Dear Strep throat,
Thanks for showing up.
I so appreciate the swollen lymph nodes, and the swollen tonsils bulging out of my neck.
I also really appreciate the weird muffled sound that comes out when I try to speak. I should probably just become one of the Muppets or something.
Thanks for making me go to the minute clinic on a Sunday afternoon and then telling me that it’s not actually strep but still could be or it might just be mono. Wait what?
Thanks for making me feel super tired and making it really hard to swallow but otherwise making me feel just fine. So then my day looks a little like this: Take shower, nap, put on a dress because 1.) I’ve been in pajamas and sweats for days 2.) I no longer have any clean pajamas or sweat pants 3.) who doesn’t want to look glamorous while feeling ill?, take a nap, bake (don’t worry I washed my hands about a million times) and tired myself out some more because creaming butter is apparently the most exhausting task out there.
But really, thank you for making me stay inside all day again so that I could bake these cookies because they turned out devine.
I whipped up some of my lacy oatmeal cookies, this time they actually turned out lacy. The power of parchment paper.
Since this weird faux strep throat decided to make me super ambitious or perhaps a little loopy, I’ll let you decide, I made an apple brown sugar butter cream filling for these lacy oatmeal delights.
After all apples are everywhere these days with it being fall and all.
I first cut up a golden delicious apple, put it in a pot with some water and sugar until it turned into a compote.
or a pan of mushy apples that looks like apple sauce. Compote just sounds so much better, right?
I chilled the apple compote while I made the butter cream. Then added the cooled apples with cinnamon to the fluffy icing.
It was definitely an interesting looking mixture but it tasted sweet with a hint of apples. Yum.
Then I filled the cookies and dusted them with powdered sugar to boot.
All in a sick days work my friends.
Lacy Oatmeal Cookies:
~from Mrs. Field’s Cookie Book
1 cup quick oats
1/4 Cup all-purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick of butter (room temp)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Instructions:
Mix butter and sugar together until smooth. Then add vanilla extract and eggs.
In another bowl mix flour, baking soda, oats and salt.
Add dry to the wet and your done. Don’t panic if the dough looks really buttery…it is and it should be that way.
Drop cookies onto a sheet pan lined with parchment. A little dough goes a long way with these cookies so think small around 1/2 teaspoon. Bake at 325 for around 8 minutes or until golden and lace like.
Let cookies cool. These cookies are very delicate and break easily so store in durable container.
Apple Brown Sugar Butter Cream Filling:
1 golden delicious apple cut in cubes
1-2 tablespoon of sugar
1/4 cup water
1 stick of butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions:
In a sauce pan over medium high heat add cubed apples, water and 1-2 tablespoons of water. Let apples get soft and mushy about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool in the refrigerator.
Meanwhile in a bowl whip butter until light yellow. Add the powdered sugar gradually until all combined. Then add brown sugar and mix. The butter cream will be a little grainy.
Once the apple mixture is cool add the cinnamon and add to the butter cream. Whip together until all incorporated.
Fill a pastry bag with the butter cream and squeeze a healthy size dollop onto the bottom of one cookie and then top with another cookie. Repeat.
Dust the tops of the cookies with some powdered sugar.
Don’t worry during this whole baking process I kept myself occupied by watching these hilarious youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTyotI3IHFQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I decided she and I should probably become good friends. Then I took another nap.
So thanks again pseudo strep throat for showing up and making me bake these cookies to nibble on with my millionth cup of tea.
Love,
Brooke
