Pretty julia things

The ingredients – Coconut flakes, Dulce de leche, and of course Butter

When I first came across alfajores at the Aroma cafe in Soho, I wasn’t sure how to pronounce it. I kept asking myself over and over again in my head, ‘Should I pronounce it as alfa-hoar or alfa-zoar?’ Since I am used to the French pronunciation, I asked the cashier for a cup of latte and one “alfa-zoar.” And she repeated, “OK, one latte and one alfa-hoar!” There, there was my answer. “Alfa-hoar” it is. Alfajor is a traditional confection found in some regions of spain and latin american countries like argentina, uruguay, chile, peru, etc. Basically it’s two round butter biscuits sandwiched together with dulce de leche (or confiture de lait or milk jam) in the middle. I took a bite of the Aroma’s alfajor to a pleasant surprise – the delicate and crumbly texture of the butter cookies with the sweet milky dulce de leche melded together in my mouth to a perfect harmony. It was soft and sweet, and yes, oh-so-milky.

Dulce de leche

So in order to make alfajores, I had to make dulce de leche first. It’s actually quite simple to make. All that’s necessary is to bake condensed sweetened milk in a glass dish and caramelize it in the oven at 425F for 1 – 1 1/4 hr. It’s important to put a foil over the glass dish, so it doesn’t burn during the caramelization. Once it’s out of the oven, whisk to smooth any lumps and run it through a fine chinoise. Now the smooth paste can go into a jar and cool. It is caramely without being overly sweet. I feel guilty as charged for eating it right out of the jar with a soup spoon, but it’s really that good.

Alfajores

Now that I have dulce de leche, I needed the shortbread cookies. I used 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 stick of butter, 1/4 cup of powdered milk, and a pinch of salt for the dough. I put cubed butter in the flour, and cut them into the flour until it became a smooth dough (note that the dough may still be crumbly and delicate to work with). Then I took a half-thumb sized dough, rolled it between my palms to a ball, and flattened it out to a disk. The shape doesn’t change much in the baking process so it’s important to shape the disks well before putting them into an oven. I tried my best to make a uniform size so they will assemble into fine looking sandwiches (it’s almost like making macaron shells). I baked them at 350F just until the edges started to lightly brown. In fact, the cookies shouldn’t brown at all. After I took out the cookie sheet, I let the cookie shells rest on it until it was cool enough to handle. When they were warm but manageable, I put them on a wire rack to cool completely. I had to resist an urge to be play with the cookies right away though (because they don’t break as easily when they’re cooled as opposed to when they’re still warm). I think if anything, baking teaches you self-control and patience.

Assembled alfajores with shredded coconut around the edge

When the cookies were completely cooled, I lined them into pairs according to the individual size. Then I put dulce de leche in a pastry piping bag with a regular tip at the end. If you don’t have a piping bag, a little teaspoon would work too. I put a dollop of dulce de leche onto each bottom cookie shells, just enough so it coats all the cookie surface when sandwiched, but not too much to a sticky messiness. Try sandwiching a first couple and adjust the amount as necessary. After the cookies were all sandwiched, I rolled them in shredded coconut flakes to avoid the sticky situation. It also adds a bit of texture and a hint of exotic flavor on the palate. As you could see, assembling these cookies isn’t that hard at all. The only precaution one should take is the fact that the cookies are delicate. But other than that, really a no brainer. Not too bad, right?

A “Happy as a clam” lineup

And let me tell you, the taste of a fresh alfajor is indescribable. The powdered milk in the cookie comes together with the sweet dulce de leche giving that mellow dairy flavor, the crumbly butter cookie crumbles first then melts in the mouth, and the sweetened coconut flakes gives that little something chewy. It’s simple yet deliriously good, and it is also strangely reminiscent of a childhood. The mellow and milky dairy flavor made me feel like a kid, a happy one at that. It also goes very well with a cup of medium strength black coffee. Yum, yum, yum! I also liked the fact that the home-made alfajores had just the right amount of dulce de leche in them. The ones I had bought were indeed good, but a tad bit too sweet. These turned out so well that I’m putting it up on my fave list now. It takes more than 15 minutes to make (if you want to use a store bought dulce de leche, it won’t be lengthy!!), but I guarantee that the end result will be 125% satisfaction. For real.

Chocolate hazelnut and Honey vanilla almond/pistachio biscotti

Biscotti is a plural form of biscotto, which literally means cooked twice in Italian. People instinctively guess that it means biscuit in Italian, and they’re absolutely right. The word “biscuit” originates from the medieval latin word “biscoctus” which means baked/cooked twice. It is an Italian favorite traditionally flavored with anise, and made with different types of nuts. Usually it is taken after a meal with a glass of sweet wine such as vin santo in Italy. It is perfect for dunking because of its dry/hard texture, and for that, it’s more common to pair it with a cup of coffee in the states.

In contemplating whether to make vanilla based biscotti or chocolate based biscotti, I decided to make both of them because I wanted contrasting flavors. Luckily I had everything I needed to make both flavors – I had some nuts and some nutella on hand. I could make Honey vanilla almond/pistachio biscotti and Chocolate hazelnut biscotti.

Two flavors

I started with two working bowls. In each bowl, I put half a stick of butter at room temperature. In the vanilla bowl, I put 1/2 cup of Sweet Tree’s blonde coconut palm sugar. The palm sugar is a healthy cane sugar substitute that I found at Whole Foods the other night, which is naturally low-glycemic and more nutritional than the normal table sugar. It is made from the nectar of tropical coconut palm blossoms of South East Asia. It is just a tad sweet with a bit of coconut/molasses-like flavor. I like it because it doesn’t have the acidic after taste of white sugar. Since I was also using honey in the recipe, it was a perfect choice. Anyways, enough about the sugar and back to the working bowls. I mixed the butter and sugar with a whisk until the mixture became light and fluffy. On top of the butter, I added 1 1/2 beaten eggs (I beat 3 eggs together and divided it into 2), and a bit of almond + vanilla extract. I whisked until the mixture became smooth, then combined the sifted dry ingredients (scant 1 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of corn flour, heaping 1/2 tsp of baking powder, a pinch of sea salt) little by little with a spatula. Finally, I combined a generous 1/2 cup of roasted pistachio and 1 cup of roasted almonds into the dough, and drizzled 2 tbsp of honey on top. I combined them together with hands into a homogeneous dough, then put it on a cookie sheet. I flattened it out so it’s about 1 inch thick overall (note here that you can make it short or tall by adjusting the height). I covered and let it rest in the cool corner while I went on to prepare the chocolate dough.

On top of the half stick of butter in the chocolate bowl, I put 1/2 cup of organic cane sugar and whisked them together until the mixture became light and fluffy. I poured in the rest of the beaten eggs (1 1/2 eggs), a dash of vanilla extract, and a scant 1/2 cup of nutella. I mixed them together until they became smooth, then added the sifted dry ingredients (1 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of good powdered cocoa, heaping 1/2 tsp of baking powder, a pinch of sea salt). After combining them with a spatula, I added 1 1/2 generous cup of toasted and de-skinned hazelnuts. I mixed and kneaded the dough with hands until it became homogeneous. I flattened the dough out onto a cookie sheet the same manner I did with the vanilla dough. I put both sheets into the oven at 350 F. The first baking takes approximately 35-40 mins, so I set a timer for 30 mins and took a break.

After 40 mins, I pulled the sheets out and let them cool for 5 mins. Then I took a sharp knife and cut them into half inch slices, and arranged them on the cookie sheets so they can go back into the oven for the second baking. I baked for 10 additional mins per side (that means I baked for 10 minutes on one side, then flipped them and baked 10 more minutes on the other side). They can be a little crumbly when they’re fresh out of the oven, so it’s important to let them cool on a rack.

Biscotti with a cup of tea

It’s so simple to make biscotti, yet they are nutritious and delicious. I had one of each flavor with a cup of tea “Pleine Lune” from Mariage Frères of Paris. The tea has a bouquet of fruit, spice, and almond notes, so it went particularly well with the honey vanilla almond/pistachio biscotti. The vanilla biscotti wasn’t too sweet nor too hard in texture (which is a big plus for me since I don’t like anything hyper sweet or hard like a jaw-breaker). It also had a nice mouth texture from the corn meal, and the crunch from the generous amount of nuts in it. And of course, I could feel the hint of honey in it too. On the other hand, the chocolate biscotti was nutty and mellow. The hazelnut crunch with the chocolately biscuit can’t possibly go wrong, because chocolate and hazelnuts are indisputably a match made in heaven. Overall, they were well-balanced. If you like biscotti, it is a great idea to make a batch then store in air tight containers so you can later take them as snack or dessert.

I spent a very relaxing sunday afternoon drinking freshly brewed aromatic tea with freshly baked biscotti, savoring every flavor through nose, mouth, and eyes. It is truly a luxury to be able to slow down, and celebrate the little things in life that make us happy like that, especially in NYC where everything happens at a blink of an eye. When you crave a warm, therapeutic sunday afternoon, I highly suggest making these goodies. It’ll do you some wonderful things.

Vanillekranse

I think I have only met a very few people who drink neither coffee nor tea. Most anyone would take one or another, at least once a day. Personally, I choose to drink either one depending on the mood I am in, or the phase I am in. I’ll go through a coffee phase where I mainly drink coffee, then I will alternate with the tea phase (I know, I like everything and I can’t pick one!). Tea or coffee can be satisfying as an afternoon pick-me up, especially with good tea sweets to go with. Usually when I need that lift in the afternoon, I take tea/coffee with little sweets. And it hits the spot like no other. So this week, I made a few sweets that I can take with tea or coffee, namely vanillekranse (a kind of danish butter cookie), milk biscuits, and madeleines (albeit the odd shape as you’ll see below).

Vanillekranse literally means vanilla wreaths. They’re one of the danish favorites, and it’s heavily perfumed with, you guessed it, vanilla. I used a recipe that calls for 1 1/2 cup of danish butter (Lurpak recommended. It has the slightly tangy flavor of the cultured cream, and is a favorite to many chefs due to its unique flavor), 3 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of powdered (lightly roasted) almonds, 2 1/2 cups of sugar (I only used 2 cups since I don’t like my sweets too sweet),  2 eggs beaten, and 1 1/2 tbsp of good vanilla extract (I also used some vanilla powders along with it). First I started off by creaming the butter with sugar, then added the eggs and the dry ingredients. Since I didn’t have the meat grinder, I rolled it out long and thin and shaped them into rings. Then put them in the oven at 325 F and baked until they were slightly golden. Be careful not to over bake because they can come out a bit too hard. They go very well with a cup of aromatic black tea, or a light cup of freshly brewed coffee. Since it is not delicate in texture, it’s great for dunkin’. I had so much fun taking it with a cup of milk tea – it went from dunking the cookie in the tea to taking a bite of the cookie to taking a sip of the tea. As much as it is fun eating, it’s light and delightful.

Milk biscuits assortment

The second sweets I made, the milk biscuits are a bit more on the decadent side with the crumbly, milky, buttery taste. I modified the traditional shortbread butter cookie recipe to incorporate powdered milk for that sweet milk taste. I used 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of powdered milk, 1 cup butter, a scant 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp of baking soda. I baked them at 325 F until lightly golden. In this case, it’s important to bake them through since the dough is very delicate. Also because it is delicate and easy to work with,  I was able to shape it  into different shapes like rings and other shapes such as a leaf. I just love how elegant the leaf shaped cookie looks on a plate. Since it’s rich and buttery, these little cookies are not suitable for dipping, but they sure go well with any lightly brewed aromatic black tea (with or without milk) or coffee with milk. They melt in the mouth leaving just enough sweetness behind.

U.F.O looking “Madeleines”

I’m not sure if I can really call this one madeleine since it’s not in the traditional seashell shape which is a defining character of madeleine. But in any case, I did make the cookies from the madeleine batter, so I will call them “madeleines.” I used 2 eggs at room temperature, 1/2 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, lemon zest, a scant tsp of baking powder, and 8 tbsp of melted butter (it’s equivalent to 1 stick of butter). It’s important that the eggs are at a room temperature or even slightly warm so when they are beat with sugar and the zest, the mixture increases in volume as much as possible. On top of the light and airy egg+sugar+zest mixture, I slowly added in sifted dry ingredients and lightly incorporated them with a rubber spatula into the mixture. It’s important not to overmix, so the volume isn’t lost in the process. Once they’re incorporated, I poured in the melted butter and mixed just until it became homogeneous. Another important tip here is to chill and rest the dough for at least upto 1-2 hrs before baking. That way you can achieve the heightened center, which is the another defining character of a good madeleine. I baked them at 350 F just until it started to turn golden around the edges. After I took them out of the oven, I then immediately drizzled the madeleines with the lemon juice and powdered sugar mixture for extra citrusy moisture. The cake is supple with a slight tang of citrus that wraps around your tongue. With the scent of bergamot of the earl grey tea, it is just out of this world. So simple, yet sophisticated and so satisfying. Surely, it is a winning combination for me on any afternoon that needs a pick-me up. Try serving these delicacies with a cup of good freshly brewed tea or coffee to your guests – they will be instantly enchanted with the sophisticated harmony of the flavors and scents.

Chaussons aux pommes – one of the classic viennoiseries

One of the things that I get super excited about being in France is their marvelous breakfast. There is nothing like sitting on a side walk café and have some tartines beurrées (buttered baguette) and some viennoiseries (breakfast pastry) with a cup of café crème (coffee with cream). It’s undoubtedly one of the few things I just adore in life. Oh yes, nothing like it.

Especially the viennoiseries. A small basket full of mini flaky pastry goods make me feel so pampered. Perfectly baked flaky croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins, brioche, and chaussons aux pommes… All of a sudden, I was hit with a strong craving for these little yummy flaky delights. Well, I couldn’t exactly have such wonderful breakfast that I had at the french café on a side walk of Paris, but I could make some of them à chez moi. Since I had some apples I had bought to make tarte tatin, I could make some chaussons aux pommes. In case you don’t know what it is, it’s an apple turnover – apple compote inside the crispy pastry dough baked into a perfect breakfast item.

First, I started off by making the compote. I cut up 4 Golden delicious apples into little pieces, added a bit of sugar, lemon juice, vanilla powder, freshly ground cinnamon, water, and brought them to a boil. Then brought it back down to simmer until the apples were cooked through and the mixture became less watery. It helps to cook faster if the apples are cut into smaller pieces. Once they were cooked through, I roughly mashed the mixture with a fork because I wanted it to have a little bit of texture. I didn’t want it to be like puréed baby food. Then I transferred it to a large and shallow dish so I can chill it in the fridge. Step 1 accomplished, easily.

Now onto the step 2, puff pastry dough. I made it like I did for the palmiers. I started with the detrempe, and laminated in the beurrage. Choice of butter was again my favorite, Lescure. This step can be easily eliminated if you are working against the time. You can get some good frozeen puff pastry dough at your local grocery store. Then all you have to do is to let it thaw before you start cutting it into shapes.

Speaking of a shape, you can either cut the dough into ovals so they look like little pockets, or cut it into squares so they can be folded into triangles. On the cut piece of pastry dough, I spooned in some chilled apple compote and brushed the inner edges with the egg white so I can successfully seal them into little pockets. I brushed the top with egg and water mixture (to one whole egg, add a little bit of water) and drew a leaf on top with the sharp pairing knife. That way, when it bakes, it turns golden brown with the shape of a leaf. I also made the triangles with some zig-zag, criss-cross on top.

A leaf decoration

A criss-cross decoration

I baked them at 400F until they turned golden on top with the pretty decorations. When they were fresh out the oven, I sifted some powdered sugar over the pastries. Et Voilà ! Breakfast at Julia’s was officially open at 4 in the morning. When I took the first bite, I simply couldn’t believe my tongue. It was the most flaky pastry I have ever had in my life. It was crispy, buttery, multi layer-y, and also made a fantastic couple with the sweet and tart apple compote inside. I could feel the natural sweetness of an apple, and the freshness of lemon juice together with the buttery feuilles (layers). Sooooo good!

I was right. Nothing is better than the french breakfast. As a bonus, it perfumed the air ever so delicately with the scent of butter across the kitchen and the living room in my apartment. With a good cup of coffee, it couldn’t have been more satisfactory. They’re truly a glorious picker-upper in the morning. If you haven’t yet, you ought to give them a try to see it for yourself. I wouldn’t mind starting a day at 4AM if I could eat this every day.

Brown butter spoon cookies made with le beurre d’Isigny, with chocolate hazelnut “nutella” ganache

I think I had officially died and gone to a cookie heaven. I still can’t get over these little heavenly cookie sandwiches namely brown butter spoon cookies filled with chocolate hazelnut ganache. It’s the kind of taste that gently drowns you in pure pleasure. The kind of taste that you savor with your eyes closed. The kind of taste that makes you forget it all.

Last week, my coworker Rachel has invited me over to her house in Brooklyn for an awesome beef party. Over the holidays, she visited her cousin who owns a cattle ranch in Wisconsin called DeRuyter Beef, so she brought some home-grown beef with her for a steak party back in NY. As much as I was excited about the party, I had to think of something equally awesome to bring her as my ‘thank you’ gift. Hmm, well, there was a bar of demi sel beurre d’Isigny Ste.-Mère (semi-salted butter from the Normany region in France)  sitting in my fridge that I’ve been meaning to use. The question was what to make with that bar of butter. I could make a puff pastry dough and make palmiers, or I could make sablé cookies. But I had made them pretty recently. I wanted to make something different. Then it hit me, why not Lusikkaleivät?

Demi sel beurre de baratte d’Isigny Ste-Mère (Semi-salted whipped butter)

Lusikkaleivät is a finnish delicacy that’s made with browned butter and shaped with a spoon. Traditionally these cookies are sandwiched and filled with tart berry or plum jam. Brown butter gives cookies a nutty flavor, and tart berry cuts through the buttery flavor. Since the butter is one of the main flavoring agents, it’s important to use good butter, none of I can’t believe it’s not butter stuff will do. The butter I used is from the Normandie region of France. It has a tangy richness and hazelnut notes due to the terroir of the region. The soil of Isigny is soft and damp, and the cows there thrive on grass that is rich with iodine and beta-carotene. Therefore this appealing yellow butter has hints of hazelnut flavors, a flexible, fine and elastic texture, and is full of vitamin A. Well, since it has subtle hazelnut notes, I thought why not try chocolate hazelnut ganache to go with instead of berry jams? I had a bag of dark and milk chocolate chips from Guittard, and some left over roasted hazelnuts. I think I could make it work. For some reason, I felt confident that it would work out OK. Well, you really can’t go wrong with chocolate and hazelnuts.

Spoon cookies

First, I started with the chocolate ganache. It’s real simple. I boiled 1/2 cup of heavy cream in a sauce pan over medium heat, then added 1/3 cup of dark chocolate morsels + 1/3 cup of milk chocolate morsels, and about 1/4 cup of nutella. I whisked until it became a smooth paste. I poured the hot ganache into a shallow bowl, then mixed in some chopped hazelnuts, and put a plastic wrap right over the mixture so there is no air between the plastic film and the ganache. The into the fridge to cool and harden.

Now, moving on to the cookies, I started by melting 1 cup of butter over a low-medium heat. After a while, it started to brown nicely. I scraped the bottom of the pan to get all the brown bits, and skimmed off the foamy milk solids on top. Now the brown butter was ready. But it’s important to let it cool to room temperature because egg yolk needs to be added to it later on. The yolk will be cooked in the melted butter and resemble scrambled egg if the butter is not cool enough. After preparing the brown butter, I sifted together 1 cup of oat flour, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 3/4 tsp of baking powder and set aside. In a chill working bowl, I poured brown butter and mixed with 1 egg yolk, 1 tbsp of vanilla, and 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Unlike the traditional way of incorporating the wet ingredients into the dry, I put dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mixed until it became a crumbly dough.

Now it was the fun part. I took my round teaspoon and shaped the cookies with the spoon by rocking back and forth against the working bowl to level the top evenly. Because it’s a buttery dough, it slid off the spoon very well. I baked them at 325 F until they were slightly browned on top, about 12-15 minutes. Then I took them out and let them cool on a rack. While the cookies were cooling down, I took out the chocolate ganache bowl from the fridge, and fluffed it with spoon so it’ll be easier to spread. The consistency was just right, not too watery, not too hard. I could have used a piping bag, but I decided to just spoon it. If you are using a spoon to add ganache, it’s important to drop it in the center, so when you make a sandwich with another cookie on top, it evenly spreads. And there they were, finished 44 mini sandwich spoon cookies filled with home made nutella filling.

Served in what used to be a candle holder made by SurEvolution

When I popped one of these in my mouth, it was as if I was melting into the moment. The cookies were buttery, crumbly, and nutty, and the ganache was not too sweet, not too bitter, and crunchy from the chopped hazelnuts. It was oh so heavenly. I served them in a “dessert plate” I bought from SurEvolution not too long ago for myself with a cup of tea. It was originally a candle holder, but I thought it would be a perfect mini dessert tasting platter. I really love how it looks so pretty like that as much as it tastes good.

In any case, it’s for Rachel and her guests. I hope they like these yummies as much as I do. Hopefully it will be a hit at the party tonight ;)

Palmiers (Palm leaves)

This year’s Christmas day was a peaceful day where I got to spend it exactly the way I wanted. I slept in, cleaned my apartment, did my laundry, ate well, then started making a puff pastry dough, listening to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker suite in a room that smells like freshly laundered cotton. I mean, could I have asked for a better day?? I wished that the day would never end. Anyway… did I mention that I was making puff pastry yet? Yes I said puff pastry! (Or pâte feuilletée as the french calls it). The wonderful dough that will turn into golden, flaky, buttery layers in the oven later. Mmmmmm.

I love palmiers. Palmier is a palm (tree) in french. It looks like a shape of palm tree leaf, hence the name. Once you have a puff pastry dough, making palmiers is super easy. All you need to do is to sugar coat the dough, roll it. cut it into pieces and bake. The tougher part of it is making the puff pastry dough itself. Traditionally it takes about a good half day to a full day to make it. Basically, it’s laminating a block of butter with a dough, then folding it in a such way that creates alternating layers of butter and dough. This time, I am using a block of unsalted Lescure butter, the wonderful french butter from the Charentes-Poitou region. Since I’m making sweet palmiers, unsalted would work here. French butter is preferred in making puff pastry because of its lower moisture content that results in a flakier pastry dough compared to one made with american butter.

Lescure butter

So there are two parts to any puff pastry: the dough (détrempe) and the butter block (beurrage). I used the recipe from the Ladurée’s book Sucré. 10g of sea salt (fleur de sel), 250mL water, 75g + 400g butter and 500g flour (farine type 45 – it’s in between pastry flour and all-purpose flour. See below for a chart from Wikipedia.)

Flour comparison matrix

I used half of what the recipe called for. It’s not completely accurate but for ease, I mixed the all-purpose flour and pastry flour 1:1 to match the type 45 flour for the détrempe. It’s important not to over knead because when you knead, more gluten develops and it’s harder to make layers later on. Once you have a ball of dough, you have to let it rest in the fridge. Once the dough is rested, cut a cross on top and roll out so it resembles a cross. Then prepare a block of butter, the beurrage. Take a block of butter between plastic wrap and pound with a roller so it softens. If you encase a hard block of butter inside the dough, it can tear during rolling. I placed the beurrage on top of the dough, and encased the butter inside the dough like an envelope. Then finally it was rolling time.

Church of Butter

I rolled the dough to make a rectangle and placed it so the long side is facing me. Divided it into three with my eyes, then folded the right flap in, then the left so there are three layers. I rolled it out to make a rectangle again , and turned right so again the long side is facing me. Folded the same way. So now I have successfully finished two turns. I put a wrap around it and put it in the fridge. It’s absolutely important to let it rest every two turns. I completed 6 turns, then rolled it out thin into sheets and put it in the freezer so the butter would harden.

Sugary-buttery- flaky layers

I took out the dough from the freezer, and let it thaw a bit. Then quickly cut them into strips, coated it in sugar/cinnamon mixture, and rolled it into a heart shape. Here it is important to cut the dough when it’s still hard. That way the layers will stay intact and be more flaky when baked. When it’s cut at room temperature, the sticky dough closes off all the layers so it doesn’t puff up as well. Just remember, cut with sharp knife when it’s cold. I baked these little beauties at 450 F until they were golden brown. I get so happy watching these bubble up into layers. It feels amazing when you start seeing the layers. Because that means you got it right!

Palmiers are always a hit with my friends. They’re light, just sweet enough, and buttery without being greasy. This time, I could really feel the difference. They were definitely extra flaky (thanks to the french butter)! Cinnamon-y sweet taste of it is totally addictive too. I would finish all of them at one sitting if I could. Yum.

Actually, it’s easy to make these if you use the ready made puff pastry dough that you can buy at most grocery stores. And let me assure you, you’ll knock the socks off of your friends and family who you share with. The best part? No one will ever know how easy it was to make! ;)

Petit Sablé Breton avec le beurre Lescure au sel

There’s nothing better than your whole house smelling like sweet butter. It’s an instant feel good cure. Try it, it really works. That’s what it smells like in my apartment right now.

Not too long ago, I found out that at Murray’s Cheese counter at the Grand Central Market sells french butter (It’s right by my work, so I often stop by after work). I’ve been meaning to experiment with french butter for months, as it makes crispier and richer tasting pastries due to its lower water content compared to that of the american. So amongst a few they had at the counter, I picked up Lescure au sel, the salted Lescure butter from the Charentes-Poitou region in France. It is creamy with specks of sea salt in it. When you spread this on a piece of tartine, it glides. The taste is just pure pleasure – slightly melted creamy+salty+nutty-ness. Anyway, I’ll stop before I start drooling again.

Lescure au sel de mer

I found a recipe that calls for 250g salted butter (le beurre salé) +  3 cups of all purpose flour (farine) +  3/4 TBSP of baking powder (levure de chimique) + 1 cup of sugar (sucre) + 7 + 1 yolks (jaunes d’oeufs) +3/4 tsp salt (sel). In fact, the recipe I found was written in french that I had to translate into the american metric system with the help of the friendly conversion chart. OK so now, back to making of the cookies.

I started out by putting sifted flour, baking powder, and salt together into a working bowl. Added in sugar +  7 egg yolks, and mixed with a fork until it became sandy in texture. Then the best part – added in butter (at room temperature) and mixed until it could hold itself together into one. I rolled it out and cut out circles with a cookie cutter (or anything that works like a cookie cutter as I used a top of my spice jar!). Or I could have even baked them in a mold like mini muffin pans. Well anyways. For the final touch, I made criss-cross lines with a fork on top to make little diamond shapes, and brushed on diluted egg yolk (with water) generously as it browns the top real nicely that way. Then baked the goodies at 350 F for about 20 some minutes, until they turned caramel brown. Et Voilà !

When I opened the oven door, the whiff of caramelized butter automatically made me go Mmmmmm. The cookies tasted nutty with bursts of sea salt here and there. It is buttery, crumbly, and just fantastic especially when that sea salt specks pop in the mouth. Since butter is the main flavoring ingredient here, the quality of butter really makes or breaks. The Lescure butter with sea salt definitely made a difference in this case. Plus, they look pretty and appetizing (thanks to the egg wash on top!). On a random note, they’re a good gift idea as well ( I put some in a mason jar I had for a friend. Now, all I need to add is a ribbon with a little card attached to it. Definitely not a shabby gift idea).

The cookies in a mason jar – makes a cute gift!

A close up

Also, as a bonus point, I made an egg white with arrabiata sauce using the by product of this recipe – 8 egg whites. It worked out perfectly because I had forgotten to eat dinner making these little yummies, and wanted something savory, healthy, and light. After all, I managed to kill two with one stone –  both salty and sweet cravings. I would say that the end result was 100% satisfaction for me. Mmmmmmmmmm.

My dinner – egg whites with arrabiata sauce