The Foodie Film Festival continues. Today we go retro, with a film noir classic from my archives. In this short film, a band of would-be holiday merry makers hit the town in search of the legendary haunts of old Hollywood. But Hollywood is not the place it once was. Our little group of misfits soon find that the food and nightlife of the tinsel town of their dreams no longer exists, so they must rely on their own skills in the kitchen if they hope to recreate the tasty treats of a bygone time.
In keeping with that theme, I also have a recipe from that era. They are a little cookie known at that time as Dandies. They are from the menu of The Brown Derby restaurant. It’s a melt in your mouth cookie. It’s not too sweet and was typically served with ice cream back during the Golden Age of Cinema.
By today’s standards, it’s a rather plain little cookie. Delicious, but simple in every regard. Still, it’s easy to imagine the likes of Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth or Gary Copper dropping into the Derby on Hollywood Boulevard to enjoy these slightly sweet, but very buttery little cookies as they glammed it up after a hard day at the studio.
So please join me and my own brand of movie stars in a night on the town in Old Hollywood. Roll film… and action!
- 1 lb powdered sugar
- 1 1⁄2 lb butter
- 1 T vanilla extract
- 1 pn salt
- 1 3⁄4 c flour (half soft and half cake)
- 1 pt cream
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Cream the sugar and butter together in an electric stand mixer until light and fluffy. Turn the speed to low and add the flour and cream alternately in 3 additions each. Turn the mixer to high and beat for about 30 seconds. Speed is essential in this operation.
Fill a pastry bag equipped with a #5 star tip with some of the batter. Pipe it onto a parchment-lined sheets into 2‑inch mounds set about 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies for 20 minutes in the oven rotating the pans half way through.
Remove the tray from the oven. Let the cookies cool somewhat then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
I love that top photo so much! I can’t believe as a Latinophile, I have never cooked with tomatillos. For some reason I thought they seemed like a lot of work to peel. You’ve inspired me now. The pics look very raita-like and I like!
I love that fresh sour taste of the tomatillo and I can only think how refreshing this soup is. Must rush to the Mexican market and get me some tomatillos. Thank you and Martha for the inspiration.
Toot Toooooooot! This looks like a perfect soup for these hot, sweltering days in The Burg. Yummerz.
I like the idea of the cool flavors of this refreshing chilled soup! It almost makes it not feel like 100 out there. Great colors too.
I have been tempted by the tomatillos at Food City to make a salsa verde but I might have to make this first instead. Thanks for the pointers on how to pick them out, I probably would have shied from the sticky ones.
I love the term ‘default’ dish! And as it is, I love default dishes…lol.. This salsa turned soup looks absolutely delicious and very refreshing!
Tomatillo soup…why not? People do tomato soup all the time. Think it would be great to serve with toasted tortilla chips. Olé!
I suppose you’d expect that from someone coming over from the Burp! blog 😉
But seriously — I think one of the best things about cooking is developing the ability to really SEE new things about food. It’s where the creativity starts happening. Brain cells start dancing. And magic is made.
Love the idea of this tomatillo soup. Also love that I can make it a little on the spicier side, cuz the yogurt will tone things down a bit on the way down. Growing a pretty healthy batch of tomatillos this year… and now I know why.
it looks beautiful, great summery recipe! Great way to use tomatillos in something other than salsa.
Yup, tomatillos are wonderful and this cold soup with them as the shining star is perfect for these lazy dog daze of summer!
Bon appetit!
=:~)
this is so wonderful and merci pour le message sur my blog !!! Des desserts comme ça je peux t’en faire plein si tu veux !! Pierre
Oui, garder les desserts à venir ! GREG
Great soup for the summer!
I must admit that I’ve never given chilled soups much of a chance but I really like all the fresh flavors you’ve incorporated here. You had me at tomatillos, cilantro and lime.
Good ahead, keep tooting. You have the goods to back it up! 🙂
The color is so inviting and I love anything with yogurt! This is a wonderful summer soup!
What a beautiful soup! Perfect for all this hot weather we’ve been having
Greg, go right on ahead & toot your own horn. This soup looks great. I have never used Tomatillos in my cooking but I do love their flavor. Love that the base of this soup is yogurt. Perfect for summer!! xo
Unfortunately, I can’t get tomatillos near me (I’ve already tried) — closest I can find is a tomatillo salsa in a jar, which is not quite the same thing. I can see that I will have to travel if I want to taste this soup — best have a pot ready in case I call 🙂
Ah! my mouth started watering thinking how tangy good that must be!!
When I saw that spoon, I just wanted to pick it up and start right in on that luscious green stuff in the glass. I love creamy, garlicky, tomatillo soups.
This looks so good! I’ve always been intrigued by chilled soups, but have never seen once that looked good to me… this has all of my favorite flavors (heck, i could eat pretty much any salsa by the spoon full)
It’s so nice seeing a chilled soup that’s done so creatively. With these ingredients, I bet the flavors are magical. Another wonderful post!