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.
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