EYE-POPPING TREATS
Wash these down with icewine
Marit Hovland’s stunning Bakeland is more art book than recipe book. These recipes mirror nature in ways that stagger the imagination, evoking the colours and magical geometry of the natural world. Subtitled Nordic Treats Inspired by Nature, Bakeland dramatically shortens the psychological distance between the living world and the plate.
MINT-GLAZED HAZELNUT COOKIES
■ 1 ½ cups (250 g) hazelnuts
■ 1 ⅔ cups (200 g) icing sugar
■ 1 tbsp (15 mL) all-purpose flour
■ 1 egg white
■ 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice
■ 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Grind hazelnuts using a nut grinder. In a bowl, combine ground hazelnuts with icing sugar and flour. Add egg white and lemon juice. Work dough well with your hands until ingredients are combined.
2. Dust some icing sugar on your pastry board and roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is approximately ¼ inch (7 mm) thick. Use two magazines on either side of the dough so that the rolling pin rolls on them. That way, the dough will be the same thickness all the way across. Cut dough into 2-inch (5 cm) squares, or use cookie cutters. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
MINT GLAZE
■ 1 egg white
■ 2 tsp (10 mL) lemon juice
■ 1 ⅔ cups (200 g) icing sugar
■ 2-3 drops peppermint oil
■ blue liquid gel food colouring
1. In a bowl, stir together egg white, lemon juice, and icing sugar. Add peppermint oil to taste. Transfer to a piping bag. Mix a few drops of food colouring with a little water.
2. Apply glaze to cooled cookies. Let glaze dry for a couple of hours before you make the clouds. Cut a new, clean kitchen sponge into small pieces. (Make sure to use a natural sponge, not an antibacterial one.) Dip sponge in food colouring mixture. Press it a couple of times on a piece of paper to get rid of some of the liquid in the sponge before you apply it to the cookies. Gently press sponge on cookies. You can also drag the sponge across the glaze to make stripes.
Makes: 18 cookies