I haven’t made anything chocolatey for a while, for good reason: It’s summertime and there is such an abundance of fruits, veg and berries, that I should leave chocolate for the winter, when I am not as lucky. That said, chocolate is pretty good too, so I decided to make these sugar cookies. And pecans and sea salt? How can you go wrong!
when I was a little girl, my Oma and Opa in greater-Stuttgart had this great cherry tree. I used to love hanging out under that tree, playing in the mud in the early summer, and then enjoying the bounty of the tree later in the summers. My sister once pulled me out of that tree (well, she pulled the ladder, not realizing that my legs were still looped over it, while I was sitting on a pretty high branch) and I broke my foot, but that is the only bad memories that I have of cherries from when I was a child. I love love love cherries.
What is better than regular ole s’mores? Make the graham crackers yourself (I make them round in this case) and then add a Reece’s Peanut Butter cup and proceed as usual. These are absolutely crazy good. Be forewarned that you will likely only be able to manage one though, as they are rich rich rich!
Rugelach always reminds me of Christmas. I don’t know why, actually, because they are really Jewish sweets and don’t have anything directly to do with Christmas. But nevertheless, they do.
And thus I have no explanation for why I am making them in June. I felt inspired, I guess. But I did use peach jam and pistachios, so it almost has a bit of a Middle Eastern flavor. A bit of everything, I guess.
I really like Florentine-style chocolate chip cookies … the thin and crispy kind. The trick to this, I think, is to make the dough and then make the cookies straight away. Letting it cool in the refrigerator firms up the butter again and then you get more “puff” to the cookies themselves. These, while not really chocolate chip cookies as their primary flavor, definitely are florentine style. The toffee bits make them even crispier. Quite yummy, if I do say so myself.
As an aside, maple extract is my new favorite flavor. If you can’t find the extract, simply boil down some syrup until it is thicker and more concentrated. Just be careful when you are doing that, as you don’t want to cause a “burned pan” disaster.