We have a dear friend/follower whose opinion we hold in high regard. (This is starting to sound like we are a religion– I’m never saying “follower” like that again.) Anyhow, our friend has requested that we begin photographing more of the process of our creations. What a fun a delightful challenge it has been to begin this endeavor! In fact, our appreciation for food photographers who both prepare and capture images of their projects has increased significantly this weekend. These people are astounding. They do beautifully with two hands what we are attempting with four–which makes them twice as cool as we are…at least.
After our last cookie battle (and some photos from Trevor’s Mum’s PERFECT cookies), we decided it best that we begin to work together. Today’s cookies were a mutual brainchild: Grapefruit Molasses Cookies. Preheat the oven to 350*. Once prepped, the cookies take 8-14 minutes to cook…depending on the cookie size, moistness, weather, atmospheric pressure, etc). Ha, I’m kidding… but mostly serious–we bake cookies until they are “done.” “Done” often means that they no longer appear greasey or wet on the top. When you’ve worked with dough, you start to be able to estimate appropriate baking times for the size, texture, or moistness of a dough. Mostly, we just glance at a clock and try to remember there is something in the oven. This doesn’t work for everyone (and often not for us)…which is likely why timers were invented…hmm. This particular batch of cookies were giant and rather wet, so they stayed in the oven a touch longer than other cookies.
You’ll find the ingredients listed below. We start most cookie prep by mashing/creaming the butter–just until it has an even consistency. In this case the next step was to incorporate the molasses (pictured above). Then we added the vanilla and grapefruit zest, followed by the brown sugar. The eggs came next; when adding eggs we make sure that they are well combined, but try to avoid over-beating. In a separate bowl we mixed our dry ingredients (oat flour, millet flour, corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt). We slowly added the flour into the butter mixture until the dough was fairly homogenous in terms of moisture. (If the dough felt too sticky and wouldn’t hold form, we would have added additional oat flour at this time to absorb some of the moisture.) Finally, we mixed in chopped Turkish apricots (pictured below). Then we scooped BIG amounts of dough onto a pan and baked them at 350*.
Grapefruit Molasses Cookies (this is a recipe for a double batch)
1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. molasses
1 t. vanilla
3 medium eggs
1 1/2 T. grapefruit zest
3 1/2 c. oat flour (finely ground)
1 1/4 c. millet flour
3/4 c. corn meal (finely ground)
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 c. chopped apricots
See above for detailed instructions, but here are some basic ones: Mix the butter, molasses, vanilla, grapefruit zest, sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then add the apricots. Bake at 350* for 8-14 minutes depending on size and moistness of dough.
sownandsoured 