November was a whirlwind for me as my fall semester comes to a close. I had chosen a book to review this month and made three bakes from it, however, I don’t think it was really enough to do this book justice. So this one will be a quicky…
Whenever I hear about southern anything I always think of decadent and indulgent and this book is nothing short of that. It’s packed with great recipes, which is why I hope to continue to make more from this book and share in the future. Despite it being a cookie book there’s a little bit of everything in here including bars, brittles, and even candies. It’s a beautiful book with great photography and the layout of the directions for each bake is ver clear. Each recipe also contains a little blurb at the end with a fact or a flavor swap that make the possibilities for these bakes virtually endless.
Here are the three I chose and a quick overview of my experience…
Slice-And-Bake Shortbread Cookies:
This recipe is super simple and reminded me of the Pillsbury roll cookies with designs in the center that my grandma would buy from the store and make with us on holidays. It’s very kid friendly and you can totally customize the flavors or even roll in food coloring for a fun activity. The dough can be kept frozen for up to a year and since the recipe makes two rolls you can bake some now and save the rest for later.
I substituted almond extract for butter extract since I’m not really an almond flavor fan, but they still came out great. These cookies will melt in your mouth with just the right amount of sweet, and you can spread jam or an herbed goat cheese spread over to create a new flavor combination.
I recommend these little guys be enjoyed with a cup of hot tea and good will power because once you get started your going to want to eat the whole dozen!
Fruit Filled Cookies:
I wanted to try a variety of bakes from this book and this one caught my eye because of the flaky pastry used. Unfortunately, the very thing that drew me to this recipe was also the biggest challenge. The dough is extremely tough and will take lots of muscle to roll out to be thin enough to cut your cookie shape. Even after several minutes of rolling and rolling I still couldn’t quite get the dough as thin as I’d like, so it’s important to note that this bake will take some muscle. Although my dough came out rather thick I have to say the cookie was a fantastic flaky texture that paired wonderfully with the tart cherry filling I chose to use.
The next issue I had with this bake also came from the very tough dough. You’re supposed to “fold opposite corners to center, slightly overlapping.” Which seems easy enough, however, I couldn’t get my corners to stay together, and even after I thought they were fine and stuck them in the oven, the baking process opened them right back up. Once the dough is cooked it’s too hard to push the ends together and if you force it the cookie will break. As you can imagine it was rather frustrating, but upon looking back at the book it did seem like from the picture of the cookies that possibly the creator had pinched the two ends together (although I still think this recipe should require a binding component because the dough is so tough.
All criticisms aside I liked these cookies, and the final product was pretty when the dough did decide to stay in place.
Brownie Cookies:
Well, I’ve saved the best for last with this one. I have to say of everything I’ve baked since starting this blog this is probably one of the most delicious recipes. In my mind, turning a brownie into a cookie and putting in roughly chopped salted pecans is a no brainer. These cookies have the crunch of a cookie on the outside and a gooey inside like a rich brownie. This recipe is a must bake in my book and I look forward to making them again.
Half Baked 