Titanic Cookies - Weekend Cooking

When you hear "Titanic Cookies," does it make you think of really big cookies? If so, there are a bunch of cool pictures of Titanic Cookies at Sweet Paul Mag - follow the link :) But, if Titanic Cookies make you think of cookies that were eaten during the Titanic (ship) era, then stay tuned!

This post was written as part of Weekend Cooking over at bethfishreads.com. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to head over to Beth Fish Reads, grab the button, and link up anytime over the weekend.  (The button is on your right...)

As you may recall, in my last exciting Weekend Cooking update, I had gotten a book called "Movie Menus," and I was going to use it to find something era-appropriate for the kids and I to munch on while watching "Titanic."

I ended up going with 'Queen Victoria's Cherry-Almond Cookies.' Here is the recipe and the information and fun movie quotes that are also on the page with the recipe! The photos are of me following along.

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"I am Queen Victoria, and I am very big in England."
Peter Sellers, The Great McConagall, 1974.

Queen Victoria had a passion for cherries. Charles Francatelli, her chef, invented these buttery, light cherry cookies, as well as cherries jubilee to celebrate the queen's diamond jubilee in 1897. The dough for these delicious cookies keeps for several days in the fridge, so these are a great make-ahead treat.

1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 Tablespoons (stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup very finely chopped almonds
pinch of salt
confectioners' sugar


1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. (Libby's note - later in the recipe they are going to tell you to refrigerate the dough for at least half an hour, so it is really too early to start preheating.)

2. Grind the cherries and granulated sugar in the food processor until the cherries are finely chopped. (Libby's note - Just for fun, I decided not to use equipment that they would not have had on the Titanic. So, I did everything by hand.)

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the cherry-sugar mixture and blend until well-combined. turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap and shape into a log about 3/4 inches in diameter. Roll it on the counter to smooth the edges. Chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.

4. When ready to bake, slice the dough into 1/3 inch slices and place 1 inch apart on a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before removing.

5. Arrange on a serving platter and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Now, for the $64,000 question...did we like them? Well, that evening, they were good, but not spectacular. But, for some reason, the next day they were really, REALLY good. Like a cross between high-quality shortbread and pecan sandies. Does anyone know why? Normally baked goods do not improve with age...to say the least.

By the way, I just launched my first(!) meme/challenge thing! It is called the 2012 Book Pilgrimage. You can read more about it on the actual post, but basically I am putting this up because people are planning summer vacations now, and I thought it would be great that if people either went to literary destinations OR read books based in cities/countries to which they were traveling, it would be fun to link all our Book Pilgrimages together! The post explains that this does not require extensive or exotic travel - unless you were already planning to do that!