It's Not What You Think...

It's getting to be that time again. That time in which I need to somehow make $5000 appear out of thin air. I'm starting to think about this, and that means that my "student summer" is almost beginning. I am trying not to stress, but I have a feeling there will be a few minor breakdowns in my near future. I'm trying to be logical. I can do this.

The logical side of my brain seems to have dissipated over the past couple weeks. I'm dreaming of flying to far away places, of lying on the beach in a perfect little bikini, of going to the gym 5 days a week because I actually have spare time. This, I would argue, isn't illogical. I am a determined little lady, who's aspirations I happen to KNOW will happen. Are happening. I'm not realistic (what an awful, dreaded word!), but I have all the faith in the world I can do it all, have it all, see it all.

When I say that my brain has become illogical, I'm mostly referring to my eating habits as of late. They are horrifying. I keep forgetting to eat these days. Between work, and school, and intense last minute homework sessions (ugh, who am I!? I never leave things for the last minute!) my eating habits have essentially become non-existent. The other day I had a POP TART for breakfast. A pop tart! Seriously. Then it was Ky's birthday and I got sent home with leftover cake, vowing I wouldn't eat any of it myself, but instead share it with my lovely family. And you know what happened the next morning? I ate that cake. I ate it for breakfast and I was hungry, and exhausted an hour later, willing myself to stay awake long enough to hear my teacher tell me what the hell John Donne is rambling on about in his poetry. That guy, by the way, is a really quite a sap. If nothing else, this semester I've learnt that I'm not really into the "romantic genre" of literature.

Anyway, on Tuesday I decided enough was enough. I missed my chickpeas, my whole grains, and bright vegetables that I used to see so often. So I made a salad, and I think all of my life's problems were solved after that.

This salad is holy-smokes-so-so-so-good status. Wheat berries are so delicious! I love their nutty taste and chewy texture. This salad really has quite the abundance of flavors: we've got said nuttiness from wheat berries, sweetness of orange dressing, smokiness of roasted peppers, and the peppery arugula. Mmmm! I'm quite sure it is very healthy as well. It gives me a lot of energy too, which comes in handy during early morning lectures!

I swear, I don't eat cakes and cookies all day every day. (starting today. better late than never...)

Wheat Berry and Arugula Salad

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Best Recipes and Reviews 2011

I kind of do things my own way when it comes to this salad. The directions (in my opinion) are kind of fussy. Unless you are planning on serving this as part of a dinner course, I would suggest pouring all the dressing in with the wheat berries and chickpeas and letting them hang out in the fridge like that. That way, you can just grab a handful of arugula and add the dressing/topping as you need it. Otherwise (if you pour the dressing on the arugula to being with) you will end up with soggy leave, which is awful!

Dressing:

1 cup fresh orange juice (about 2 oranges)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons honey

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salad:

1 cup wheat berries

Salt

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry, and chopped

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

Black Pepper

8 ounces baby arugula (about 8 cups)

For the dressing:

Bring the orange juice to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the juice is syrupy and reduced to 1/3 cup, 12 to 15 minutes.

Transfer the orange juice syrup to a small bowl and refrigerate until cool, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the cilantro, lime juice, water, oil, honey, garlic, cumin, salt, paprika, and cayenne, and set aside.

For the salad:

Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot. Add the wheat berries and 1/2 teaspoon salt, partially cover, and cook, stirring often, until tender but still chewy, about 1 hour. Drain the wheat berries and rinse them under cold running water until cool. Transfer the wheat berries to a large bowl and set aside.

Assemble the salad!:

Stir the chickpeas, roasted red peppers, feta, and half of the dressing into the bowl with the wheat berries. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. In a separate bowl, toss the arugula with the remaining dressing and divide among 4 plates. Arrange 1 cup of the wheat berry mixture on top of each salad and serve.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes and an Icing Crisis

As promised, here are the photos of our vegan (and gluten-free and refined sugar-free) chocolate cupcakes!

Vegan icing attempt #2!! (Attempt #1 already thrown in the trash)

Okay seriously? What the heck, vegan icing! Soo much wasted time and money!

Both recipes called for a basis of coconut oil, which I believe was at the root of the problem. It's solid at room temperature, but not completely smooth unless melted, which accounts for the chunky texture.

Despite it's unique appearance, we ventured on. Voila! A vegan chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing! Please note the mysterious drip oozing out of the icing. Weird, right? As I mentioned previously, the chocolate cakes were delicious, but that dang icing... We tried two different recipes, and both times we ended up with an icing that resembled overly sweet cottage cheese. What is the secret to vegan icing? If you happen to know the answer to that question, please humor me and tell me what on earth we did wrong! Both icing attempts yielded extraordinarily unfortunate results. Boo!

So into the garbage went vegan icing #2. We didn't want to leave our little cakes undressed, so we did the only thing we knew how, which was to make a coconut cream cheese icing instead - an icing that is so filled with un-vegan things that you know it has to be good. Finally an icing that looked white! and smooth! and creamy! All of the things our vegan icing wasn't. Ky said that the chocolate cake and cream cheese icing pairing could have been better. I think he was hoping for a billowy white vanilla frosting, which I agree would have been ideal. However, I feel like I could eat cream cheese icing out of a cereal bowl for breakfast and be set for life, so I thought the combo was sweet (so to speak).

To finish, just for fun, we sprinkled the freshly iced cakes with Bob's Organic Unsweetened Coconut flakes. Oh yes!

This project was certainly a learning experience. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why for a first real attempt at baking gluten-free and vegan, I decided to combine the two experiences into one. I like a good challenge or something (this a cliche, and a bit of a lie, I'm just trying I think of a reason for my decision). You know, for now, I'm going to stick with my familiar friends in the kitchen (butter! sugar! flour! oh my!). They're much better.

Photo's by Kyran Yeomans

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten- and refined sugar- free)

Adapted from Babycakes by Erin McKenna

These cupcakes were super yummy. Unfortunately, your on your own in terms of icing these guys. I do NOT recommend the vegan icing in the Babycakes cookbook (see above, and previous post!), or that icing that comes from a can (come on, these cakes deserve better, and so does your body!). See what you can come up. You're industrious young people!

1 3/4 cups garbanzo - fava bean flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup arrowroot

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup coconut oil

1 1/3 cup agave nectar

3/4 cup homemade applesauce (or store bought unsweetened)

3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup hot water or coffee

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the four, potato starch, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the oil, agave nectar, applesauce, vanilla, and hot water to the dry ingredients. Stir until the batter is smooth.

Pour 1/3 cup batter into each prepared cup, almost filling it. Bake the cupcakes on the center rack for 22 minutes, rotating the tins 180 degrees after 15 minutes. The finished cupcakes will bounce back when pressure is applied gently to the center

Let the cupcakes stand in the tins for 20 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Spread with your favorite icing.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Note: Store the cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Testing

Today is a snowstorm and vegan chocolate cake(!!!).

I am frolicking about the house in knee-highs and a silk skirt, with Thelonius Monk, fireplace blazing, ignorantly ignoring the fluffy white flakes falling from the sky.

I'm all wrong for this weather.

I'm just popping in to say "hello" in between playing games of speed scrabble with my sister and studying for my abundance of midterms coming up this week. And I've actually got something pretty cool to share. Today officially marks my first attempt at baking vegan. Kyran had requested a remake of a vegan cake his sister made once upon a time, and I happily obliged. So today, he and I made vegan, refined sugar-free, and gulten-free chocolate cupcakes from this cookbook:

Right off the bat I'm thinking, if you bake without sugar, eggs, milk, butter, and flour, what the heck is the point of baking at all? I've done the whole vegan thing, and while I loved it at the time, I am vegan no longer and loving it. Also, vegan baking has a tendency to be loaded with ingredients with names that awkwardly fill your mouth and are impossible to pronounce. Not good. But, I had heard some really wonderful things regarding this vegan and gluten-free bakery from NYC (if it's good enough for Natalie Portman, certainly it must be good enough for us regular folk), so I picked up their cookbook a couple weeks ago and have been daydreaming of garbonzo bean flour and coconut oil ever since.

Today we opted for chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Our icing was a disaster, as in, it resembled cottage cheese rather than that gorgeous smooth, billowy stuff in the photos. Flavour wise, it was okay. But I was disappointed I wasted an entire tablespoon of my expensive vanilla extract on it. I was quite offended by this vanilla frosting imitator. When I bake, it turns out. Always! Kyran scoured Amazon reviews to see what the deal was and found that many reviewers were disapointedby the result of their vanilla icing as well. We also read rumor that the icing in the book isn't actually the same as the famous icing they use in the bakery. Lame. So that was the bad news. We rectified the situation by pouring the icing down the drain, and searching the web to find an alternate recipe. Kyran is experimenting with another variety of vegan icing (one using coconut milk! Mmm!) as we speak. I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out!

On the bright side of things, the cakes were delicious. Decadent, moist, and sinfully chocolatey. I was pleasantly suprised by the final product, which resulted from the combination of potato starch, arrowroot, garbanzo bean flour, agave nectar, and other strange and magical things. Kyran ate two, right off the bat, and is probably eating more right now-sans icing, which puts it into the "totally delicious, definitely will make again" territory.

I don't want to deliver my final verdict of the Babycakes NYC cookbook just yet. After all, I've only made two recipes. However, I think I will continue to be perplexed by the addition of altered bakery recipes that don't turn out well. What's the deal? I want that billowy frosting Babycakes is known to have, and now I have to go search for it elsewhere. Oh well. The chocolate cupcakes were quite wonderful and were the perfect treat for an afternoon snuggled up to my favorite person in the world, whilethe entire world slowly turned white.

Photo's of the final product coming SOON!

I'm Not Horse'n Around

I just had reading break. It felt like it was 30 seconds long, but actually it was a week. Scary. I got next to nothing done, and now I'm freaking out because everythingisdueatonce! Ahh! Save me! Write my essay? Fill my brain with information, read me Shakespeare and John Milton, help me memorize how to classify metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks. Did I mention that it all has to be done by Wednesday? Oh sweet maria...

I'm tired and grumpy, but Kyran is still putting up with me like an all star, like he always does. That boy, I tell ya, is so good to me. Thanks to Ky, my music diet lately has been very Prefab Sprout heavy. Good music and frequent dance breaks are a must for getting through weeks like these. Also thanks to Ky, my food diet the past couple of years has been filled with amaaaaaaazing batches of guacamole. Avocados are filled with those healthy fats that are an essential part of maintaining a balanced diet, and essential for keeping me energized and focused during intense study sessions. (No, I do not get paid by Avocado growers to pimp this fruit. I just like it a lot a lot a lot, especially when Kyran serves them a la guacamole).

One time, we made a batch with 4 avocado's and polished off the entire thing in a matter of minutes. When our friends come over, we make a double batch it's always the first thing to go. I have a feeling that if we didn't make such good guacamole, we wouldn't be invited to many social outings, which is funny and probably not entirely true. In reality though, our guacamole is better than yours. And I know this for a fact because Kyran once entered it into a competition and won. Bam! True story.

Guacamole

Try this and never go back to your old guacamole making ways (or store bought varieties... ugh!). As mentioned above, guacamole is probably the number one most consumed food for K and I. We love!

This recipe does not have exact measurements, but I assure you, this isn't rocket science. You can do it. A little more of this and a little less of that isn't a problem here. Play around and figure out a ratio that works best for you! For now, I suggest:

2-3 avocados

1/2 of a firm but ripe tomato, diced

1/2 of a lime

3 thin slices of red onion finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped (OPTIONAL! I prefer to do without, but if you are a garlic lover, you may want the additional flavor!)

1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded, and chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

For a chunkier guac: Mash up the avocado A BIT, before mixing in everything everything else.

For a creamier guac: Mash up the avocado a lot, making sure to get out the lumps. If your avocados are really ripe, this will not be a problem. Then add all other ingredients and stir until everything is evenly incorporated.

Serve with chips, veggies, meat (cooked please!), or quesadillas!

The quesadilla in the photo above was filled with 2-year aged cheddar, sundried tomatoes, black beans and a whack load of spinach (my personal favorite combo).

Lets Date

It has been brought to my attention that I am prone to experience over the top excitement far more than the average person. Sunshine, dance parties, strenuous workouts, kisses, and movie nights all tend to evoke the same reaction from me. Life is filled with so many beautiful and wonderful things, I just can't help myself.

I'm going to share some of this excitement with you today in the form of a totally unfussy and unpretentious date bar that will win over just about anyone, including yourself. Uh huh.

Before I get started here, we need to have a serious talk. Some people seem to be ridiculously scared of dates, or dried fruit in general. I'll admit that I do my best to avoid raisins at any cost, but dates, I swear are the most lovely little things on the planet. Do you realize that dates quite literally melt and become caramel when they are left to mingle on the stove in a pot of water? I don't think I need to say much else on the subject, because I am fairly certain everyone on the planet loves caramel. And if you don't like caramel, what is wrong with you?

Now that we've settled that, how do you feel about Valentines day?

I feel like it's in style for everyone to loath this day and complain about it as much as possible. Is it silly to have a day dedicated to roses, candy, and love? Are you kidding me, no! Roses AND candy AND romance... OH BABY! Is it ridiculous to have a day devoted to reminding those we love that we still love them, even though it's February 14? Okay, perhaps a little. But these date bars make a really lovely Valentines day treat. Not too over-the-top, which is great cause no one wants to seem too overeager these days, but ridiculously delicious... the kind of date (bar) you'd bring home to meet your mother. Ha!

Oh, I know what some of you are thinking.

You are thinking, "Whatever. I'm allergic to roses, candy is bad for my teeth, and my love broke my heart into a million pieces."

Fair enough. But hey,

you owe it to yourself to be excited every now and then.

These date bars, humble as they seem, are worth getting excited about. I promise.

Classic Date Bars

Adapted from Bon Appetit, February 2004

I returned home the other day to find that my sweet-souled sister had whipped up a batch of date bars, I was pretty dang happy. My happiness skyrocketed (it's possible, apparently) upon first bite when I realized that they were hands down the best date bars I have ever eaten. Ever. They were comforting, with a hint of cinnamon, slightly crumbly, and terribly moist. I've had my fair share of date bars. I'm telling you people, these are the real deal!

Thanks Em, for introducing me to these!

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 chopped pitted dates

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 8x8-inch metal baking pan. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to simmer in medium saucepan. Add dates; simmer until very soft and thick, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in large bowl; stir to blend. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub in until moist clumps form. Press half of oat mixture (firmly!!) evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Spread date mixture over. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture; press gently to adhere. Bake until brown at edges and golden brown and set in center, about 40 minutes. Cool completely on rack. Cut into bars and serve.

Yield: makes about 16 bars

Mellow Mallow

Does anyone like January?

I mean, seriously? Do you?

I don't. I really, truly do not like January.

I feel kind of tired all the time. I get mad at the trees for not having any leaves; I curse the sky for hastily turning dark so early day after day; I start school again and I have to find that "balance" again, that damn balance that I never seem to perfectly master.

But hey! It's almost over! February is two days away! That's a cause for celebration!

Because this time of year seems to stay way beyond its friendly welcome, I give myself bi-weekly projects to tackle. Sometimes I scrub down all our cupboards with Murphy's Oil Soap (yes, that is something I look forward to... anything is a welcome change from school work. Yesterday I swear I literally went cross-eyed because of the amount of reading I had to do), or sometimes I find a semi-daunting recipe and make a mess of the kitchen. Making a mess of the kitchen... I'm getting really good at doing that these days. I made marshmallows, from scratch one grey January afternoon. It was sweet and sticky and all together wonderful.

Marshmallows were always one of those strange foods that I never understood the logic behind. I never really thought much about how they were made or where they came from, but it never really mattered much because they were fantastic. But take one look at the ingredient list on the back of a package of these guys in the supermarket, and you may not ever want to eat them again. How can something so pure and innocent contain so many ingredients?

One of the nicer things about homemade marshmallows is that there is nothing scary inside of them. Just 8 ingredients (all of which you can pronounce!) whip up into those magical, springy, fluffy, soft squares that practically melt in your mouth. Also, did I forget to mention that these taste great? Like really, really great? Oh my, are they ever good.

I just can't get enough. In fact, tomorrow it is highly probable that I will boycott scrubbing the cupboards in favor of making another batch...

It's almost February after all.

Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

Adapted from Gourmet, 1998

Making your own homemade marshmallows doesn't have to result in a gigantic sticky, gooey mess. Whatever you do, don't be a goof and stick your fingers into the fluffy white mass in the mixer. I know it is tempting. I KNOW! But seriously, just don't. I've learned from experience now. The first time I made these, I couldn't help myself, I swear that white fluff was beckoning me. This resulted in me finding marshmallow in strange places on myself and in my kitchen for DAYS afterward.

This recipe makes A LOT of marshmallows. If you find yourself stuck with a whole bunch, I suggest you make rice crispy squares of of them (don't even tell me you aren't guilty of consuming an entire pan at least once in your life).

Oh and these marshmallows sandwiched between two cookies with some high quality chocolate - WOAH! Just sayin'...

About 1 cup confectioners' sugar

3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

1 cup cold water, divided

2 cups granulated sugar (I used cane sugar)

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites

1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean (alternately: 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 -inch rectangular metal baking pan (with 2-inch high sides) and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners' sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water, and stand to soften .

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240 F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

with standing or a hand-held mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (This may take even longer if you are using a hand mixer).

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don't fret if you don't get it all out.

Sift 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners' sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Yield: Makes about 96- 1 inch marshmallows

Note: Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature for 1 week.

Like Magic

As people have been so kind to point out, Christmas is 19 days away. That just snuck out of nowhere didn't it? If you are anything like me, you have completely neglected all Christmas baking and instead have been leaving all studying and essay writing for the last minute possible. This procrastination is not typical of me and is a terrible habit to get into, in case you were wondering. Last week, after an intensive 4-day essay writing stint in the basement, my brain turned entirely to mush and I completely forgot basic sentence structure and how to compose an essay. It was horrifying and resulted in me breaking down in tears and babbling on about how I had finally gone on and broke myself. Another thing you should know if you do decide to leave your work for the last minute: Breaks are mandatory. For your sanity's sake.

You know what is a great way to set your mind at ease and use your break time productively? Turn on Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas and crank some holiday cookies out of your oven. See, I wish someone had told me this last week.

This time of year is pretty magical and I am so excited because I have some really beautiful, sweet, and wonderful treats to share with you. There will be lots of butter and sugar involved, but you aren't allowed to complain about that because it's December, for goodness sake! I promise, come January, I'll go to the opposite extreme and we'll get all healthy again, at least for a while. But for now... lets just enjoy the magic of now.

Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies

Adapted from Gourmet, December 2006

More chocolate? What is going on here? I make no apologies for this trend. I first tried this recipe a year ago and fell in love. They are quickly becoming a Christmas tradition around here. Rich and chewy, these cookies are seriously addictive. Good luck eating just one.

Please note, these do need a couple hours to hang out in the fridge! So, for all you busy bee's out there: take a break!! make the dough and put it in the fridge! then get back to work! then take a break! and bake these up!!

2/3 cup hazelnuts

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

¼ cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ cup confectioners sugar

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan in oven until skins split and nuts are pale golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven (turn oven off), then wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and rub to remove any loose skins. Cool nuts completely. Pulse nuts with granulated sugar in a food processor until finely chopped.

Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and set aside.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in melted chocolate until just combined. Add milk and vanilla, beating to incorporate. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in nut mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl. Halve dough and chill 1 half, wrapped in plastic wrap. Roll remaining half into 1-inch balls, placing them on a sheet of waxed paper as rolled. Roll balls, 3 or 4 at a time, in confectioners sugar to coat generously and arrange 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets.

Bake, switching position halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges feel dry (but centers are still slightly soft), 12 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies (still on parchment) to racks to cool completely.

While first batch is baking, roll remaining dough into balls. Line cooled cookie sheets with fresh parchment, then coat balls with confectioners sugar and bake in same manner.