Limoncello Snowdrops – oops one’s missing
I have a problem with cookbooks. I think I inherited this from my Mom. She used to give me cookbooks beginning when I was in my teens and twenties. She usually signed and dated them and wrote a short little note inside the front cover. These books are some of my most treasured possessions now. Since I have gone to pastry school, I have become even more interested in the exploding sources of recipe development. I wonder if there has ever been a time when the shear volume of literature about cooking has been so prolific. I would have to consult a sociologist or anthropologist about the reasons and origins of this situation. But, all in all, it keeps me engaged and intrigued daily. Deciding which books to invest in is hard – there is so much great material coming out these days – in various forms of print. Lately, I have begun looking at the British Amazon collection – they have all sorts of different books – ut-oh!
On Monday, I had a short conversation with my yoga instructor about Russian Teacakes. I found myself sheepishly confessing that the only recipe I had ever used for these cookies was from my original, dog-eared and cover-less copy of the Betty Crocker’s Cookbook. The copyright on my volume is 1970. I don’t remember for sure, but I think this is the first cookbook my Mom ever gave me. Anyway, I say sheepishly because with all of my so-called accumulated knowledge (only the tip of the iceberg, I am reminded every day) I find myself, ironically, referring to this basic and humble book, (by today’s standards), on an ongoing basis and perhaps more than any other single reference including all of the fancy and sophisticated volumes I have, other than the internet. Anyway, after confessing to Liz, she said, yes, that was the recipe she used, too. And so, this sent me down the road of memories of making these. I believe it is accurate to say these were (are still?) my cousin Vincent’s favorite Christmas cookies (or was it really Pfeffernusse that was his favorite?) and I can remember my Aunt making these often for him when he came home from college and law school. And, so I found myself reminiscing about these little cookies all week (yes, it’s true, this is what I do).
Late yesterday after I finished with the kitchen contractors (well, not finished — although I am back in business with a sink and DW!) , did numerous errands, returned to the camera store for the 5th time regarding my cc pictures, and got ready to meet a friend for dinner, I got to thinking about making a lemon version of the Russian Teacake. I googled and googled around looking for what I wanted and didn’t find anything satisfying. Basically, I wanted a light and crunchy version of the Russian Teacake but with a nice lemon overtone so that it was refreshing, a little surprising and, well fun and different. I didn’t want a filling – just the nice light texture of the teacake. This morning I got up and decided I would just make the recipe myself. I got the book out and lo and behold, on page 147 right across from the Russian Teacake recipe is a recipe for Lemon Snowdrops – this is the name of the cookie I was googling. The two recipes are nearly identical except that there is lemon extract in place of the vanilla and the recipe does call for a filling, which I don’t want. So, “duh”, as Ryan would say, obviously mine is not an original idea at all, but I do want the texture of the teacake in my snowdrop. So, I am setting out to tweak the original Russian Teacake recipe to see what I get:
MY LEMONCELLO SNOWDROPS
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar; more for rolling
2 teaspoons Limoncello or 1 tsp lemon extract
zest of one lemon
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds (I prefer pecans)
Preheat oven to 400F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, confectioner’s sugar and limoncello or or lemon extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, lemon zest and nuts. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and blend. Finish with a wooden spoon, if necessary to make sure dough is completely blended. Chill dough if it is too soft. Shape dough into 1″ balls. Place 1″ apart on baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes until set but not browned. While warm, roll in confectioner’s sugar. Cool. Roll in sugar again. These are yummy – just what I was going for. Next time I may try to add some lemon zest into the confectioner’s sugar for rolling – this may or may not work. Anyway, try these – they are easy and yummy. Enjoy!
