Recently Michael Ruhlman published a cookie contest on his great website. I'm all about cookies and contests, so I plan to enter. The problem is that the recipes must be original - and none of my "original" recipes (not to be confused with "Original Recipe" which, I believe, the Colonel has trademarked) are knock-your-socks-off cookies. So I need to develop a recipe between now and November 28. Realistically I only have this weekend to do it since I am out of the house 12+ hours per day for work. Thanksgiving Day will of course be consumed by turkey and the trimmings, and I have to work on Black Friday (although thankfully not at a retail store!).
This is the first attempt, but sadly I don't think it will be the winner. It's quite a fine cookie, but I just don't think it has the pizzazz to make it to the top. It's a fig/orange filling spiked with orange liqueur surrounded by a flaky slightly sweet dough. I used a 5-pointed star cookie cutter and folded over the points, pinching them together at the top, to make the shape. I like this better than doing pinwheels, which provided the inspiration.
The trouble with this cookie is that you need to like figs to like it, and I'm not convinced there will be enough fig fans on the judging panel. I took these to work today and only a handful people even took one (although the ones who did thought they were good).
The "kiss" on the top is white chocolate ganache. I used this to add a touch of sweetness.
Although the photo above is not bad, it took many shots to get there. Did you ever think a cookie could look menacing? Well, I think this photo comes close:
Maybe menacing is too strong a word but it sure looks grumpy to me.
Fig/Orange Peekaboos
Dough:
9 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried orange zest
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup cream
Filling:
6 ounces figs, chopped fine
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Cointreau or orange Curacao
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried orange zest
pinch salt
For the dough:
Stir together dry ingredients including orange zest in food processor bowl. Add butter cubes and pulse just until butter pieces are about pea-sized. Add cream and pulse about 8 more times or until begins to come together. (Dough will be crumbly).
Turn dough and bits onto clean countertop or large pastry board. Gather up all the dough into a big mound. Using the heel of your hand, push down on dough about halfway down the mound, moving away from you as you go down (frisage for those of you in the know). Work your way around the mound using this technique until all crumbly bits are incorporated and dough is cohesive.
Pat or roll dough into a 10 x 13-ish rectangle. Fold one short side over to the middle, then the other side. Fold both sides toward each other (you will then have four layers). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cold, about 3 hours (or overnight if you wish).
For the filling:
Combine all ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and simmer gently until thick. Set aside to cool.
Remove dough from fridge and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured cutting board. Cut out stars using a floured 2.5-inch (or so) 5-pointed star cookie cutter. Place one teaspoon of filling into center of each star. Fold over points of the star to meet in the middle; pinch together well (or they will come apart - trust me on this).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place filled cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden brown (about 14 minutes). Remove to a cooling rack.
When cookies are cooled, pipe a dollop of white chocolate ganache on top if desired (I used 3 ounces of white chocolate to 1 ounce of cream). Makes about 36 cookies.
