Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
Make something sweet for your sweetie. This cookie is edged with sugar and scented with maple sugar. Bake off half the dough, and keep the rest in the freezer for a quick batch of this amazing treat. Next on my list: scones with whipped cream and raspberries; a savory eggplant caponata tart; and fig bars. Then, Espresso Custard with Orange; amazing cousins of the doughnut, called skiffs; and pretzels.
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Excerpted from Delectable by Claudia Fleming with Catherine Young. Copyright © 2022 by Claudia Fleming. Photographs copyright © 2022 by Johnny Miller. Excerpted by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Maple Shortbread
Makes about 48 cookies
Packaged maple sugar varies. Some is dry and granulated, and some moister—more like brown sugar in texture. Either will work for this recipe, but I prefer the latter. I find it has a richer taste.
280g all-purpose flour (9.9oz / about 2 cups)
4.5g Diamond Crystal kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp)
228g unsalted butter (8oz), room temperature
170g maple sugar (6oz / about 3/4 cup + 1 T)
2 tsp vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract
In a bowl, whisk the flour with the salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar on medium-high speed, about 2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla, then turn the mixer speed to low, add the dry ingredients, and mix until the dough is homogeneous.
Divide the dough in half and form two 12-inch logs. Wrap the dough in parchment paper, pressing out as much air as possible (see page 95). Chill the dough until firm, at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I usually bake cookies as I need them, no more than one sheet at a time; I keep the extra dough in the refrigerator or freezer.) Remove the dough to be baked from the refrigerator and let it warm slightly—just enough so the sugar will stick to the cookies, about 10 minutes. Roll the logs in crystallized sugar, then slice each into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and arrange the cookies about 11/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, then rotate the pan front to back and continue baking until the bottoms are firm and golden and the cookies smell done, about 7 minutes more. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool, then serve.
Tracey Zabar's Chocolate Chip Sweets: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes is available here.
A delectable collection of innovative chocolate chip recipes by world-renowned chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers
Tracey Zabar's One Sweet Cookie Cookbook is available here.
A delicious collection of cookie recipes from extraordinary chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers. A great gift sure to delight anyone who loves to bake.
Lori Zabar's Zabar's A Family Story, With Recipes is available here.
