Cookie Exchange: Spoon Cookies!

I went step by step through the Spoon Cookie recipe, and I have to say I'm pleased. I tried the results out on the neighbors and everyone agreed they were tasty, so I hope it'll be a hit at C's cookie exchange.

Anyway, I came across a site called visual recipes that takes people through the steps of each recipe with pictures. This is a fantastic idea! I often wonder if I'm doing something right (stop laughing!) and find that it helps to see what things are supposed to look like at each stage. So, that spirit, I documented my baking recipe. Here it is with a few modifications:

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt, slightly rounded
• 1/3 cup fruit preserves (I used huckleberry jam and chokeberry jelly that I picked up on a trip to Montana)

Make dough
Melt butter in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden with a nutlike fragrance and flecks on bottom of pan turn a rich caramel brown, 10 to 12 minutes. (Butter will initially foam, then dissipate. A thicker foam will appear and cover the surface just before butter begins to brown; stir more frequently toward end of cooking.)

Fill kitchen sink with about 2 inches of cold water. Place pan in sink to stop cooking, then cool, stirring frequently, until butter starts to look opaque, about 4 minutes. I found this step a little difficult. My pans have a dark coating, so I couldn't see if the butter was turning opaque. I made sure it was cool and moved on to the next step.

Remove pan from sink and stir in sugar and vanilla. At this point the recipe says to whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and stir into butter mixture until a dough forms. I found that "whisking" didn't work. I just mixed things together really well with a spoon.

Shape into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and let stand at cool room temperature 1 to 2 hours (to allow flavors to develop). I used the time to move on to my next recipe: Cherry Bourbon Balls! BTW, quart-sized ziplock bags work really well for this step, and you can wash it out and use it for other recipes.

Form and bake cookies
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

Press a piece of dough into bowl of teaspoon, flattening top, then slide out and place, flat side down, on an ungreased baking sheet. (Dough will feel crumbly, but will become cohesive when pressed.) Continue forming cookies and arranging on sheet. Bake cookies until just pale golden, 8 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheet on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.

I found this part of the recipe to be tedious and a little frustrating. I didn't have a deep teaspoon, so I used my measuring teaspoon to form the cookies. They were a little hard to pop out. I wonder if this recipe would work as well by rolling the dough by hand and pressing them flat? I may try that next time.

Assemble cookies
I skipped the part about making sure the preserves were smooth, and mixed the jelly really well so that it would spread evenly. These cookies are crumbly, so you can't put too much pressure on them.

Spread the flat side of a cookie with a thin layer of preserves. Sandwich with flat side of another cookie. Continue with remaining cookies and preserves, then let stand until set, about 45 minutes. Transfer cookies to an airtight container and wait 2 days before eating.

I didn't wait 2 days and I don't regret it. :-) However, I agree that these cookies get better if you wait a while.

Via Epicurious