Cookie recipe #5 - Maronistangerln

Ingredients:
200 gr chestnut paste
150gr white flour
100 gr butter or margarine
100 gr sugar
2 eggs
2 eggyolks
1 tablespoon of rum
2 gr vanilla-favoured sugar

How to make it:
- Stir softened butter with the chetsnut paste, the sugar and the vanilla-favoured sugar and the rum a great deal;
- Add eggs and eggyolks and stir some more;
- Add flour and stir again until it's really smooth;
- Fill the dough into a cookie press and make S-shaped cookies on the baking paper;
- Bake them in a pre-heated oven for cca minutes;
- Take them from the baking tin and let them cool;
- Keep it in a tin box and sprinkle them with icing sugar before serving.

Yields about 50 cookies.

Cookie recipe #6 - Wiener Stangerln

Ingredients:
230 gr white flour
150 gr butter or margarine
50 gr sugar
1 egg
1 eggyolk
the ground peel of 1/2 lemon
2 gr vanilla-favoured sugar
1 pinch of salt
chocolate icing for the decoration

How to make it:
- Pre-heat the oven at 180°C
- Stir softened butter with the sugar, the vanilla-favoured sugar, the salt and the ground lemon peel a lot;
- Add the egg, the eggyolk and finally the flour and stir some more;
- Fill the dough into the cookie press and make finger-long cookies. Work fast, or else the dough will harden.
- Bake them for 13 minutes, until they get a light golden colour.
- Take them from the tin, let them cool.
- When cold, dip one end into chocolate icing and let it harden.

Yields about 25-30 cookies.

Cookie recipe #7 - "Demel" stars

Ingredients:
220 gr white flour
180 gr butter or margarine
110 gr sugar
1 egg
70 gr ground almonds
sugar-preserved cherries for the decoration

For the icing:
200 gr icing sugar
4 tablespoons of rum
1 tablespoon of vanilla-flavoured sugar
(personally, I always make them without the icing - not so sweet that way - but that's a matter of taste)

How to make it:
- Pre-heat the oven at 190°C
- Stir softened butter with the sugar a lot;
- Add the egg, the almonds and finally the flour and stir some more;
- Fill the dough into the cookie press and make small stars onto the baking paper.
- Decorate each cookie with half a cherry.
- Bake them for 10 minutes, until they get a light golden colour.
- Take them from the tin, let them cool.

For the icing, stur the ingredients until you get a thick liquid and smear it over the stars.

Yields about 50 cookies.

Cadfael The Series - Impressions #1

Yesterday, I got my Christmas prezzie from the wonderful lissas_elves: the complete "Cadfael" tv-series. Greedy-gut as I am, I've already watched the first episodes last night. My impressions so far:

1) Casting
- Sir Derek Jacobi makes an excellent job (and I particularly like the inverview with him, in which he complains about the close friendship between Cadfael and Hugh coming too short and the loss of Hugh's marriage with Aline and his entire family life, with which I whole-heartedly agree), but as much as I'm trying, I just can't see him as Cadfael. The visuals are so very different from the description given in the book, and generally, he's way too refined for the part, IMO. For comparison, here is my Cadfael:



- Contrary to my expectations, I liked Sean Pertwee as Hugh Beringar. The colouring is all wrong, of course (what is this with TV and movie people preferring blonds while the character is clearly given as black-haired anyway?) but I love his sarcasm that's spot-on.

- The characters in "The Sanctuary Sparrow" were... strange at least. I couldn't for my life understand while Daniel Aurifaber would have been considered such a desirable young man by all, had I not read the books. The women were generally very well-chosen, especially Susanna and Margery; Rannilt I'd have imagined a lot thinner and with much darker hair, but she was okay. Liliwin wasn't bad - the type fit, although he looked a lot older than I'd have imagined from the book. Baldwin Peche was great, and so was the daft boy working for him. I'd have imagined John Boneth a lot younger and perhaps taller and better-looking, but I can live with the casting choice.

- Interestingly enough, I find Brother Jerome way too young; Prior Robert isn't bad, but he hasn't had too much to do so far. I mourn the loss of Brother Mark - it seems they go with Brother Oswin all the way. Understandable, as there are too many characters as it is, but still, Mark was the best of Cadfael's sidekicks, ever. Abbot Heribert is cute - I wonder if they bring in Radulfus eventually or stick with him.

- Gilbert Prestcote was, visually, a grab into the toilet. Will Warden is very different from the book description, too, but I like the look. What is it with me and men with long hair, I wonder? Adam Courcelle mysteriously mutated from a reddish-haired, handsome guy to a dark villain - clichéd much? I liked Aline's looks, too bad that she was only in the first episode.

2) Plot choices
All in all, I had no objections in these two episodes. I liked how they showed things that were only mentioned in the books; it made the whole thing a lot more active and lively, which, I guess, is important in a visual medium. My absolute favourite was the fact that they actually made John Boneth fall in love with Susanna Aurifaber - something I've done in "Sparrows", without knowing that they'd already done it in the series. The subtext must have been very suggestive, I suppose.

3) Sets
Liked Cadfael's hut, but was a bit disappointed that we haven't got to see much of the abbey, so far. All was saw was the dark church (no visible details) with only the faces of the monks as they sing the hores. I so hope for gorgeous shots about a gothic cathedral, but so far, no such luck. And all the outside scenes seem to take place in the same barn - which they probably do, for budget reasons. I understand that, but it's still a bit disappointing.

All in all, I love the series so far. I already dread the episode in which Sean Pertwee will be replaced, but who knows, I might like his successor, too. Even if he does look like a big fat Viking.