Orange-Ginger Biscuits

I found these cookies over at Esurientes. They are from Bill Granger's cookbook, Bill's Open Kitchen - a book I've been wanting to get for a while, but I haven't quite got around to it yet. Anyway. I couldn't wait to try these out, so I didn't. I wanted to bake for the cat show I was at last weekend, I usually like to bring something for my friends. And especially this time, since we were going to have a meeting. These cookies sounded perfect - and they were. For once, I'm going to give you the translated recipe, in Swedish, for all those who tried the cookies and wanted to know what was in them. All the rest of you can head over to Niki's blog and find the original recipe. I followed it more or less exactly - adding a bit more orange (The very outer peel of two oranges) and three tablespoons of brandy right away.

I had major problems with the roll-out though. I didn't have time to roll it out straight away so I stuck it in the fridge, figuring that this would just make it easier. No. Not so. Not at all. And when I finally got it rolled out, I thought it was boring to just cut out rectangles (besides, my cutting skills seriously suck) so I got out my heart shaped cookie cutter. And ended up with vaguely heart-shaped blobs. These cookies spread and they do NOT hold their shape very well! I finally found that what worked the best for me was to shape the dough into a rectangular log, and slice. Perfect! And thankfully, I had a lot of dough with which to experiment, because this recipe makes a truckload of cookies. I got over 100.

I'm very glad I got that many, because they are incredibly tasty. Everyone loved them, and even my mom who usually is not so much into cookies had two right away. I will definitely be making these again - definitely for christmas, but they're good any time of the year.

Smarriga kakor med apelsin, kardemumma och konjak

Fr�n Bill's Open Kitchen, Bill Granger
Drygt 100 sm� kakor

375 g mj�l
2 tsk bakpulver
1 msk malen ingef�ra
1 tsk malen muskot
1 tsk malen kardemumma
250 g sm�r, rumstemperatur
345 g farinsocker
3 msk konjak
finrivet apelsinskal fr�n 1-2 apelsiner, bara det allra yttersta

1 �ggvita
extra str�socker

S�tt ugnen p� 180 grader. Blanda mj�l, bakpulver, ingef�ra, muskot och kardemumma i en sk�l. Vispa sm�r och socker fluffigt. Tills�tt konjak och apelsinskalet, blanda ordentligt. Blanda ner mj�lblandningen. Nu �r det enklaste att forma degen till en l�ng fyrkantig "rulle", ca 3-4 cm h�g, och sen sk�ra i skivor om ca 5 mm. L�gg p� en pl�t, och t�nk p� att de flyter ut litegrann s� l�mna avst�nd. Pensla med uppvispad �ggvita och str� �ver socker. Gr�dda i 9-10 minuter beroende p� hur tunna de �r - men gr�dda inte f�r l�nge, d� blir de h�rda och trista.

P� bilden har jag, som ni ser, kavlat ut degen och tagit ut hj�rtan. Det var inte helt l�tt. De flyter allts� ut en del, s� l�mna i s� fall GOTT om avst�nd.