Thomas Keller OREO

TKO – Thomas Keller Oreo Recipe

What makes these cookies so drop dead gorgeous is the sublime duo of salty chocolate cookies sandwiching a perfect white chocolate ganache cream. And for those of you who are less than ecstatic when it comes to white chocolate, not to worry, the taste is so subtle you will find yourself converted.

So it is no wonder that my colleague Claire was, and still is addicted to TKO‘s: Thomas Keller‘s ‘grown-up’ Oreo cookies. This my friends is no small food craving, we are talking about a woman making a bee-line to the Bouchon Bakery once a day, 5 days a week to buy not 1 but 2 of these pancake sized cookies. You are getting the picture here…

As  I apparently have not lived until I’ve tried a TKO, and short of asking Bouchon to FedEx me a care package, I thought I’d make them myself.  This is Thomas Keller’s original recipe from the ‘Essence of Chocolate‘ cookbook.

See link ‘Oreo‘ below for the recipe:

TKO – Thomas Keller’s Oreo Cookie Recipe

Chocolate cookie:

• 210 g (1 1/2 cups + 3 tbls) all-purpose white flour
• 160 g (3/4 cup) white sugar
• 65 g (3/4 cup + 1 tbls) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt (do not reduce, the saltyness makes the cookie!)
• 210 g (15 tbls) unsalted butter (room temperature, cut into small cubes)

Filling:

• 118 mL (1/2 cup) heavy / full fat cream
• 230 g (8 US ounces) white chocolate (finely chopped)

Method:

First prepare the white chocolate filling:

1. Very finely chop white chocolate.
2. Heat cream till just boils, pour over chopped chocolate. Mix with whisk till all chocolate has melted.
3. Set aside for 2 hours at room temperature.*

Next prepare the chocolate cookies:

1. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda & salt, mix well.
2. Next, with mixer on slow speed, add butter cubes one by one, until a thick even batter forms
3. Per heat oven to 180°C / 350°F
4. Line two cookie sheets with baking / parchment paper, set aside
5. Separate dough into 2 pieces. Roll out between two large piece of baking paper, till approx. 0.25cm (1/8″ inch) thick
6. Place rolled out dough in fridge for 5 minutes, this makes cookie cutting easier.
7. Using a fluted cutter, cut out cookies. Put scraps together & roll out again.
8. Place 1cm (1/2″ inch) apart on cookie sheet
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove, let cool on cook sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack

Cookie assembly:

• Lightly whip the white chocolate ganache.
• You can used a pastry bag with 1/4″ plain tip. I used a spoon and knife. Place 1 1/2 teaspoons cream in centre of one cookie, top with another cookie to form a sandwich.
• Gently press down till cream comes near edges
• Can be stored in loosely covered container, in fridge for 3 days.

*NOTE : the original recipe said to leave the ganache to sit for at least 6 hours. Perhaps if you use a pastry bag this is necessary. But with a spoon & knife I found 2 hours was sufficient to thicken the chocolate cream.

SHORTBREAD : I have always liked butter…. but in small quantities – feeling that too much of a good thing overwhelms the pleasures of the palate. Unfortunately, when I was a little girl my grandfather did not share these sentiments, and when asked to make us sandwiches for tea, he was prone to far more generous layers of butter, than bread & cucumber combined. There was then a mad dash to remove 90% of the golden spread & hide it in a napkin, before he returned to check that everything was ok!

All this being said, there is one area of baking where the less is more butter philosophy is brought into question – this being sablé (shortbread) cookie making. Butter is the defining building block, the foundation of this biscuit, without which you would be left with smiply flour & sugar. It’s quality is therefore of the utmost importance and once you have tasted these cookies, home made with fresh butter, you understand why the storebought variety always seems to have this slightly unpleasant aftertaste … it’s the butter.

It reminds me of the final scene in the movie ‘Mostly Martha’, where Martha (a famous Hamburg Chef) tastes the lemon tart her psychiatrist has prepared for her, using her recipe.

• some thing’s not right… she says
• how can that be? I followed your instructions to the letter?… he replies
• you heated the oven to exactly 210°?
• yes
• you didn’t over knead the pastry?
• no
• and the sugar, did you use Belgian sugar?
• Do you mean to say that you can tell what kind of sugar I used?
• No, of course not, but I can tell what kind you DIDN’T use!

This is my second dedication to the ‘Comme un Chef‘ cookbook – a delectable recipe for Sablés Viennois (Viennese Shortbread), which I can only think of improving by dipping one end in sinful dark chocolate that melts ever so slowly on your tongue. Otherwise they PERFECT.

While the recipe calls for a 9mm nozzle (douille), I used an 8m as that is what I had on hand. Though in future I would follow the original  instructions, as a larger nozzle makes the cookie formation far easier. You will also find that as you work with the piping bag and the dough warms, the cookies are easier to form.

RECIPE – SWEET PEABlog

• 200gr unsalted butter
• 75gr icing sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 vanilla bean pod
• 1 egg white
• 225gr white all-purpose flour

1. Let the butter naturally come to room temperature (Guide to Butter & Baking)
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F convection heat
3. Beat the butter until it becomes white
4. Add sugar, salt, vanilla* and egg white
5. Beat for 30 seconds! This is important - do not over beat or the mixture will start to separate
6. Gently mix in the flour – chef’s tip was NOT to over mix, you just want the flour to be evenly combined.
7. Prepare the pasty bag and then add heaping spoon-fulls of dough into the bottom of the bag (avoiding air pockets), until all the dough is used.
8. Next, on a lined baking sheet, pipe out the cookies (see photo), leaving 2cm /1 inch in between each cookie
9. Bake for 12 minutes or until just golden.
10. Leave to cool on a cooling rack

*Take 1/2 a vanilla bean pod, slice it lengthwise & remove the inside by scrapping with a teaspoon

SHORTBREAD :

JUST CALL ME MELLOW YELLOW : Field Guide to Butter & Baking

Recently I have been reading the book TASTE by Kate Colquhoun, in which she describes the creation of English butter as an accident! When people travelled, cream was stored in leather pouches, which bumped and jostled along the route, until it thickened and turned into butter.

I remember learing how to make butter in kindergarden, it was like a field trip - but in the classroom! First we had to quietly get into a straight line (which was easier said than done for 15 little girls) and then each of us was given a glass jar, into which the teacher poured lovely thick cream. Tightly closing the lid, we shook the jars, watching in amazement as pale yellow islands gradually formed. Pouring out the remaining milk, we pressed the butter to remove excess water, rinsed & dried each cube & voila homemade butter!

Butter may have been simple to make but I’ve found that  it can be delicate to cook with, especially when it comes to baking. The New York Times has a great article on how butter holds the key to making great cookie, which seemed particularly appropriate to my current post, as one of only three main ingredients used is BUTTER!

THE BUTTER GUIDE – Here is a snippet:

• Cold butters ability to hold air is the key to prefect dough / pastry!
• Creaming butter softens it & adds the air bubbles
• Preparing refrigerated butter for creaming: Cut butter into cubes, spread out on a plate & leave at room temp (do not use microwave or oven)
• Ready to cream test: when butter is still cool but takes a finger imprint when gently pressed
• Cream for at least 3 minutes at medium speed

RECIPE : SWEET PEA blog

These shortbread cookies (sablés) from Cuisiner Comme un Chef are buttery golden circles with vanilla speckled interiors & sweet sugary edges, that seem to melt in your mouth. They have the perfect harmony of butter, sugar & flour that produces a cookies that is not to sweet, heavy or crunchy.

The only tiny substitution that I made was to use pure vanilla bean instead of vanilla essence & cut the cylinders into 1cm slices instead of 2cm as per the original recipe. And if it is anything to go on, so impressed was I with the result that I made these cookie, not once, not twice but three times in the last few weeks & will shortly be turning into a shortbread or porkchop (which ever comes 1st), if this continues!

• 225 gr unsalted butter (cold from the fridge)
• 100 gr white sugar
• the interior of 1/2 a vanilla bean
• 320 gr white all purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• White sugar for rolling dough cylinders in

1. Cut butter into cubes, spread them on a plat and leave at room temperature.
2. Ready to cream test: when the butter is still cool but takes a finger imprint when gently pressed it’s ready
3. Cream the butter in an electric mixture for 3 minutes, it will lighten in colour.
4. Take 1/2 a vanilla bean pod, slice it lengthwise & remove the inside by scrapping with a teaspoon
5. Add the sugar, salt & vanilla to the butter & cream until mixed
6. I use the paddle attachement now. Add the flour in two batches. Mix until large bread crumbs form
7. Note: handle the dough as little as possible. Split the dough into three portions. Make a ball out of each. Roll each boll into a 3cm diameter cylinder
8. Wrap each cylinder in plastic wrap & chill for 30 minutes
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F convection heat
10. Generously sprinkle white sugar onto a clean, flat surface. Roll each cylinder in the sugar until evenly coated
11. Cut each cylinder into 1cm thick slices
12. Space the slices out on a lined cookie sheet & cook for 14 minutes or until cookie edges are just golden
13. Delicately place on cooling rack, the cookies will be less fragile when cooled

My NEW Dutch FOOD ADDICTION….  

ROAD TRIP - ok that’s not 100% true as I took a plane, so it’s PLANE trip…  and that just doesn’t have the same ring now does it. Oh well.  

Point being, I went to visit my brother in Holland this past weekend. Didn’t really know what to expect – outside the lovely architecture, Dutch paintings & Amsterdam’s claims to fame (wacky tabcky & the dancing shows…) But I was really there to see him so the rest was just details.  

Despite being warned that Holland was not one of the top 10 ten gastronomic heavens of this world,  (there was mention of much frying, mayonnaise & starchy carbs ), I still managed to followed my stomach around like a blood hound on the scent…

  

The mayonnaise was no deterrent – it has been my ketchup since I was little. And on hot crispy hand made french fries, who could say no.

The cheese was also spectacular. Though the service was a little brisk, and my request for only 200 grams promptly ignored – & replaced by a large DUTCH SLICE = 1/2 a kilo… The taste and choice was wonderful.

But the real diamond in the rough was the STROOPWAFFLES  If you haven’t tried these yet, you are in for a real treat. This is a cookie made of two thin vanilla waffles, with a thick sweet gold caramel in between. They are served hot in the Rotterdam Saturday farmers market, in small, medium or large sizes. It can be argues that they are surprisingly even better when left to cool!

HONEY ALMOND COOKIES

Leafing through my cookbooks in preparation for Christmas baking, I realised that cookie making really falls into three main categories:

1. drop cookies
2. cut-out cookies
3. cylinder cookies

DROP COOKIES: are those that require just a finger and a spoon, to drop small quantities of dough onto cookies sheets. This is the no fuss no muss method, especially handy when baking with children.

CUT-OUT COOKIES: the pretty though time consuming cousin… involving the chilling & rolling out of dough, to make lovely shapes, that can be iced and decorated.

CYLINDER COOKIES:are made by rolling the dough into a cylindrical form & then slicing it into rounds. Often used to make shortbread cookies (sablés).

My recipe for honey almond cookies falls into the first category, for though I love making pretty cut-out cookies, and will soon be doing so for the holiday season, I often need a quick baking solution after work.

So where is the ‘click & sniff’ button when you really need it – there is a button for just about everything else now a days, and it would definately be worth while, as the scent of toasted almonds with caramelising honey, will leave you fainting from felicity.

RECIPE – SWEET PEA Blog

If the number of cookies eaten by one man in an hour was the benchmark for success, the I would say these cookies are at the top of the list. Olivier ate not 1 nor 2 but 10, and this is no joke …. every time he came back from the kitchen it was with another cookie. Thank goodness he has a fast metabolism otherwise, at this rate … I would have one chubby chipmunk on my hands.

COOKIE SHEET: best to use a flat sheet with only one side, to let the hot air best circulate around the cookies.

• 110 gr (1/2 cup) butter (room temperature)
• 100 gr (1/2 cup) white sugar
• 50 gr (1/4 cup) packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 170 gr (1  1/4cup) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 120 grams (1 cup) slivered almonds
• 2 tablespoons honey (I use a strong thyme honey)

First prepare the almonds:

1. Line a cooling rack with baking paper
2. In a large non-stick pan toast the almonds
3. When slightly golden add the honey
4. Mix well so all almonds are covered with honey and cook until golden brown
5. Spread the honey almonds onto the baking paper as evenly & far apart as possible. It may be difficult as they like to stick together.
6. Leave to cool, prepare the dough while waiting.
7. When completely cooled break the honey almonds into small pieces

Cookie dough preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C convection heat
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt & baking powder, set aside
3. Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature. Cream butter, white & brown sugar together.
4. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy
5. Now gradually add the flour mixture
6. Using a spatula, fold the broken honey almond pieces into the dough
7. Place heaping teaspoons of dough onto a lined cookie sheet* (leave space for spreading)
8. Cook for 6 minutes
9. Remove from oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for 1 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack – this avoids cookies breaking

NOTE:  makes approx. 2 douzen cookies

Chocolate cookies

CHOCOLATE COOKIES / BISCUITS AU CHOCOLAT

Much of my mental cooking is done in bed….  Some people count sheep to fall asleep…. “not I”, said the duck, (yes it is the barn yard theme today … ), I find myself mulling over the contents of our kitchen cupboards! Ingredients to be used, combined, obtained – dreamily preparing what to cook or bake the next day. A perfect obsessions for the insomniac cook!

Soba noodles, broad beans & chickpeas (which reminds me, I must make some hummus), to the vanilla beans, saffron and pecans, past the buckwheat flour (oooh crèps for breakfast!), almond meal & rolled oats, ah yes the new molasses (I have plans for you!) – and what this hiding in the corner…. 2 bars of Cailler’s Cacao Extrême 74% dark chocolate! How could these have gone undetected for so long! My cupboard radar must be off.

That got the wheels turning. The cookie jar was empty & my chocolate chip recipe has been asking for a make-over … well not in so many words… but there just never seems to be enough chocolate….

Click the link ‘Chocolate cookies’ for the recipe:

CHOCOLATE COOKIES Recipe : ERIKA ALLISTON Sweet Pea Blog

The make-over: I took my mother’s original chocolate chip cookie recipe and replaced the vegetable shortening (crisco) with butter – I am not a big fan of processed fats and generally prefer to eat what nature intended! I also had to increase the flour quantity as by removing the chocolate chips and adding the rich melted dark chocolate, the consistency of the batter needed a little thickening. And as it’s what’s inside that counts, I recommend using a tried and true, quality dark chocolate for this recipe….

Why all the fuss: well, these cookies are the perfect marriage of a chocolate chip cookie & a brownie …  slightly crunchy on the outside, while ever so fondant on the inside… a chewy, chocolaty little piece of heaven, that any chocoholic would sell their soul for!

• 110g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
• 100g (1/2 cup) white sugar
• 50g (1/4 cup) packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 170g (1 1/4 cups) white all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 150g dark chocolate (70%)

This recipe makes approx. 35 cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C convection heat
2. Line two cooking sheets with baking paper
3. Combine the flour, baking soda & salt and set aside.
4. In a separate large mixing bowl combine the SOFTENED butter, white & brown sugar. Beat until pale & fluffy.
5. Add the egg & vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat well.
6. Break the chocolate into small pieces. The smaller the faster they melts. In a saucepan on very low heat, melt the chocolate – continuously stir so it melts evenly and does not stick / burn on the bottom.
7. Make sure the chocolate is room temperature, then add it to the egg/butter mixture. Beat well.
8. Now gradually add the flour mixture to the batter
9. Evenly place heaping teaspoons of batter onto the lined cooking sheets.
10. Place one in the oven and cook for 6 minutes
11. IMPORTANT: remove from oven and let cookies cool ON THE SHEET for 1 minutes before removing. Otherwise they will be too soft & break!
12. Store in a sealed container when cool.

SUGAR COOKIES :

C is for cookie …. well that all depends on where you come from. In England & Australia B is for Biscuit and in Spain G is for Galletas, whereas in Italy they have a completely different range of names from amaretti to biscotti.

Going back to the root of the English word ‘cookie’, we find that it was derived from the Dutch word koekje, meaning small/little cake. According to culinary historians, these little cakes were the product of chefs using small amounts of batter to test the heat of their ovens before baking. I will soon be taking a trip over to Holland, to visit my brother and to taste the local delicacies - he says they have excellent local cheese & yogurt, so I will be reporting back!

In regards to reporting back, each year I find that the decrease in autumn temperature, brings with it an increase in my desire to cook with fragrant spices. However when it comes to my spice rack, I fear I have lately been playing favourites ….  exploiting certain spices while marginalsing others to their traditional roles.

A good example of this is nutmeg – great for beshamel sauce, perfect for rice pudding and even better when used in savoury spinach quiche. But should that be all? Is that everything this little ”nut” has to offer?? Perhaps I should be looking outside the recipe box, to the sweeter side of life. Which got me to thinking about my mother’s delicious sugar cookies and how nicely they would compliment the aromatic flavours of nutmeg. And as they say, whoever they are, the rest is history!

NUTMEG – A History

• Native to the Banda islands of Indonesia
• Nutmeg is a seed from the evergreen tree
• The tree produces small yellow flowers that bear fruit – inside is the nutmeg seed
• Name derived from the Latin nux muscatus “musky nut”
• The Pericarp (exterior fruit/pod surrounding the nutmeg seed) is not waisted : in Grenada it is used to make ‘Morne Delice’ jam, in Indonesia for making candy, “nutmeg sweets”
• Prized / costly spice in medieval cuisine : St. Theodore (ca.758-826) supposed to have allowed his monks to sprinkle nutmeg on their pea pudding!!!
• Valude for its medical properties : remedies for nausea & indigestion
• Use : Best grated fresh!

RECIPE - ERIKA ALLISTON – Sweet Pea Blog

Ingredients:

• 175 gr (3/4 cup) softened unsalted butter
• 170 gr (1 cup) packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla
• 300 gr (2.5 cups) white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

Directions:

1. Beat the softened butter until light in colour & texture
2. Now add in brown sugar in 3 lots
3. Next beat in egg & vanilla
4. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder & salt, mix well.
5. Now add to butter mixture in 3 lots
6. Make a round flat ball with the dough, divide in 1/2 & cover in plastic wrap
7. Chill for 1 hour
8. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F)
9. Using 1/2 the dough at a time, roll out on a well floured surface & rolling pin (approx. 0.5cm thick)
10. Cut out shapes using large cookie cutters
11. Place on a non stick baking sheet at least 1cm (1/2 inch) apart and bake for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on your oven and how chewy you like the cookies to be!)
12. Let cook on a cookie rack.

AMARETTI These well known Italian almond cookies, get their name from the Italian word ‘amaro’ meaning ‘bitter’ as they are made with bitter almonds & ‘etti’ indicating that they are small. Don’t be scared off, as most of you know, these cookies are anything but bitter, and the ones I make are not small!

Though I have to say that the Nona’s out there must have a hidden family secret or simply a magic fairy in the pantry, that allows them to make this recipe perfectly every time. Let’s just say that I was a ‘virgin amaretti maker’ a ‘babe in the kitchen’ and was in serious need of 1. a pair of training wheels 2. a Nona with a black belt in Italian patisserie and 3. to “borrow” that little magic fairy….

As my 1st attempt produced a very sad, poor excuse for amaretti …. they were lifeless and flat, and while the exterior was shiny & crispy, the biggest disappointment was yet to come – as biting into the cookie you were to discover – NOTHING, AIR, VOID, HOLLOW SPACE…. oooh that cannot be good I though.

So I went back to the drawing board. After much reading & baking, I came accross Yvonne’s recipe for amaretti’s. For this I have to say ‘chapeau’, my hat goes off to her – so impressed was I with these cookies, that I was inspired to create my own version based on her recipe - omitting the cocoa powder & almond decoration,  and using pure almond essence. These amaretti cookies are easy to make, have a lovely almond taste and a wonderfully soft centre!

RECIPE - SWEET PEA BLOG

• 680g (1 1/2 pounds) ground almonds (almond meal)
• 440g (2 cups) white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond essence (see NOTES below)
• 30g of icing sugar for dusting the tops of the amaretti
• 2 pinches of salt

1. Position the oven rack so that it is at the bottom of the oven.
2. Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F)
3. Check that your ground almonds are as fine as possible. You can always pass them through a blender to make sure.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds, salt and sugar, mixing well with a fork.
5. Next mix in the eggs (all at once – no need to beat in advance), and almond essence.
6. Line two cookie sheet with baking paper, and using a tablespoon, make round balls of cookie dough and place them on the baking sheet (leaving 2cm of space between each).
7. Cook for 10 minutes on the lowest rack in the oven, then move the rack to the middle of the oven and bake of an additional 5 minutes.Leave to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack.
8. Using a small sieve, sprinkle each cookie with a light dust of powder (icing) sugar.

NOTES: if you take 100g of whole almonds and grind them = 100g ground almonds. Yvonne’s recipe calls for 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa which is a nice alternative and should be combined with the almonds/sugar/salt. She also rolls her amaretti cookies in white sugar before baking them which you may prefer – instead of dusting them with icing sugar. If you do not have pure almond essence and are using almond extract (which is not as strong), you will need to using about 3 tablespoons in total – taste as you go!!

{KIP’S GARIBALDI BISCUITS} What’s in a name ….. While my uncles birth certificate reads ‘Nicholas Alliston’, very few people know this, and even fewer call him anything but Kip. A nickname he was given by my grandfather – a true gourmand, who had a weakness for Kippers (a smoked fish of either salmon or herring)

As the story goes, my grandfather was at home in bed with the flu. Impatient as he was when it came to food, he couldn’t wait for his breakfast, so he shouted downstairs ‘where’s my Kipper?’ At which point my uncle jumped out from behind the door and shouted ‘here I am!’ – and the name has stuck ever since. As a child he couldn’t pronounce nor spell ‘Kipper’, and so, as children do, he changed it to Kippa, which turned into Kip –  but the route is there as is his love for food and cooking.

When visiting his house in the country your nose is invigorated by delicious smells that come wafting from the kitchen…. pork pie, roasted balsamic tomatoes, soufflé, homemade bread…. However, I have generally been a passive observer, an eager taster but rarely his sou-chef in such creations. That was until this summer when I was indoctrinated into the ‘Alliston Garibaldi kitchen of fame’.

The following is the recipe my uncle taught me, one that he had perfected over time, in a quest to keep up with my Aunts love of biscuits and cups of tea. They originate from England and are named after the Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), who enjoyed eating these biscuits when he visited the UK. The small personal touch I added, was to use only currents (no raisins) and to reduce the quantity from 400g to 300g.

RECIPE - SWEET PEA BLOG

• 200g plain white flour
• 200g icing sugar
• 140g unsalted butter
• 3 egg whites
• 300g currents
• egg wash for biscuits = 1 egg yolk + 1 whole egg

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. First separate the eggs : 1 bowl with 3 egg whites and a 2nd bowl for the egg wash = 1 egg yolk +  1 whole egg whisked together – set the bowls aside.
3. Now in a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and the icing sugar and mix well. Next melt the butter, then combine with the sugar/flour mixture until what looks like little breadcrumbs.
4. Next add the 3 egg whites (no need to beat them in advance) and mix until you have a very smooth batter. Finally fold in the currents. This is a very wet dough that must now be chilled for at least 1 hour.
5. Place half the dough on a large piece of baking paper. Flour the surface of the dough and the rolling pin well, and roll out until approximately 0.5cm thick. Place on a baking sheet.
6. Using a pastry brush, cover the entire surface of the dough with a thick lager of egg wash.
7. Cook for 20-22 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and using a large sharp knife immediately cut into rectangles. Leave the cookies to harden for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

NOTE: as the dough is VERY wet, please do not reduce the chilling time or it will be difficult to roll out.

{SIRAPSSNITTAR} are very addictive buttery Swedish cookies, whose name translates to Sirap = Syrup/treacle Snitt = Cut, a logical name given that they are made with syrup and cut into squares when removed from the oven. I have baked 3 batches in the last 10 days and should theoretically have gained 10 pounds by now, had it not been for eager friends who were willing to take these divine treats off my hands.

Story : Little did I know it at that time, but my cookie making world was about to be turned upside down, whilst visiting Gamla Stan (the Old Town) of Stockholm a few months ago. It was here that I accidentally found Grillska Huset’s café and purchased my first bag of sirapssnittars. I must confess I have pleasantly not recovered since – this may be the best cookie i have had / made. The taste was like a portal back to my childhood, of home comfort , milk and cookies!

Olivier’s mom had the same experience when she tasted one – saying that it reminded her of when she was a little girl of 5, at her uncle’s pâtisserie in Paris. It was here that she spent one afternoon, nestled amongst the pastries, as her mother, sister, aunt and cousin went exploring the town. She was too little and therefore had no choice but to stay behind, the silver lining of which was her uncles undivided attention and an unlimited amount of sweet cakes…. ‘tu aimerais goûter encore celui-ci… tiens ma cocotte!” (would you like to taste this one… here my little chicken) When her mother returned that evening she was full of sugar, had red cheeks, a temperature of 40° and indigestion. When she thinks back to that day she laughs and says ‘it was well worth it!’

As for me, I returned to Geneva and was on the hunt for a recipe to recreate these wonderful cookies. After interrogating many a Swedish friend, I was thrilled to receive an email from Frida with this recipe: 

RECIPE - SWEET PEA BLOG

• 190g plain flour 
• 100g unsalted butter
• 115g white sugar
• 1 large tablespoon golden syrup / treacle (in Geneva it can be called light golden molasses)
• 1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
2. Take the butter out of the fridge, cut into little squares and leave to come to room temperature. When ready, using an electric mixed combine the butter, sugar and vanilla, and beat until light and creamy.
3. Now add the syrup and mix.
4. In a separate bowl combine the flour and the baking powder – gradually add this to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs . 
5. Using your fingers, work the dough until it forms a nice smooth flat ball (this can take a few minutes).
6. Flour a large cookie sheet with no rims (I found one at Ikea). With a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough directly onto the cookie sheet, until it forms a circle, approximately 0.4cm thick. Alternatively you can roll the dough out onto cooking parchment and then transfer onto the cookie sheet.
7. Cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately, using a very sharp large knife, cut them into sections. I like lozenge shaped cookie …. 1st cut vertical lines (3cm wide), 2nd cut diagonal lines in one direction. All forms taste great …. so be creative!
9. Leave the cookies to harden a little (5 minutes) before transferring them to a cooling rack.

NOTE: I use an inexpensive Ikea cookie sheet so that I can cut the cookie directly on the sheet, which is faster and easier than using cooking parchment! However there is the slight annoyance that the ikea cookie sheet has been known to buckle in the oven due to the heat, but this doesn’t affect the cookies. Also a cookie spatula is an ideal tool to transfer the cookies to the cooling rack.