Cookie

This recipe was found in a handwritten Swedish cookbook, dated about 1864, belonging to Countess Frida Af Trampe. This was said to be her favorite cookie. Ingrid Albertzon Parker, who is Swedish, took the time to translate this recipe into American measurements. I had the pleasure of having Ingrid come into my kitchen one afternoon to teach me the art of making these buttery little morsels. They are really very simple to make. The optional Cognac and shaved chocolate were added by Ingrid.

Orange zest gives these crispy snaps a hint of citrus. Barley malt syrup (for more about this sweetener, see page 68) stands in for the traditional molasses, and tastes virtually identical. If the maple sugar is clumpy, break it up with your fingers before creaming it with the butter. To make gingerbread people, roll the dough to just over 1/4 inch thick and press in raisins or other toppings to decorate the cookies.

The key to this great cookie is the mix of chocolates—semisweet, milk, and creamy white—and just enough batter to hold together the good stuff. After the boxed brownies, making chocolate chip cookies was the next step in my young baking career. I was able to make the cookies without (much of) Mama’s supervision. The recipe was from my very first cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls, given to me on my eighth birthday. I top each of these cookies with a flawless pecan half, which makes them picture perfect. My pecans of choice are a variety called Elliot, which are petite, yet plump and rich with natural oils. For years, I’ve ordered them from Pearson Farms in Fort Valley, Georgia, for myself, and also have sent them as Christmas gifts to very special people all over the world.

For the most part, Mama has always made everything from scratch. Homemade cakes, cookies, and pies were the norm, but she would open one box when she made brownies. My father worked for a company that made, among myriad other things, brownie mix. I remember opening the Christmas gifts from corporate friends that contained a potpourri of company products, including the familiar red box—the brownie mix. Perhaps one of the reasons I am so fond of these brownies is that they represent my first solo forays into baking. Other than turning on the oven, I was allowed to prepare the brownies all by myself.

When I was older, Meme and Dede would travel to Florida in the winter and stay near a citrus farm. They would return with bulging sacks of oranges, lemons, and grapefruit. I know Dede enjoyed the trip, but I sometimes wondered about Meme. She must have been in her eighties when she derisively commented, “There’s nothing but old people in Florida.” Citrus fruit has a strong presence in Southern cooking. Lemons and other citrus from Florida and the Caribbean were used in Southern cooking as early as the Colonial period. A recipe for lemon pudding appeared in Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook, The Virginia Housewife, the first regional cookbook published in America. Lemon meringue pie holds a special place in people’s memories, as do lemon curd and lemon squares like these. Store these bars tightly wrapped in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

When Mama makes this, it’s all she can do to get it to the baking sheet. While it’s refrigerated, my sister and I sneak nibbles of the sweet, raw dough. One summer years ago, my cousin ate so much of the dough that he got a stomachache. Even now, every time Mama makes these cookies, we laugh about him groaning. Shortly thereafter, she started successfully doubling the recipe to take our nibbling into account. These cookies are somewhat similar to sablés, the real French butter cookie. The vegetable shortening also makes them softer than true French sablés, which are larger in size and have a fine, crumbly texture that resembles sand (their name means sand in French).

You can pretty much use any dried fruit, nuts, or chips that you like in these cookies. Just follow the basic recipe and change the last four ingredients to suit your tastes. You can stay mainstream with them or go crazy and add something out of the ordinary, like dried tropical fruits and macadamia nuts.

I love pinwheel cookies . . . when someone else makes them. Making real pinwheels is too much like work, so I did what I do best—I made it easier. I put the chocolate on one side and the vanilla on the other. If you want to roll out both doughs, layer them, and roll them up, go ahead. But for me, the lazy way works just fine.

I am generally not a huge fan of lemon desserts, but these cookies are so crisp and delicate that they melt in your mouth. The bonus is that they are incredibly fast and easy to make. In 30 minutes you can go from sitting on the couch thinking about cookies to actually eating them, and that’s never a bad thing.

I know that bars may sound old-fashioned, but they’re just like cookies and they’re a lot faster to make. These bars are like pecan pie with a thicker crust and less filling so you can eat them with your hands. If you are making these for a special occasion, it looks cool if you use pecan halves instead of chopped pecans and arrange them in rows on top of the filling.

These bars are so good that you will have to hide them from your friends if you want them to last more than 5 minutes. They are super easy to make. In fact, the hardest part about these melt-in-your-mouth bars is waiting for them to cool enough to eat.

Okay, so I know you’re thinking, “Potato chips in cookies, that’s too weird.” But I promise you these are a real treat. The potato chips give the cookies a little extra crunch and a nice salty flavor. Besides, what else are you going to do with all the little chips in the bottom of the bag?

My grandmother used to make these easy cookies for us all the time. They are chocolaty, chewy little bites that taste a lot like brownies. (That would probably be why they are called brownie bites.) You may want to think about making a double batch, because they seem to disappear quickly.

These are my favorite kind of brownies. I like chocolate, but I’m not into the serious fudgy-chocolate kind of stuff. With these brownies I can pick out the ones with more cream cheese and leave the more chocolaty ones for someone else (like my mom).