Why are we fascinated by what the new first lady cooks? Laura Shapiro offered this possible reason in Gourmet magazine: "because we’re always hoping that food will tell us the truth about people who are very good at staying hidden.”
During the inaugural festivities, guests at the two Ritz Carltons in the D.C. area will find Michelle Obama's shortbread cookies in their rooms. The new first lady will not have baked them herself, of course, but the hotel kitchen is using the recipe she submitted to Family Circle's cookie baking contest for the wives of presidential candidates. Michelle attributes the shortbread know-how to her daughter's grandmother. The recipe is adapted here:
Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1-1/2 cups while slightly warm plus 2 Tbsp for topping
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp Amaretto (almond liqueur)
- 1 tsp each orange and lemon zest
- 3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 beaten egg white
- Chopped nuts and/or dried fruit for topping (optional)
Method:
- Preheat your 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 zests. 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 until brown , about 25 minutes, then turn off oven and allow cookies to sit in oven (with door ajar) for 15 minutes. While slightly warm, cut into 2x3-inch cookies.
Michelle Obama's Apple Cobbler
Not too sweet. Flaky crust “like Barack likes it.” Perfect served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Michelle Obama says "I've been making this cobbler for a long time, so I usually just eyeball how much needs to go in. People might want more or less sugar, but this is how our family and friends like it."
This recipe bakes low and slow, guaranteeing your house will smell wonderful all afternoon.
Michelle Obama contributed the recipe to Yankee Magazine, adapted for Suite101 below:
- 8 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced [or a bag of frozen peeled apples]
- 1½ to 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1½ tsps cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup white flour
Filling Method:
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together, cover and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to let the spices permeate the apples.
Crust:
- 3 sheets refrigerated pie crust
- ¾ stick of butter plus ¼ stick melted
Assembly:
- Preheat oven at 325 degrees. Butter and flour the bottom of a large baking dish.
- Roll out three pie crusts as thin as possible. Layer the bottom of the pan with 1-1/2 of the pie crusts and prick a few holes in it.
- Pour the apples with and juice that has accumulated into the pie pan. Dot 3/4 of a stick of butter around the apples.
- Use the final 1-1/2 pie crusts to cover the apple mixture entirely (let the pie crust overlap the pan).
- Pinch the edges of the dough around the sides of the pan so the mixture is completely covered. Prick a few holes in the top to let the steam escape.
- Brush the top of crust all over with melted butter.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Bake at 300 for up to 3 hours -- that's what makes the crust flaky, like Barack likes it. Put the cobbler in the oven and go for a walk, go to the store, or do whatever you have to do around the house. Start looking at the cobbler after two and a half hours so it doesn't burn.
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