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…Wondering who she is?
Then scroll on down…
We have something called a Chinook here in Calgary… a heavenly respite of warm air that flows up over the Rocky Mountains and spills down onto our city.
Temperatures rise dramatically, snow melts to slush and the air is redolent with “spring”. Everyone rushes outside to stroll through parks and along our Bow River. This is the bridge to Edworthy Park.
There is usually a great arch of clouds spanning across our sky to the west, but gusting winds blew clouds in beautiful, sweeping formations.
And this:
The sun was setting and it was time to go home. I had the night to myself, so I poured out the rest of my husband’s 2005 W.H. Smith Maritime Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma County) (shhhh!).
What better way to top off a most excellent day than to do just a little more Christmas baking…
Well… that was written last Wednesday… today my Chinook poem would have a completely different tone. Wind gusts have reached 120 km, roof tiles, fallen trees and debris are strewn around Calgary. I had to run around the yard to pick up planters and almost got blown away. Glass windows downtown have burst and shards litter the streets. Emergency response has closed our downtown core area.
My daughter is currently snowboarding high up on a mountain top in Sunshine Village… and I’m concerned about the possible road conditions when she drives home. Of course she just tells me to “Calm down”! I trust she’ll be fine… and shall distract my attention with a few of these…
- 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/3 cups golden brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 cup icing sugar
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Coarsely chop chocolate and set in pot over low temperature. Stir until melted. Set aside to cool.
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl.
- Beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
- Beat in the cool, melted chocolate.
- Mix in the flour, alternating with the milk.
- Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
- Scoop by teaspoonful, roll into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball in icing sugar.
- Place 2 inches apart on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets. Make sure the cookie dough balls don't roll around when you put the pans in the oven.
- Bake until slightly flat and the sugar top splits, about 12-15 minutes.
- Cool completely and store in an airtight tin.
- By Whitewater Cooks
Crackle cookies, yay!! Sounds like you have some fun weather adventures at your place. 🙂 Hope your daughter gets home safe!
She just did, thanks!
Looks like a wonderful recipe and I enjoy your photographs!
Thanks, Ruth…
American weather just seems to get more extreme by the year…in the UK we are getting balmy 15 degrees at the end of November – never seen anything like it – I saw wasps today!
Wasps… wow, it really is getting a bit scary the weather we’ve been having! Finger’s crossed it can be reversed…
Great post thanks. I really enjoyed it very much. You have a great blog here. Thanks again for sharing.
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Your pics are great but make me feel chilly! I bet a warm cookie fresh out of the oven changes that! Those look delicious…I’d love to try them and maybe add a little mint extract…yum!
Love it.. mint with chocolate, the cookie is very soft and delicate so it would almost be like an After Eight mint…
Once again, something I am connecting with you on: After Eights! In the last few years we’ve been able to get them in the USA, but not very many places…in other words, places near teh boarder, that’s all. My sister is my After Eight dealer!!!
i can just see you running around your yard chasing runaway loungers! c
Haha, I did… had these metal globes rolling down the street as well..:)
You swept me right up in the Chinook. I felt like I was soaring in that wide arc embracing the sky, picked up from the icy river’s bank, rushed in the Chinook’s speed but neither cold nor harried, and might land smack in the middle of Spring at the other end of the bow.
The photos, also beautiful, took me back to Alberta, all right, but to Edmonton of course, since I’ve spent a lot more time wandering the river valley there and watching the ice break up under the bridges than I have in Calgary yet! However, having been in that neck of the woods, I also know very well about the high winds and how challenging *they* can be! Prefer the Chinooks myself!
Great post. I think I’ll have a cookie now . . . 🙂
I love Edmonton’s river valley best, I think (shhh) it’s so pretty with the hills of green trees on either side.. glad to share a cookie if you were near:)
What beautiful photos. We don’t get scenes like that here in Sydney, especially at this time of year! I do hope your daughter is okay. You just worry about them so much when they’re driving, especially in difficult conditions.
She made it home:) I do worry, she should have taken the ski bus up, I think that’s what we’ll do next time.
Oh my gosh! I’m adding Calgary to my list of places that I must visit someday. Your pictures are just gorgeous! And I love crackle cookies, especially with powdered sugar. 🙂
You’d love it, I’m sure of that:)
I love the beach picture 😀
http://madmalin.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/waaoooww-sasis-m1-di-templokin-di-rc213v/
Thanks… wish it was an ocean’s beach…
Beautiful! Just gorgeous. And not bad scenery either. Kidding, both the cookies and the scenery are great.
🙂 Thanks!
I do so love your photography! Absolutely exquisite! I see from other comments that you daughter has arrived safely.
🙂 Mandy
Yup, she did:) Thanks again..
Beautiful biccies and a lovely poem in one post – aren’t we lucky?!
And now I shall head over to read yours…
I love the cloud pictures..you take such stinning pictures of everything
Looking forward to trying those cookies
They are yummy… just had a few last night:)
Our weather is wondrous, isn’t it? One day you’re out and about, strolling in a park, while the next, you’re chasing down garden gnomes as they tumble across a neighbor’s yard and risking neck & limb doing so. You sure did capture the beauty of the Chinook — and those cookies are pretty fab, too!
Hahaha, love the image of gnome chasing… made my morning! Thanks!
“Calgary” where I know because of the television, we love to watch the winter sports… And now with your beautiful sharings and through your photographs I can make a journey at my desk. The winter is not easy in your country but I know also, everything works well. This is your great modern world. Mothers always being worried about their children 🙂 I am so glad she came back home. Your photographs and your poem fascinated me dear Barbara, you have a wonderful poetical spirit. And finally what a beautiful photograph of these cookies… I fall in love. With the birds… Thank you so much, Blessing and Happiness, with my love, nia
I’m so glad to read that you’ve seen our city on television! It is breathtaking here with all the snow… Yes, we do worry a lot… she’s home and safely tucked in bed:) I have to tell you that you always write such beautiful remarks, Nia, you are the one with the poetic soul! Sending blessings right back! xoxo
This is your beautiful heart dear Barbara, you are so nice, Thank you. Blessing and Happiness, with my love, nia
Oh, my… yes, my heart is displayed on all these pages, isn’t it? For all of you who are reading:)
Lovely poem and photos–they’re all gorgeous. I can’t pick a favorite! I tried, and gave up. I’m sure those crackle cookies were divine. x
The best part… you don’t have to pick a fav… at Christmas we make them all:)
Wonderfully striking photos. The cookies look absolutely melt-in-the-mouth! Sorry to hear about the turn for the worse in the weather. I hope things are settling down now. I loved the poem, it is so beautifully atmospheric. 🙂
They were a really melt-in-your mouth batch. Things are much calmer now, with a true chinook arch in our sky…
My, what a gorgeous and inspirational place you live in! I don’t envy that kind of cold wind, that came through later, though. The cookies look so beautiful with the little chick and so invitingly delicious, too!
I could feel a crispness in the air!! A nice hot coco with those cookies would be absolutely perfect! and those cookies could not displayed any cuter!!!
I love these photos as well, they bring back such awesome memories of that day. It was not too cold, but had just snowed.. stunning and bright shining sunlit days… Perfect with hot chocolate!
Gorgeous opening shots!
Those cookies rocked, as well.
[…] Crackle Top Snowy Mountain Cookies […]
I made this cookies, but the batter was like cake batter rather than cookie dough. What went wrong?
I’m so sorry to read that this didn’t turn out for you, Maureen. I’ve just gone over the recipe and the amounts and ingredients listed are correct. I wonder if the formatting on the recipe made it difficult to see that it is 1 and 1/4 cups flour? and 1 and 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar? Another culprit for me is making sure the butter is just at room temperature. If you try to soften in the microwave and the butter becomes somewhat melted, it can change the texture as well. I hope this helps.. let me know what you think. They should definitely be thick enough to roll.