Adventures in Culinary Deviations
Oct. 8th, 2010 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So, a while back I got the idea in my little brain that I wanted to try and see what absinthe cookies came out like. Earlier this week, I found out that there is going to be a game in the house on Saturday night called "Green Fairy" and set in more or less Victorian era France. Well, if that's not morally required to have absinthe cookies, I don't know what is, and so I determined that today was going to be the day.
Dragging out the means with which to make sugar cookies, the experiment began. Halfway through, I realized that I'm probably going to be haunted by the angsty ghosts of Baudelaire and Poe for this, so I decided that I should at least also have a glass of absinthe while I was waiting for the dough to chill enough to roll out... (I aimed for the "traditional" method, though without the absinthe spoon I had to improvise...the ghosts are probably screaming...but I still had the little spoon with the sugar cube and the cold water drip going on.) If nothing else, it made the adventure a little more amusing for me.

Many, many cookies were baked and frosted with a lovely sugar icing (which is what contains the absinthe... 3 cups confectioner's sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 4 Tbs. absinthe, 2 Tbs. water to form a nice, spreadable icing), then sprinkled with green sugar to complete the effect.

For a grand total of approximately 4 dozen cookies, some to go to the game, some to be mailed to Florida (damned if I know how I'm going to manage that one!), and some to be brought to a friend's tomorrow night for sampling and hanging out.

Definitely an entertaining experiment. There's a light, spicy, anise flavor to them, but not overpoweringly so, due to the dilution of the sugar and a little water. Artistically speaking, it was a lot of fun to be working with something with such an intriguing history (and explaining to a friend about it over IM), amusing myself with thoughts of hauntings by insane poets and painters, philosophical debates by the fire while sipping absinthe and nibbling on sugar cookies, that sort of thing.
I hope folks like them, because baking these was a lot of fun on several levels, and I'd love to visit this idea again. :)
Dragging out the means with which to make sugar cookies, the experiment began. Halfway through, I realized that I'm probably going to be haunted by the angsty ghosts of Baudelaire and Poe for this, so I decided that I should at least also have a glass of absinthe while I was waiting for the dough to chill enough to roll out... (I aimed for the "traditional" method, though without the absinthe spoon I had to improvise...the ghosts are probably screaming...but I still had the little spoon with the sugar cube and the cold water drip going on.) If nothing else, it made the adventure a little more amusing for me.
Many, many cookies were baked and frosted with a lovely sugar icing (which is what contains the absinthe... 3 cups confectioner's sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 4 Tbs. absinthe, 2 Tbs. water to form a nice, spreadable icing), then sprinkled with green sugar to complete the effect.
For a grand total of approximately 4 dozen cookies, some to go to the game, some to be mailed to Florida (damned if I know how I'm going to manage that one!), and some to be brought to a friend's tomorrow night for sampling and hanging out.
Definitely an entertaining experiment. There's a light, spicy, anise flavor to them, but not overpoweringly so, due to the dilution of the sugar and a little water. Artistically speaking, it was a lot of fun to be working with something with such an intriguing history (and explaining to a friend about it over IM), amusing myself with thoughts of hauntings by insane poets and painters, philosophical debates by the fire while sipping absinthe and nibbling on sugar cookies, that sort of thing.
I hope folks like them, because baking these was a lot of fun on several levels, and I'd love to visit this idea again. :)
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