If u have Butter ,Vanilla ,and Sel Gris( a goan one) added to flour , what else can u expect but deliciousness galore and lods of it.
Thats exactly what the Salted Butter Breaks ups that we are baking this week with FFwD , is all about , plus lods of fun.
I totally wanted to try these cut out too and at the same time didn wanna loose out on the fun of a large cookies that i could break out and dip with my coffee.(my fav current being Columbian coffee, which am sipping right now as i write).
The egg wash makes it so much easier to sprinkle some more salt , though i went the sprinkle way + u can play around here , Lavender will be so so pretty , wouldn it ?
Or maybe some saffron threads of Green sicilian Pistachios ?
Or jus ur fav salted nut , chopped jus the way u like it best?
Another thing i love about these is that they are nice and crispy around the edges and as u get closer to the center they tender with jus a bit of chew in them.
The smaller cookies baked crisp ,all the way thru though.
And its a very easy cookie too , u mix up and bring together the dough in a jiff , press and roll out into the thickness u want , refrigerate, paint egg wash n bake .
So lets begin with Butter , salted butter , good 'ol butter , isnt this already sounding so good?
Cubed and cold.
What goes in ur food procsr first is sugar , vanilla sugar here - Pure Madagascar Bourbon Gourmet Vanilla Sugar ie.
And flour ....
And Grey Sea salt , from the salt pans in Goa , a slightly grey salt , sold in a few places , a little jar which i always have.
Ahh , wait this is not only Grey Sea salt but Vanilla Grey sea salt.
Made from scratch Vanilla Grey Salt ie.....
Here's the ''impressive Line up ''. and u some water there later too.
Here's what it looks like pulsing in the ''processor'' . and since the said ''processor'' wasnt going to take any more of my pulsing I had to continue on the work surface with my pastry cutter.
And then finally with my hands and the cutter got together the dough , with a sprinkle and more of water here and there.
Since i usually pat or roll my cookies , before i refrigerate the dough , between sheets of cling wrap,here it is so too, it makes things totally easier later.
See , its already has a criss cross design and i love the Vanilla peeping thru.
Fast forward to a day later , all cut out....
And the scrapes re rolled to the large cookie....painted with egg yolk and ''sprinkled''
and the cut outs also painted and ''sprinkled''
and break ups....
RECIPE
(original from Around my French Table By Dorie Greenspan)
i sure halved the recipe and added Vanilla and Vanilla Sel Gris.
I think Lavender flowers would be pretty and almond extract with Honey roasted almonds sprinkled atop would be so good.
As would Saffron with saffron sprinkled atop.
Or maybe Green Sicilian Pistachios , pretty pretty bright green.
And lemon or orange would zest them up a bit and more for ur coffee.
HAzelnut oil with hazelnuts sprinkled atop and then drizzled with Nutella , ahh , now i feel really v good.
- 3/4 cup + 2tbh all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sel gris or kosher salt
- 5 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into small pieces
- 2.5 tablespoons cold water
- 1 egg yolk - beaten, for the glaze ( u'll have lots leftover , so fix urself a snack while these bake)
1. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. U can also use a cusinart chopper and a pastry blade , i did.
2. Drop in the pieces of butter (so good a look here) and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal—you’ll have both big pea-size pieces and small flakes and more. Thats fine
3. With the machine running, start adding the cold water until the the dough almost forms a ball.
Works well with a pastry blade and hands to bring it to a ball.
4. Scrape the dough onto a work surface, and pat it down to flatten it a bit. Wrap the dough in plastic and roll to desired thickness. Chill it for about 1 hour for up to 3 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.
5. On the day of baking center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
6. Take out dough from refrigerator and u can directly cut this out or Place directly onto the parchment or baking sheet, so transferring later doesn’t make it cumbersome.
7. Brush the top surface of the dough with the egg glaze. Using a knife, decorate the cookie in a crosshatch pattern. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt pr sprinkles or anything u chose to.
8. Bake the cookie for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden. It will be firm to the touch but have a little spring when pressed in the center — the perfect break-up is crisp on the outside and still tender within. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and allow the cookie to cool to room temperature before breaking it into pieces of varied sizes.
2. Drop in the pieces of butter (so good a look here) and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal—you’ll have both big pea-size pieces and small flakes and more. Thats fine
3. With the machine running, start adding the cold water until the the dough almost forms a ball.
Works well with a pastry blade and hands to bring it to a ball.
4. Scrape the dough onto a work surface, and pat it down to flatten it a bit. Wrap the dough in plastic and roll to desired thickness. Chill it for about 1 hour for up to 3 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.
5. On the day of baking center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
6. Take out dough from refrigerator and u can directly cut this out or Place directly onto the parchment or baking sheet, so transferring later doesn’t make it cumbersome.
7. Brush the top surface of the dough with the egg glaze. Using a knife, decorate the cookie in a crosshatch pattern. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt pr sprinkles or anything u chose to.
8. Bake the cookie for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden. It will be firm to the touch but have a little spring when pressed in the center — the perfect break-up is crisp on the outside and still tender within. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and allow the cookie to cool to room temperature before breaking it into pieces of varied sizes.
