almond + cinnamon + meringue biscuits

{oh wait wait, we're in america...}

almond + cinnamon + meringue cookies

i have a few very dear friends that are gluten-free. showing them i love them can be difficult because how is a girl to do that without a good, homemade baked good on every occasion?? so i am constantly on the lookout for good gluten-free recipes, substitutes, and mixes. the best is finding a yummy looking recipe that isn't labeled as gluten-free, glancing through the ingredients, and realizing that everything is gluten-free. it feels like finding the afikomen because in the rare case that you win, there is a yummy treat at the end!!

so here is a recipe that i found yesterday in the rose bakery cookbook, breakfast lunch tea. these cookies are chewy, sweet, butterless, and naturally gluten-free {and christmasy, but who gives a shit}.

almond + cinnamon + meringue biscuits

{makes 40-50 biscuits}

4 egg whites

4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar {plus extra for dusting}

juice of 1/2 lemon

grated zest of 1 lemon

3 1/3 cups ground almonds

generous 1/2 cup finely chopped candied citrus peel

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

first make the meringue. beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then, very gradually, add the sugar. when the mixture is very stiff, beat in the lemon juice.

set aside 6 ounces of the meringue for the topping and put the remaining meringue in a bowl.

add the ground almonds, mixed peel, cinnamon, and lemon zest.

mix until you have a dough-like paste, then chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

line a baking tray with parchment paper.

dust your work surface with sugar and roll the paste out to make a sheet 1/2 inch thick. cut into your desired shapes {stars, squares, or rounds}.

brush the tops with the reserved meringue and leave to dry on the prepared baking tray for about 1 hour.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes, until the bases are lightly golden. the tops should remain white and the bases must be soft and moist.

cool and enjoy.

dear little cookies,

if you get stale in the mail, i will shoot you.

love,

molly

-yeh!!

konichiwa!

look at all this sushi that i made!

i've been in the kitchen all day long,

makin sushi rice,

chopping veggies,

and watching anime listening to iron & wine.

i made enough sushi for like a million people for dinner for three. 

it's like one of those things where you get on a roll

and you just can't stop. hehe. roll. like sushi roll. get it?

i had the entire day to sush {v.}, so i started with the rice,

and used this recipe. which i doubled, because there is no

such thing as too much sushi rice. 

 is there anything better than freshly made sushi rice?

yes! and it's freshly made tamago atop of freshly made sushi rice:

say hi, little tamago friends!

tamago always has been and always will be my favorite sushi. 

even though stoopie always makes fun of me because she says that

it's sushi for beginners since it's not dead.

i used this recipe for it. instead of a tamago pan,

i used a large thin square pan and multiplied the recipe by 1 2/3.

the largeness and thinness of the pan made for lots of itsy bitsy layers. 

ooh and i used rice vinegar instead of mirin. 

it was so soooo delicious and sweet and refreshing!!

the sushi rolls i made were:

veggie {cukes + carrots + avocado}

eggie {tamago + cukes + carrots}

kimchi {kimchi}

the spicy fatso {avocado + sriracha mayo}

the peppery slut {scallion + red pepper + sriracha mayo}

the jody special {kimchi + cukes + sriracha mayo}

the italian stallion {scallions + red peppers + tofu}

in my sushi restaurant, there are no fishies!!!

and

i whipped up some toasted onigiri filled with refreshing kimchi. 

onigiri are non-photogenic little suckers. but they real good.

mum steamed up some dumplings!

and for dessert...

red velvet mochi ice cream ballz

yes, they're as good as they sound.

this is the recipe that i used. it is a little scary because

the measurements are in grams... i kind of half-assly converted it,

but since the ratios are easy i just used:

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 water

and when it says cornstarch as needed it really means 

coat your entire kitchen in cornstarch because if you don't you're fucked.

fresh mochi is so sticky. but so worth it.

after i patted it out, i filled it with ben and jerry's 

red velvet cake ice cream!!! it has little chunks of red velvet cake 

and cream cheese frosting swirlies in it. not exactly japanese,

i know. but amazing. fresh mochi isn't as chewy as the one from the store.

it's light and sweet and gooey. you want to make this right now. conquer the sticky.

 so the good thing about this is that there is now enough sushi

in the fridge to feed me for about a year. 

wanna come over and eat some?

you can bring the sake.

-yehchan!!

  

you may call me macaron molly

since my sad failed attempt at making macarons for santa claus on christmas eve of '09,

the prospect of making macarons has not even been an option,

lest my baking ego get destroyed.

until today. 

when, after watching a wonderful rehearsal of the chicago symphony

playing mahler 9 and enjoying a bit of tea at the russian tea time,

i had an entire half a day to fill with whatever i pleased,

i filled it with the time and patience it takes to {successfully} make

toasted sesame macarons

i used this recipe and i chose to add toasted sesames

because when i was five i had an imaginary friend named

gumpug {pronounced, "justit"} who went to a school called

sesame school.

i immediately regret typing that and i might delete it tomorrow.

but also i like that the sesames add a really great,

not-too-sweet nutty taste. 

and not to boast {though really i'm about to},

but i'm really proud of myself for actually pulling through with 

this recipe. normally when a recipe has a direction

that involves double boiling and stiff peaks and lots of sitting,

i lose my patience and say f that and buy whatever i'm trying to make.

but i did it! 

and the skins formed,

and the icing hardened,

and i sifted. i sifted. sifting is really annoying,

but i did it and it was worth it because now there are 

lots and lots of macarons in my fridge and they are like

ladurée, watch out. 

yay!

-yeh!

when life gives you a sack of flour, bake a bunch of shit!

today was one of the more perfecter of days.

it began with a pretztival of small pretzels,

big pretzels, pretzel nubbins...

chili pepper, cinnamon sugar,

brown sugar, dijon, thyme, rosemary!!

oh it was such a joy. 

what is it about the pretzel shape that is just so giggle-worthy?

for all of these pretzels i used this recipe.

for the cinnamon sugar and brown sugar dijon nubbins,

i added the flavorings after the boiling bath.

and they were so tasty!

and then i had a craving for focaccia. 

so i made focaccia.

and i let it rise for like a million hours because

guess what!! i acquired a bike for while i'm at home!! {thanks, marshy :}

so i went for a bike ride and it wasn't until i was 

taking a break out on a dock {oh hayyy summer}, 

watching breadstick-shaped clouds go by that i realized

i still had bread arisin! so i zoomed back, and put it in the oven.

and then for dinners i used it to make the ultimate summer sandwich

which is the official name for a sandwich of:

fresh mozzarella + tomatoes + peppers + fresh basil

and for dessert i had a cake pop!

cake pops are way harder to make than bakerella makes it seem.

they kept falling apart during the dipping step.

{the broken ones, as mum and i decided, would be called

eyjafjallajökull. the education element made us feel better

about our failings}

but it's ok because they fall apart in your mouth anywho :)

boy, i'm full!

baking and biking?! what a great day. and now, television!!!

-yeh!!