Saturday, September 27, 2008

grapefruits, dolphins, and whales! oh my!

have you ever had one of those days when it seems like everything just keeps going wrong? i had a day like that yesterday. i should have taken a cue and just known that it was not my day...but no, i decided to give the pink grapefruit cookies a try. they were for this month's cookie carnival and i gotta say, when i first heard that they were the recipe chosen, i was kinda bummed. don't get me wrong, i love grapefruit...but i didn't really understand how that would translate into a cookie. and they were a lot of work! at least a lot more than i would have wanted to put in knowing that there was a pretty big chance i wasn't going to like them. plus, i didn't have a lot of the ingredients on hand so i had to spend money on that aaand i had to get a rolling pin. for a broke college student, that kinda sucks. to me, the recipe just seemed really random. so i decided to embrace the random and use the random cookie cutters my mom sent me and make them marine animal shaped!


so far so good right? well then i had to deal with the stupid dorm basement oven. so get this...recipe says 18 min at 350. i did 15 at 325 and this is how they turned out:


poo! so for the second one i decided to check them after 8 minutes (and i reduced the heat again to 300). and they still got a little burnt!


so i had to scrap what couldn't be used and make do with what was still edible.


sad, burnt tails. poor little sea creatures :[


not exactly what i had in mind. not too pleased. and for the taste? i'm not a fan. the initial flavor was just okay, but then the citrusy aftertaste was kind of nauseating. however, my roommates enjoyed them, which kinda surprised me. that's why i love them...they will eat my food even if it is ugly. i actually kinda liked the filling but that might just be because i barely had any grapefruit juice left over so there was really just a splash in there. i wouldn't make the cookies again but i saved the extra filling to try on some other type of baked good. maybe i can salvage something from this disaster. looking forward to find out what next month's recipe will be though :]

even though i didn't really care for this month's recipe, i'm really glad i gave it a shot. it's always nice to try new things every now and then. if you want to join the carnival, check out the clean plate club.


pink grapefruit cookies
[from martha stewart]

ingredients:
Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large egg yolks
Pink Grapefruit Cream Filling

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.
3. Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick using a lightly floured rolling pin. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.

5. Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

pink grapefruit cream filling
[also from martha stewart]

ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice

directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in honey. Add juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside until ready to use.


UPDATE: the roommates and i thought that the filling might go really well with chocolate. we had a floor meeting and our ra provided us with some chocolate cupcakes that we took back to our room with us and yes, the filling compliments the chocolate very well. or the other way around? i guess it depends on your chocolate-to-frosting ratio. either way...yumm :]

8 comments:

Clumbsy Cookie said...

A little bit of toasted cookie never hurted anybody! Such cute shapes!

Jacque said...

Aaaah, what a shame! One of those cheap little dial thermometers they sell in the baking aisle at the grocery store might be a good investment. It would probably pay for itself in no time, with ingredients that don't get burned.

Anyway, those are really cute... I like the idea of animal shaped sandwich cookies.

Anonymous said...

Grapefruit cookies *are* a little unusual, but they didn't look too bad. Honestly I think the cookie cutters salvaged the operation. Who doesn't think aquatic animals are cute?! =)

Plus I know you're an amazing baker so yeah... lol

See you later... TT

Joe Horn said...

Practice makes perfect! Well, that is what I tell myself at least 50% of the time. haha. And good equipment helps. :)

April said...

Sorry you didn't like them. Glad you tried them though, burnt tails and all. :)

Stacey said...

Sorry yours didn't turn out. It does make me feel a little better about mine not turning out very well either. :)

Anonymous said...

I hate those days in the kitchen when nothing goes right! Cute cookie shapes, though.

Jin Hooi said...

Awww.. cute cookies ;-)Hehe.. I liked the filling but ...hmm.. not the cookies, mine turned out rather hard.