Frances had left her Cuisinart cookie press with me after the cookie bakeoff and I had found a recipe for Orange Cream Stars in my new fine cooking 'cookies' mag, so I threw caution to the wind and decided to give them both a try. I was all in. They looked so simple that I decided I'd even make a double batch. Not so simple, and probably something that I should be starting at 9 at night. The dough went together fine but the 'perfect cookies in minutes' part never materialized (that's the first line on the cookie press packaging). My 'stars' ended up looking more like burnt sand dollars, I couldn't get them to a shape and size that I liked, and the dough was so soft that it just kept running out of the press, so it was time for Plan B.
I lay the press on it's side and used it like a sausage maker, cutting 3" lengths. I wasn't sure at first how to shape them - circles or an 's' - but they looked sketchy so I simplified things and just twisted the dough slightly and ended up with what looked like fancy ladyfingers. By the time I finally finished it was late into the night and I was pretty grumpy so I froze them and decided to fill them the next day. They didn't look as bad as I remembered when I pulled them out of the freezer and when they were sandwiched together and dusted with a little icing sugar they were quite pretty; they even taste nice. Whew! Thank heavens because I couldn't stand the thought of wasting all that dough. Anyway, lesson learned; don't think I'll be investing in an electric cookie press any time soon.
Thankfully, before I tried making those I had made a couple of batches of social tea squares...
...so I was able to finish off filling my gift tins and get the first one delivered today. And, if I must say, I think they all look pretty nice together. I can't really call them Orange Cream Stars - maybe just Orange Creams...M
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