Beurre & Sel Cookies from Molly MacRae

 

Aren’t these cookies beautiful? They taste every bit as good as they look. I came across the recipe in 2012, in the then current issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. They’re the creation of James Beard award-winning cookbook author Dorie Greenspan. Here’s something fun I just found out—Dorie Greenspan is a fan of mystery writer Louise Penny. Such a fan, in fact, that she created a Lemon Meringue Cookie especially for Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache. You can find that recipe here.

I’ve departed from the original Beurre & Sel recipe by treating the cookie dough like shortbread—rather than roll it, freeze it, and cut it into rounds, I press walnut-size lumps of dough straight into the bottom of the muffin tin. Works fine, saves time.

Almond extract in place of all or some of the vanilla extract might be a nice variation, or using almond flour in place of the all-purpose flour in the streusel. A few other variations my family thought of: sprinkle the cookies with lime or lemon zest, crystalized ginger, chopped nuts, or rosemary. MMmmm, next time.

Beurre & Sel Cookies

Makes 24 to 36 cookies (depending on how accurate you are at pressing ¼-inch of dough into each muffin cup).

Cookie dough ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature

 ½ cup sugar

 ¼ cup icing sugar

 ½ teaspoon salt

 2 large egg yolks, room temperature

 2 teaspoons vanilla

 2 cups all-purpose flour

 

Streusel and filling ingredients

 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

 1/3 cup sugar

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 5 tablespoon chilled butter, cut into bits

 3/4 cup thick jam such as blackberry, raspberry, apricot, or marmalade

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cookie dough: In a large bowl, either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat butter, sugars, and salt until pale and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour and stir or beat (low speed) just to combine. Take walnut-sized chunks of dough and press into the bottom of muffin tins (no need to butter tins) Dough should be about ¼-inch thick.

Streusel: In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Rub in the butter with a pastry blender, fork, or your fingertips until well blended.

Drop 1 teaspoon of jam into the middle of each cookie. Using a small spoon, sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons streusel around edges of each cookie, trying not to get any in the jam (if you do, no one is going to care).

Bake 20-22 minutes, or until the sides and streusel are getting golden. Cool 15 minutes, then remove from pan with a knife. 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.

 

Welcome Guest Blogger - Barb Goffman!!

We here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen are absolutely delighted to welcome Barb Goffman back for a special visit. Today Barb is here to talk a little bit about Malice Domestic (which is where I met Krista and Avery last year!) And, of course, she has a recipe to share, too!

Let me step aside now and allow Barb to jump in...

~ Julie

If you love mysteries, particularly traditional mysteries, take note: Only 96 days until Malice! Yep, just four months before Malice Domestic begins. On April 30^th, the largest annual fan convention devoted to the traditional mystery begins its 2010 adventure in Arlington, Virginia – right outside DC.

And an adventure it is. If you’ve been to Malice recently, you know the fun we’ve had. (Yes, as program chair, I’m biased, but I’m also right!) If you haven’t been to Malice recently, here’s a little bit of what you’ve been missing:

· Parnell Hall in drag, appearing as his character The Puzzle Lady

· Peter Lovesey sharing the hilarious results of his books being translated into Japanese

· Marcia Talley sharing all her dirty little secrets

· Carole Nelson Douglas morphing from Delilah Street into Midnight Louie

· The chance to snag an empty seat at your favorite author’s table and share a meal with her. (I had breakfast on the fly last year with Anne Perry!)

· Meeting mystery fans from throughout the U.S. and beyond. Perhaps you’ve heard from Doris Ann Norris, the 2000-year-old librarian, on listservs like DorothyL. At Malice you can meet her in the flesh.

· Sitting with your favorite author at the Agatha Awards dinner

· Learning how to kill with undetected poisons from The Poison Lady herself, Luci Zahray

· Hearing funny lady Elaine Viets lead this panel of comedians: Don Bruns, Jeff Cohen, Parnell Hall, and Pari Noskin Taichert

· Watching Sherlock Holmes face off against Hercule Piorot in the greatest-sleuth-of-all contest. (Sherlock won.)

· Learning CSI techniques from real-life technician John French.

· Attending a whirlwind charity auction run by Hank Phillippi Ryan and Pari Noskin Taichert and winning the chance to name a pet in Sandy Parshall’s next book

And here’s just some of what you’ll miss this year if you don’t attend:

· Mary Higgins Clark. Need I say more? The queen of suspense will be our lifetime achievement honoree, and she will be in the house.

· William Link. Don’t recognize the name? Well, maybe you’ll recognize these names: Columbo, Mannix, and Murder She Wrote. He co-created and produced them all and he’s this year’s Poirot Award honoree.

· A tribute to Ed Hoch. The man had nearly 1,000 mystery short stories published. His passing two years again was a real loss to the mystery world. This year his friends and family will gather to honor his memory.

· The return of some real fan favorites. Margaret Maron. Dorothy Cannell. Charles Todd. Carolyn Hart. Katherine Hall Page. Louise Penny. Donna Andrews. They’ll all be there, sitting on panels, signing books, chatting with fans. Maybe even with you.

· Some ladies from a little blog called Mystery Lovers Kitchen. Yep, Avery Aames, Krista Davis, and Riley Adams (aka Elizabeth Spann Craig) are all on the schedule.

· Rhys Bowen as toastmaster. If you’ve never heard this funny lady, well, you really shouldn’t deprive yourself of the treat.

· And last, but certainly not least, our guest of honor, Parnell Hall. He sings. He acts. He tells jokes. Oh yeah, he also writes great books and is a hell of a nice guy. You can meet him, but you’ve got come to Malice to do so.

So how do you do that? Simple. Go to www.malicedomestic.org/registration.html. You can register online or download the snail mail form. Then make your hotel reservation, arrange your transportation, and mark your calendar for April 30th – May 2^nd. And like me, you too can start counting the days.

Here’s a little something to keep you occupied while you wait for Malice: Our chair Verena Rose’s Seven Deadly Sin Salad.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh spinach, torn

1 medium head lettuce, torn

6 hard cooked eggs, sliced

1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 eight-ounce can of sliced water chestnuts, drained

1 ten-ounce package of frozen English peas, thawed

1 cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

½ a package (four ounces) of buttermilk dressing mix

Optional ingredients

Sliced onion

Chopped fresh parsley

Grated cheese

Directions:

Layer the first six ingredients (plus onion, if desired) in the order listed above in a large salad bowl. Combine the mayo, sour cream and dressing mix and then mix well. Spread this mix over the top of the vegetables in the bowl, sealing to the edge of the bowl. Garnish with chopped parsley or grated cheese, if desired. Cover tightly and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Toss before serving. Yields 12 to 15 servings.

Hope you like the salad. If you’ve been to Malice before, we’d love to hear your favorite Malice memories. Please share! And if you’ll be a first-timer, we’d love to hear what you’re most looking forward to!

* * * * *

Barb Goffman is an Agatha Award-nominated author who toils as a lawyer by day to pay the vet bills at night for her miracle dog, Scout. (He had cancer three times, but now he’s cured!) She’s program chair of Malice Domestic and writes short stories in her spare time. Barb’s most recent story is “The Worst Noel” in The Gift of Murder and she’ll have a new story coming out in April in Chesapeake Crimes: They Had It Comin’, the fourth volume in the Agatha- and Anthony-award-winning Chesapeake Crimes series. Barb’s website is www.barbgoffman.com.