Brown Butter Sandwich Cookies with Rosemary Caramel

Three out of the four in our family have a sweet tooth (can’t say anything about the fourth one yet, he is not even one, we’ll have to wait and see). We have chocolates, kajukathlis and pedas (Indian sweets) in the fridge and freezer, candies and cookies in the pantry and pies on the kitchen counter. There's seemingly a sweet treat on every corner of the kitchen. When it looks like our sweets stash is diminishing, I bake even more. If I ever feel guilty, I soothe my conscience with my belief that I bake 'cause I like baking.

I got this recipe from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. I didn’t make the caramel as I had a jar of dulce de leche that was waiting to be finished. So these cookies were a perfect way to finish them.

The butter in the cookies make it really soft and rich, the caramel makes it chewy and gooey and the savory taste of rosemary gives these cookies a new dimension. These cookies won’t stick around for too long.

For the cookies:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup/2 sticks butter, divided
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• ½ tsp baking powder

In a small saucepan, over low heat, heat ½ cup butter until nut brown in color, (after foaming subsides) being careful not to burn. Remove from heat to cool.

In a bowl cream together remaining ½ cup butter and sugar, until light and fluffy. Add brown butter and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and mix until blended. Flatten dough into disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill dough until firm, around 1 hour or more.

Pre heat oven to 350F/180C

Roll out dough and cut into small (2 inch) scalloped rounds with a cookie cutter. Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet, around 8-10 minutes, or until edges begin to brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Rosemary Caramel:

• ½ cup butter
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1-cup brown sugar
• ½ cup corn syrup
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Melt butter over low heat in a heavy saucepan.
2. Place sprigs of rosemary between 2 sheets of waxed paper and pound until flattened.
3. Place the sprigs in butter and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove the sprigs from butter. (At this point, I used 3/4 cup of Dulce de leche from the jar *)
4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Increase heat to medium high and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
5. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling, stirring frequently until caramel reaches 242F(use a candy thermometer) remove from heat.

Spread the rosemary caramel on a cookie and top with another. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to one week.

* The recipe above calls to use a candy thermometer. If you don't have one and don't want to invest in one, then there are a couple of other ways to make Dulce de leche. A recipe and link follows.

Caramel:

225g/8oz light brown sugar
142 ml pot single/light cream
50 g/20z butter, cubed
100 ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Put the sugar and 100 ml water in a heavy based pan, heat gently until the sugar dissolves, turn up the heat until it turns dark amber. Stir in the cream in four additions until smooth and shiny - take care as it will bubble up. Melt the butter with the sprigs of rosemary in a different pan(follow the steps 1-3 from the recipe above). Stir in the butter and 1/2 tsp salt to the caramel. Spread over the cookie and top with another.

or

Please see David Lebovitz's recipe.

Pistachio, chocolate, oat cookies

My 4 year old is a fussy eater. The only way she’ll eat oats is if it’s hidden in a cookie. I am always on the lookout for recipes in cookbooks or online to make something that my 4 year old will eat without a fuss.

When we lived in Belgium, the only English-language non-news channel to watch on TV was BBC1 and BBC 2. I loved the cooking programs on these channels and discovered some great UK chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Nigela Lawson, Rick Stein, James Martin, Gordon Ramsey, and of course, Madhur Jaffery. It was hard to get any English reading material, be it a book or a magazine in Brussels. There was one English bookstore in the city and one newsstand at the Brussels airport that had a limited section of English books and magazines. Whenever we traveled outside Brussels, we would hoard up on some UK magazines, such as, BBC GoodFood, Olive and Delicious. I would read every article in these magazines, articles on the use of fresh seasonal produce, nutrition, kitchen layout, recipes, etc. Later, when we moved to the US, I obviously didn’t have to hunt for English-language magazines but I did struggle to find the UK magazines I loved, especially GoodFood. Bookstores like Barnes and Noble had them in the international magazine section but they cost a lot.

Then one day… I opened my mailbox and there it was – the latest issue of GoodFood. Huh! How did this happen? My darling hubby surprised me with a yearly subscription. Was I thrilled or what? I have every copy of the magazine. One section of my kitchen cupboard is devoted to this beautiful tried and tested team. Every so often, GoodFood would include a special supplement, such as one on cakes, another on pastas, etc. They are all just pure mind blowing recipes.

The following recipe is adapted from one of the bonuses that I got with my subscription.

Ingredients:

• 125g/4 ½ oz unsalted butter
• 125g/4 ½ oz caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 125g/4 ½ oz porridge oats (old fashioned - not the instant ones)
• 75g/2 ¾ oz plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 100g/4oz shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
• 125g/4 ½ oz chocolate cut into chunks or chocolate chips

Method:

Heat oven to 180C/fan160c/gas 4. Lightly oil two baking sheets or use SILPAT.

Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg, vanilla, flour, baking powder and oats until well combined.

Stir in the pistachio nuts and chocolate chucks and mix well.

Divide the mixture into 16 and spoon, spaced well apart onto the baking sheets. Press down slightly with the back of a fork and bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden on the edges.

Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Almond pistachio shortbread cookie

These cookies remind me of the biscuits that we get in the local bakery back home. They are great with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

• 75g/ ½ cup shelled pistachios toasted
• 250g butter, chopped
• 160g/1 cup confectioners (icing) sugar
• 225g/1 ½ cup plain flour
• 2 tablespoons rice flour
• 2 tablespoons corn flour
• 90g/ ¾ cup almond meal
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 55g/ 1/3-cup confectioners (icing) sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 150C/300F.

Chop 50g / 1/3 cup of the pistachios, leave the remaining pistachios whole.

Beat butter and sugar in medium bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in sifted flours, almond meal and chopped nuts.

Shape level tablespoons of mixture into mounds. Place mounds about 3 cm apart on greased oven trays or SILPAT, press a whole pistachio on each. Bake for about 25 minutes or until firm. Lift cookies onto wire racks; when cool brush with orange juice, stand for 5 minutes. Dust cookies with extra sugar.

Kissables Cookies

I first started baking when we lived in Sydney. Until then, I had no idea how to bake or even how to SWITCH ON an oven. I was somehow intimidated by the oven, maybe because when I grew in India, we didn’t have one. At home, cakes were made on stove tops, in a pot. I have come a long way from the first time I baked. Now, I love baking and try out different cookies, cakes, puddings etc. I have also started to alter some recipes to include ingredients I like or have in my pantry. These cookies are colorful and festive and are also a fun party treat. My 4 year old loves helping out when I bake, and today when I baked these cookies with Hershey’s kissable she was just too thrilled and couldn’t wait to eat them once they were baked. You can alter the Kissables with M&M’s or Smarties.
Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 100g/4oz unsalted butter, softened.
• 100g/4oz light or dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 150g/6oz self – rising flour
• 85g/3oz Hershey’s Kissables

Method:
Heat oven to 180Cfan/350F. Beat butter and sugar together till light and creamy. Add the honey. Stir in the flour and mix till incorporated. Stir in the kissables. Divide the dough to 12-14 balls onto the baking sheet, don't flatten them. Bake for 10 -12 minutes until pale and golden at the edges. Cool on wire rack.