I spoke to my agent on Monday. Okay, I feel totally pretentious saying that, but I am no high roller. She wants me to revise my novel, Pandora’s Secret Cookbook, in which a woman inherits a bakery from her maternal grandmother, whom she’s never met. Although they all said flattering things, the editors apparently were a bit confused about the timeline. I tell the story in three different points of view, which I guess led to confusion. So now I have the arduous task of removing these other points of view, which requires me to make huge cuts of work that I like very much. I know it’ll make the book better, but it’s just so difficult.
As I sit here chopping chapters like some sort of literary butcher, I leave you with this recipe I include in the book. In the meantime, I may be eating lots of these cookies (and other sweets) as I spend the next month or so doing lots of rewrites AND taking care of my toddler AND cooking dinner AND celebrating holidays AND finding time to sleep. I think I’ll need a permanent dose of caffeine in my system.
Koulourakia (butter cookies)
You can make these cookies into different shapes: rings, twists, or spiral shapes. Because the cookies are small and the strips of dough are fun to work with, children (i.e. toddler S) can join in and make their own shapes.
Ingredients
1 cup of unsalted butter, softened (1/2 pound or 2 sticks)
1 cup of sugar
3 eggs
1 rounded teaspoon of grated orange peel
1 tablespoon of baking powder
4 cups of all-purpose flour
Make the cookies
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder with a whisk.
In another bowl, cream the butter and add sugar gradually. Beat the eggs until light and add to the butter-sugar mixture, beating well. Add the flour and baking powder mixture slowly, blending to make a soft and malleable dough.
To shape each cookie, pull off a piece of dough the size of a walnut and roll it out by hand into a rope about 4-6 inches long. Form a circle (or any shape you like) with it, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving some distance between the cookies. Brush the tops lightly with beaten egg and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on racks. Makes a few dozen.
I’ve seen so much of your blog over this months but i never said Thank You! you’ve been quite an inspiration for me.