Monday, October 09, 2006

Mondays with Maida - Swedish Honey Cookies


Page 164 in the old book / page 201 in the new book

Another in our series of plain brown cookies. These were very crisp and had an interesting combination of spices - cinnamon and coriander. The aroma coming from the oven as they baked was amazing, but I was initially underwhelmed by their flavor. By the next day however, either they or I had mellowed and I enjoyed them much more.

Once again, my laziness moved me to deviate from Maida's instructions for rolling the dough and I have to say, it worked quite well. I have some of that extra-wide plastic wrap, so I rolled the unchilled dough between sheets of it and then chilled it before cutting. The dough softens up quickly and is very sticky, so I peeled off the top layer of plastic wrap, flipped it over onto a floured pastry cloth, and then peeled off the other layer. Most importantly, I had to work quickly. I found cutting the rerolled scraps was a little trickier since I didn't allow them much time to chill.

Maida says that these cookies are traditionally scalloped and the drawing that accompanies the recipe shows a very pretty, almost flower-like, scalloped shape with six deep scallops. I didn't have a cutter like that, but was still happy with how they turned out. Amazing how a little ruffled edge can had some interest to those plain brown cookies. ;)

Here's the panel...

Suzanne: "Delicious! I love the sweet, crunchiness of this cookie. I guess those Swedes know exactly the right spices to put in their cookies because this one melted in my mouth. Rating - 5.0"

Denny: "Very nice. Not too much spice that you couldn't taste the honey. Minus 1 for no chocolate. Rating - 3.0"

Laura: "Yummy cookie! Light and delightful honey spice flavor. Rating - 4.0"

Terri: "I prefer 'chewy' cookies, but these rank high on my list of 'keepers'. The honey flavor comes through as well as the slight spicy taste. These would be perfect with strawberries and whipped cream! Rating - 3.5"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.9

Next Week - Swedish Ginger Cookies

Nutrition Facts

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cinnamon and coriander?! I love the sound of this combination and wonder if it would go well in a gelato, or perhaps macaron? Hmmmm...

Leigh said...

How about with a cup of coffee!! *sigh* I should know better than to visit your blog right before lunch.

Anonymous said...

We swedes eat these cookies mostly in christmas time - a big pile of cookies and a large glas of cold milk.

I take this opportunity to thank you for a nice food blog - I read it at least once a week.

Best regards/
Veronica

Cathy said...

Hi Rowena! I was really surprised too... I'll bet it would be good. I made chai ice cream a while back and it was really nice. The spices weren't very pronounced, but the honey flavor was wonderful in ice cream. I haven't gotten the nerve to try making macarons yet... in fact I've yet to taste all but the most basic (almond)!

Hi Leigh - thanks so much! These would definitely make for a great coffee break!

Hi Veronica - there's another Swedish cookie next week! I can see how these would be favorites at Christmas. I'm happy to hear you're a regular - thanks so much!

Liz said...

I love these! Not too sugary and sweet, very simple and a good complement to any meal. With a good tea, that is.

(Woo-HOO! It's Thursday in your time zone apparently so it's already my birthday.)

Cathy said...

Hi Liz - woops!! I messed up - this was actually posted late Sunday with the intention that it be dated for Monday. I'll be correcting that momentarily. (sorry - you'll have to wait until tomorrow to celebrate your birthday in G'burg - just like in Bethesda!) Anyway, thank you and have a happy birthday tomorrow!