Guest guest Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 I had a restless night, due to worry about the hurricane. Looking through this morning's paper, I saw a chef holding up a huge tray of cookies, and thought " those look just like the white raisin cookies I used to get in Ft. Lauderdale. " Then a light bulb went on in my head, and I quickly turned to the recipe page, and " Voila! " the letter I wrote to the editor on Feb. 25th got results! I giddily read the recipe, savoring the description, then, at the end, remembered, O Henry-like, that my stove got ruined in Hurricane Katrina, and I only have gas burners (can't get electricians for anything except emergencies, it seems, since the state is still rebuilding after last year's hurricanes.) Well, I've cooked one-layer cakes on a rack in my wok on top of the stove, so I envision two or three cookies at a time. I'm now naming these Hurricane Cookies, because they're so good, they'd take the edge off a disater. I adore these! ------- Rum raisin cookies are truly golden BY LINDA CICERO food Q: I used to live in Fort Lauderdale near Croissan'Time, a French bakery on North Federal Highway. It was easy to pop in and buy their delicious white raisin cookies. I live in Miami and it's not so easy to get up there, so I'm wondering if you could get their recipe. TIA, via e-mail A: Thanks to owner-baker Bernard Casse, we can, indeed. Everyone who tried the batch I made loved these light, soft cookies with their subtle rum flavor and abundance of golden raisins. Croissan'Time won an award last year from Modern Baking, a professional journal, for its commitment to quality, and it's easy to see why: Casse believes in using only the best ingredients, so it is sweet butter, not margarine, in all his goodies. He also bakes everything from scratch -- something to savor these days when many bakeries do little more than bake off premade products. His baguettes are fresh every hour, and the croissants are not to be missed. Like most professional chefs, European-trained Casse measures by weight, not volume. I have converted the metrics and adapted the recipe to use common household measurements. Purists, however, will want to use a scale to be absolutely faithful to the recipe. COOKIES CROISSAN'TIME GOLDEN RAISIN AND RUM COOKIES The bakery makes 5-inch cookies using a 2-ounce scoop (the size normally used for ice cream). You can get only 4 of these on a conventional cookie sheet. A 1-ounce scoop makes a 3-inch cookie, which allows you to bake 6 at a time. The dough can be frozen, then defrosted until it is easy to scoop. You may want to bake only as many cookies as will be eaten quickly. They contain a lot of butter and are very moist from the raisins, so they become quite soft in any humidity. • 250 grams (17 ½ tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted • 350 grams (1 ¾ cup) sugar • 5 large eggs • 300 grams (2 ½ cups) all-purpose flour • 3 grams ( ½ teaspoon) baking powder • 300 grams (10.5 ounces or 2 1/8 cups) golden raisins • ¾ ounce dark rum • 1.5 grams ( ¼ teaspoon) salt Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the melted butter with the sugar until very creamy. Add the eggs, continuing to beat until mixture is creamy again. Whisk the flour with the baking powder; with mixer on low, beat into the butter mixture. Beat in the raisins, rum and finally the salt. As soon as mixture is creamy again and ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, stop beating. The batter is very soft -- you may have to refrigerate briefly so it is firm enough to scoop. Scoop dough onto prepared pans (see note above). Leave at least 3 inches between cookies as they will spread. Do not touch the dough after you scoop it onto the sheets. Place sheet on middle rack of oven and bake 12 to 14 minutes, watching first batch carefully to be certain of timing. The cookies brown nicely on the edges when they are done. (In a convection oven, heat to 400 degrees, and turn down to 375 when you place the cookies in the oven. Bake 8 to 10 minutes). Makes 24 (5-inch) or 48 (3-inch) cookies. Per (3-inch) cookie: 116 calories (37 percent from fat), 4.8 g fat (2.8 g saturated, 1.3 g monounsaturated), 33.2 mg cholesterol, 1.6 g protein, 17.1 g carbohydrates, 0.4 g fiber, 27.5 mg sodium. http://naturalperfumery.com The premier site on the Web to discover the beauty of Natural Perfume " The Age of the Foodie is passé. It is now the Age of the Scentie. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 How cool! Thanks for the recipe for " Hurricane Cookies " . They sound great! Michelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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