Of all the 30-some recipes that I'm behind in FFWD, about a third of them are desserts. Not that I don't like desserts. Far from it. It's a matter of trust. No matter how much I like, say, a pan of potato gratin, I know I'm not going to go to the refrigerator and gobble up the leftovers in one sitting. Rich, chocolatey cookies? That's a different matter. So I wouldn't have dared make these unless I had a plan to give them away. A meeting where people love it when I bring in treats was scheduled for Monday afternoon. These people are all wild about chocolate and wild about cookies.
Not only is the dough chocolatized with cocoa (delicious Italian cocoa), but also with a quarter-pound of chopped bittersweet chocolate. This is considered optional, but I would say it's required.
It makes a dark, dark cookie dough, which you roll out into a dark, dark cylinder.
If you don't read the recipe ahead of time annd want to make the cookies immediately, you're out of luck. I've done that before, but not this time, since I know by now that sables, being fancy refrigerator cookies, have to be refrigerated for a while. I made the dough in the morning, saw a movie in the afternoon, and baked the cookies in the evening--rolling the logs in sugar before slicing them and putting them in the oven.
Decorating sugar would have been nice, but I only had about two teaspoons, so granulated sugar had to work. They sugared cookies looked a little odd, I thought, but it at least gave some contrast to the dark cookies.
I was the hero of the hour when I brought a tin of cookies into the conference room. Never underestimate the power of chocolate.
And a catch-up salmon dish. This wasn't the best salmon I've ever had, or even that I've ever made. But it's the easiest. The French lentils cook very quickly, so dinner can be on the table in just over a half-hour.
AND a question: Do any of the other land-locked people out there have ideas about the crab for the upcoming salad? The only thing I've seen is a very expensive tin of crab meat, which I'd rather not buy. Do some of you have plans to substitute?
I'd skip the sugar myself if I were to do these again. Wasn't needed... at least I'd skip the egg wash part as I think that is superfluous and made the sugar look a bit odd if you ask me. Oh, and I would gladly make that salmon again though.
ReplyDeleteI love the contrast between the sugary edges and the dark cookie. Extra chocolate should never be optional. :)
ReplyDeleteI think shrimp might be a good substitute for the crab.
I like the lightening that the sugar layer brings.
ReplyDeleteI used a small (half pound) tin of fresh lump crab - but you can get claw or other pieces and it's a little less expensive. You could probably substitute shrimp or imitation crab meat.
Your chocolate sables look simply beautiful! Very nicely done! My problem with them was I couldn’t eat just one!
ReplyDeleteI think shrimp would make a good substitute!
I think the sugar looks very pretty. Nice job! Was your afternoon movie a good one?
ReplyDeleteThe cookies look great and the regular sugar worked well. I used raw sugar on mine and that was okay too. I think it just needs a contrast. Great job.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it makes a huge difference between granulated sugar and sanding sugar. Yours look great.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I didn't see the April recipes on the website, how did I miss them? Yeah, crabmeat can be pricey, maybe a mix of crab and shrimp.
Your salmon and lentils look terrific, too.
I love the color contrast between your sugar coating and the cookie. And I like that you used a finer sugar. Your sables look so pretty. Great job on the salmon. I have been wanting to make this again for my daughter as salmon is one of her favorites. Regarding next week's recipe - lump crab is so expensive here, but I was thinking about getting a small container and trying it anyway. There might not be a lot of crab meat in mine, but I am hoping it will be enough for us to get the flavor that is intended.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Elaine, I like the contrast with the white sugar and the chocolate cookies. I need to try the salmon with lentils, it looks really good. I don't know what I'm doing for this coming Friday, maybe just a crab salad but no grapefruit, mu husband can't eat it;-(
ReplyDelete