X Cookies: Coulda Woulda Shoulda

-->

X Cookies, our latest adventure with the Baking With Julia cookbook project, look very impressive. This “grownup fig newton” could have been a showstopper of a cookie.

If only.

• If only I’d picked up the 1/3 measuring cup instead of the ½, when measuring the sugar for the dough.

• If only, when I opened the jar of apricot jam that I’d bought THAT DAY, I hadn’t found this:

  

  Don't worry, I didn't use it. But the filing was definitely lacking something as a result.

• If only I hadn’t substituted candied orange peel for a splash of fresh orange juice.

• If only I’d remembered the egg wash before I rolled up the filling, and perhaps trimmed the edges of my dough.

  

  I know, there's nothing attractive about this photo either. But you need to see how the sausage was made.

Alas, the recipes in this cookbook are not about cutting corners. Lazy cooks are rarely rewarded in Julia’s world. And really, can you blame her?

I’m hopeful that my other TWD friends fared better than I did. If only the recipe didn’t take me FOUR HOURS to complete, I’d try it again.

If you’re game, I’m sure X cookies could be addictively delicious. You can find this recipe, from guest baker Nick Malgieri, in the book, or a slightly altered one on Nick’s website.

In other news from my kitchen: I made this cool marbled rye, from Peter Reinhart's The Breadbaker's Apprentice:

Except I should have been a little gentler with the shaping, because I think I pressed out most of the air in the dough, and this made the loaf a bit bricky.

Some weeks, I should just get out of the kitchen. Some weeks, I should just purchase my baked goods from a professional.

Coulda woulda shoulda.