These are my cookies of choice for Valentine's Day - buttery, crunchy but chewy, and perfect, as Martha says. The recipe is from Martha Stewart's first cookbook, Entertaining, and it gets its unique and very special flavoring from brandy ( I use cognac). I've tried making it with only vanilla, and the taste is not the same, so I've stuck with the cognac. I glaze them twice with a thin confectioner's sugar and lemon juice icing - simple, but perfect. I tuck them into a little mountain of sliced strawberries, or packaged in cello bags with frilly, curly, pink ribbon and hand them out to friends on Valentine's Day. Total delight, both for me, and for the lucky recipients.
Enjoy!
To make:
2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 stick ( 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 extra-large or large egg
2 T. brandy or cognac
1/2 t. vanilla
The icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 large egg white
a few drops of lemon juice
one drop of red food coloring
Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. In mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar well, then add the egg, brandy, and vanilla and mix again. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, and mix well. The dough should be soft and come together easily. Press into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Fit two baking sheets with foil.
Cut the ball of dough in half, then roll and cut into cookies.
Placing the baking sheet in the upper part of the oven, bake for 9 minutes, then remove to cool, and bake the second sheet of cookies.
Cool the cookies on a cooling rack, then remove and cool further on another cooling rack.
When cookies are completely cooled, ice with the icing, let cool until dry, and package as wished.
The icing:
Mix the confectioner's sugar, the egg white, the lemon juice, and the drop of food coloring until smooth and well mixed. Using a pastry brush, brush each cookie once, let dry on a rack, then brush another layer on. Let dry completely, then package as you wish.
Happy Valentine's Day to all you sweethearts ♥ !
4 comments:
Those cookies are just lovely. That glaze really sets them off. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog called "Sweets for a Saturday" and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your cookies up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-4.html
Those are lovely cookies and I like the frilly pink ribbon idea -- I've frosted but never glazed -- that may be for next year!
Thanks, Lisa!
Thanks, Martha! I do love the glazed cookies, in part because, once they dry, they're easy to store and wrap - without sticky forsting. Your Valentine cookie decorating party looked like fun!
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