Soooooo…I’ve been away for a while. Yes, and totally slacking on the food blog front. My sincerest apologies to all my FFwD friends and everyone who I’ve missed in the past few months. Suffice it to say that my year off in no way prepared me to enter back into the working world where one is expected to put in an 8-10 hour day and then come home to create lovely food & photos for their blog! And I thought the long-neglected little blog could use a little colour rejuvenation.

I’ve started working full-time as a school portrait photographer and I’m having an absolute blast with it! Once the very busy autumn program was finished, I was asked to stay on with the graduation photography team, so that’s what I’m doing these days. I’m finally getting back into the swing of a full day of work and a more productive evening than a box of macaroni & cheese for dinner and passing out from exhaustion on the sofa afterwards…though some nights I still do that, too. I’m slowly getting back on the FFwD schedule and I know I’ve missed some excellent recipes, so I’ll try to go back and do some of them as well.

In the mean time, I made these cookies before our trip to Cape Cod at the end of July. They were intended as snacks for our 10 hour drive from Toronto to Norwood, MA, but some of them actually made it through to Falmouth, where they were very much enjoyed by our extended American family. They are only a little bit fussy for a Cook’s Illustrated recipe – I actually love the idea of a hard-boiled egg yolk in the batter and find it definitely increases the delicate, sandy texture they are meant to have. They also work well as Christmas cookies – the French butter cookie batter is excellent as a basis for almond or lemon flavoured cookies, or whatever sparks your imagination! I do need a bit more practice to make the spirals pretty like CI does!

Love,
Karla

Makes about 80 cookies. Make sure the cookie dough is well chilled and firm so that it can be uniformly sliced. After the dough has been wrapped in parchment, it can be double-wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 2 weeks.

French Butter Cookies:

• 1 large egg
• 10 T (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 3/4 ounces)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)

Chocolate Sables:

• 1 large egg
• 10 T (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 3/4 ounces)
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 2/3 ounces)
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (1 ounce)

For French Butter Cookies:

1. Place egg in small saucepan, cover with 1 inch water, and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill small bowl with ice water. Using slotted spoon, transfer egg to ice water and let stand 5 minutes. Crack egg and peel shell. Separate yolk from white; discard white. Press yolk through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl.
2. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar, salt, and cooked egg yolk on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl and beater with rubber spatula as needed. Turn mixer to low, add vanilla, and mix until incorporated. Stop mixer; add flour and mix on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, press dough into cohesive mass.

For Chocolate Sable Cookies:

1. Place egg in small saucepan, cover with 1 inch water, and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill small bowl with ice water. Using slotted spoon, transfer egg to ice water and let stand 5 minutes. Crack egg and peel shell. Separate yolk from white; discard white. Press yolk through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl.
2. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar, salt, and cooked egg yolk on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl and beater with rubber spatula as needed. Turn mixer to low, add vanilla, and mix until incorporated. Stop mixer; add flour and cocoa and mix on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, press dough into cohesive mass.

To Form Spiral Cookies:

1. Halve each batch of dough. Roll out each portion on parchment paper into 6- by 8-inch rectangle, 1/4 inch thick. Briefly chill dough until firm enough to handle. Using bench scraper, place 1 plain cookie dough rectangle on top of 1 chocolate dough rectangle. Repeat to make 2 double rectangles. Roll out each double rectangle on parchment into 6- by 9-inch rectangle (if too firm, let rest until malleable). Starting at long end, roll each into tight log. Twist ends of parchment to seal and chill logs 1 hour.
2. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using chef’s knife, slice dough into ¼-inch-thick rounds, rotating dough so that it won’t become misshapen from weight of knife. Place cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets.
3. Bake until centers of cookies are pale golden brown with edges slightly darker than centers, about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; using thin metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature. Store cooled cookies between sheets of parchment paper in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Tags: chocolate, Christmas, cookies, French, vanilla