Monday, November 20, 2006

Mondays with Maida - Caraway Sour-Cream Cookies


Page 178 in the old book / page 210 in the new book

The recipe for these cookies is very similar to the Tropical Sour-Cream Cookies from last week, the differences being in the flavoring (caraway vs. lemon and orange), the sugar (white vs. brown), and the rolling (1/8-inch vs. 1/4-inch). The result is a cookie that is quite different in texture (crunchy vs. cakey) and mildly flavored with caraway seeds.

Well, perhaps mine were more mildly flavored than Maida intended. While the recipe only calls for 1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds, I was not even able to scrape up that small quantity with what remained in my spice jar. It was Sunday night and too late to run out for more. Besides, I rationalized, nobody in my office seems to appreciate seeds anyway.

After my difficulties rolling the Tropical Sour-Cream Cookies, I was prepared for the worst with these cookies. But whether it was a few more hours in the freezer or the slight differences in the recipe, I somehow managed to roll out these cookies without much trouble. You do have to work quickly though - there's not much time between when the dough softens up enough to roll and when it becomes hopelessly soft and sticky.

These were pleasantly sweet, faintly perfumed with caraway, and lightly crunchy. Overall, they were good, but not especially memorable.

Here's the panel...

Suzanne: "This was just a round, plain looking, and good tasting cookie. I enjoyed the sour cream, caraway taste probably because there were very few caraway seeds in the cookie. Somehow the flavor of the caraway seeds were more pronounced then the seeds themselves. Rating - 3.5"

Denny: "Non-descript, tasted like a not-so-sweet sugar cookie. Not enough caraway or sour cream. Minus 1 for no chocolate gives them a 2.0. Not complaining, just being hones. Rating - 2.0"

Laura: "These are okay - would've been much better without the caraway. Rating - 2.5"

Terri: "These cookies were not as tasty as the similar cookie from last week, Tropical Sour-Cream Cookies. I'm not a fan of caraway seeds (they get stuck in my teeth), so this would not be one of my favorites. But I enjoyed one with my coffee this morning. Rating - 2.5"

Overall rating by the panel - 2.6

Next Week - Rum-Raisin Shortbread

Nutrition Facts

2 comments:

Alanna Kellogg said...

I wonder if ground caraway would work, none of those 'yucky' seeds as a certain five-year old says (as he spits them out), all the flavor, none of the seed-iness.

Cathy said...

Hi Alanna! Yes, I've thought about that myself. I don't mind the seeds, but it does seem to be an issue with quite a few people. Would you believe there's yet another recipe with caraway seeds in the book? This one has them sprinkled on top, so I don't think grinding them is an option. Oh well - if they're on top, I guess people can flick them off! :)