Time to break it in...

I have been a big fan of Nick Malgieri for awhile now and when I saw his new book a few months ago I had to have it. I finally had some time to go through it over Christmas and today I picked out a cookie recipe to make. Since Jeff has not been into work for the last couple weeks, we have not been doing the weekly treat day for his co-workers. Since he went back to work and tomorrow is Treat Day Wednesday, this was a perfect chance for me to make the cookies.

This recipe had me interested as it has a whole lot of Corn Starch in it. I've never made a cookie with that in it and could not wait to see how the resulting texture would be. This recipe for Alfajores resulted in a crisp buttery cookie, flavored with lemon, that is sandwiched with homemade dulce de leche. After sandwiching them, you spread the leftover filling over the sides and roll them in shredded coconut. I was a little nervous as I have never made dulce de leche before and the whole baking in the oven kind of threw me off. It looked like a disaster waiting to happen about 20 minutes in, but I stuck with it and I swear it just magically turned into this sweet, smooth, thick layer of a soft caramel colored mixture. I did this part before making the cookies since I was not sure how long the whole process was going to take. If you are going to assemble the cookies shortly after baking, I would do it this way. Otherwise, go ahead and make it after the cookies are done.

I still have some leftover filling that I will need to find something to do with (other than eat it with a spoon that is... which was so good!)

Sandwiches were on tap for dinner tonight. To make the Pressed Cuban Sandwiches with Garlic Dijon Butter, I used one of my favorite appliances in the kitchen. Ever since we bought The Griddler at the beginning of last year, I have found so many uses for it. The sandwiches were a breeze to cook up using this instead of trying to do them in a pan on the stove. Roasting the garlic adds so much more flavor than using it in the raw state. Jarlsberg cheese, thinly sliced ham and turkey are layered inside of a hoagie roll, then pressed ala panini fashion to toast the bread and melt the velvety cheese. Next time I would make more of the spread as it was pretty thin and we loved the flavor it gave.

Recipes
Alfajores
Pressed Cuban Sandwich with Garlic Dijon Butter