11.03.2011 Winter ain’t over til the pleasantly plump birdie sings

I may be itching for sunnier days and the return of hummingbirds, but that doesn’t mean I’m not feeling a twinge of melancholy at the thought of comfy sweaters and leg-covering pants soon being but a memory, if only for a finite while.

Making cookies whose flavors are usually associated with autumn and winter seemed like the thing to do to celebrate/mourn the departing season.

These Spicy Cut-out Cookies are a snap to prepare and about as healthy as cookies can be. I had to add about 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup (I didn’t have barley malt) for the dough to come together, but it was most likely because the flour was cold and stiffening up the liquids.

This up here was pre-baking, obviously. They puff up just a bit but really don’t spread much, which means it’ll just take two trips into the oven to bake the whole batch.

The recipe says to roll the dough out to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick, but … 1/2-inch thick, really? I stuck to about 1/4 inch, and a baking time of 15 minutes was just right.

Mission accomplished: the mood is now officially lifted. Now I should probably plan ahead and prepare some nectar shots for the arrival of the aforementioned feathered and hovering friends.