Beetle Bakery is in Business - Part 2

Ok you guys get ready.

BEETLE BAKERY DAY 2
Butter Cutout Cookies with Icing (and some without) 
Chocolate Mudslide Cookies

I only dimly remember what I wrote last night, so drugged on sugar and chocolate was I. Mum got home late and found me in pj pants stuffed into legwarmers (I wear a lot of legwarmers, ok?) surrounded by bowls full of coloured icing, listening to Asia Business Report on the BBC and making all the Butter Cows pale blue. Recognising a potentially hazardous situation, she stopped at the entry to the kitchen and said very quietly:

"Have you had dinner yet?"

I hadn't which is probably why I looked as completely insane as I did. I bunged a burnt Butter Dog at her and told her to go take a shower while I finished up. By the time she got down I had created a few more interesting coloured animals, wrapped up the bowls of icing (she requested I keep it "just in case") and attempted to clear some surface space. You want to talk about a Tetris fridge? Both the upper and lower ovens right now look like a Rubix cube. Bazillions of carefully wrapped packages, each, bien sur, with its own post it note indicated the type of cookie. I mean, what else was I supposed to do? 

Lovely librarians, I'll get you the remains tomorrow. For both Mum and your sakes. Yours because I love you and want to give you cookies, hers because sometimes I feel like the witch in Hansel & Gretel.

ON TO THE COOKIES

BUTTER CUTOUT COOKIES WITH ICING (and some without)

With icing (or my version, these were Mum's therefore the ugly ones).

And without. Obviously. 

For this I used Nigella Lawson's recipe (and thanks to food.com for hosting the link) because have I mentioned how much I love Nigella? My favourite brownie recipe comes from her, and I think a good rule of thumb is that if you want to make something that tastes, and absolutely is, totally sinful, go Nigella. She pulls no punches. You will be in a food coma, but it will totally be worth it.

BEETLE NOTES

Don't tell the cats I made dog shapes. 

Without the icing, apparently these are not really that sweet at all. Perhaps maybe even not sweet enough. They are of course (OF COURSE) acceptable as breakfast cookies, but it's the icing that really makes them. Good thing I made a crap load of icing then, huh?

When you take the dough out of the fridge and roll it it warms up pretty fast, so be prepared to add a lot more flour as you go as it gets stickier and stickier. I used animal cookie cutters (the recipient of these is a veterinarian . . . haha I wonder what disease causes BLUE COWS) and also a small glass for the circle ones. The dough I had left over I didn't want to waste so I hand shaped a few discs (those are the lumpy ones, obvs) and then free handed a few hearts until it was all gone.

They definitely hold their shape, and the dough is super easy. This is a keeper dough for sure. I had the thought this morning that spreading them with jam would probably be pretty amazing. Obviously because I'm a loser like that some of them were too thin, so half my dogs and cats were gorgeous and golden, and half were, shall we say, not. One poor thing was burnt on one end and golden on the other. That's the one I bunged at Mum, incidentally. Put it out of it's misery.

Note the pig that got his bum caught in a fire.
And the oh so elegant  blob of extra dough.

The icing works a treat and firms up really nicely. One thing I have to note about Nigella's icing is that she never makes enough. I normally have to double whatever she indicates, and that was the case here too. It's probably the American thing of "we're all morbidly obese and squirt EZ Cheez directly into our mouths more icing please" but if you are making these be prepared to make more.

Waiting to be iced last night. Don't worry blue cows you will get your turn. 

CHOCOLATE MUDSLIDE COOKIES

So there's really nothing to say about these. Martha Stewart and I have made up and this is her recipe. And I mean. It's three different kinds of chocolate. And butter. And sugar. Do I really need to go on?

Right. I didn't think so. 

BEETLE NOTES

The vat of chocolate awesomeness.

The only notes I have on these is how unbelievable the batter smells. And I say "batter" instead of dough because honestly that's what it is. It's a gorgeous, messy, ridiculously amazing mix of unsweetened, bittersweet, and milk chocolates and it's really just a vat of awesome. When you mix the chocolate into the sugar/eggs, make sure it's cool enough because otherwise when you add the milk chocolate chips they will just melt and not be "chips" anymore. I ended up putting the mixing bowl in the fridge for a bit to cool it down before stirring them in.

You gotta pay attention to the cooking times here, because the cookies are already "brown around the edges" so you can't tell by looking at them when they are done. So set a timer, sharpie it somewhere, pay attention. I burnt a pan.

However, even the burnt ones, apparently, have a gooey centre. WHICH IS AWESOME. Because all chocolate cookies should have a gooey centre. That should be a law somewhere. And Mum doesn't like chocolate per se, but these . . . well . . . she likes. Put it that way.

Bottom line. Martha and I are back together.

OH AND FINNISH HOUSEWIFE COOKIES PHOTOGRAPHIC UPDATE

Being dredged (I love that word in that context in powdered sugar). 

And in their snowy white perfection.

You want a perfect start to the morning, dip these in powdered sugar drinking coffee at the same time.
Exactly.
Life. Complete. 

And then this morning I had one of those I'm-going-to-print-Avery-labels-using-a-downloadable-template moments and made awesome stickers. I'll put them up later. Right now half of them are resting on tissue paper nestled in tins on their way to some mothers who hopefully will have a lovely Mother's Day. 

And now I have to figure out how to make brioche by Sunday. Woo.