On Monday, I made the cinnamon-almond star cookies, that are gluten-free – Zimmetstern, and the peanut butter chocolate swirl brownies, Hootie Swirls. I tried out a new star cookie cutter, but I only made a few with it, since the points were too long and skinny, and kept getting plugged with dough. I also made two different pans of Hootie Swirls – a sheet and a deeper, 13 x 9 x 2 – and I think I over baked the sheet. Annoying, because there are twice as many from the sheet pan as the 13 x 9 x 2. You look at the pictures and decide.
Tuesday I went to a going away party at Graze, for a fellow REAP volunteer, who’s moving to the Twin Cities. When I got there, Tory Miller, our Madison star chef (and super nice guy) who owns the place was sitting in a booth eating with a friend. My first thought was, “man, that guy must be successful, if he can sit in his own restaurant”, but Terese pointed out that might be the only way he gets to eat. Especially since he just opened another place. but it does underscore what I’ve always thought about Tory – he must be a really great boss, because he trains his people so that his places run right even if he’s not at the stove.
Anyways, I didn’t get home until a little after 7:00, so my big visions for the night downsized. I made the Orangette fruit & nut balls, which still need to be glazed with chocolate (their “hats” Ms. Wizenberg calls it). I made the dough for the tiny Pfeffernüsse (Peppernuts), little spice cookies that I make with a glaze instead of tossed in powered sugar. [Prior sentence copied exactly from last year’s post on November 25th.] And I soaked the fruit for the fruitcake gems in booze, but I don’t want to bake them until tomorrow, because I don’t have enough powdered sugar to make their glaze – I’m planning to use most of what I’ve got for the Pfeffernusse glaze. And the chex mix just came out of the oven.
Pfeffernüsse & glazed fruit balls added to slideshow.
