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What are the pans used for Moroccan shortbread cookies?

Houstonian — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:13:20 -0800

Please help me find a specialized cookie pan/sheet/mold, used for shortbread cookies in Morocco. I'm asking this question for a friend. Her mother in Morocco makes a traditional shortbread cookie, and uses a special pan to make them. My friend would like to give her mother some more of these pans, but finding them proves difficult. This is what I know:

The cookies are baked on a metal cookie sheet that has indentations, similar to the cookie sheets used for madeleine cookies.

The shape of the indentations are round (not shell-shaped, like with madeleines) with a design on the bottom.

The cookies are approximately the same size as madeleines (in diameter and also in thinness).

The pan is square, and makes 12 cookies.

Shortbread cookies in Morocco used to always be cooked in one of these pans, but this has stopped in recent years.

The cookies are called sablé, which I believe is French for "sandies" but I could have that wrong. They are not filled or frosted.

I thought the pan might be a double-duty sort of thing that is a ma'amoul mold and pan in one, but I've asked and it is not.

We would love to find one of these pans, or at least a official name for the pan that would help us better find them.

What is the recipe for these grandmother cookies?

Deathalicious — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:08:06 -0800

I'm looking for a recipe for a very specific cookie I ate as a youngster. They were made by the grandmother of someone at my Jewish summer camp, so it's possible that they're a traditional Jewish cookie, but I've never seen them since. We all called them __ Grandmother cookies, where __ was the name of the camper in question. They always arrived in an empty Quaker oats canister.

They are, basically, rings -- rolled up dough that's been sliced thin and baked as a cookie. They are rock hard and have a very faint cinnamon taste with a bit of nuttiness as well (it's amazing that I can still remember the taste from over 15 years ago).

I want to stress the rock hard element. They were nothing like the pastry-like rolled up cookies. I'm aware there are cookies like that and they always get me: I see a rolled up cookie like that, pop it in my mouth, and it instantly disappoints because they aren't the grandmother cookies.

So please, does anyone know this kind of cookie? Because I would love to know the recipe.

So, here are the key elements, best as I can remember them:

hard as a rock
cinnamon
very nutty flavor
relatively tiny -- maybe as wide around as a half dollar or silver dollar
the dough itself is very sweet (I know in many cases the sweetness comes from the filling between the layers; in this cookie, it does not)
Very clearly layered in the ring, which is to say it was very obviously rolled up and then baked, and in fact you could snap off pieces of the ring
addictive as crack

Please identify this Armenian treat

contessa — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:09:00 -0800

Please help me identify this yummy Armenian treat. I would love to know the name of (and recipe for, if possible) a yummy cookie-type-treat that an old Armenian co-worker used to bake up for us.

It was mildly sweet and had the texture of a grainy shortbread. There was a very light, thin sweet glaze or wash of some kind on the top, and saffron was one of the ingredients. By my recollection it must have been formed into patties or logs before baking and then cut into segments - maybe something like a biscotti, but probably not twice-baked.

I want to say the name of it started with an "M" but my memory could be playing tricks on me, because the lady who made it for me had a name that started with "M." Also, I'm 99% sure she said it was a traditional Armenian recipe.

Cookies. Recipes. Go.

Acari — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:21:10 -0800

Can you please help me plan a cookie menu? [This is kind of a followup.]

I'm getting married in a little less than two weeks, and we're planning on an all-cookie reception. I have about that much time to make a bunch of cookie dough, and all day the day before to bake it.

I want a variety of cookie flavours and textures to provide something tasty for everybody, and I want them all to be as delicious as cookily possible.

There will be people there of all ages, levels of carnivorosity, number of teeth, etcetera. I try a lot of bizarre "maybe this will work" recipes on my own time, but for this exercise I want most of the cookies to be non-scary and square-friendly.

Please keep all suggestions to actual recipes/links to recipes with

--this is the important part--

A description of what makes your recipe exceptional.

Wyld Stallyns need not apply. Your results are already in.

Where art thou my tasty wafer?

karizma — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:09:11 -0800

[WhereCanIFindThisFilter] Tully's Coffee sells (at least in Seattle) premium soft-serve ice cream. Served with this ice cream is a delicious little wafer cookie that I must find more of! Can you help me find it? Picture and more information within. I'm trying to locate the manufacturer and/or an outlet (either in the Seattle area or via online store) where I can find these delcious wafer cookies. Tully's Coffee includes a triangle shaped wafer with each serving of their premium soft-serve ice cream. Here is a picture.

The wafers are presumably circular when whole (though served as a wedge at Tully's) and are thin. They have a very thin layer of vanilla filling. They wafers have raised concentric circular bands and within the bands are some letters and some sort of leaf/star design. The picture linked above illustrates this.

I have contacted Tully's Coffee HQ and asked for information about these wafer cookies but have been thus far ignored.

Do you know where I might find these wafers? Thank you for your help!

Cookie recipe question

You Can't Tip a Buick — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:37:24 -0800

Help me remember how to make a beloved childhood christmas cookie... When I was little, my friend's mother used to make something she called "congo bars" every Christmas. These particular congo bars consisted of a solid chocolate base layer topped with chocolate chips, marshmallows, coconut, etc. I thought I'd be able to look a recipe up online, but when I google "congo bars" or "congo squares," I get thousands of recipes for what is basically a dressed up "blondie"--ie, not a solid chocolate bar. Does anyone know the variation on "congo bars" I'm remembering? I believe it was made with condensed milk, and it had a deliciously salty / grainy texture--sort of halfway between a brownie and fudge. Thanks for any help, it's much appreciated!

Chocolate chip chocolate chip cookie dough cookies.

Metroid Baby — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:59:48 -0800

When asked for dessert recommendations, my friend’s 8-year-old son suggested “chocolate chip cookies with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough in them.” How on earth can I pull off this fantastic treat? The problem, of course, is that cookie dough bakes and turns into cookie. So adding the cookie dough before baking the cookies would be out of the question, unless there were some sort of magical cookie dough recipe that retains its doughiness in the oven.

Or is freezing little balls of dough a possibility?

Undercooking the cookies to retain a doughy middle, although delicious, so often results in a structurally unsound cookie and a mass of stuck-together cookie glop in the cookie jar. So that’s not really an option either.

The best solution I’ve come up with so far is adding the dough after baking – perhaps plopping little clumps on right as they come out of the oven, or spreading dough on top like frosting, or sandwiching the dough between two cookies.

I’m wondering if anyone more knowledgeable in cookie-chemistry has any better ideas.

Additionally, if anyone has a good recipe for eggless cookie dough that is safe and delicious to eat raw, I’d appreciate that as well!

Should I eat the caramel wafers?

of strange foe — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:14:20 -0800

Caramel wafers one year after 'best by'. Should I eat them? These are from Trader Joe's, and the label says 'no preservatives'. They still look and smell like when I first got them.

Help my filling be less moist

merocet — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:49:27 -0800

Any ideas on a recipe to make a cream filling for my cookies that will approximate the texture of the filling in Carr's Ginger Lemon Cremes? The texture is the same as custard creams, and bourbons and for our American friends, Oreos. I'm looking for moist but satisfyingly solid rather than soggy. All I can manage is deliciously lemony but a bit runny.

What's the name of this particular peer review website?

Jimmie — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:00:40 -0800

There's a specific website I once visited. You could post your ideas for anything - a product, a new technology, a book, etc. Other users could comment and critique your idea. The website had a large picture of a fortune cookie on it. Does anybody know the name and URL of the website I speak of?

Cookies without eggs?

flibbertigibbet — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:03:16 -0800

Do you know any easy-to-make cookie (or just dessert) recipes that have no eggs? Bonus points if there are no ingredients that would require a trip to the grocery store (no buttermilk, no special chocolate, no fancy egg-substitute, etc.).

Best Cookie Dough?

wonderyak — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:16:55 -0800

What's the best cookie dough for a school fundraiser? My wife is organizing a cookie dough fund raiser for her Pep Band. Much to my surprise, there are a lot of companies that offer fundraising-specific cookie dough. Does anyone have any recommendations on which is the best?

Stress = Baked Goods

Attackpanda — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:06:21 -0800

Please help with with the best oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to help my doctor friend. A friend of mine is stressed with life (she's opening her first office) and I'd like to help her out a little. Food means love in my family, and I'd like your best oatmeal raisin cookie receipes. Please note, I don't eat these so I don't know what's a bland oatmeal raisin cookie and what is a great one.

Sorry, I had to toss my cookies. Yours too.

thetenthstory — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:06:42 -0800

How do you define a cookie? (The edible kind) I am part of a contest to see who can make the best cookie. However, there is a gray area of what, exactly, constitutes a cookie. Help me find (or create) a cookie definition whereas it cannot be argued that something is.

The dictionary calls it: a small cake made from stiff, sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan (cookie sheet) and baked.

This, by my logic, means it would have to meet three criteria:

1. sweet dough
2. rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls
3. baked on a flat pan

I feel this could exclude items that may actually be considered a cookie (no-bake cookies), and isn't sufficient enough to exclude some items ("bar" cookies, pastries, and candies). Lemon bars, S'mores, Rice Krispie treats, and rum balls would not be considered cookies.

How would you define a "cookie"?

Tracking organic search and paid search referrals

superfurry — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:13:35 -0800

Under the hood of Google Analytics. GA does a great job of segmenting paid and organic search metrics - traffic, keywords, etc. How does it know one from the other ? I'm trying to build an organic search tracking system on my website. I want to cookie people who've come in from organic search differently to how I want to cookie people who've come in from paid search. My problem is, I don't know how to differentiate between organic and paid referrals. The referrer is always the same for both isn't it ?

I also need this to work across different search engines - Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc etc.

Anyone have any experience of doing this ? How do I tell an organic refferal from a paid one consistently across multiple search engines ?

Cookie... nom nom nom.

media_itoku — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:54:41 -0800

Where can I get more of this cookie? Today, from Bonaparte's bakery in Fell's Point Baltimore, I had a cookie labeled "butter soble (raspberry)". Weird thing is, I used to eat these as a child in New Zealand, but the only name I have for them is "pink biscuits" (not very helpful). Data points:

The "soble" consists of two very thin cookies joined together with raspberry jam and iced with pink icing. The cookies are flat but not crisp; they're slightly bendy when you break them apart.
The Bonaparte cookies were whitish in color under the icing, although the ones I remember from New Zealand were more brownish.
I asked the waitress and she said they only make them during the Valentine holiday.
Googling butter soble, raspberry soble and various combinations thereof does not appear to be helpful.

Where can I buy Moravian spice cookies in Boston?

komilnefopa — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:50:46 -0800

Where can I buy Moravian spice cookies in the Boston area? I've found tons of recipes and plenty of places to order them online, but it's more fun to shop at gourmet food stores. There have to be lots of these stores around here, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Am I going to have to drive down to Old Salem to get my fix?

Grant Me This Christmas Miracle!

Sassyfras — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:29:03 -0800

Does anyone know where I can buy cheap generic gingerbread man cookie cutters in or around Mesa, Arizona? I want the regular size – not the mini, and I want around 20 of them. I have already tried Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, two WalMarts, The Orange Patch Too, Big Lots, and The Dollar Tree.

That's the way the cookie crumbles!

Glitter Ninja — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:11:02 -0800

Please share your favourite cookie recipes with me. I will be attending KoL Con IV next week, and will be making several large batches of cookies- enough to wrap up in pretty bags for the people who have birthdays in September like I do, or to thank people for helping me with things (like giving me rides to events, etc), and some for the Asymmetric staff.

Optimally, I'd like some simple recipes that are tried-and-tested delicious, that will satisfy the largest range of people without aggravating nut allergies. I'd also like them to be easy to scale up, since I'll be baking probably at least a gross of cookies. It would be best if they didn't have too many non-basic ingredients, as I'll have to buy ingredients once I get to Tempe, as opposed to having my home kitchen at my disposal.

So, Oh Hive Mind- what are your favourite cookie recipes? Thank you in advance! (and if you see me at Con.... I promise I'll share a few with you. :) )

My google fu has failed. I am not worthy of my cable modem. =(

damnjezebel — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:53:09 -0800

Don't ask me why, but this question reminded me to ask this - help me find a possibly nonexistent song from a MILK commercial in the 90's! In the mid nineties, there was a cutesy MILK commercial. Remember those? Trying to get kids to drink milk? Yeah, well this one featured an old timey 1920'sish sounding song. The star of the commercial was a cute gingerbread cookie about to get eaten. The person trying to eat him attempts to shove him into a glass of milk, but the cookie gives him attitude and tries to get away. In the background, this song (that sounds like it's on an old record) plays:

(please note that most of these words are correct - i've seen that commercial at least 100 times and I can sing it almost perfectly)

Sugar and spice, and everything nice.
Nibbling on your neck is my only vice.
Gotta tell ya, cookie - I'm sweet on you.
Lucky little cookie, I'm sweet on you.
You're my sugar plum,
my cookie crumb,
the apple of my eye,
I tremble/crumble at the thought of you...
Gotta tell ya cookie - I'm sweet on you.
I'm sweet on you.....

If I didn't have such a shit voice, I'd sing the song for you and link to it. And I don't have a 5 year old that can do it to make it sound cute, so just work with me.

My google fu has failed me. Seriously. I've tried every possible combination of the lyrics. I've tried the main words and gingerbread, cookie, milk and commercial (no comma's)... this is one of those great mysteries that, when i find the answer, I'll kick myself, I KNOW IT!

At the very least, help me find the commercial. At the very most, help me find if the song is real and - if it is - who sings the damn thing and where I can find it!

Make up fortunes for fortune cookies!

aws17576 — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:51:58 -0800

Querying the hive wit: Help me come up with fortunes for homemade fortune cookies. I would like fortunes that can stand on their own... but if they happen to make good double-entendres when suffixed by "in bed," so much the better. (The benchmark to beat, in my own fortune-cookie-opening experience, is "A handful of patience is worth a bushel of brains.")

Non-original fortunes are welcome if unusual and interesting, but please, I already know that the onion I'm eating is your water lily.

Bonus: If you have actually made fortune cookies, do you have a preferred recipe, or any advice on how not to screw them up?

What do I call my cookies?

ilikecookies — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:25:54 -0800

Cookie exchange in one hour! Need punny/clever name for my chocolate-covered peanut butter bars. The more political the better. Good names used last year to give you a flavor of what I'm looking for include: Condoleezza Rice Krispie Treats and Right Wing Nut Bars and Heckuva Job Brownie Brownies.

How to keep logged onto Yahoo mail?

stevil — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:23:18 -0800

We keep getting kicked out of Yahoo mail (asking us to log back in again). We've set it to "ask every 24 hours"; we accept cookies. We've cleared cookies. We remain logged into other cookie-lovin' sites (i.e., Amazon). This happens in IE and Firefox. This happens on three different computers. What gives?

This is goofy

jessicapierce — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 08:41:52 -0800

Where can I buy cookie cutters in Atlanta (or online)? I thought these would be easy to buy, but, nope. I’m not looking for anything fancy - just flowers, stars, puppies and stuff. Metal or plastic, relatively cheap. You know, cookie cutters. The only ones I’ve been able to find are occasional pumpkins and ghosts because it’s this month, or the $15 heavy copper ones.

So far I’ve checked Target, Cook’s Warehouse, Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens & Things, Cost Plus World Market, various grocery stores, various party supply stores, and even a bastarding Walmart. Where do people buy frigging cookie cutters? Or are they all heirlooms?

I have several "maybes" in mind that I'll eventually check - Michael's, other party supply stores, the kitchen supply place across from Java Monkey, etc. - I'm hoping some of you can give me definite sources before I continue running all over creation for these things.

If anyone has suggestions for online sources with reasonable shipping rates, that would be great too. I’ve looked around a little and found a nice variety of cheap cutters on a couple of sites, but the shipping costs are ridiculous - I’m not paying $9 to mail a half-inch piece of tin. I’d like to buy somewhere from 6-18 and keep my costs around $1-2 per cutter if possible.

What happens in that oven?

coolhappysteve — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 21:19:36 -0800

Why does cookie dough taste better than cookies? It's the same story with brownie batter, cake batter, and any number of other pre-baked batters and doughs - I contemplated this question tonight as I licked the bowl clean after putting a loaf-to-be of banana bread in the oven.

While you may personally disagree, look at ice cream companies, who have offered "cake batter," "brownie batter," and - of course - cookie dough ice creams for ages.

My question is, what are some concrete reasons for why batters taste so incredible? What happens chemically during the baking process to alter the taste and in what ways does it change? What exactly is so satisfying about the raw dough?

Oh, and this is my first ever MeFi post, after so many years of watching. Hello, everyone!