Saturday, February 21, 2009

No, I didn't drop these Cinnamon Butter Cookies!

Jeff was busy with a few work-related items this morning, so he didn't have a chance to see that I was working on a batch of cookies downstairs. When he came down, he looked at the cooling rack and said "What happened to those cookies? Did you drop the pan when they came out of the oven?!"

Grrr... I replied with a snarky "of course not!" and said they are supposed to be that way. See? I had to point him to the cookbook and show him the picture of these Raivas and prove it. I don't really know the story as to why these are instructed to be formed like this, but believe me that they taste a lot better than their homely appearance may suggest!

Also known as Cinnamon Butter Cookies, the dough for these Portuguese treats is a very clean and basic combination of butter, sugar, flour, a few eggs and a couple pinches of salt. Oh, and of course, the key ingredient - cinnamon! You'll want to use your best, most intense cinnamon for these and if you've been reading us very long, you will already know that we used our favorite Vietnamese cinnamon.

To form these unique-looking cookies, we divided the soft ball of dough into twenty four knobs and rolled each into a long, thin rope. The ends were connected, forming a circle, and gently lifted onto the baking sheet. All that is left to do is push the round into itself in random shapes and sizes so the edges are very irregular and crinkled.

Once the cookies are formed, they are baked until they are firm to the touch and golden - while not too delicate when cooled, let them sit on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before you try and move them over to a rack. The cookies are not necessarily moist or crisp, but they are not dry either - they are fairly sturdy and a bit crumbly, with a lingering aroma of it's sweet fragrances pulsating from each piece. Perfect for dunking into a (wide) glass of milk or your favorite flavored coffee.

Recipes

12 comments:

  1. Oh, I bet these are just delicioous, they look absolutely adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hello, this cookies " Raivas " is a portuguese name of this cookies, this recipe is delicioous, and sorry my bad english, i live in Portugal and recipes the blog is divine ;) anabela martins

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raiva in English means "madness" or "rabid" or basically anything associated with crazy - so I guess that explains that whackadoodle shape :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those are one of the best portuguese cookies.
    The most traditional portuguese cookies are the ones made with almonds or with figs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello from Duluth!

    "Homely appearance"? Hardly! Those look totally awesome and fun!

    Didn't have a chance to comment before - but loved the pics of Gus on the Puppy Digest page. Max must be so jealous. ;)

    Can't wait to see what you have in store for this weeks recipes! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think these look great! Very fun and quirky. They would be great for a party.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those sure are unusual looking - but you got me with the cinnamon - I'm going to have to try these! Perfect for cooking with kids, too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Donna - They were!

    Anabela - Thanks!

    Josie - I'm glad you let me know... I wondered if is was going to be something like that.

    Winnie - What are the names for those other cookies?

    Kristin - He is! Though, I think he was proud to see his little brother up on the screen!

    Katie - Yeah!

    Karen - :)

    Katrina - Yep, especially the shaping part!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Those cookies are so cool! And I agree, the cinnamon puts them over the top for me too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Really cool cookies Joe!
    Ana

    ReplyDelete
  11. Alisa and Ana - Thank you two!

    ReplyDelete