Cookie Monster

One of my Channukah gifts from Marc was the Martha Stewart Cookie Cookbook. The book is filled with a plethora of cookie recipes, each with an accompanying photo to tempt you into making it. Once we had flipped through the book, Marc and I had made a promise that we would no longer buy prepackaged cookies and if we were in the mood for a sweet treat, we would have to make it ourselves. This served two purposes. First, it would ideally cut down on our consumption of store bought cookies - no more preservatives and easy access to extra calories. And secondly, we would build up our baking repertoire, which we're always looking to expand. We decided we would go through the book, picking out cookies that looked appealing and interesting to us and try them out, jotting down our thoughts and impressions for future use. The first two cookies we made were total flops, and we were a bit discouraged.
The first cookie was a honey florentine, and while it was easy to make and looked exactly like the one Martha's book it was just over overwhelmingly "honey-ish". Too much honey for our tastes.

Cookie number two was a chocolate pretzel, and while it looked delicious on paper, it was a pain to make and was not very tasty. We didn't even both with photos!
I was starting to get a bit despondent and wondering if Martha was really all she was cracked up to be. Thankfully, our third attempt turned the tide. We made citrus infused cornmeal shortbreads and they were delicious. Crumbly and buttery with a hint of orange flavor. They were eaten up in no time at all, and I'm sure will be a recipe we will return to frequently.

The other night we had gotten some bad news. Somebody close to us had passed away and we were pretty upset. Both Marc and I tend to be emotional eaters (yikes!) and we had no store bought cookies on hand to help ease the sadness. Marc decided to persevere and whipped up our favorite cookie to date - Grandma's favorite chocolate cookie. Martha's grandma must have been on to something because these were phenomenal. The cocoa flavor was wonderful and they weren't overly sweet. These will definitely become a staple in our house for sure.

Elijah has yet to taste the chocolate cookies, as he hasn't had much exposure to chocolate yet (and seeing as how voraciously we devour it, perhaps that is a good thing!), yet absolutely loved the citrus-cornmeal shortbreads!




Who knows which of the many cookies we'll make next, but my hope is that they'll just keep getting better and better!