I have a friend who just moved to France, and I’d like to send him a care package. What kind of homemade cookies travel best? I’d be sending the package by mail (obviously), and I’m not sure how long it will take to get there. I have a cookbook with recipes from World War II that includes a section on baking cookies to send to GIs, so I could use one of those recipes. Any Doper input?
Biscotti! or any twice-baked things, like mandelbrot. The crispier they are, the better they’ll survive.
When I was studying in Madrid, my mom tried to send me Toll House cookies, by boat; by the time they arrived in Madrid, they had the texture of hockey pucks!
What’s mandelbrot?
We could explain “mandelbrot,” but it’s only fractally interesting.
[d&r]
I was going to say in response to the OP, “whatever type of cookies you’re least likely to toss if you get carsick,” or, alternatively, “if they’re really good cookies, they won’t be going far, anyway”.
[rimshot]
Mandelbrot are basically Jewish biscotti (mandelbrot = “almond bread” in Yiddish). If I remember, I’ll post a recipe when I get home. They’re yummy!
Rice Krispie treats travel like a tasty, tasty dream. I also highly recommend making and shipping a popcorn cake, packed in popcorn:
4 qt Popped corn
Pop corn and stir in as much candy as you like: M&Ms, candy corn, Good ‘n’ Plenty, Boston Baked Beans, Jelly Bellies, Reeses Pieces, gum drops, butterscotch and/or cinnamon hard candy (broken), gummi bears, you name it. Mix a bunch of different kinds in there.
Caramel sauce:
1/2 c Butter
1 c Brown sugar
1/4 c Corn syrup
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Vanilla
In a saucepan, melt butter, and stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to boil without stirring for about 5 minutes (240 degrees F). Remove from heat, and add baking soda and vanilla, stirring until foamy.
Pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn/candy mixture and stir quickly and well. Pack it all into a buttered bundt pan, Jello mold, or any shaped pan that strikes your fancy.
When the popcorn cake has cooled and hardened, pop it out of the pan. Pack it in popped popcorn when you ship it.
From The World of Jewish Cooking by Gil Marks, p. 323 (I was going to send my Aunt Joan’s recipe, but I can’t find it right now). I love this book! It’s saved me from many a kugel emergency. Mods, I hope one recipe from a nearly 400-page book will not violate fair use; if you disagree, my apologies:
Mandelbrot (Ashkenazic almond bread)
Makes about 42 slices
Mandelbrot (Yiddish for “almond bread”), called kamishbrot in the Ukraine, is a favorite Ashkenazic cookie derived from the Italian biscotti (Italian for “twice baked) alla mandorala and the Turkish paximadia. The pastry is sliced in logs or in a loaf ban, hence its name. The loaves are sliced while still warm and the cookie slices are usually baked a second time, a step that lengthens their shelf life, making it perfect for unexpected Sabbath company.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil or melted vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ to 1 cup coarsely chopped lightly toasted almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts
½ to 1 cup raisins (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a large baking sheet.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together the sugar and the oil or shortening. Blend in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla, the almond extract or cinnamon, and then the flour mixture. Stir in the nuts, and if desired, raisins.
- Using floured hands, form the dough into two loaves about 10 inches long, ¾ inch high, and 3 inches wide, smoothing the tops. Place the loaves on the prepared sheet, leaving 3 inches between them.
- Bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the warm loaves diagonally into ½-inch-thick slices. Place the slices, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake, turning once, until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes per side. (The slices harden as they cool.) Store in an airtight container.
Hint: Mandel crumbs are customarily used to sprinkle in sweet strudels.
Try to send something fairly sturdy. Very thin cookies like pitselli(sp? the Italian waffle cookies), tend not to travel all that well, whereas thicker cookies break less.
The popcorn cake sounds amazing! I wish someone had sent me one when I was at school. [sulk]
Thick ginger cookies travel pretty well.
Hey burundi,
The only way to find out is through empirical research. Send a dozen each of the following and I’ll let you know.
White Chocolate Chip
Oatmeal Rasin
Biscotti (almond and anise)
Penut Butter
And what the hey, a couple o’ Krispie treats too.
Always happy to help.
You can send almost any cookie. However, the more brittle ones have less flexibility to travel. Brownies are great. The key is in the wrapping. Use a very sturdy container (big coffee cans are great!) and make sure you wedge either the cookies or wads of waxed paper tightly into the can. What you want to avoid is movement. Breakage occurs when the container RATTLES.
Best cookie to send: ANY THING. The fact that you care enough to think of your friend and want to send a homemade goodie is the very best part. Even if everything gets smashed to smithereens, the care and love in the package will arrive unharmed.
~VOW
Thanks, all! Eva Luna, the mandelbrot sounds divine. That might work well. The popcprn cake sounds yummy, too, Beadalin. I don’t know if I’ll send it in the care package, but it would work great for a Halloween party.
Oreos
Specifically, I would say that peanut butter cookies or snickerdoodles have the best track record overall, with just a few crumbs. Along with having no major chunks of whatever that could comprimise structural integrity, they just seem to be the perfect consistency: flexible enough to withstand a few bumps, and stiff enough to let you know you’re eating a Cookie. (Although I eat straight cookie dough on occasion, so I’m rather divided on that subject.)