I thought I'd burned my bottoms!

I made the coffee cookies tonight and they're pretty good! Nothing unusual about them, just a basic cookie that has a subtle hint of coffee flavor. (I almost wish it had more. You could probably adjust a little, but you wouldn't want them to get too runny.) It has a little crispness to the outside, but is soft and cake-like inside. A time wasn't given in my Amish cookbook (Thank you, Alaina, for the sundial suggestion--ha ha! But I made them at night, so I would have been screwed!), so I started with 10 minutes. The bottoms were almost looking too brown, but the tops still looked a little moist, so I gave them a couple more minutes, and that seemed to be just right.

This is not a sweet cookie, so if you like things sweeter, don't bother with these. I'm going to give the recipe as I found it in my Amish cookbook, then I'll tell you my modifications. Oh, and I didn't take a picture of the cookies, because they're just plain brown ones (like a plain brown wrapper!). But I know I looked just like this picture when I was baking! Sweet bonnet, eh?

Coffee Cookies

3 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups lard
1 1/2 cups coffee, a little strong
1 1/2 teaspoons soda
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
vanilla and lemon
4 eggs
6 cups flour

Mix coffee and flour alternately. Bake at 350 degrees.

Okay, first off, I halved this recipe right off the bat. I ended up with 4 dozen cookies, so use your math skillz and cut everything in half unless you want coffee cookies out the wazoo!

It says "lard." Not too many people still use lard for cooking (although it makes a dandy pie crust...but even my Mom doesn't use it anymore), so I used the butter Crisco stuff.

The coffee I used was more than "a little strong." Ken likes very strong coffee...his Mom and stepdad call it...what is it? Jet fuel? Something like that. But as I mentioned, I would kind of like an even stronger coffee flavor in these. I wonder if you could throw some instant coffee granules in there, a tablespoon or so?

I used a teaspoon of vanilla, and a tablespoon of lemon juice. I bet a teaspoon or so of lemon zest would work even better--a little more intense than juice.

Do the usual, cream the sugar and wet ingredients (except for the coffee) then add the dry, alternating with the coffee. Oh, and I also added about a cup of chopped pecans. I think Linda suggested that, and it was a good addition. Drop by teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
I baked 'em for 12 minutes, and removed them to a wire rack to cool.

There was another coffee cookie recipe besides this one--basically the same recipe--that called for a light frosting made with powdered sugar. If you like things sweeter, do the frosting, but I like just the plain cookies.

Utterly DEmotivated

I have almost no gumption for anything whatsoever today. I'm not sick, I'm not in a bad mood, I'm not sleepy...I just don't feel like doing much of anything! I'm not feeling fired up about anything either, so I guess you all can breathe a sigh of relief today. [wink] This is mellow Beth. Very mellow Beth.

Ken and I stayed up late and slept late today, since he's working nights, and it's a drag not to have him around in the evening. We both got our workouts in today, so I guess I'm not completely demotivated, only partially. I'm doing a load of laundry, too, so wow, I'm on fire!

I had a vague urge to bake, but it wasn't strong enough to spur me into action. I might still make something tonight, though. I found a recipe for coffee cookies. I don't drink hot coffee, but I love iced coffee and mocha flavors, so how good do coffee cookies sound? I wish I had some already made, then maybe I'd be all hopped up on caffeine and feel more motivated! Ha!

I was looking online for interesting cookie recipes this afternoon. I was surprised at how many I saw that use cake mix as a base, rather than starting from scratch. I can't remember the last time I bought a box of cake mix, but I have flour, sugar, and all that stuff. I can always count on one of my Amish cookbooks to have plenty of from-scratch recipes, and that's where I found the coffee cookie recipe. In fact, sometimes they are so from-scratch that a novice in the kitchen would have a hard time. In the coffee cookie recipe, it lists all the ingredients and their amounts, except it just says "vanilla and lemon" with no amounts, and the instructions are nothing more than this: "Mix coffee and flour alternately. Bake 350 degrees." I guess I'll have to guess as to how long to leave them in the oven! (Why am I having a sudden vision of billowing black smoke?)

I think I'll read some more and go from there. I hope everyone is staying warm!