Forgive Me Librarian, For I Have Sifted
Aug 24th, 2008 by Marilyn
At the library the other day, Josie and I browsed and then made our way to the counter, where Greg was checking out. But when we got there, he wasn’t done yet; both he and the library clerk were listening to a tiny machine crank out a yellow tape – ph-chtt-ph-chtt-ph-chtt. Greg looked at us.
“Fines.”
“Not us! It’s yours.”
“Oh? We’ll see.”
…ph-chtt-ph-chtt-ph-chtt…
The three of us watched the tape go up, up and over like a gymnast, finally hitting the counter in a dramatic heap.
…ph-chtt…ph-chtt…PH…chtt.
The clerk tore off the tape and all three of us grabbed for it – Josie actually jumped for it. The clerk looked startled.
(goodbye crazy family – yeah we’re, um, closing now. Right now.)
Greg held the tape high above his head, saying in his most embarrassing dad voice, “now we will JUST SEE what we have here.”
One glance and Josie was elated – eleven dollars, some me and mostly him. It wasn’t her – no Nancy Drew under the bed, no Judy Blume behind the seats. “Ha!”
Greg produced the money – “it’s our donation to the library” – took the new books, and we left. On the way out, Josie loudly recited the shameful yellow list. Satisfied that she was least at fault, she gave it back, asking “Isn’t there some kind of day where you bring the books back and they, you know, forgive you?”
Ah yes. We all know Library Fine Amnesty Day, right? That’s the day you sheepishly put the books on the counter and say thank you, I really enjoyed The Thorn Birds…as a matter of fact, I’ve been enjoying it since 1981. Thanks!
But I have a book that I can’t bring back. One that I checked out of the culinary school library in 1993 – maybe no naming the school just now – and it just…stayed. I was exploring international cookies that semester, and liked their spritz recipe. I liked it so much that I baked those cookies….about 2,000 times.
I meant to bring it back, I did, and could have copied the recipe, I know – but that folded-down corner, buttery and torn, marks so many days in the kitchen. A lot of back page crumbs.
Forgive me, Miss Culinarian Librarian, but they piped so beautifully, browned so golden and melted on the tongue. Blame it on the spritz.
Now I know I’m not alone in my tasty wrong-doing — what’s overdue on your shelves?
Spritskakor (Butter Spritz Cookies)
from The International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1988)
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose or unbleached white flour
optional: 1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds
decorations: pecans, chocolate sprinkles, crystallized ginger, coconut, etc.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease several baking sheets with baker’s spray (or line with parchment paper) and set aside.
Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed until very light. Add the sugar and egg yolk and beat until very fluffy and smooth. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts (and ground almonds, if using). Gradually beat in flour until thoroughly incorporated but not overmixed.
Fit a pastry bag with a large (about 3/8″ diameter) star tip. You may also use a cookie press fitted with a star or other tip.
If using a pastry bag: stand the bag, tip down, in a tall glass and turn down a deep cuff at the top. Spoon the dough into it until the bag is no more than two-thirds full. Unfold the cuff and tightly twist the bag closed at the top. Pipe 1 1/4-inch diameter rosettes onto a baking sheet, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Press any decorations – pecans, coconut, candied cherry halves, etc – into the center of each cookie, if desired.
Place in the center of the oven and bake the cookies for 7 to 10 minutes, or until slightly browned at the edges. Remove baking sheets from the oven and let cookies stand for 2-3 minutes. Then transfer them to wire racks and let stand until cooled completely.
Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Freeze for longer storage.
Make 50-60 1 3/4″ rosette cookies (fewer if using a large, open tip or press)
———
My notes: After making these, literally, some 2,000+ times in every shape and size imaginable, I’d like to offer a few pointers.
Mixing: Beat the butter until the color changes, until it’s nearly white and whipped so soft it makes a slap-slap sound against the bowl. After adding the flour, continue to mix and combine until it is very soft and smooth – don’t worry too much about “overmixing.” Better over than under, because you need a smooth dough that will pipe cookies without breaking your hand.
Ingredients: I never use the ground almonds – I believe the smoother all-butter version pipes better shapes. About the almond extract – a tiny amount can be very strong. If you’re one of those people who think almond extract tastes like cough syrup, leave it out.
Piping: I can’t stress enough how much more beautiful these cookies are when piped with a pastry bag, but a cookie press is also nice. If you do pipe with a bag, experiment with large rosettes, star shapes, s-shapes and horseshoes.
Decorations: There are two ways to go here, pre-bake decoration and post-bake decoration. Pre-bake might mean flaked coconut or chocolate sprinkles, or pressing crystallized ginger, pecan halves or candied cherries into centers. Post-bake includes sifting powdered sugar, drizzling simple glazes or dipping cookie ends in chocolate.
The best cookie trays have a little of both – but you know what? If you’ve no time or inclination for fuss, these cookies are absolutely perfect with nothing at all. That is the true meaning of the words all-butter – all good.
Introduction to Old Norse by E.V. Gordon. It was a textbook from my last semester of grad school, and I simply forgot to return it. Apparently, though, all the late notices went to my by-then defunct student email account, so this December I got a lost-book notice in the mail (good old USPS) saying I owed KU $80 ($20 for making them look, $60 for the book itself).
Now, the paperback version at the bookstore had been priced at $74 when I was supposed to buy the thing, and couldn’t, because $74 for a paperback is expensive, YO.
I’d intended to buy it eventually, but never got around to it.
So, all things considered, I’m thinking $80 for the hardback library-bound version isn’t so bad. And it’s not like the text has been revised since at least the early seventies, so it’s not like I’m missing any crucial new information on an ancient language (ha!).
I’ll eventually pay the fine. Eventually.
Desserts cookbook from high school. I have no idea why they never caught up with me. Now I feel like I am on the lam, running from the law!
And What? no recipe for the best spritz you have ever made? Spritz are my favorite cookie!
Did I miss the melt-in-your-mouth Spritz cookie recipe somewhere? I want. I want!
you rebel, you! i personally have never cheated any system or done anything wrong. ever.
yeah…based on the look of those cookies, i’d say it was worth risking massive fines, humiliation, or perhaps arrest.
i don’t currently have any overdue books, but thanks to your daughter, i will be heading to the library to find those darn twilight books.
oh for shame! what an example you set for your impressionable daughter…tsk tsk tsk…
umm, oh wait…i just noticed something that I “borrowed” from a restaurant…
Jo: I’m just saying, it’s a good thing you moved.
Teresa: recipe posted. And what is it about dessert books?
Mama Bear: welcome! Recipe up for enjoyment.
Grace: oh yeah, I’m a rebel. What’s next – unpaid parking tickets?
Susan: report back after you read them. Then I’ll know what she’s been up to.
Jean: get out of my head, you! I started this post as stolen-restaurant-object confessional and it ended up here. There might be a few cups and menus and creamers at my house. That I borrowed. Maybe.
LOL!
I once packed all my library books (about 30 of them) into a box before we moved.
I discovered them a few months later. . .
$100 FINE!
I wish I could say that was the last fine I ever paid.
It’s possible — hypothetical, let’s say — that in the stack of belongings that is still at my parents home, there is a book about “Star Trek.” That was borrowed from the Augusta (KS) Public Library.
In 1983.
I’m not saying this is what happened. I am just saying that I can imagine a world in which it is true.
The Joy of Sex–although they never fined me for it. My friend Cathy H. and I stole it from the public library where the librarian kept it behind her desk. I think we were ten. I’m not sure, but I think Cathy still has it.
Ha! I don’t even go to the library. What’s the point? I know if I like the book it’s not going to make it back and if I didn’t like the book I’d drag even more to return it! I’m constantly downloading coupons for all the major bookstores and a Platinum member of a couple of bookclubs. Love http://thegoodcook.com!
Laughing! I can’t imagine that if I ever went through the boxes of books I’ve carried from one house to the other, from college days and beyond, that there wouldn’t be a runaway library book or two in there somewhere.
Rosa: welcome, and nice confession – $100 is a big-time fine!
Joel: I am totally ratting you out in Augusta. You know they probably have those internets by now, right?
Joanne: Joy of Sex at ten! Good times.
Ingrid: I always forget to download those coupons. Welcome, and thanks for the tip.
Lydia: I know. When we moved we had some 40 boxes of books, and frankly, some of them are on the lam.
Marilyn: I don’t know; I still don’t have a copy of that degree I earned, because the whole having-a-book-out thing put a hold on my account. They won’t let me have it until I pay up. (Although, to be fair, I’m not going to need that piece of paper anytime soon, either. Not for anything more than decoration, anyway. Not like you have to show the certificate to apply for a job.)
as a trained lie-bury-an i must say dear lady i am appalled by this post! appalled! i am contacting the american library association’s equivalent of the fbi RIGHT NOW.
Jo: yow! I can’t believe it came to that. Well, you’ve got bigger (much bigger!) fish to fry right now.
Boy: you’re not the boss of me, priggy little archivist man! I am totally outing your secret identity. And mentioning everything you ever “borrowed,” too.
Hmmmmmmm. Let’s just say of all of the people in my household, I am the least likely to have a fine at the library. One of the others in my household, I have a little control over (and she keeps her library receipt on the frig so I can remind her when they are due) so I’m pretty sure she doesn’t either. The other one in our household…………would be the one. Maybe I better start looking thru our thousands of books and make sure they are actually ours!
Marilyn,
I will visit you and Greg in jail. Better yet, Josie can come to stay with us until I get the cash together to come and post your bail …….
did you read this? http://www.neatorama.com/2008/08/22/woman-arrested-because-of-overdue-library-books/
I LOVE Spritz cookies, also love almond flavor so when I make them I use approx 1/4 tsp LorAnn almond oil (VERY STRONG). My mother’s recipe:
Hit the wrong button. My mother’s recipe:
1 c butter
2/3 c granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
2-1/2 c flour
400° for 7-10 min no geease or parchment on heavy aluminum cookie sheets
Profiles in Courage. Isn’t that awful? But I just couldn’t part with it. And buying a shiny new one (was it in print at the time? I’m not sure) would not have helped as the folded corners and worn pages and traces of those who read it before me were so much a part of the read for me. I was young, don’t judge me. : )
Pam: I saw that woman-gets-arrested-story! You can bring me and Greg some scones in jail…with a mini-saw in them.
Kathy: thanks for sharing the recipe.
Pumpkin Petunia: welcome! Profiles in Courage is certainly worth the risk. And please! No judgment here.
Wow wow wow, this came at the perfect time! I’m looking for a cookie recipe to be hand carried over from Singapore to my Thai counterpart! Brilliant! Thanks. I’m loving it!