i get so excited when my gourmet magazine arrives every month. the photography is stunning, the recipes are usually pretty good, and i am a sucker for all the cool kitchen stuff they feature.
as i was paging through the December 2008 issue and i came across an ad..."only at gourmet.com - gourmet's favorite cookies: 1941-2008 - the most amazing recipe from each year".
let me tell you that it is awfully difficult for me to put my gourmet down before i have read it from cover to cover, but this ad made me. i jumped on the computer and went searching.
the coolest part about the feature is that they have them exactly as they were printed. the ones from the 40's are in one paragraph. no list of ingredients - no separate instructions - just one chunk of text. as annoying as it was when i was making the cookies - it was kinda cool at the same time.
i choose to start with the "jelly centers" as they called them. i call them jam thumbprints because that is how i have always known them. i have always enjoyed these and had to try the best cookie of 1948 had to offer.
jam thumbprint cookies
adapted from
gourmet 1948
1 cup butter - room temp
1 cup powdered sugar or very fine bakers sugar (i used bakers sugar)
6 large egg yolks
pinch of kosher salt
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice (may need up to 3 if dough is really dry)
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 cup chopped blanched almonds
jam or jelly of your choice
sugar for sprinkling
egg yolk for brushing on top of cookie
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream butter until it is light. Add gradually sugar, creaming well after each addition.
Add eggs yolks, one at a time, a pinch salt, and the juice and lemon zest.
Gradually add flour and stir or knead the dough until thoroughly blended.
Chill for at least 2 hours.
Roll the dough with slightly floured hands into uniform balls the size of large marbles. Press a slight indentation into each ball with your little finger.
Paint with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle the tops with finely chopped blanched almonds and sugar.
Bake until the balls are golden brown.
When ready to serve, fill the indentations with apricot jam or any red jams or jellies. (I used grapefruit and raspberry jam)
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these carrot cake cookies almost converted me from a pumpkin lover to a
carrot cake lover. yes, they are that good. the cookie itself is soft
and moist - yet strong enough to hold up as a sandwich cookie. i added
more spice to the mix because that is how i roll. i think it is a major
improvement over the original recipe. i usually could leave the frosting
out of the equation but in this case - the frosting makes these
cookies. the cookie itself is not very sweet and the creamy sweetness of
the cream cheese frosting balances out the cookie with the perfect
amount of sweetness to compliment the spices in the cookie. these carrot
cake cookies would be the perfect picnic or backyard barbecue dessert. 
i love the idea of using rice krispies in a cookie. i have adapted the
recipe a bit by adding toffee and cinnamon but i think the rice krispies
are what make them special. the cookie itself is crisp but the middle
is still chewy. the toffee melts the perfect amount to be chewy but
still hold that toffee texture i love. ever since i made 
these cookies are INCREDIBLE! i am not exaggerating - they are
perfection. the crispy cookie and the white chocolate would be amazing
on their own but the addition of the sea salt - oh my! the salty crunch
on top makes these cookies one of the best i have ever made.Session dataSession data 
these peanut butter and jelly bars fit the bill perfectly. not only are
they simple to make - you can easily double the recipe for a large
crowd. i need my peanut butter to be chunky - the smooth stuff just
doesn't feel like peanut butter to me - so i substituted chunky for
smooth. any kind of berry jam will work great and for those of you
grape jelly fans - that would work as well. i added a bit on honey to
the batter and honey roasted peanuts to the top because i think peanut
butter and honey are naturals together. 
the mixed apple pie was probably one of my favorite pies i have
made because each apple was so different - different flavor and
texture. they combined perfectly. the all butter pastry crust was flaky
and i had a lot of fun making up the top crust. i have done lattice - i
have done full crust - i have done crumble topping. i wanted something
special this time. i took the top crust and cut out circles with a
biscuit cutter and overlapped the circles. it looked like a flower. i
will be using that one again - it makes a traditional pie new again. 
this cake met every expectation i had and then some. i used a different
recipe for the cake because i have one i love and the baked recipe makes
a three layer cake which i thought was overkill. i made everything else
from the baked recipe. this was not an easy cake for me to make as i
seem to be cursed when it comes to caramel but it was worth all the
effort. the balance of the sweet & salty flavors is perfection. the
cake itself is pure decadence but with fleur de sel and caramel it puts
it into a whole other world.
i get why people love these brownies and i am sure they are equally
fabulous on their own but i am telling you they are a little slice of
heaven when marbled with a cream cheese swirl. i upped the amount of
espresso powder and decreased the sugar by a bit because i do that in
most recipes. both adaptations worked really well and i think they
enhanced the deep chocolate flavor in these brownies. 
