Recipe: Ethereal Brown Sugar Butter Cookies, Earl Grey Cookies and Fleur de Sel Cookies

ETHEREAL BROWN SUGAR BUTTER COOKIES
"When I am asked to bring a dessert to a dinner party, I invariably turn to this recipe for delectable, melt-in-your-mouth cookies fragrant with butter and the caramel flavors of light brown sugar. When I want to whip up something dazzling for my own impromptu dinners, it can double as a pastry dough for tarts. A few drops of orange flower water subtly intensifies the flavor of the butter, a trick I learned from my Greek grandmother. For a memorable dessert for a dinner party, bake the cookies at the last minute and place the cookie sheet hot out of the oven in the center of the table (on trivets, of course), along with a metal spatula for the guests to serve themselves. Best of all, the cookies will last several weeks when stored in an airtight container. They make much-appreciated gifts."


1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
A scant 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise in half, seeds scraped out, and stirred into the sugar)
1/4 teaspoon orange flower water (optional)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch

TO PREPARE THE DOUGH:
In a food processor, combine the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and orange flower water, if desired, and process to a light, fluffy paste, 20 to 30 seconds. Remove the lid and add the flour and cornstarch. Pulse until the dough begins to clump together and the mixture is fairly uniform, 8 to 10 times. Gather the dough together into a rough ball, kneading a few times if necessary. (You can also mix the dough by hand or with an electric mixer.)

Alternative 1: Form the dough into a freezable log, chill, slice into rounds, and bake:
Form the soft dough into a log about 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Gently roll up the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate to firm up, at least 1 hour, or until ready to use.*

TO BAKE:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Arrange the oven rack in the lower half of the oven.

Using a thin knife, slice the chilled log into 1/8-inch slices and arrange them 1 1/2-inches apart on a cookie sheet. (If the dough is very soft. place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.)

Bake until the tops are firm and the edges are barely colored, about 20 minutes. With a thin metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Cool completely before packing into a tin.

Alternative 2 (quicker method): Press the dough into a pan, bake, and slice into shortbread-style wedges or squares:
Press the dough into a 9- or 10-inch tart pan, preferably with a removable bottom, or an 8- or 9-inch square pan. Prick the dough at 2-inch intervals with the tines of a fork. Place the pan on a baking sheet and freeze for 10 to 15 minutes.

To bake. preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Arrange an oven rack in the lower half of the oven.

Bake until the edges are barely colored and the center is no longer puffy, 30 to 35 minutes for a 9-inch round or an 8-inch square, 25 to 30 minutes for a 1o-inch round or a 9-inch square.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and cool for 5 minutes. With a thin sharp knife or a serrated knife, carefully cut the shortbread rounds into wedges or cut squares into squares, rectangles, or strips,

*Note: You can refrigerate the dough up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 2 months; thaw in the refrigerator for 8 hours before using.

Makes about thirty 1 1/2-inch round cookies or 12 to 16 wedges or squares

IMPROVISATIONS

FLEUR DE SEL COOKIES
Makes about thirty 1 1/2-inch-round cookies or 12 to 16 wedges or squares

"This fabulous cookie is a perfect example of the kind of free association that can spur a cook's mind. The caramel flavors of the butter and brown sugar shortbread reminded me of a caramel I once tasted that had been sprinkled with a few grains of fleur de sel - the famous French sea salt that is said to have the faintest perfume of violets. Inspired, I took some of the salt out of the Ethereal Brown Sugar Butter Cookie dough and sprinkled some fine sea salt on the surface just before baking: Its taste was delightful, a gentle surprise on the tongue."

Prepare the Ethereal Brown Sugar Butter Cookie dough, using only a pinch of salt in place of the scant 1/4 teaspoon. Shape the dough as desired into rounds (sliced from a chilled log) or press into a pan; chill.

Just before baking, sprinkle the cookies evenly with a scant 1/4 teaspoon sea salt.* Press lightly into the dough.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven until the edges are barely colored.

*Use the best sea salt you can find with fine or flaky, not coarse, crystals. Maldon sea salt is a particularly nice one.

EARL GREY TEA COOKIES
Makes about thirty 1 1/2-inch-round cookies or 12 to 16 wedges or squares

"Earl Grey tea is flavored with bergamot, a fragrant essential oil from the peel of a small acidic orange. The tea itself makes a spectacular, very surprising, and very adult flavoring for butter cookies."

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
A scant 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons finely ground Earl Grey tea (cut open 4 tea bags and extract the tea; or use loose tea; grind it to a powder in a blender or clean coffee grinder)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch

In a food processor, combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, vanilla, and tea. Process to a light, fluffy paste, 20 to 30 seconds. Remove the lid and add flour and cornstarch. Pulse until the dough begins to clump together and the mixture is fairly uniform, 8 to 10 times. Gather the dough together into a rough ball, kneading a few times if necessary.

Shape the dough as desired into rounds (sliced from a chilled log) or press into a pan; chill.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven until the edges are barely colored.

Used by permission to Recipelink.com from William Morrow
Source: The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider