Bolachas de Natal # Christmas cookies

Receita ligeiramente adaptada do livro “At home with Magnolia”


Ingredientes: 36 bolachas com 1,25 cm de altura (usando cortador com + ou – 6 cm de diâmetro)
400 g farinha
230 g de manteiga amolecida
200 g de açúcar
2 gemas (à temperatura ambiente)
1 colher de chá de fermento em pó
1/2 colher de chá de sal fino

Ganache:
50 g de chocolate preto e barra
50 ml de nata

Cobertura:
2 colheres de sopa de açúcar em pó
1 colher de sopa de nata

Nozes, amêndoa ou avelâs trituradas para decorar
Açúcar em pó para polvilhar

Preparação:
*Peneire a farinha com o fermento e o sal, para uma taça e reserve.
*Bata o açúcar com a manteiga durante 2 a 3 minutos até ficar com uma mistura pálida e bem ligada.
*Junte as gemas e bata novamente até ligar.
*Por fim junte a mistura de farinha, em 3 partes.
*Divida a massa em 3 partes com forma de disco, embrulhe em película e leve ao frio por 30 minutos.
* Estenda os discos 1 a 1 numa superfície bem enfarinhada e corte com os cortadores de bolacha que mais gostar (eu usei estrelas de vários tamanhos e pinheiros). É claro que a quantidade vai depender do tipo de cortador que usar e da grossura com que vai cortar as bolachas.
*Volte a amassar os cortes da massa até toda ela acabar.
*Pré-aqueça o forno a 190º, marca 5 do fogão a gás.
*Coloque as bolachas em tabuleiros forrados com papel vegetal e leve ao frio por 15 minutos (eu coloquei-as na arca congeladora por 5 minutos).
*Leve ao forno por 9 a 10 minutos, até ganharem um pouco de cor. Elas saem do forno um pouco moles mas ao arrefecerem, endurecem e só nessa altura é que deve tirá-las do papel vegetal e colocá-las numa rede até ficarem à temperatura ambiente.
*Faça o ganache juntando o chocolate e a nata numa caçarola em banho maria ao lume, até derreter. Mexa bem para ficar macio e brilhante. Deixe arrefecer até ficar ligeiramente consistente.
*Faça a cobertura (para os pinheiros), juntando os ingredientes e levando-os ao lume, mexendo para dissolver.
*Para montar as árvores feitas de estrelas, coloquei um pouco de ganache no meio da bolacha maior e fui colocando as outras menores 1 a 1, sempre ligadas com um pouco de ganache até à mais pequena.No fim polvilhei-as com açúcar em pó.
*Já os pinheiros foram pincelados com a cobertura e depois polvilhados com nozes trituradas.

In english

Yesterday was published my interview at galeria portuguesa. Just over one month Margarida Teixeira invited me to join galeria portuguesa, a project that was then still under preparation and aims to be a space for portuguese artists. An irrefutable invitation which made me quite happy.
Galeria portuguesa has also a Facebook page that you can visit.

Usually happens in mid-December. I don´t know if it is the Christmas calling, or the cold weather outside that makes my body want to cuddle, or even if it is so because that´s just the way it is. But this time of year is when i seek the shelfs for the Christmas books and CDs. Movies i´m never tired of seeing, year in, year out. And the heat of the oven, that in any other time of year has the same appeal.

At the top of the books stack that “decorate” my bedside table is “The taste of country cooking“, marked with a red ribbon in the chapter dedicated to Christmas. And just below, there´s “Like water for chocolate”, marked with a dry oak leaf as from other Christmases, in the chapter “Hot chocolate and king cake” that i read and reread into the night.

I make wreaths with the, now naked, westeria branches and the ivy from the garden and decorate the house with moss, colored leaves, and other small things that nature gives without asking for anything in return, that i bring with me from the places i go. As for the holly, there´s no better place for it to be than the garden, where it is much better than in any arrangment inside the house. The blackbirds think so too, for they love to peck the red berries.

The Christmas tree is ready and crammed with lights. Some want them colourful and some want them simply white, so this tear to please everyone, instead of a Christmas tree we have a spotlight decorating the leaving room. On the other hand, my female dog fell in love with a furry badger that was hanging from a branch of the C. tree. She kidnapped him and the once handsome and owner of a plentiful and soft fur badger, is now living an impossible love, that has cost him half his fur at the expense of so much licking and biting. And there´s yet the sacred family to put together! Thank god there´s no fur involved in it.

And so, between perfection and chaos, i´m creating my Christmas.

If you were to enter my house in these days, you would feel the sweet smell of hot chocolate, a cake baking in the oven or freshly baked christmas cookies… These are simple. They don´t have colorful icings or sprinkles, only walnuts and icing sugar but they are delicious and very easy to make. And with so many things going on, easy and simple are now two of my favorite words. There´s only one drawback, even without fur, they can´t escape the “romantic” harassment of my dog, that only doesn´t eat the Christmas tree lights because the glass is indigestible. For the rest, “everything that comes to the net is fish”…

Recipe slightly adapted from “At home with Magnolia”

Ingredients: 36 cookies (if you cut them with 1/4 inches thickness, using a 2, 1/2 inch cutter)
400 g flour
230 g soft butter
200 g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks

Ganache:
50 g good quality dark chocolate, broke into pieces
50 ml single cream

Icing:
2 tbs icing sugar
1 tbs single cream

Walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts (crushed) for the topping
Icing sugar for dusting

Preparation:
*In a bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Reserve.
*Beat the sugar and butter for 2 to 3 minutes until creamy. Add egg  yolks and mix to combine.
* Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts and mix to combine.
*Divide the dough into 3 flat discs, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
* Roll 1 disc at a time in a floured surface and cut the cookies (i used different sized star cutters and a pine tree cutter) to a 1/4-inch thickness.
*Preheat the oven to 190º, gas mark 5.
*Place the cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place the sheets in the refrigerator for 15 minutes (i put them in the freezer for 5 minutes).
*Bake the cookies for 9 to 10 minutes until slightly golden on the edges. They will be soft but don´t worry the cooling process will make them crunchy.
*Leave the cookies in the sheets until warm and hard and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completly.
*Combine the ingredients for the ganache in a saucepan and melt in bain marie. Once melted, mix until smooth and shiny. Let it cool and gain a bit of consistency.
*Combine the ingredients for the icing in a small saucepan and take to the heat, mixing until sugar has dissolved.
* To make the star trees i topped the cookies 1 by 1, from the biggest to the smallest, using the ganache to attach them.
*I brushed the pine trees with the icing and then sprinkled them with the crushed nuts.

Os adereços que se vão acumulando no estúdio
Props and more props at my studio.

Luz. Rio Douro, Gaia e Porto à noite.
Light. Douro river, Gaia and Porto by night