Mad About Maida

  Granny's Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies  (Source: Maida Heatter's Cookies (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 63 and  Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts  (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982, pg. 303). Another holiday season, another sugar cookie recipe. These cookies are very good with an nice lemon flavor. However, I found the dough hard to work with - very sticky and requires a lot of flour to keep it manageable.  A few years ago, I made the Plain Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies and I recall that the dough was easier to work with. Still, these are quite delicious and they last a long time if kept airtight. 1 3/4 sifted all-purpose flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 4 oz. unsalted butter Finely grated rind of 2 lemons 1 TBS. lemon juice 1 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 2 TBS. whipping cream Cinnamon Sugar 1 TBS. granulated sugar 1/3 tsp. cinnamon Pinch of nutmeg Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Beat the butter until soft....

  Abby Mandel's Boule de Neige (Snowball) (Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 201. For New Year's Day, I wanted to make my favorite type of dessert - something chocolate-y, maybe gooey, rich, decadent. I was about to settle on a cheesecake when I came across this recipe. Jackpot! I don't want to over-do the gushing but oh my word, this thing is divine! This is in Maida's chocolate book and it is attributed to Abby Mandel, a chef and cookbook writer who I was unfamiliar with. She helped found the Green City Market in Chicago and wrote a book in 1982 with Cuisinart recipes that is apparently still well admired, judging by the reviews I was reading.   Speaking of the food processor, Maida gives an aside to this recipe and describes how Mandel put it all together in less than a minute. So I opted to try it Mandel's way and it is indeed very fast and easy. The description here is the Mandel meth...