salted margarita cookies

Remember these from last year? I don't know what it is about Thanksgiving week, but I apparently just crave margaritas in cookie form. Luckily, there's a Smitten Kitchen for that.

 Haven't tried these yet? They make awesome Christmas cookies. They're basically shortbread cookies, but both salty and sweet. They're packed with orange and lime zest, which flecks them with pretty colors. And the edges? Sparkly! It doesn't get much more festive than that, especially when tequila is involved.

Here's the recipe one more time, with some updates.

Salted Margarita Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
3 teaspoons tequila
pinch of salt
zest of 2 limes
zest of 1/2 orange
2 cups flour

Coating:
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated or coarse sugar
1 and 1/2 tablespoons coarse sea salt

Beat the butter with a mixer until smooth. Add the confectioner's sugar and beat until mixture appears silky. Beat in the egg yolk, followed by the tequila, salt, and lime and orange zest. Add the flour and mix in with a spoon. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it in half. Wrap each half in wax paper and refrigerate 30 minutes

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll each ball into a log about an inch thick. Wrap again in wax paper and chill in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

To make the coating: Whisk the egg yolk in a small bowl. Mix the sugar and sea salt well in a separate bowl and spread the mixture out on a piece of wax paper. Remove the dough logs from the fridge and use a pastry brush to lightly coat each with the egg, like a glaze.  Roll each log in the sugar and salt coating until evenly covered. Use a thin knife to slice the logs into quarter-inch-thick cookies. Place the cookies on the baking sheet; bake about 10 minutes. The cookies should still be pale, but the coated edges may brown slightly.

let's dish

I recently filled in for the Seven Days food section again and this time, it's all about Thanksgiving. 

As I mention in the story, my family has very few go-to recipes for the holiday. I doubted the same would be true of people who cook for a living and, it turns out, I was right. Four local cooks were kind of enough to share some well-loved recipes and the family traditions behind them. I had a blast chatting with each one of them — in fact, I may have a little crush on chef Patrick and his charming French accent — and I can't wait to try their drool-worthy recipes.

In the story:

Vanilla-mashed sweet potatoes with pecan-streusel topping

Maple-syrup-roasted root vegetables

Chestnut-and-sausage stuffing

Maple-walnut Brussels sprouts

Hop on over to check it out!

Previous Seven Days food stories, in case you're curious ;)

Slice of Life: Is foraying into fondant really a piece of cake?

Liquid Diet: Cocktail-inspired cooking to try at home

Digital Dishes: Someone's in the kitchen with YouTube...

broccoli-cheddar-cauliflower soup

It took four years for me to learn that when Dave wants to watch a guy movie like Fast Five, I need to just go in the kitchen and make soup.

(Also, happy four-year anniversary week, Dave! I heart you.)

Soup takes a while to make. There's a lot of chopping involved. And shredding cheese. And stirring every so often while things simmer for long periods of time. It's fairly mindless, but it's just enough to distract you from the epic car chases and crashes going on, very loudly, in the next room.

If you're smart, you'll choose to make a really involved soup, one where you have to roast some vegetables first. That increases the length of time you'll spend in the kitchen, avoiding said epic car chases. This soup, sadly, doesn't involve roasting. But it is so delicious that you'll be able to totally tune out the man movie going on and just kind of revel in its subtle cheesiness and amazingly thick, chunky texture.

Soup, preserving relationships and sanity one bowl at a time.

Seriously, though, this is the soup I've been trying to make since I started making soups. It's basically Panera's broccoli-cheddar soup. Burlington now has a Panera, but, given Vermonters' intense dislike of restaurant chains and the fact that I seem to have become a Vermonter, I could never be seen at it. Panera is only allowed on visits to my parents in New York, where the lunch spot is the least chain-y dining option. However, with this recipe, I'm not sure I need to ever go back.

I added cauliflower, because it's my favorite vegetable and I put it in absolutely everything. And I reduced the amount of cheese from the original recipe, because though I love cheddar, this soup is so thick and creamy already that you only need to add a little of it for just the right sharpness.

Happy soup season.

Broccoli-cheddar-cauliflower soup
(serves 4)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 onion, diced
salt
pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk (I used skim)
2 cups soup stock (I used low-sodium vegetable stock)
1 small head of broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-size pieces
4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar, grated

Add 1 tablespoon unsalted butter to a large saucepan on medium-low heat. Once melted, add the onion, a dash of salt and pepper, and sauté until tender and slightly transparent. Scrape onion into a bowl and set aside.

Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter in the saucepan, still on medium-low heat. Add the flour and stir vigorously for 3 to 4 minutes until it's formed a thick paste. Add the milk and soup stock, increasing the heat and stirring constantly until it's reached a gentle simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. The liquids will be starting to visibly thicken.

Add the broccoli, cauliflower and sautéed onion, and stir. Continue to simmer 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the grated cheese and stir. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot.