WOW scale: 8
Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Skill required: Advanced Beginner
12 tablespoons European-style butter at room temperature (extra fat butter)
1-1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
3 large egg yolks
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper (or wax paper)
2. Adjust oven racks to middle and lower-middle positions and preheat to 400 degrees.
3. Using mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 1 minute. (If you do not have a paddle attachment, use a large wooden spoon and beat by hand with a fury.
4. Add sugar and beat until very light and smooth.
5. Add yolks and vanilla and beat to combine. Be sure to scrape all the way down the bowl to get every bit of delicious ingredients mixed well.
6. In a medium bowl, stir flour and salt together.
7. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture a little at a time to butter mixture, beating until dry ingredients are incorporated and a soft pliant dough has formed.
8. Using a rubber spatula, transfer one quarter of dough into a large pastry bag fitted with a small star tip or into the canister of a cookie press.
9. Use a dot of dough to anchor corners of each parchment sheet onto baking sheets.
10.Pipe or press dough in even rows, allowing 1/2-inch between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough.
11.Bake until cookie edges are deep brown, 8-10 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through.
12.Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
Yield: 6 dozen tiny cookies (72 delicious morsels)
Substitutions:
*Regular butter can be used in place of European-style butter but will not be as light.
*Do NOT use regular salt in place of sea salt. If your grocery store does not carry sea salt, ask the manager to order it. Specialty grocery stores usually have this all-too-common ingredient.
*If you do not have a pastry bag... You can spoon the cookies onto the baking sheets. Use the teaspoon measuring spoon, NOT a regular teaspoon. And go buy a pastry bag!
Commentary: This is very easy to prepare... The cookies are light and melt in your mouth. It's also very easy to consume a LOT of these in one sitting so be sure to do that when no one is looking.
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