3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 each egg yolks, beaten
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 grated rind of 1 lemon
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
FILLING
12 oz apricot preserves
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp rum
1 confectioners' sugar
Directions
Preparation time: 1 1/4 hours Cooking time: 10 to 12 minutes
1. Sift flour into a large mixing bowl and make an indentation or
well in the center of the flour. Add the sugar, egg yolks, vanilla,
salt and lemon rind to the well. Mix the ingredients in the well
together with the flour. Then cut in the butter using a pastry cutter
or two sharp knives. At this point the dough will resemble coarse
crumbs. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it with your
hands until smooth and firm. Divide dough in half and shape into two
balls.
2. Wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm enough to roll
out, about 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, heat the apricot preserves over low heat, stirring
constantly. Stir in lemon juice and rum. Let cool.
4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place the chilled dough on a lightly
floured surface or between two sheets of floured wax paper. Roll out
with a floured rolling pin to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out
circles of dough about 2 inches in diameter. Place half of the
circles onto greased or non-stick cookie sheets. Cut the other half
of the circles again with a small shot glass or cookie cutter to form
a ring shape. (Make an equal amount of rings to circles.) Place the
rings onto buttered baking sheets. Bake until light gold, 10 to 12
minutes. Cool a little on the cookie sheets.
5. To assemble, brush the still-warm circles with the cooled apricot
mixture. Place one ring on top of each circle and press gently (they
break easily) to secure. Spoon a small dollop of the apricot mixture
into the center of the cookies. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Cool. Store in a tightly closed tin.
Infused with bits of lemon and pure vanilla and filled with apricot
preserves and rum, the buttery rounds brought second-place honors to
their baker, German-born Anne Kroemer of Chicago. Anne uses a wine
glass and a smaller schnapps glass to cut out these cookies. We've
made them slightly smaller by using round cookie cutters; biscuit
cutters work as well. from the Chicago Tribune sixth annual Food
Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 2, 1993
Servings: 30 servings
1993 2nd Place: Mozart Cookies Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cookie
The History of Recipes
Recipes as an idea can be traced way back into antiquity, at least as far into history as pharonic Egypt, and possibly even further than that. In practice though, these, ancient cook books were just very simple pictorial instructions for preparing meals.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe in existence, according to food historians are some clay tablets in ancient Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made those who drank it feel blissful and exhilarated. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, there were some recipe books which were published in the 14th Century - a book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these are not about the spicy food that appears on menues today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals served to the rich and powerful of the time. Later on, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us many foods and herbs from Arab cooking, such as coriander, parsley, and rosemary. The introduction of these new culinary ideas prompted a torrent in manuscripts on cookery, some of which are kept safe in academic collections. Over the next few hundred years, the rich and powerful families of Wesstern Europe competed to offer the most extravagent meals, and as a consequence, cooks and their recipes could command a high salary. However, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that cooking and recipe publications reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to collecting, trying out, and writing down popular recipes of the day. The arrival of TV brings us TV cookery programs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting us all to search through massive numbers of recipes such as those found on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this 1993 2nd Place_ Mozart Cookies recipe.
