VANILLA BEAN THINS

     I should not have spent the morning baking cookies.  I have more rhubarb in my garden than I know what to do with and I should have been thinking rhubarb tarts or cobblers.  But I also thought that these Vanilla Bean Thins would be a great little cookie to serve alongside a Rhubarb Compote doused with a rich Crème Anglaise, one of the rhubarb desserts I've been contemplating.

    

     I'm serving the cookies unadorned, but they would also accept a thin vanilla glaze nicely.  The aroma while baking and after removing from the oven is intoxicating.  It's hard to beat the smell of butter and vanilla.  These are delicate cookies that are rolled very thin.  I suggest investing in the thinnest metal spatula you can find, if you don't already own one.  It will make transferring the cut cookie dough to the parchment-lined baking sheet that much easier.  Also... watch closely when baking.  I left my cookies in oven just slightly over 10 minutes.

                              *   Vanilla Bean Thins  *
                          adapted from a recipe in Gourmet | December 2002

• 1 fresh vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg yolk

Special equipment: a 2-inch cookie cutter

Make Vanilla Sugar:  Scrape vanilla seeds from pod with tip of a knife into confectioners sugar.  Halve pods crosswise and bury in sugar.  Cover tightly and let stand at least 24 hours and up to 1 month.

Make Cookies:  Discard pods and transfer vanilla sugar to a food processor.  Add flour, salt and baking powder and pulse to combine.  Add butter and pulse just until mixture is in pea-size lumps.  Add yolk and pulse just until a dough forms.  Gather dough into 2 balls, then flatten into 2 disks and chill, each disk wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

1.  Preheat over to 325˚F.
2.  Roll out 1 disk (keep the other chilled) to less than 1/8-inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin.  Cut out shapes with floured cookie cutter and arrange cookies 1/2-inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Make more cookies with remaining dough, rerolling scraps as little as possible.
3.  Bake cookies in middle of oven until edges are pale golden, 10 to 12 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack.

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