Cultured Butter Cookies

NOTE: Dough must be chilled for at least one hour before baking cookies.

2 cups flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 sticks salted, cultured butter (such as Vermont Cultured Butter with Sea Salt), at room temperature
⅔ cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
¼ cup demerara sugar, for rolling

In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.

With an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until lightened in color and fluffy; beat in egg yolk until combined. With mixer at low setting, add flour mixture until incorporated.

Divide dough into two balls. On a clean surface, roll each ball into a 1½ inch log. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over a sheet of parchment. Roll each log in the sugar until the outside of the dough is thoroughly covered. Cover the logs tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Use a large, sharp knife to cut each log into ¼ inch thick rounds. Place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookie edges are golden brown, about 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Touch of Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies

NOTE: Cookie dough must be chilled at least 30 minutes before baking.

1 cup butter, melted and cooled for at least 5 minutes
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup pure maple syrup
3¼ cups flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring until combined. Stir in vanilla and maple syrup.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and baking soda.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover bowl and allow to chill for at least 30 minutes. While dough is chilling, preheat oven t to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.

Scoop about 2-2½ tbsp of cookie dough and roll  into balls, making them slightly taller than they are wide. Place them about 2” apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 13 minutes until edges begin to turn golden brown.

Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet.

Keep unbaked cookie dough in fridge while waiting to put the next batch in the oven and do not put cookie dough on a hot cookie sheet.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large banana (about ½ cup mashed)
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or ½ cup milk chocolate and ½ cup semisweet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butters and sugars, mix until smooth. Add in egg and vanilla. Next, add the mashed banana and mix until combined.

Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Form cookie dough into balls, using about 2 tbsp of dough per cookie. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden around the edges but still soft in center. Remove from oven and let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely. These cookies freeze well.

Makes 20 cookies.

FAVORITE RECIPES FROM DORIE'S COOKIES

Below are the recipes I have tried from Dorie Greenspan's FABULOUS cookbook. I highly recommend that you buy it, borrow it from your Library or Google her recipes. Or contact me and I'll send you the recipe.

COOKIES:

CHOCOLATE-OATMEAL BISCOFF COOKIES

CLASSIC JAMMERS

CRASH-O-COOKIES

TWO-BITE, ONE -CHIP COOKIES

VANILLA-BROWN BUTTER MADELEINES

WORLD PEACE COOKIES

COCKTAIL COOKIES:

OLD BAY PRETZEL &  CHEDDAR CHEESE COOKIES

Creole Poached Chicken Breasts

2 tsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
½ carrot, chopped
1 (14½ oz) can crushed tomatoes
½ cup chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tsp thyme
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
4 (4 oz) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, or 1 lb chicken tenders

Heat the oil over medium heat; saute the onions, bell pepper, celery , and carrot until tender, 4-5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, parsley, thyme, salt, and cayenne pepper; add the chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and poach, partially covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a platter. Simmer the sauce, ucovered, until reduced by half, 4-5 minutes. Spoon sauce over the chicken.

Sablé Cookies

Don’t be put off by the lengthy instructions. These French Butter cookies are not that difficult to make. NOTE: Dough must be chilled at least 2 hours before baking.

2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter (preferably high-fat, like Plugrá), softened at room temperature
½ cup sugar
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted before measuring
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour

For the decoration:
1 egg yolk
demerara sugar

Working in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until it is smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and continue to beat until smooth and velvety, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 egg yolks, again beating until well blended.

Turn off the mixer, pour in the flour and pulse the mixer about 5 times at low speed for 1 or 2 seconds each time (using a pouring shield or kitchen towel draped over the mixer). If there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple times more. Continuing at low speed, stir for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. If there is still flour on the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of it into the dough. (The dough will not come together in a ball - and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist clumpy dough when pinched feels like Play-Doh.

Scrape the dough onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long (it’s easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the wrap to help form the log). Wrap the logs well and chill of at least 2 hours. Dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment.

To decorate the edges of the sablés, whisk the egg yolk until smooth. Place one log of chilled dough on a piece of waxed paper and brush it with the yolk and then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with demerara sugar. Slice the log in ⅓” thick slices.

Place the rounds on the baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between each cookie. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. When baked, cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top. Let cookies rest 1 or 2 minutes before lifting them onto a cooling rack.

VARIATION: Lemon Sablés -  Before mixing the butter and sugar together, pout the sugar in a bowl with the grated zest of 1 to 1½ lemons. Work the zest and sugar together with your fingertips until mixture is moist, then cream it with the butter in the mixer.

Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (2¼ sticks) cold salted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ cup sugar
¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2¼ cups flour
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate or bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
1 egg, beaten to blend
Demerara sugar (for rolling)
sea salt

Using an electric mixer and a medium bowl or a stand up mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugars and vanilla and  medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour, followed by chocolate chunks, and beat just to blend.

Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log shape about 2-2¼ inches in diameter. Rolling it on the counter will help smooth it out. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Brush outside of logs with egg wash. Roll logs in demerara sugar.

Slice each log into ½” thick rounds.  Arrange on prepared baking sheet about 1” apart. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until edges are just beginning to brown, about 12-15 minutes.

NOTE: Cookie dough can be made 1 week ahead. Tightly wrap in plastic and chill, or freeze up to 1 month. Cookies can be baked 5 days ahead. Store in plastic wrap or an airtight container.