Cookie Consolation

Every now and then, one looks around to discover that one's hopes have been dashed and scattered about. Under such circumstances, I have been known to exclaim a mantra familiar to four year olds everywhere, "But it isn't fair!!," and dramatically retire to mope, tears welling up as I go. Although breath holding, kicking, and screaming have faded from my childhood repertoire, it could still be called a temper tantrum, aimed as it is at the cruel injustice of the world. I am not particularly proud of this habit, nor do I think it an effective strategy for ameliorating matters. But I have never really been able to effect that jaded indifference adopted by so many adults in response to disappointments.

In recent years, however, I have discovered another strategy for coping with the raw deals of life. Dashed hopes, when combined with some flour, sugar, a few eggs, and whipped up by a certain trusty Kitchenaid mixer, make the most therapeutic cookies and cakes. "But it isn't fair!!" still wells up from time to time, but I can sometimes manage to exclaim it silently to myself, and retire to the kitchen for something more productive, and so much more tasty, than moping.

It was under such circumstances that I recently found myself baking these buttery cookies. The requisite disappointment: the kitchen renovation is on hold. It's not that I was naive about the cost of such things. Considering that the purchase of this house hung on the hopes of a timely renovation of its kitchen, I did my homework. But the official estimates were many thousands of dollars higher than a few contractors had casually led us to believe they would be. And so it will all have to wait. Not for long, and perhaps only until late spring, but those sugarplum appliances have for the time being ceased to dance in my head. Sigh.

To engage in therapeutic baking in the very kitchen whose inadequacies precipitated the dashing of hopes may seem like hugging the enemy, and perhaps it is. But I am inclined to believe that this is precisely why making these cookies proved so effective. My kitchen and I have made a temporary peace. We both have our shortcomings. Mine in the form of an acute sense of injustice, its in the form of flowery pink wall paper, a clanking oven, and white plastic cabinets. I could go on, but for the sake of household harmony, I won't.

The kind of cookie baking I usually do involves mixing up a dough and dropping it in messy clumps on a cookie sheet. But the slight fussiness of these cookies--the rolling, chilling, cutting, and scoring--contributed to their power to soothe. The finished product is really quite pretty: a perfect golden disk, its geometric patterned surface set agleam by a few quick swipes of egg wash. As I set them out to cool, each one looked almost like a shortbread sun shining brightly in my kitchen.


Short Bread Cookies (or, Breton Biscuits)
adapted from Ms. Stewart's Baking Handbook
makes about 2 dozen

Paired with morning coffee, these cookies make a simple, yet extravagant tasting breakfast. We also had a few with vanilla ice cream and cherry compote for dessert.



1 1/2 cup all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large whole egg, plus 4 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

1. Sift both flours, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium-high speed until doubled in volume and pale yellow, 2-3 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Add butter in four parts, beating until completely combined after each, 1-2 minutes total. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, beating until combined.
3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half, and flatten into disks; wrap each in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Generously dust another large sheet of parchment paper with flour. Place one disk of dough in the center. Dimple in edges of the disk with your fingers to prevent it from splitting as you roll it out. Roll dough to slightly thicker than 1/4 inch, adding more flour to top of dough as necessary to prevent sticking. Transfer parchment and dough to the freezer and chill until firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining disk. (You can stack sheets of dough in the freezer).
5. Remove one sheet of dough from freezer. Using a 2 1/2 round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place them 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining disk. Gather up scraps, roll them out again, and cut out more rounds.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the whole egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush mixture over top of rounds. Let stand 5 minutes and brush again. Using a paring knife, score each round in a shallow lattice pattern, making sure not to cut all the way through the dough.
7. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are golden on top and darker around the edges. This could take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. Transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack to cool. Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.