You don't like your mil's? I like the ones that are nice and chewy. Some use a little bit of flour. Basically they're just almond macaroons with the pine nuts on them. My main criteria is lots of pignoli. Smiles. I don't have my recipe box in here but I did a quick search and this recipe looks about like mind. Do pay attention to when they say you might not need all the egg white. You want the dough to be fairly firm so that they don't flatten out. You can always bake off a couple first to see if you want to add more egg white. I love them. Yum. Here is a link that might be useful: Pignolli Cookies

I had been presuming shakes because of the rural setting and because it's really a very plain Italianate house - basic center-hall style (originally - they remodeled and moved the stair and removed the hall), no bay windows, none of the other fancier elements. But I'm very glad to hear about Downing's advising for metal. I really could see this house with a metal roof, even more so than shakes. His mention of that in his book will enable me to justify it to the folks who will have the final say on renovations being aligned with its historical styling. In fact, if you have the time and the inclination, could you write out the exact reference (only if its a sentence or two) and tell me the title, page number and edition of the book you got that from? If you don't have time, please just tell me the title and I'll dig it up from our library system or have a university reference librarian friend look it up for me, so it's not a problem. I have to submit a proposal for all the work we'd do (we're applying to be resident curators - live there "free" for life, on 10 acres in a state park, for fixing it up which becomes a tax deductable donation). Here's a pic: But then my next question is, what modern metal roofs look similar to the metal roofs of the mid-1800's? And what color would an early Victorian metal roof have been? If anyone has links showing either old roofs or new, I'd appreciate it!!

I havent tried yet but sound Yummy!!! 1 can (8 oz.) almond paste 1 cup butter, softened (no substitutes) 1 cup sugar 4 eggs, separated 2 cups all-purpose flour 6 to 8 drops red food coloring 6 to 8 drops green food coloring 1/4 cup seedless red raspberry jam 1/4 cup apricot jam 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions: Grease the bottoms of three matching 13x9x2 baking pans (or reuse one pan). Line the pans with waxed paper; grease the paper. Place almond paste in a large mixing bowl; break up with a fork. Cream with butter, sugarand egg yolks until light, fluffy and smooth. Stir in flour. In another mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into dough, mixing until thoroughly blended. Divide dough into three portions (about 1-1/3 cups each). Color one portion with red food coloring and one with green; leave the remaining portion uncolored. Spread each portion into the prepared pans. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Invert onto wire racks: remove waxed paper. Place another wire rack on top and turn over. Cool completely. Place green layer on a large piece of plastic wrap. Spread evenly with raspberry jam. Top with uncolored layer and spread with apricot jam. Top with pink layer. Bring plastic wrap over layers. Slide onto a cookie sheet and set a cutting board or heavy, flat pan on top to compress layers. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, melt chocolate in a double boiler. Spread over top layer; allow to harden. With a sharp knife, trim edges. Cut into 1/2-inch strips across the width; then cut each strip into 4-5 pieces. Store in airtight containers.

The crystallized ginger is in addition to the 2 tsp of powdered ginger. I like the "hit" of a bite of ginger, but some of it is really hot. I just nabbed a couple of bits from a bottle of Penzey's and it had nearly no bite at all, so it does vary. If it were very hot, I'd mince it up fine so no one got a big chunk of it. And, if I don't have any crystallized, I leave it out entirely. Grandma never put it in, and the cookies are delicious without it too. Annie