Monday, November 28, 2005

Mondays with Maida - Florida Cream-Cheese Squares


Page 93 in the old book / page 136 in the new book

You know, the whole time I was making these and up until just a few minutes ago, I was thinking they were the cookies Niki had made a month or so ago. Since my cookie dough came out crumbly and hers didn't I was going to talk about that (I figured it had to do with my butter being cold and possibly hers wasn't). Then I went back to that post and saw how thick and creamy her filling looked and got a little envious. Then I saw in her post she was talking about using oats and... Hey, there are no oats in this cookie!

Well, turns out the cookies Niki made are the Florida Lemon Squares (they're next week), but both cookies are assembled in a similar fashion. A crumbly mixture is pressed into the pan, then a lemony filling is placed over that, and then more of the crumbly mixture is sprinkled over the top. These were good, but not great. The filling is nice and tangy with lots of lemon flavor, but the cookie base is not very interesting and just so-so.

Nobody got too excited about these one way or another. These cookies were clearly just average...

Suzanne: "This cookie was almost as lemony as a lemon meringue pie. The nutty topping was crunchy and crumbly. This would be a good cookie to eat with a cup of hot tea. Rating - 3.0"

Denny: "My expectations went up when I heard their name. They went down with my first bite. I'd rate them about 3 because they were sweet and a little crunchy. I thought they were fairly non-descript with too little cream cheese. More cream cheese and nuts would easily make them a 4. Rating - 3.0"

Laura: "Lemony & Yummy! Rating - 4.0"

Phil: "A good reminder that one can (should) not live on chocolate alone. Not quite key lime pie puckerable but these citrus flavored cheese squares sandwiched between slightly crusty, sugary, nutty layers make for an interesting mix. Rating - 4.1"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.5

Next week - Florida Lemon Squares

Nutrition Facts

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's looks great!!

Nic said...

I don't think there's anything wrong with a cookie that's just "good". Can't have your tastebuds blown away all the time!

Anonymous said...

Hi Cathy,
Thanks for the T-day greetings! As for the canederli, I'll have to put that on the back burner as things are still hectic around here. I just stopped by to make a note of the lentil soup as it gives me a great idea on how to use up the last of the lentils in my cupboard!

Cathy said...

Thanks Lera!

Hi Nic - of course you're right. It's easy to become a little jaded after tasting so many good and great cookies!

Hi Rowena! Of course you'll have to buy more lentils after you use those up! ;)

You must be so busy between the move and the holidays. I'll look forward to seeing what you have to say about canederli someday. Maybe I'll find a recipe and try them while I'm waiting!

Niki said...

They look quite pretty, but I imagine they might be a little too sweet for most people's tastes? Actually I didn't realise they were lemon flavoured when I looked at the recipe; thought they'd just be sweet, creamy flavour!

Cathy said...

Hi Niki! Actually, they're not overly sweet. I'd say they're not quite as tart as the Florida Lemon Squares (which I've since made), but they're still pretty tart. My main complaint is not with the filling, it's that the cookie part is rather uninteresting.

Reid said...

Hi Cathy,

These are definitely on my "to bake" list. I love cream cheese squares and I think these would be a wonderful holiday treat!

Cathy said...

Hi Reid! I think for you cream cheese lovers (Denny is in that group too), I'd recommend using this filling with the cookie base from next week's cookie. It's sized differently, so you'd need to do some adjusting up or down, but it is far more interesting!