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July 4th Cookies

So they have a big celebration here on July 4^th... I think it's in preparation for my birthday which is very sweet of a whole nation. And much disdain was cast my way because I didn't have anything red, white or blue to wear on the holiday run. Seriously. So I thought I'd better make up for it. As chance would have it - I had 6 egg yolks to deal with after making meringue for Squirrel Nut Mess - another special recipe for summers here. A quick google of "egg yolk cookies" (what else??) led me to this great place (thank you to Cindy Lynn):

http://www.food.com/recipe/egg-yolk-cookies-63803?mode=us&scaleto=60.0&st=null

So could I do something red, white and blue to salvage my place with the East End Runners? Well the judgment will be written up in their blog but I think I am safe for a while....

Paula from Pitt

USA cups in red

• 6 egg yolks or 3 whole eggs
• 225g butter 1 cup = 2 sticks
• 300g sugar 1 ¹/₂ cups (I used organic raw stuff)
• 350g plain flour 2 ¹/₂ cups
• 2 tspn baking powder
• 1 tspn pure vanilla essence
• 100g ^1/₂ - ²/₃ cup good quality white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• 100g dried fruit ¹/₂ - ²/₃ cup (50g unsweetened blueberries + 50g Bing cherries)
• 2-3 tbspn brandy

The realtively sharp fruit offsets the sweetness of the white chocolate and sugariness that many cookies have. Put dried fruit in a small heavy based pan with a lid and add just enough brandy to come ¹/₂ way up fruit. Bring to boil and take off heat. Leave lid on for 30-60mins. Just to get brandy into fruit and plump fruit up. You could do the same with water.

Heat oven to Gas mark 4, 180C, 350F. You will probably need two baking sheets (cookie sheets) lined with bakinng parchment or well greased.

Cream butter and sugar in a bowl until as light and fluffy as your machine or tired arm can get.

Beat egg yolks and vanilla essense in a small bowl. Add to butter/sugar and blend well.

Mix baking powder and flour in yet another bowl.

Gradually add flour mix to wet ingredients.

Add choc chips, dried fruit. At this point my kitchen was in the low 30Cs (80Fs) ie very warm! I picked the wrong day to make meringue, cookies and then pecan praline.... So cookie mix was quite easy to work. You could chill the mix if it seems too soft at this point.

Make into balls about the size of a walnut and place on baking sheet. Flatten with a fork but not too much (slide the fork off to one side, gently holding the cookie to get stripes).

Bake for 10-14 minutes - very approximate. I was trying to get a little colo(u)r but you don't want to over cook or you will lose the chewiness in the centre. Take out of over and place tin on cooling rack.

Onion yipy tarts

The cookery muse can often be found deep in the depths of the freezer or top shelf of the larder. Working back from a box of large vol au vent type pastry cases bought by mistake for pastry sheets and a single large videlia onion came these. The spice mix came from something I read about cloves in an onion tart (sorry no idea where), ground mace which I never use but Iain got for his Christmas cake production (yes he has discovered a talent!) and things that were almost empty. You could go to town varying this mix.

Paula from Pitt

• 1 large videlia (or any really) onion - diced
• 1tspn cumin seeds
• ¹/₂ tspn each of ground mace, charnoushka (black nigella seeds), Spanish smoked paprika, sweet curry powder
• 2 cloves
• 1 tbsp olive oil mixed with a little vegetable oil to raise the cooking temperature
• Some cheese! 3-4oz I used Lancashire thinly sliced but grated would be fine
• 1 pack frozen pastry shells

In a medium pan with the heaviest base you have, warm the oil and fry off the spices gently until they start to give off a fragrance. Add the onion, put the lid on the pan and slow cook the onions on a very low heat for 30-45 minutes. You are trying to soften and sweeten the onion but not burn it. The depth of colour is up to you. Stir every 10-15 minutes. This time is flexible. When cooked just turn off heat and leave to cool or in pan to keep warm.

Meanwhile - or the next day if you are prepping for a party - cook the pastry shells according to the packet instructions. You could make the onion mix in advance and just keep in the fridge for a day or so.

To serve just take the lids off the shells, spoon some onion mix, layer with cheese and more onion mix. Put pastry lid on. Serve as is, or warm through.

Yipy is from the noises I made whilst removing the pastry shell lids. You'd think I'd learn - hot is hot.