Ubuntu Cookies

I saw this post and decided that the world needs more Ubuntu cookies.

I actually wrote a very long and detailed post about how I made these, *but* through some freak accident, I selected all my text, opened the context menu, and selected 'insert dummy lorem ipsum'. Firefox+Blogger wouldn't let me undo, so, you get the abridged version now.

I started out by mixing up the dough using the recipe provided by Joseph Hall. It turned out the consistency of frosting... I've made sugar cookies before, and the dough was more like soft play-dough, I added 3/4 cup more flour but it didn't help. Before I chilled the dough, I added the food coloring that way the dye could be dispersed evenly.

I'm doing the whole thing with a minimum of special tools, just my hands, parchment paper, four and a large cutting board (and something round I still have to find ).



Since the dough was so soft, it was a lot easier to roll the logs, then place them on the parchment paper, then flatten them. Otherwise they kept breaking apart as I moved them.

The main thing I didn't care for in Joseph Hall's version of these cookies was the mid-section, it was too big in proportion to the rest of the pieces compared to the actual logo. So, I made sure to make mine smaller, although I hope it's not too small.



I started at 8:00pm, it's now 10:20pm - time to roll out the piece-between-the-head-and-arms. After they freeze, it'll be time to assemble the whole thing.



I accidentally tried to add the impressions for the head into the main section .. oops.

10:40pm, If you ever do anything like this, make sure to measure the circumference of your center log and figure out how wide to make the wrapper. (hmm, I should probably do that for the outer wrapper) I got it right on the third try. Luckily the dough was stiff enough for me to unroll it when I got it wrong. I have a little yellow left, but the other pieces were all the right length.

11:15pm, I took the pieces for between the head and arms out and let them thaw while I added the indentations to the main log. I started by using a dry erase marker, but ended up using my thumbs. The dividing piece was hard to stick on because of all the flour I had used - but I don't think I could have rolled out the dough without the flour, so perhaps some water would have helped stick the pieces all together. I just hope the final product doesn't fall apart when I cut it.

Adding the heads was easy, even though they kept snapping. I kept the whole thing rolled up in parchment paper to hold it together while it freezes up again.



I can see that the final wrapping piece will need to be wider, so I'm thawing it out while I type this.

11:30pm, all finished! Now I understand the large center piece! it would have been much easier, but I think I'd still rather have the logo be the right proportions. I'll let it freeze for an hour, then cook a few and see how they worked out.



12:30pm, the dough was pretty solid, so I cut off four inches from the "bad end" where all the ends weren't the same size, sliced them and stuck them in the oven. The biggest problem was that the various sections didn't want to stick together. Part of the reason they won't stick together is because they were all frozen pieces, and there wasn't any soft dough to stick too. My solution is to set a piece of the log out so it can all thaw, then solidify it again.



12:45pm, BLAST! the cookies spread! (a lot) I think there was either something very wrong with the recipe, or there's something very wrong with one of my ingredients.



I'll have to try this again with a recipe of dough I know doesn't spread.