Calling All Cookies

I have a theory that in order to be First Lady you have to have a cookie recipe.

Martha Washington had a cookie recipe: jumbals. (Jumbals have fallen out of fashion but they're a little like a pretzel made out of biscuit dough.)

Mary Lincoln had a cookie recipe: gingerbread men, which is exactly what you would expect, if you were "writing a cookie recipe" for Mary Lincoln.

Jackie Kennedy didn't exactly have a cookie recipe, she had a peanut brittle recipe (and, also, quite a good recipe for creme brulee) but she was Jackie Kennedy and it was the '60s and if you wanted a cookie really badly, peanut brittle might do the trick.

Pat Nixon did not have a cookie recipe. She had a brownie recipe and further to my theory, he had to resign.

Nancy Reagan had a cookie recipe: coconut macaroons.

Laura Bush has a cookie recipe: Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies and she also has a copyright on her cookie recipe so, we'll say no more about that, since, as we know, the Bush's don't really like to share.

Hillary Clinton has a famous chocolate chip cookie recipe which is now being published all over the web as Bill and Hillary Clinton's chocolate chip cookie recipe because Bill gets it. And Bill knows he has to have a cookie recipe.

Tipper Gore had a cookie recipe: ginger snaps. And we all know she really was First Lady for a minute there.

Which brings us to Cindy McCain. I know, easy shot, but Cindy McCain does not have a cookie recipe. She had a passion fruit mousse recipe which wasn't really hers, it was really someone else's (either Giada De Laurentiis or Rachel Ray, I'm not sure which one) and it has since been redacted.

And then, there's Michelle Obama who doesn't have a cookie recipe either. She has an apple cobbler recipe. But she's Michelle Obama and it's the new millenium and maybe apple cobbler is just what everyone had in mind.

This was first posted on April 22nd. Fast forward to June when Family Circle asked both First Lady Candidates for a cookie recipe and Cindy McCain (who can't keep her hand out of the cookie jar) claimed a Hershey's recipe as her own. And Michelle Obama, who definitely has First Lady stripes, put forth her own.

Michelle Obama's Shortbread Recipe

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Amaretto (almond liqueur)
1 teaspoon each orange and lemon zest
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg white
Chopped nuts or dried fruit (optional)

Heat oven to 325°F. Line a 17 x 12 x 1-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. In large bowl, cream together butter and 1-1/2 cups of the sugar.

Slowly add egg yolks, and beat well until smooth. Beat in Amaretto and zest.

Stir in flour and salt until combined.

Spread dough evenly into prepared pan, flattening as smoothly as possible.

Brush top of dough with egg white; sprinkle with nuts or fruit (if using) and with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake at 325°F for 25 minutes or until brown, turn off oven and allow cookies to sit in oven (with door ajar) for 15 minutes. Cut while slightly warm.

Please send us your favorite cookie recipe.

Comments

[jesdakota]

The Sundance Sisters have a Rhubarb Crunch recipe (a bunch of totally famous bloggers who're gonna meet up at Sundance this fall). Our core vision is the economy and trade (hence the sisterhood), when we're not totally devoted to our husbands.

If you compile the recipes you mentioned in your post, I will let you into our circle, 4 members so far, and we're expecting to use the whole alphabet. We've got A, C, H, and J if we go by first names. Or C, D, G, and N if we go by blog-o-nyms. Hmm, you're an A. Okay, we'll go by blog-o-nyms, it's decided...and it's not just cuz you're related to Nora. We don't work it like that (unless it benefits us financially). So, when you get a spare min, come say 'hi' (if you can find us).

And I'm only saying any of this because the words "calling all artists" have been bouncing around in my brain for days. I think I may have a scrapbook sticker with just your name on it.

[violettefemme]

I like Michelle Obama, but I find her "shortbread" recipe atrocious! Genuine shortbread has only 3 ingredients: butter, sugar, and flour. And is extremely low in sugar, at that. As a pastry chef I found that this simplest of all recipes was often the most asked for:

2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled, in mixer bowl

Sift 2 cups All Purpose flour over the butter. I really like Gold Medal's "Harvest King" flour.

Sift 1/2 cup rice flour into the bowl.

Add 1/2 cup superfine/bakers sugar (note: this is not confectioners sugar, it's a finer form of granulated). If you only have regular granulated, that's fine too.

Add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt---it has to be kosher for the large flakes.

Turn the mixer on low and let it tumble til you have a weird, flour- mixture that is NOT a dough, it's a still loose mix.

Dump into an ungreased 9 x 9 pan, lightly shake to evenly distribute, and lightly pat so it's even.

Sprinkle with large sugar crystals on top, and put into a 325 oven for about 30 minutes.

You want its color to merely "suggest" golden when you take it out.

I prick with fork right out of the oven, and leave alone for an hour---you cannot touch it as it will not set and be cuttable or touchable for about an hour.

Cut into squares and try not to eat the entire pan in one day. I get 36 squares.

[Pacific231]

If Cindy hires Rachel Ray to create a cookie receipe for her, does that mean Cindy is....a.....TERRORIST???!!!!

[Melissa]

Is this 2008? Who cares about cookies?

[NWReader]

Philistine! ;-)

[Pacific231]

Cindy just called. She wanted to share a receipe for a sandwich she came up with completely on her own:

CINDY McCAIN'S PATENTED PERFECT SANDWICH (tm) WHICH SHE MADE UP ALL BY HERSELF

2 slices of bread (white preferred, naturally)
Creamy peanut butter
Grape jelly.

* Spread one slice of bread with peanut butter (***IMPORTANT*** - Spread on ONE SIDE of bread only.)
* Spread other slice of bread with jelly (***IMPORTANT*** - Spread on ONE SIDE of bread only.)
* Place slices of bread together, taking VERY special care to MAKE SURE THE SIDES OF BREAD WITH PEANUT BUTTER OR JELLY are together.
* Cut in half (NOTE: This is optional.)
* Serve.

The grandkids just love 'em but John can't eat one without a bowl of prunes at the ready.

Man, that Cindy is just a whiz in the kitchen! What'll she think up next ....? ;-)

[alguien]

i think you forgot to add the ground up painkillers.

[kirkland]

HMMM! No *suprise* here....the Cowboy Cookie recipie is NOT original to Laura Bush nor is it *hers*.
It has been passed down in my family for 6 generations and was introduced originally in a class for young women at Miss Porters School, Farmington, Ct. UGH! THE BUSHES! UGH!

[dahpunkster]

I am gonna go look for Jackie Kennedy's Creme brulee recipe online , That is one thing I have never made but would at least TRY (and I stress the word try)to make.

[Amy Ephron - Huffpost Blogger]

You can find her recipe on One for the Table at the following link:

http://www.oneforthetable.com/oftt/desserts-/jacqueline-kennedys-creme-brulee-2.html

Let us know how it turns out!

Amy

[jeskiley]

Oh, did I not give you my address?

[dahpunkster]

Rainy Day Cookies
1 cup flour
1 and half teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick of melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 vanilla extract
1/2 butter scotch chips 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans pieces
1.Preheat oven to 350 and line two 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil
2.Combine flour, sugars, melted butter ,salt ,baking powder, until smooth , dump into a big mixing bowl and add nuts and chocolate,butterscotch chips.
3.Using a tablespoon, drop cookie batter onto cookie sheets and place baking sheet in oven (one baking sheet at a time!!!!) for 12 - 14 minutes. Let cool and eat. Serve with milk and enjoy.

[grevillea]

Amaretto? How elitist! She should have substituted Southern Comfort, to connect with the hard working white voters.

[JudeWaves]

Well, Michelle attributed her shortbread recipe to her children's godmother, but that's close enough. If I was called upon to give a recipe, I'd probably go for the Snickerdoodle recipe that's been passed down five generations ... and I'd guess it looks like everybody else's great-grandma's recipe so there's not much distinction there. This whole cookie issue is apparently fraught with peril -- and anachronistic, to boot, i.e., the men fight over their war stance, the wives fight over their cooking cred.

I can't warm to the Cindy issue, though, given her lifestyle -- two recipes lifted at will from popular sources is a bit much. If she's worth her First-Lady-ness, she should understand this is her chance for a knock-out punch with the Stepford set, and, with her money, hire an original to be written in her name.

[Lysistrata30]

That's what I was thinking too. What is all that wealth for anyway if not to lock some low paid intern in the kitchen until she comes out with something the Queen of the Castle can be proud of. Cindy is a poor excuse for a member of the plutocracy.