Week 9: Foul Weather Cookies

One of the sad things about being in an apartment is realizing that there is no insulation in your roof and that you can see the cold sunshine through the edges of your doors.  Yes, I can see light through my door.  And in the negative-whatever-degree-weather we have been having it is hard to feel warm.  So I find that I am baking more and more sweet treats.

The best cooking gift I received at our wedding was the Cookie Bible.  It sat unused through the summer and then winter hit and I have made dozens upon dozens of cookies from this cookbook.  I tried two new ones this week.  Fresh Orange Cookies and Chocolate Walnut Meringues.  I chose the orange cookies because they required you to chop one whole orange and put it, including the rind, in the dough.  I chose the chocolate walnut meringues because, well, I've been cooking out of my closets only this week and that was the only other recipe I could make.

Chopping the orange was messy and a little disconcerting.  I know that rind can be pretty bitter and I was skeptical.  The glaze ended up being key to the cookies - otherwise they were bitter.  The chocolate meringues would have been better if I left them in the oven, like my mother does, to really dry out.  They ended up tasting like bites of overcooked brownie - not bad, just not right.  Regardless, the house smells amazing.

So what do you cook when it's cold?  If you have fabulous cookie recipes - send them our way!

-Melissa