutting through Wal-Mart by then, on the move and in no position to return to correct the mistake.

A dilemma fell on me like a Big Lots brick stack, hoisted too high on the top shelf: drink the nasty thing - to redeem my sin and to indulge my fate - or dump it.  I tried another wee sip.  Even nastier than before, its noxious powers amplified by the aftertaste of the first strong pull

I sidled toward the electronics section where I knew there was trash can.  The vague, noncommittal fog lifted, I did a quick brush-pass by the bin, spiking the cup in a quick, decisive thrust.  This done, I was off to the toy section to buy a birthday present.

This one comes to us from Food and Wine Magazine.  I’m going to try this one this week.  This recipe is supposed to take a total time of 2 hours and make 16 cookies.  I’ll double the recipe.

Spritz cookies are buttery Scandinavian sweets made by forcing (“spritzing”) dough through a press, creating bizarre, outlandish, or otherworldly shapes.

Cookie Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg

Filling Ingredients

• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and position racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the cinnamon, cardamom and salt. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the egg and beat at medium speed until incorporated. Add half of the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just incorporated. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in 1 3/4-inch rosettes; you should have about 32. Refrigerate until chilled, about 20 minutes.

3. For cakey cookies, bake the cookies for about 14 minutes, until the tops are dry; for crispier cookies, bake for about 16 minutes, until the edges are golden. Shift the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through for even baking. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, make the filling: In a saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a simmer. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, combine the egg white with the sugar, water, corn syrup and vanilla. Set the bowl over (but not in) the pan of simmering water and stir constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, about 4 minutes. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and whip the mixture at high speed until firm, glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes.

5. Scrape the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a 1/4-inch star tip. Arrange half of the cookies flat side up. Pipe the meringue on top and close the sandwiches. Dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar.