Living Tastefully
  • Home
  • PAINTINGS
  • About
  • Passions-to-Pastry Blog
  • Contact
  • Recipes

Savory Shortbread, Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, and fun with French stamps!

4/17/2014

11 Comments

 
Picture

     I spent a day playing in my kitchen this week.  Last month I received a gift from a dear friend.  I got to know Kate through LivingTastefully (one of the upsides of having a blog!) and last September I met Kate and her husband, John, when Bill and I were in New York attending a wedding.  We were welcomed into their beautiful home and still talk about the wonderful time we had with them in the historic town of Canajoharie.

Picture

     Kate surprised me with Sablés Maison, a French cookie stamp with three interchangeable silicone disks -- one of the Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Coeur, and the Arc de Triomphe -- with a book of French cookie recipes included.  Kate knows (oh, how she knows) of my love for France and French pastry, and she was correct in assuming that I would love this gift.

Picture

     I made both a sweet and a savory cookie. Sablés Tout Chocolat, one of the recipes that accompanied the stamps and sandwiched with Espresso Crème, was the sweet cookie; the savory is a spice-filled, buttery shortbread flavored with curry, tumeric, cumin, and cayenne.  It's a great little treat along with an apéritif and is extremely easy to craft as a sliced log cookie.  Don't feel like you need to own a set of these stamps to enoy this savory shortbread. 
Picture
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus extra for shaping into a log

1.  In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the salt, curry powder, cumin, pepper, tumeric, and cayenne.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat until combined.  Add the flour and continue to mix until incorporated.
2.  Turn the shortbread dough out onto a large sheet of waxed paper.  With floured hands, press the dough into a strip about 2-inches wide with a length of 12-inches.  Wrap the dough in the waxed paper and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.  This will make it easier to shape.  Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap and using the plastic as an aid, roll the dough back and forth into a log.  Wrap and return to the refrigerator for at least an hour.
3.  PREHEAT OVEN to 325˚F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Remove the shortbread log from the refrigerator.  Using a very sharp paring knife (or a piece of fine thread) slice the log into 1/4-inch-thick disks.  Transfer pieces to baking sheet, spacing 1/2-inch apart.
4.  Place baking sheet on the center rack of oven and bake until set, about 12 minutes.  Transfer to a rack to cool.  Shortbread can be kept in an air-tight container for up to 2 months.


Picture


Picture


Picture
Picture
Picture
• 200 grams unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling cookies
• 80 grams granulated sugar
• 40 grams Dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus additional for rolling cookies

• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 extra-large egg, room temperature
• Espresso Crème, for filling (recipe below)

1. 
In a medium-size bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon.
2.  Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth.  Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary.
3.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter-egg mixture and beat until just combined and no streaks of flour can be seen.   Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

4.  PREHEAT OVEN to 325˚ F.  Remove dough from refrigerator and let warm a bit.  This is a rather dry dough and will roll easier if it is not very cold.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  On a lightly-floured work surface (I like to combine some flour with some cocoa powder), and using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll to a 1/8-inch thickness.  Use a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter (or any other shape, or size) to cut the cookies. Dust off any traces of flour with a pastry brush if necessary.  Transfer to the baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough.
5.  Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the preheated oven for approximately 13 minutes; transfer to a cooling rack.
6.  While the
cookies are cooling, mix together the Espresso Crème.

ESPRESSO CRE
ME
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups Confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder (such as Medaglia D'Oro) dissolved in 1/8 cup hot water

• 1 teaspoon Cognac
1.  Combine the butter and Confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and mix until smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir until fully combined and smooth.
2.  Either spread or pipe espresso cream in between cooled wafer cookies to create a sandwich. 




TAKE a LOOK:




11 Comments
stacey snacks link
4/17/2014 01:08:28 am

What a special gift! I need to find these!
I remember when you met Kate and her husband......it's wonderful to make friends thru our love of food.

xo

Reply
Eileen
4/17/2014 01:10:52 am

It certainly is, friend!

Reply
Tom | Tall Clover Farm link
4/17/2014 01:41:37 am

Eileen, may I offer you a baking retainer? I envision I send you a box of cash, and you send me a weekly pastry. And since the check is not in the mail, for now I believe I'll have to make these chocolate sandwich cookies myself -- post haste! Merci, my talented friend.

Reply
Eileen
4/17/2014 01:46:08 am

;-)

Reply
Kate
4/17/2014 09:59:10 am

Brilliant, Tom! No, I mean Brilliant, Eileen! No, I mean Brilliant you two!
I'm IN.
Eileen bakes awesome pastries... we send a box of cash and dreams fulfilled around.
We get joys unspeakable in fine pastry treats and Eileen's childhood wishes for a bakery come true!
As for the cash... Eileen can finance her trips to France.
You blog people have the best ideas :)

Reply
Eileen
4/17/2014 10:27:09 am

I'm in!

Reply
stacey snacks link
4/18/2014 10:35:27 am

I'm with TOM! sign me up! I will send cash!
PS posted your lemon poppy muffins today. xo

Reply
Mary Harrington
4/27/2014 11:36:36 am

OK, I was inspired enough to find my own set of Paris cookie stamps, but my first attempt was a disaster! I tried the sables rose. The dough was too sticky even after chilling. I mixed it in the food processor, and translated some of the directions (I understand the ingredients and temp, time in oven, etc.) The dough often completely stuck to the stamp, or failed to leave much of an imprint. Your imprints are so crisp and heavy! Do the stamps need to be floured or used as is? How do you get such a even imprint?

Reply
Eileen
4/27/2014 11:17:43 pm

Hi Mary -- It did take a while to understand what I needed to do. The two doughs I used were very different. The spicy shortbread was very buttery and the chocolate was a drier dough. I found the drier dough was easier to imprint; also rolling the dough thinner than thicker. I did press the stamp first onto a dusting of flour on my work surface and found that I had a better image without pushing down very hard on the dough. Place the stamp on the dough and apply light pressure. No wiggling of the stamp. I then used a round cookie cutter to finish cutting the cookie from the rolled dough. I had a lot of dough sticking to the stamp at first, too, but found pressing the stamp in the flour really helped solve that problem. I hope this helps you.

Reply
Lisa
4/22/2015 11:23:28 pm

Mary Kay introduced me to your wonderful blog... I'm in love! The chocolate meringues! Oh my!!!
Could you possible tell me where the french cookie stamps can be purchased??
I look forward to future posts and trying more recipes!!!

Reply
Eileen
4/23/2015 12:36:33 am

Lisa -- As far as the cookie stamps... a friend sent them to me. She couldn't locate them here in the states but her daughter in Montreal was able to find a boxed set to give me. If you google images of "French Cookie Stamps" they will come up; possibly a photo would link to a distributor (?)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture




    Picture
    Picture
    Enter your Email

    Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz






    Categories

    All
    Amana
    Appetizers
    Beef
    Breads
    Breakfast
    Cakes
    Chocolate
    Condiments
    Cookies
    Daring Bakers Challenge
    Desserts And Sweets
    Drinks
    Eggs
    Espresso
    Etcetera
    Fish
    French Bulldogs
    Friday Night Dinner
    Fruit
    Germany
    Gratins
    Great Kitchens
    Grilling
    Ice Cream
    Lamb
    Main Dishes
    Muffins
    My Garden
    My Kitchen Renovation
    New Years Day Brunch
    Paris
    Pasta
    Pork
    Poultry
    Provence
    Restaurants
    Rhubarb
    Rice
    Salads
    Scones
    Seafood
    Side Dish
    Soup
    Sunday Mornings
    Sweet And Savory Tarts
    Thanksgiving
    Tomatoes
    Vegetables
    Vegetarian

  • Home
  • PAINTINGS
  • About
  • Passions-to-Pastry Blog
  • Contact
  • Recipes