Picture Perfect Pride and Prejudice Wedding Cookies!

**this post contains spoilers**

Cook Rating: ★★★★★      Book Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Hi friends! I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings filled with delicious (gluten-free) foods and hopefully some time off to read! I was extremely lucky to be able to consume SO MUCH GF FOOD on Thanksgiving, however, I didn't have much time to read... there's always Christmas break! 

For this week's blog post, I decided to shake things up a bit. Before this week, all of the books that I selected for my posts are my favorites. For the very first time on Let's Cook GF and Book AF, I am going to be giving a not-so-great review about a book that is definitely not one of my favorites. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a classic novel about love, heartbreak, gorgeous green estates, and snobby rich people. Elizabeth Bennett, the protagonist, is headstrong and opposes what most women her age are attracted to-- good money and good looks. During the time in which this novel is set, early 19th century England, it was common for daughters to be married at a ridiculously young age (compared to the average age people get married nowadays at least). Despite her mother's wishes, Elizabeth has no interest in locking herself down to a well-funded man who has little respect for her. However, that's what she ends up doing. William Darcy, a cunning and disrespectful man who everyone (besides me) for some reason seems to love, is the man that Elizabeth ends up with. The two have the classic "will they/won't they" relationship; just when you think that they're going to cave to one another, one of them (usually Darcy) fucks it up. This is one of the issues I have with this book-- he was so rude to her throughout the entire story and then all of a sudden he treats her kindly and she just accepts his marriage proposal?! Seems out of character to me.

I am also not the biggest fan of this kind of literature to begin with, because I think that the language is hard to read, convoluted, and just boring. In my opinion, the story can definitely be told in half the amount of pages than what it is printed on. From the beginning to the end of the story, I felt like nothing happened. 

I am going to stop roasting this book and start talking about a happier topic--cookies! Unlike the book, these wedding cookies that I made were absolutely divine. They were simply melt-in-your-mouth delicious! They connect with Pride and Prejudice because they are cookies traditionally made for weddings, which goes with the romantic theme of the book. Also, they are perfect for a 19th century tea time because they are bite-sized and look super elegant. This recipe is a family recipe, I got it from my grandma! She always makes them using crescent cookie cutters for Christmas every year. 

Here's the recipe! 

Pride and Prejudice Wedding Cookies (Grandma's recipe!) (makes about 24 1.5 inch diameter cookies)

Ingredients 

1/2 cup melted butter
1/8 cup sugar
1 cup GF flour (I use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Flour)
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Confectioner's sugar

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2) If not already ground, grind almonds down to almost a powder. (PSA this is REALLY hard when you have a roommate napping in the other room... I ended up taking the blender into the hallway LOL).

3) Mix butter, sugar, flour, almonds, and vanilla.

4) On a cutting board, lay out a little flour so that your dough won't stick. Then, lay out the dough so it is about an inch thick.

5) Start cutting your cookies! I actually used a cap from a Vitamin Water bottle :).

6) On a greased baking sheet, lay out cookies and put in the oven for 28-30 minutes.

7) Once done, allow cookies to cool for 10 minutes and then carefully roll in confectioner's sugar       (please be careful, these cookies are delicate AF!)

8) Wait another 10 minutes and roll in confectioner's sugar again. 

I can almost guarantee you that you will enjoy these cookies more than the book! That's all for now!

Your GFF,

Mary 💖

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” 
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice