Still perfecting my cookie recipe

I made another attempt at making Meecham cookies, this time using Angie Kitts recipe. I substituted butter for the margarine, and a quarter cup ground hazlenuts for a like amount of flour, though. The result was a batter that was impossible to roll out and cut with cookie cutters.

They tasted good, but I'll have to use more flour in my next attempt. Meanwhile, I'm trying to decide whether I should try Ruda stew or vegetable stew next. The first was the stew Nissa made in a ship's galley after she and her brother killed a Ruda, a huge, spiny sea mammal. The meat is supposed to be like venison. The second is a stew she ate growing up at the manor. Any opinions?

Today, Penny Ehrenkranz posted her interview of me on her blog. Take a look:

http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com//2014/02/joyce-hertzoff-crimson-orb.html

My Search For the Perfect Meecham Cookies - part 2

First attempt

Last week I baked my first batch of cookies.

I used the recipe that came with the cookie cutters. They were a big hit at the SouthWest Writers meeting on Saturday, but next time I'll try Angie Kitts recipe.

In retrospect, I probably should have started with the fortune cupcakes like the ones that gave Nissa and her friends directions in their search for Madoc in The Crimson Orb. After all, it's Chinese New Year. Lexi Steeber even told me about a cupcake pan I could use that would allow me to insert a surprise. Before I do those, though, I'll have to think about what the fortunes should say.

Are you a cookie person or a cupcake person? How do you feel about brownies?

My Search for the Perfect Meecham Cookie

My Search for the Perfect Meecham Cookie

In my forthcoming book, The Crimson Orb, my heroine, teenage Nissa Day, and her companions arrive in the town of Meecham. They're seeking the mysteriously missing magic teacher Madoc, but everyone else in town is looking for the legendary Orb.

At the Emporium in Meecham they purchase cookies, which become favorites of everyone.

The cookie is described as a sandwich of one round cookie and another with a hole in the center, with jam between. It's coated with a sugary glaze.

Thanks to Angie Kits in the RECIPES Facebook group, I now have a good recipe for Linzer cookies that can serve as the basis for my own attempts to recreate what I've described in my book.

Angie Kirts

Linzer Tarts

1 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
seedless raspberry preserves
powdered sugar
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg and vanilla, beating until blended. Add flour, beating at low speed until blended.
3. Roll dough into small balls and place on greased cookie sheets, two inches apart. Flatten dough balls with a flat-bottomed cup wrapped in a damp paper towel.
4. Dip a thimble or small round cutter in flour and cut out a small circle in the center of exactly half of the cookies.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (The cookies will be pale. The cut out halves will bake faster so watch closely.) Transfer carefully to wire racks to cool.
6. Spread raspberry preserves on top of solid cookies. Top with remaining cookies, bottom sides down, to make sandwiches. Sift powdered sugar over tops of cookies.

Linzer Tarts Recipe - Food.com - 191826

food.com

This is from The Kosher Palette cookbook. This relatively simple recipe turns out a very pretty cookie.

I'll let you all know when I've successfully made my cookies. Until then, what's your favorite cookie?

Inspiration

I'm going to be interviewed on Penny Ehrenkranz blog next month and she sent me a long list of questions to answer before hand. I suppose this is something I should become used to as a published writer. I've been thinking about one question: What inspired you to write your first book?

Inspiration is a personal thing. We all draw our inspiration from different sources. Whatever you do, what's your inspiration?

Pets and the holidays

Many people give their pets treats for the holidays. But do the pets know that the day is special? How do they let you know how they feel, when they're happy?

Those who believe that they can communicate with their dogs, cats and other pets don't always agree on how that communication works - whether it's emotions, gestures, or images. What do you think?

In the last thirty years, a new breed of magicians has entertained us. In 1974, Doug Henning starred on Broadway in the musical The Magic Show. Four years later, street magician Jeff Sheridan published Street Magic - An Illustrated History of Wandering Magicians and Their Conjuring Arts. Web magic sites started with magic stores in 1994. David Blaine's first TV special appeared in 1997; his latest was only a few weeks ago. David Copperfield and Penn and Teller have appeared almost non-stop in Las Vegas for years, along with Criss Angel and others.

Who's your favorite magician today? Who would you have liked to see perform in the past?

Magic changed dramatically over time from simple tricks to more complex as the public demanded to be amazed.

In 1584, The Discoverie of Witchcraft was published and revealed many of the conjuring tricks of the day.

Moving to the 1800s, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the father of modern magic took the craft from the street and circuses to the stage. Harry Houdini, the King of Cards and the King of Handcuffs, was born Ehrich Weiss in 1874 and became famous as an escapologist.

Modern Magic was first published in 1876 and Expert at the Card Table in 1902. The Society of Americal Magicians was founded in Martinka's Magic Shop in May of 1902, while The Magic Circle, a prestigious organization of magicians, in July of 1905.

In 1918, Houdini first performed the Vanishing Elephant. Sawing in half was first performed by P. T. Selbit in 1921.

The Magic Castle, a center for magical excellence, was formed from a 1908 Victorian mansion in Hollywood in 1963.

Thirteen Steps to Mentalism by Corinda was published in 1968. Is that what Nissa and her brothers practice in The Crimson Orb? Watch for publication by Assent Publications next summer and find out.