Fruits of Fancy

Finally, one of those mornings where I sleep in until an unmentionable time (it’s approaching noon), the coffee is brewing, Paula Deen is on the television encouraging my fat intake and I have some time to relax and bake.  It may be sub-arctic outside, but with the furnace humming away and the oven set to 350 degrees it’s like a tropical island morning full of sunshine made of egg yolks and butter, and a breakfast of grapefruit…grapefruit cookies that is.

I’m in a vacation state of mind.  Brian and I were already planning getaways this week with plans to visit family and friends back in Missouri in the spring as well as possibly heading back to Provincetown, Massachusetts later in the summer if our schedules work out.  Provincetown, or P-Town as it’s called, is such a beautiful place that really captures the heart of New England for me and we had such a great time there last year that I really can’t wait to get back.  It’s the place that the Pilgrims stopped before going on to Plymouth Rock (something I didn’t learn in my Junior High Civics class)

I’ve also thought a lot about the island of Mustique, where we have recently gone in January’s past, but for various reasons didn’t seem the smart thing to do this year.  I can smell the salt in the floral laced breeze and it makes me want to lay out by the pool sipping Mojitos and watch my friend Nicholas do dance routines to Shania Twain…but that is another story.

My week wasn’t only about fantasy of place, but of home projects and really all things in life that I would like to be doing.  Aside from travel and making fun commercial projects, obviously there is blogging and baking to be done.  January has proven difficult because there isn’t a whole lot of inspirational activities going on.  I guess it’s Mother Nature’s way of making downtime for us all, but February is already proving to be different. 

February is about the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, baby showers, catching up on Oscar movies before the March awards and also a fun Truffle and Treats class I was given by my friend Randy as a Christmas present.  The class is next Saturday afternoon and I’m really looking forward to it.  It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a class and it feels long overdue.

But back in reality…my coffee scented reality that is, I have some grapefruit sandwich cookies to tackle.  My original plan for the week was to make a peanut butter cookie, but as I was looking through the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook for the recipe, on the page corresponding is the recipe for Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies.  As most of January has been citrus focused, making a grapefruit flavored confection seems like a good idea.  I can’t recall any grapefruit dessert I’ve ever had, which is all the more reason to make one.  The first step is a cup of coffee to get me going. (Coffee isn’t called for in the recipe, but it doesn’t hurt.)

The dough is pretty easy to make, your standard fair really.  Combine 1 stick of room temperature butter and 1 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl on medium high speed and beat until fluffy (2-4 minutes), then add 2 room temperature egg yolks and the grated zest of one grapefruit.  Mix until combined.  Meanwhile combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup of cake flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and a 1/2-teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl.  Whisk or sift all the dry ingredients to break up any lumps you might have in your flour.  Last, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture with the mixer on low, alternating with 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice.  Meaning… as you add the flour, take turns with the grape fruit juice…(add some flour mixture then some juice, some more flour, the rest of the juice and then the rest of the flour).  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and give it one more quick spin in the mixer on high for just a couple of seconds.  Turn out the dough onto plastic wrap and form a 1-inch thick disc.  Wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.

The dough is in the fridge right now.  I have to say it ranks high as deliciously edible dough, one that is in danger of never making it into actual cookie form.  It’s soft and buttery with a bite from the grapefruit juice and zest.  It has the consistency of yummy holiday butter cookie dough.  After it chills, I’m going to roll it out on the counter (floured) with a rolling pin to a 1/8 inch thick and cut with a 2 inch round cookie cutter.  In the meantime, I’m going to make the filling for the cookies.

In the bowl of your electric mixer put in 1 stick of room temperature butter and 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar.  Mix on low just to get it going (and to keep sugar from going all over the kitchen) and work your way up to medium high, blending for about 4 minutes.  Next add in 1 tablespoon of honey and 3 tablespoons of grapefruit juice, mixing 2 minutes more.  For a little color, I added 1 drop of red food coloring and one drop of yellow right at the end, and it turned a lovely orange-pinkish color.  As a grand total, I only needed one large grapefruit for this whole recipe.

Now that the dough has chilled, roll it out and cut the cookies for baking.  I didn’t have a 2 inch round cutter I discovered, so I used a small bar glass designed for drinking Scotch, and in fact I remember getting the glass as part of the Scotch making tour/ride we took in Edinburgh last August.  Regardless, necessity breeds invention and the glass dipped in flour worked perfectly.  It was just shy of being 2 inches in diameter, so I ended up with extra cookies than the recipe indicates.  Normally, you will make 30 cookies, which become 15 sandwiches, but I ended up with 44 cookies and 22-sandwich cookies…portion control at it’s finest.  Brian is pictured here in the "Scotch" room on our tour posing with my make-shift cookie cutter.

Spread the cookies out 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.  Because the cookies are slightly smaller I found that I only had to bake them for 13 minutes at 350 degrees instead of the 18-20 minutes the recipe calls for.  Dollop about a tablespoon of filling onto half the cookies, and use the other half to top and make the sandwiches.

I just finished eating a cookie and I have to say it’s pretty outstanding.  Like I said before, I don’t remember ever eating a grapefruit based dessert.  I’m sure I’ve had it as a component, but not as the focus.  It’s certainly sweet, but with a slightly bitter and tart grapefruit flavor that lingers afterward beautifully on your tongue.  It did take a little time to make these cookies… a couple of hours with chilling and baking time, so if you are in a hurry these may not be the way to go, but if you have some time and feel like making an elegant and bright cookie, then these will do the trick. 

Am I transported to a far away island?  Do I feel the warmth of the sun and sand soaking into my skin and lifting my mood in a vitamin D sort of way?  Close, very close.  The creative act of making the cookies is transformative in and of itself.  It gets me out of the day to day headspace I’ve been in all week and moves me to a more relaxed place where I can treat myself to a bite of something simple and delicious. 

Now the rest of the weekend can be spent lazing about (after I go to the gym and work off the cookies), and figuring out what plants to put in the garden come spring.  I shall finish perusing catalogues in search of the perfect bulbs and flowers that will brighten up the yard in days to come.  The winter is almost half over and it seems like good things are headed our way.  I continually see a perfectly white pigeon eating seeds from the bird feeder outside our kitchen window.  Call me slightly superstitious, but I can’t help but think of her as a good omen.  Maintaining a sugar induced positive attitude doesn’t hurt either.  It’s how I survive, and it’s just who I am.