After lunch, we attempted to see the brand spankin’ new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, but tickets were completely sold out, so we visited the de Young museum of art instead. It was just ok. After Hubs and I visted the amazing museums in Europe this summer, it was hard to be impressed by our tiny museums in SF. Also, we weren’t willing to pay an extra $20 to see the special Yves Saint Laurent exhibit, although I’m sure it would’ve been interesting.

Today, I’m going to share the delicious recipe for the Earl Grey cookies that I made last week. When high quality tea is used to make these cookies, they are so fragrant, the whole kitchen smells like tea. But, when they are eaten, the tea flavor is mild and the shortbread is rich and buttery. I think these shortbread cookies are simply perfect with a cup of English breakfast tea. Just a warning: the recipe was given to me by my coworker who is a professional pastry chef, so everything is in grams. I don’t know what the conversions are, so it would be best to make these with a food scale. It’s good to have a food scale in the kitchen anyway, since I’ve found than many of the best recipes I find on the internet are all listed in grams.

First, I’ll share with you the mess that was supposed to be a batch of oatmeal cookies with dried cherries and apricots:

I baked two sad trays of these. The second tray dripped batter onto the bottom of our oven that is now charred and stuck. Now, every time I bake something, the smoke alarm goes off.

This is what a raw cookie is supposed to look like. Here are the Earl Grey shortbread cookies before they went into the oven.

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 400g butter (a little less than 4 sticks), room temperature
• 160g powdered sugar, sifted
• 40g egg yolks (a little less than 2 large egg yolks)
• 10g salt
• 450g all purpose flour, sifted
• 2g Earl Grey tea, crushed
• Granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Sift together flour, salt, and Earl Grey tea and set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar just until combined. Do not over cream or the cookies will not have a flakey, shortbread texture.
4. Slowly add in egg yolks, being careful not to over cream.
5. Add in dry ingredients, mixing lightly and only until dry ingredients have been combined. Dough should be a little sticky to the touch, but not super sticky.
6. Take the dough and flatten it between two sheets of parchment paper. This will make rolling the dough out easier. Then, chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
7. Roll out chilled dough into 1/4 inch thickness, being careful not to over handle. Cut shapes using cookie cutters and arrange on a metal sheet lined with parchment paper.
8. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until edges just turn golden brown.
9. Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle with granulated sugar while hot. The sugar will melt a little bit and stick to the cookies. If available, vanilla infused sugar complements the cookies nicely.
10. Cool cookies on sheet for 10 minutes. Then, remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

]]> http://www.thesunsethouse.com/2008/12/29/earl-grey-shortbread/feed/ 4 http://www.thesunsethouse.com/2008/12/18/jam-thumbprint-cookies/ http://www.thesunsethouse.com/2008/12/18/jam-thumbprint-cookies/#comments Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:03:27 +0000 Kelly Nicole http://www.thesunsethouse.com/?p=977 Yesterday at work, we had a cookie swap. Fun! Everyone on the team made different types of cookies, and we all went home with a an assortment of yummies. My goodie bag included chocolate chip cookies, cranberry biscotti, lemon bars, rocky road clumps, and peanut butter cookies, all made by my coworkers. I baked up a batch of jam thumbprints using the same recipe I tested with my girlfriend last week. It was from this year’s Cooks Illustrated holiday baking special. Deelish.

The recipe is so super easy, delicious, and fast. Everything was mixed and baked in an hour. If you ever need to make some fast and impressive cookies, these are sure to please.

Jam Thumbprints
From Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raspberry jam (Cooks Illustrated recommends Smucker’s Red Raspberry Preserves)
2 1/4 cup (11 1/4 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (4 3/4 ounces) sugar
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Fill small zipper-lock bag with jam. Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
2. Using hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in cream cheese, egg, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl and beaters as needed.
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Working with 1 1/2 teaspoons of dough at a time, roll dough into balls and lay them on prepared baking sheets, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart. Use wet thumb to make indentation in center of each cookie.
5. Bake until cookies are lightly browned around the edges and just beginning to set, about 10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and, working quickly, gently reshape indentations with bottom of teaspoon. Snip small corner off bag of jam and carefully fill each indentation with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Rotate baking sheet and continue to bake until lightly golden, 12-14 minutes.
6. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let them cool completely, about 30 minutes, before serving.

Yummy!