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Gluten-Free Soft Vanilla Sugar Cookies
I used to make this recipe (using all-purpose flour instead of gluten-free) multiple times a week when I was a pastry chef at a wonderful restaurant called Grace. Every week I would make different ice creams and sorbets that were accompanied by a different flavor of cookie. I would find myself using this recipe a lot. This recipe delivers great flavor without being time-consuming. I have used this base recipe for so many different flavor combinations, such as rosemary/pine nut and Chinese five spice. It’s able to take on different flavors without changing the texture or the integrity of the cookie. So when one of my followers, Monica, requested some…
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Brown Butter Sugar Cookie Squirrels (And How To Properly Brown Butter)
To make brown butter you only need one ingredient. Can you guess what it is? I’ll wait. Okay. Okay. ……..It’s butter. I KNOW. Plot twist. Brown butter is so easy to make, but it really packs a punch of flavor, especially in these cookies (but I also use it for other baked goods). I haven’t tried it in banana bread yet, but that’s a baking adventure for another day. So what does it mean to brown butter? Essentially, you cook any excess water out of the butter, and then the milk solids caramelize. Once this happens, you end up with a nutty and caramel-y flavor. While brown butter is a…
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Gingerbread People
We all know the nursery rhyme: “Run, Run, Run as fast as you can, You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” Which on a side note, is terrifying. Imagine baking a gingerbread cookie, and when you open the oven it suddenly bursts out and runs away while yelling at you. I don’t know which is more alarming- the bursting, the running, or the yelling. It’s probably just the being alive part. That story is a weird one, because I don’t actually remember learning a life lesson from that story. I just remember being confused as to why everyone in the story (the people, the farmyard animals and eventually the…
