Twelve Days of Cookies Archives - Page 9 of 10

Finding Dorie (Vanilla Polka Dot Cookies)

By threejamigos | November 25, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

Rock and rollers, Tom Cruise, that Bieber Kid, they all have their groupies. I am a Dorie groupie. Yep, not ashamed to admit it. Dorie is the bomb. Are you wondering-who? Not that hilarious little blue fish in Finding Nemo? No. “You mean Ellen DeGeneres who voices that cute little fish?” Nope. I am a fan of Dorie, Dorie Greenspan-cookbook author, dessert queen, cookie connoisseur and baker extraordinaire.

The Real Deal

I recently drove up to the City to see her at Omnivore Books, one of many tour stops (how does she do it?) for her newest book, Dories Cookies. A hefty compendium of deliciousness that, yes, is all about the cookie. Her recipe for Jammers, a buttery sable’ topped with jam and streusel alone makes it worth getting. I don’t know Dorie on a personal level, but she is gracious, humorous and generous-one of the nicest souls you’ll meet. This comes across when meeting her in person and in her writing.

All this, and her cookbooks are REALLY, REALLY good. The recipes are well written, easy to follow, and the results are YUMMY. Before heading to the book signing I spent an agonizing few minutes trying to pick which book of hers I wanted her to sign (I literally have all of them). I went with the first Dorie book I ever bought, Paris Sweets. It contains her iconic recipe for Korova Cookies, aka World Peace Cookies and has the loveliest illustrations.

As I waited in line, I talked to Dorie’s husband Michael. Wouldn’t you know it, he is just as nice! The list of recipes I have tried from Dorie’s books grows ever longer and this newest book will definitely add to it. Right about now is when I start looking in earnest for cookie recipes for the holidays. I opened the book and bam, Vanilla Polka Dot Cookies caught my eye. The cookie starts with a buttery, vanilla laden dough made with egg whites. The dough smelled so delicious, I had to stop myself from dipping my finger in the bowl and popping a swirl of dough in my mouth.

The dough comes together quickly and can be used for this recipe immediately. Scoop, roll and dip. Place the balls on a lined baking sheet press to flatten and bake. How easy is that?

The dough does not spread so press the cookies to desired thickness. I wanted a flatter thinner cookie, a smaller cookie, approximately 2.5 inches in diameter. I used a tablespoon ice cream scoop to portion the dough. The cookies took only 14 minutes to bake, well short of the suggested 20-22 minutes. My cookies were much smaller which accounts for the shorter baking time. Watch the cookies carefully when baking, they brown very quickly. All in all these fit the bill for a crispy, buttery festive cookie perfect for the holidays. I brought them to Thanksgiving dinner and the kids gobbled (get it?) them up.

The recipe for these cookies can be found here along with her recipe for World Peace Cookies, courtesy of the Star Telegram. If you are a Dorie fan like me, take a photo of any of Dorie’s cookies you make from her book, post it on Twitter or Instagram, and tag it with #Doriescookies and @Cookies4Kids. This will automatically trigger a 5 dollar donation to pediatric cancer research, woohoo! Thanks and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

Happy New Year! Champagne Shortbread

By threejamigos | December 31, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

New Year’s Eve! I have never been one to celebrate New Year’s Eve on a big scale. Every year we talk about going into the City, watching the countdown and toasting in the New Year with the throngs..and yet we ultimately find ourselves staying home, watching a favorite movie and falling asleep! We manage to toast in the new year with a glass of bubbly and something yummy to nosh on, but that’s about it. Since I have one more cookie for my 12 Days of Cookie bucket list, why not a festive cookie to bring in the New Year and to complete the list? The aha moment, let’s make shortbread. It goes well with champagne and you can dress them up easily. I had been eyeing a recipe from Christina Tosi of Momofuku fame so here was my opportunity to try it. A quick jaunt over to Sur La Table for cookie cutters in the shape of a champagne flute and a bottle and for sprinkles, I’m good to go. On the return home I popped in the movie The Holiday (put it in your Netflix queue now, its worth it just for the score by Hans Zimmer and Eli Wallach’s performance) and settled in to bake and bring in the New Year.

This is a simple shortbread made with just four ingredients, butter, flour, brown sugar, and salt. That’s it! The cookie is the perfect foil for the icing which is made with sparkling wine. I added a tiny pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla to round out the sweetness of the icing. The cookie is elevated to a festive bite with the Rose’ icing and sugar sprinkles). The icing’s a hint of pink and grown-up flavor courtesy of the Rose’. I generally don’t decorate cookies (you might have noticed) but if not on New Year’s Eve, when else? I realize my New Year’s resolution should be to practice decorating cookies well before next New Year’s Eve!

Now that I have a beautiful platter of festive cookies the least I could do is share them. So breaking with our usual tradition of a movie and falling asleep, we are headed to our friends Lisa and Mike’s house, cookies in hand plus the rest of the bottle of bubbly, to ring in the New Year!

Christina Tosi’s Cut-out cookies with Champagne Glaze can also be found on Leite’s Culinaria. Another great site for cooking tips and recipes!

Happy New Year everyone here’s to 2016!

A song to bring in the new year. Here Comes the Sun as performed by James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma

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Champagne Shortbread Christina Tosi

Ingredients

CHAMPAGNE GLAZED SUGAR COOKIES RECIPE

Quick Glance 45 M 2 H
Makes about 2 dozen

For the cut-out cookies

2 sticks 8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for the work surface
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Champagne glaze

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup Champagne brut or rosé, plus more as needed
Sprinkles

Instructions

Cut-out cookies
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, until well incorporated.
Add 2 1/4 cups flour and the salt and mix on low speed until well incorporated, about 1 minute. Flatten the dough into 2 evenly shaped disks or pancakes. Wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. (Don’t skip the chilling. It’s essential for the dough to be workable.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator, dust on both sides with a sprinkling of flour (about 1/4 cup total) and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness with a rolling pin.
Cut the dough into your desired cookie shapes—I used Champagne flutes and bottles
Carefully transfer them to the baking sheet. (Lightly flour an offset spatula to make cookies easy to transfer from the counter to the baking sheet before baking.) The colder the dough, the easier it is to cut and transfer to the baking sheet, so work quickly. Repeat with the remaining disk of dough.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges. Let cool to room temperature. (You can freeze the cooled, undecorated cookies for up to 1 month.)
Make the Champagne glaze
Dump the confectioners’ sugar in a largish bowl and slowly whisk in the Champagne. If the glaze seems too stiff, add a little more Champagne, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved. Whisk in the food coloring, if using.
Frost the cooled cookies with the Champagne glaze and, if desired, bring on the sprinkles.
You can store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge for up to several days or in the freezer for up to several weeks.
You can make and bake the undecorated cookies ahead of time and store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month. Let the cookies thaw completely and then slather with the Champagne glaze.

Its a Dog’s Life

By threejamigos | December 28, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

I was so confident I would plow through my Holiday Cookie List. After all, I usually make a ton of holiday cookies. But blogging about each recipe threw me for a loop..that and 20+ people for Christmas dinner! But I am doggedly determined to complete my 12 days of Cookies even though Christmas has passed. Finding myself in the doghouse for not completing my list made me think of Sammy which of course made me think of dog biscuits. I found a really easy recipe on a favorite site, Use Real Butter. Urb was one of the first blogs I started following and has definitely served as inspiration for my blog. Absolutely gorgeous photos, great recipes and entertaining writing, it has it all. A bonus of the blog are posts about their beautiful dogs, first Kaweah and now Neva both black labs. If I were a dog I would want my family to be Jen and Jeremy, well, after us of course.

These treats contain pumpkin, peanut butter, whole wheat flour and eggs thats it. Simple, just four ingredients. Your mixer does all the work. The dough is easy to roll out and cut. Pop them in the oven and 20-30 minutes later you have treats for your favorite four legged friend. Some dogs have allergies and this recipe does have wheat flour-just a heads up. Various followers on Use Real Butter have used oat flour or rice flour with success.
Sammy, being part lab gobbles up almost everything we give him, these were no exception! We baked them for 30 minutes for a nice crunchy biscuit. Baking them less would yield a soft chewy biscuit that lasts approximately 3-5 days. The drier version will last a bit longer.

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Pumpkin Peanut Butter Treats

Ingredients

From Use Real Butter

2 1/2 cups whole Wheat flour
2 eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
3 Tablespoons peanut butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place ingredients in mixer bowl, blend on low speed until dough comes together and forms clumps. Remove from mixer and knead until it comes together. Add a little more flour if it seems too sticky.
Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on parchment or a silpat 20-30 minutes. 20 minutes will yield a soft chewy cookie while 30 minutes will a drier crunchy cookie. Store soft cookies in refrigerator or freezer. Drier cookies can be left out overnight to insure dryness and then stored in a container.

A Cool Minty Riff for #10 on the Holiday Cookie List

By threejamigos | December 24, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

Only 2 more cookies after this post for my holiday cookie list and COINCIDENTALLY there’s only 2 more days until Christmas. Yikes, I’m cutting it pretty close!

When I’m in a grocery or cookware store I feel like a kid in a candy store. I go bonkers. It’s really not my fault, there is just too much STUFF out there to entice me. Take chocolate chips, for example. Back in the day you had semi-sweet chocolate chips and that was it. Now the chocolate chip universe has expanded to include milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and bittersweet. They come mini, midi and maxi size, in chunks or bits. It’s easily a 15 minute decision in the supermarket just picking chocolate chips! And to make matters worse there are peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, and EVEN candy bars that come in chips. The other day I found Andes Creme de Menthe Chips (the holy grail for mint and chocolate lovers), and it would have taken a stronger person than I to walk out without a bag…..or two.

And so, I give you Cookie number 10, The Andes Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie, right off the back the bag! The dough is fairly soft and the cookies will spread quite a bit if not chilled before baking. I used a tablespoon ice cream scoop to make cookies approximately 2.5 inches in diameter. Bake the cookies on a Silpat to minimize spreading. Baking time was around 9-10 minutes.

And a song to listen to while you’re baking these minty morsels, 12 Days of Christmas as sung by The Disney Princesses!

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Andes Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

Andes Crème de Menthe Chunk Cookies
Servings: 4 Dozen
Preheat oven to 350
• 1/2 cup salted butter softened
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 package 10 oz Andes® Creme de Menthe Baking Chips
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Blend butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and eggs until mixed.
Stir in baking chips or chopped candy and then flour.
Chill at least one hour in refrigerator.
Measure out approximately 1 ounce of dough.
Raise oven rack one level above middle and baking on non-stick cookie sheets.
Bake at 350-degrees for approximately 8-10 minutes.
Cool on pans for two minutes before removing.

Bam! Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints

By threejamigos | December 22, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

The kids are home! These cookies disappeared crazy fast (which makes me happy). Who doesn’t like a buttery, crumbly, tender shortbread-like cookie with a hint of citrus and filled with sweet, tart jam? Bah humbug if that’s you!

Here is Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas to launch this post!

Bam, I LOVE Jam

I have a weakness for toast with butter and jam, PBJs and day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry jam. Ok, so I’m cheating, it’s cranberry sauce but if it’s between slices of bread it’s jam to me. My first-holiday cookie post highlighted Dorie Greenspan’s Jammers. While they are worth the effort, there are times when you just need to bust out a batch of yummy cookies. These thumbprint cookies fit the bill. The recipe comes from Food Network, Emeril’s Holiday cookies. Yes, THAT Emeril, BAM! Delicious cookie. The original recipe calls for raspberry jam surrounded by a tender buttery cookie kicked up with lemon zest and juice. Like many recipes, this one lends itself well to “alterations”. I used orange zest and juice. I’m sure just about any citrus juice and zest will work. Dancing in my head? Not sugarplums but visions of thumbprints made with lime + strawberry jam and lemon + blueberry jam . Let me know if you come up with a winning combination. Use your “jamagination”.

Jest Jammin’

The original recipe mixes liqueur with the jam, I skipped this step. But a Chambord or Framboise would work well. Just stir the liqueur, 1 tablespoon, into the jam before filling the cookies. Chill the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour before forming cookies. Form the cookies, place them on a cookie sheet, and chill again for approximately 10 minutes so that the sheets are cold and the dough is firm. This helps the cookie from spreading too much. I used a 1-ounce ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. I might make them a little smaller for holiday gift-giving. The cookies did not need the full 20 minutes of baking time. Start checking at 13-15 minutes. They will brown quickly.

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Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints

Bam! Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints adapted from Emeril!

Course cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Almond Cookies, emeril, jam, thumbprints

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 8

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Dry Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

2 sticks 1 cup butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest feel free to substitute orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Jam Finish

1/2 cup raspberry jam or jam of choice, anything works

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with parchment or silpat sheets
In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients, whisk to blend.
Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Add the flour mixture in 2 additions and beat just until moist clumps form.
Gather the dough together into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.
Chill for 30 min-1 hour until dough firms up.
Pinch off the dough to form 1-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Use your floured index finger or 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon press center of each ball making a depression. I use the end of a wooden spoon.
Fill each indentation with about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam mixture.
Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Almond Cookies: Homage to Mrs. F

By threejamigos | December 20, 2015 | Comments 2 comments

My brother-in-law’s mother passed away unexpectedly a few days ago. Through the years we would see her at family functions and exchange pleasantries. Every Christmas we were the lucky recipients of one of her signature pink cake boxes filled with a variety of delicious homemade holiday cookies. We all had our favorites. Me, I loved her almond cookies. They were just like the ones in the windows of Chinatown bakeries, crumbly, full of almond flavor and finished with an almond pressed into the center.

Unfortunately I do not have her recipe but I do have one by Belinda Leong of B patisserie in San Francisco. Bursting with almond flavor and buttery goodness this is an amazingly delicious cookie that for me pays tribute to Mrs. F. Baking these lovely morsels conjures up the image of her pink boxes stacked on the holiday table. Most of all it reminds me of her warm smile and her kind and generous spirit. She will be missed.

Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace)/Auld Lang Syne performed by Yo- Yo Ma and Chris Botti

The recipe for these wonderful almond cookies is from Andrea Nguyen’s blog post Viet World Kitchen. The recipe was first published in the book Chef’s Table by Carolyn Jung. There were some glitches in the recipe and luckily food people are of the most generous spirit. No sooner had I emailed Ms. Nguyen she responded answering all my questions and updating her website. Here is the link to the recipe on her blog, Viet World Kitchen. I weighed the flour using the 8.75 ounces and used 1/2 cup volume measurement for the sugar. Start checking the cookies early. My batch only took 12 minutes to bake. If you like crisp, buttery, almond flavored cookies..BAKE THESE, you won’t regret it.

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Almond Cookies

Buttery, crispy, full of almond flavor. These cookies from B's Patisserie are a winner.

Course cookies

Cuisine Asian

Keyword Almond Cookies

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups 8.75 oz / 250 g all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 ounces 120 g almond paste
1/2 cup 3.5 oz / 100 g sugar
2 sticks 8 oz / 225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces 120 g sliced or chopped slivered almonds
Powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C / gas mark 4) with a rack in the middle position. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and soda. Set aside.
Use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment to make the dough. Cut the almond paste into thick slices or big chunks. Put them in the mixer with the sugar. On low speed, mix the ingredients together until the almond paste has broken up into big pea-like pieces.
Pause to add the butter. On medium-low speed, beat the ingredients until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the sifted dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until just combined (you no longer see flour bits). Add the almonds and use the lowest speed (“Stir” on a Kitchen Aide) to mix into the dough.
Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar in a small bowl or on your work surface. For slightly gnarly/textured cookies, pinch off balls of dough – each the size of a big cherry tomato (1.5 inch / 3.75 cm wide). Roll in powdered sugar, then place on the prepared sheet pan, spaced 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Flatten each ball slightly as you work. (If you want neater cookies, squeeze and roll the dough into a fat log and cut crosswise into pieces. Roll them into balls, coat in the sugar, etc. See the photo above.)
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown at the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container for several days.

Day 7: A Walk on the Savory Side (Parm shortbread)

By threejamigos | December 18, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

Jamie is back from Houston–the first one home for the holiday break! Kids coming home means its time to stock the fridge and pantry. Food 24-7! I decided to make a big pot of soup to chase away the winter chill that has settled in. One of Jamie’s favorites is Potato Leek Soup. Flavorful, filling and easy to make plus there are infinite ways you can tweak this soup. For this batch I added kohlrabi that not only sweetens the soup but gives it a slightly earthy finish. Think of kohlrabi as a cross between cabbage and broccoli. You can also change up the stock. I used chicken stock this time but you could use a vegetable stock, fish stock or clam juice and garnish it with crab meat for a “gussied up version”.

To keep up with the holiday cookie countdown, I made a savory cookie to go along with the soup. I found a Parmesan Rosemary and Thyme Shortbread on Savory Simple, adapted from an Ina Garten recipe. This savory bite starts out much like a shortbread cookie but takes a turn with the addition of herbs, salt, a generous grind of pepper and parmesan cheese. Variations include using different herbs, use all thyme, or add a dash of cayenne pepper or some lemon zest–infinite possibilities! The cheese adds a nice finishing crunch to the cookie giving it the snap of a cracker. This cookie not only goes well with soup but would be great on a cheese plate with a fig jam or pepper jelly as a foil. Another holiday winner. So for cookie number 7 Parmesan Herb Shortbread with Potato Leek Soup. Enjoy!

And for your listening pleasure as you enjoy a hot bowl of soup and shortbread crackers…I Love the Winter Weather sung by the incomparable Tony Bennett!

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Parmesan, Thyme and Rosemary Shortbread

Ingredients

Adapted from Savory Simple and Ina Garten

Parmesan, Thyme, Rosemary Shortbread

1/4 pound 1 stick unsalted butter
3 ounces grated Parmesan
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Potato Leek soup

3 leeks rinsed, white part only, thinly sliced
1 yellow onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
3-4 potatoes diced
6-8 cups of stock chicken, seafood, or water
1/3 - 1/2 cup heavy cream or sour cream
S&P to taste

Optional:

2-3 kohlrabi peeled and diced or broccoli stems from 1 bunch peeled and diced
chives
lump crab meat or sautéed wild mushrooms for garnish
pancetta or bacon salute until crisp and reserved for garnish

Instructions

For Shortbread:

Cream butter in mixer until smooth. Add Parmesan, flour, salt, herbs* and pepper and combine until dough begins to clump. Do not over mix.
*Experiment with different herbs. Decrease the amount of rosemary and increase thyme. Add grated lemon peel (1/2 tsp.) with rosemary.
Add a dash of cayenne pepper
Pour the dough onto a lightly floured board and roll into a 13-inch long log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden or chill in fridge until firm.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut the log crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a sheet pan and bake for approximately 22 minutes.

For soup:

Over medium heat, add 1 T oil + 1 T butter to 8 quart pot. Saute' onions until soft and transparent add garlic and saute' for additional minute. Add leeks, potatoes, kohlrabi if using, and stock. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to simmer. Partially cover pot and simmer until vegetables are completely soft, about 45 minutes.
Using a hand blender or blender, puree soup until desired consistency. Completely smooth for a classic version or leave it a little chunky for a more rustic soup.
Add cream heat to warm through (for a lighter version omit cream.)
If soup is to thick, add broth to desired consistency
Salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with bacon, pancetta or chives and a dollop of creme fraiche' or crab meat if a seafood stock is used.

Halfway There! Pecan Sandies Day 6 Holiday Cookies

By threejamigos | December 15, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

Day 6 of #holidaycookies! Another one bite wonder, this time brought to you by the delightful blog Smitten Kitchen. I have to admit, I love SK but she is making me feel like a slacker. As I struggle to get my 12 days of holiday cookies completed, multiple posts pop up daily from SK. She must have a band of elves that help her every night or perhaps she spent summer trying winter holiday recipes that she is now posting. I have this vision of her baking gingerbread in July in her apartment in one hundred degrees and the AC is broken. I think the Holiday Cookie Countdown is turning me into Grinch.

The recipe is from The Last Course by Claudia Fleming which unfortunately is not in print anymore. If you ever see a copy grab it, the Caramel Chocolate Tarts are worth the purchase alone. Smitten Kitchen + Claudia Fleming + Pecans = Appointment baking.

The key to these cookies is toasting the pecans. It’s a good cookie not great. Like many shortbread cookies they may benefit from sitting a day for the flavor to develop. I sprinkled some sanding sugar on them but I think I may make a blend of Fleur de Sel and sugar to sprinkle on my next batch (my sweet salty fixation) or maybe dip them in chocolate. The cookies are cut into 1 inch squares and 3/16 of an inch thickness. I would prefer the cookie a little larger, say 1.25 inches square and 1/4 inch thick just to give the cookie a little more substance. My little cheats call for using a ziplock bag to roll the dough in for straight edges and a pizza cutter to cut the squares, nifty huh. Still a lovely cookie to present on a platter with other nibbles.

Smitten Kitchen in July + Sand-ies which makes me think of beaches = a tropical holiday song! Mele Kalikimaka by the Brothers Cazimero. Enjoy!

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Pecan Sandies

Ingredients

1 cup about 110 grams pecans
2 cups 250 grams all-purpose flour
1 cup 225 grams or 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup 80 grams confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons 10 ml vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons 25 grams turbinado (raw) sugar (I used white sanding sugar)
1 teaspoons of Fleur de Sel

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the nuts out in one layer on a baking sheet and bake them, stirring occasionally, until they are well browned, 10 to 13 minutes (they will smell toasted and nutty). Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool.
In a food processor, grind the nuts with 1/4 cup of the flour. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Sift together the remaining 1 3/4 cups of flour, the salt, and the baking powder, and add it to the dough, mixing until just combined. Stir in the nut mixture. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper to 3/16 inch thick (a rectangle approximately 10 x 14 inches). Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-inch squares, then cut the squares on a diagonal into triangles (I skipped the last cut into triangles). Sprinkle the cookies with the turbinado sugar. Place them 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets (do not reroll the scraps). Prick the cookies with a fork and bake until pale golden all over, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Sesame Cookies: Day 5 of Holiday Cookies

By threejamigos | December 12, 2015 | Comments 1 comment

It isn’t intentional and may be a blogosphere faux pax for all I know. Like posting multiple pics on Instagram on a single day which my kids tell me I shouldn’t do. But after posting Sally’s Sesame Cookies I stumbled across another recipe for sesame seed cookies on of all places the Huffington Post. I did a bit of sleuthing as I am prone to do and found that the recipe was created by Dorie Greenspan and first published in Food & Wine magazine. That made this recipe a no brainer. After all Cookies + Dorie Greenspan is a slam dunk as far as I am concerned. So here it is a second sesame seed cookie!

This is perfect for cocktail hour. These cookies are salty with just a touch of sweetness and would compliment any happy hour libation. They have the fine crumb of shortbread and ooze buttery goodness. Totally my kind of cookie plus I love the black and white sesame seeds. To top it off they are quick and easy to make. See? SLAM DUNK.

I chose a duet to go along with this cookie since it has 2 kinds of sesame seeds and drinks are mentioned in the song. Its a classic with about a billion renditions out there. I like the version by a favorite artist of mine James Taylor. Here it is, JT (the original one) with Natalie Cole, Baby It’s Cold Outside.

A food processor makes quick work of the dough (snap) which is then chilled for couple of hours (time to cyber-shop). I originally thought I would cut the dough into little bars but they look better round. I used a 1.5 inch cutter which made them the perfect one bite cookie. Don’t be alarmed by the amount of salt, it is suppose to be salty but is not overly so. The recipe in Huffington Post calls for adding water to help the dough clump but Food & Wine does not. I was able to get the dough to clump without using water. I poured the dough into a ziplock bag and smooshed the dough just until it came together. Don’t overmix! Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness using the sides of the bag to create a nice straight edge. It may not fill the entire zip-lock bag but at least you will have 3 even sides. Chill dough until firm. If the dough gets too soft as you are cutting out the cookies, place in fridge or freezer for a couple of minutes to firm it up. You can find almond meal in most markets now a days thanks to the gluten free movement. Two pound bags are available at Costco and are quite reasonable. Black sesame seeds can be found at most Asian markets and probably at Whole Foods.

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Sweet & Salty Sesame Cookies

Ingredients

From Food & Wine Magazine by Dorie Greenspan
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond meal or ground almonds see Note
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large egg beaten
Black and white sesame seeds for sprinkling ( 1:1)

Instructions

In a food processor, pulse the flour, almond meal, sugar and salt until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms large clumps.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead gently until it comes together. Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disk. Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1/4 inch thick. Slide the wax paper–covered disks onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour, until firm.
Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one piece of dough at a time, peel off the top sheet of wax paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out the cookies as close together as possible. Arrange the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Lightly brush the cookies with the egg and sprinkle with the black and white sesame seeds.
Bake the sesame cookies for 17 to 20 minutes, until they are lightly browned; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

MAKE AHEAD

The rolled-out frozen cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic and kept frozen for up to 2 weeks; thaw the dough slightly before using. The baked cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

NOTES

Almond meal is available at health food stores and at many grocery stores. To make your own, process 4 1/2 ounces blanched almonds until finely ground.

SUGGESTED PAIRING

Green-appley California sparkling wine: NV Scharffenberger Brut