Christmas Cookies, Part Deux: Marzipan Macaroons

Another very easy type of cookie is the macaroon. Not the "clumps of coconut" kind of macaroon, the kind that is made of crushed almonds and is baked into a fragrant, sugary, crunchy biscuit.

The recipe makes about 20 cookies, which is not enough, since my family shovels them down like potato chips. But they are so easy that you can always throw in another batch.

Marzipan Macaroons

1 tube Odense Marzipan
2 egg whites
2/3 cup granulated sugar
parchment paper
baking spray

Preheat the oven to 325. Line two cookie sheets with the parchment, and spray.

Into a mixing bowl, chop the tube of marzipan (I just carve chunks out of it with a knife.) Plop in the whites and the sugar, and mix until pretty smooth.

Standing mixers are best, since you can now walk away and get out some red and green sugar to sprinkle on top of the cookies. Halved almonds look nice on them too.

Spoon the mix onto prepared cookie sheets, by the teaspoonful. Top, if desired, with the colored sugar.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The cookies should look brown around the edges and the top should start to crackle.

Take out, cool for a bit, and slide onto a rack. Cool completely and store / eat / hide from your in laws.

You know what is perfect with these cookies? A Fresh Pot of Tea, that's what.

Christmas Cookies part 1: Chocolate Covered Oreos

On Saturday we had a party to go to. A real party, not the kind with bouncy castles and face paint.  Like, get a babysitter and put on heels and drink vodka deal.

My Italian mother in law, God rest her soul, instilled in me the idea that one  can never show up without a hostess gift. So I knew  I had to make cookies to bring along. But I also knew I had  zero time to make said cookies.

Enter the super fast, speedy, it's-not-quite-cheating recipes. Which I shall share with you, since I love my readers so. Today, chocolate covered oreos; tomorrow, Marzipan Macaroons.

Chocolate Covered Oreos

(For some reason, these make everyone gasp and stretch their eyes. I can slave over rolled out sugar cookies for hours, but it is the oreos that get everyone all riled up.)

Ingredients:
1 bag of Oreos
1  bag of  Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chocolate chips
Crisco
1 cup of white chocolate chips

******

Line a baking tray with wax paper.

Pour the bag of dark chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl. Add a tablespoon or so of Crisco. Nuke for a minute, stir, then nuke at 30 second intervals alternating with stirring  until the chocolate is smooth and  melted. Don't nuke it too much, or it will burn and turn into a yucky clumpy ball of gunk.

With a fork, dunk the oreos one at a time in the chocolate mixture, tapping to release extra. Put on the prepared, lined tray and shove them in the fridge.

While they set, fit a disposable piping bag with a small tip icing nozzle. Fill the bag with the cup of white chocolate chips and  another Tbl of Crisco. (If you don't have any of that icing stuff, you can use a fork to drizzle white chocolate over the tops of the oreos. It's just as impressive, and people will eat them just as happily.)

When the cookies are set in the fridge (about 10 - 20 minutes) nuke the piping bag or bowl of white chocolate for 1 minute and then 30 secoond intervals. Stir the bowl or squish the bag to stir.

Either pipe desings on the dark chocolate with the bag. Spirals make people go, "Oooooooh." Or drizzle, as I've said before. If you add some drague´es, that's impressive too. (Drague´es = fancy word for those little silver balls that chefs use to decorate cakes and cookies and truffles and stuff.)

Pop back in the fridge for another twenty minutes.

Throw flour on your face to make them think you've been breaking your back in the kitchen, and serve.