My sister was supposed to bring dessert to Thanksgiving. Instead, she brought chocolate strawberries to go with the pre-mealtime champagne. A very welcome treat, but left nothing for us at the end of the meal! We all wanted that sweet ending to our turkey dinner.
I pulled some sweet tart dough out of the freezer to make some cutouts. After all, it was time to break out the holiday shapes. My son, Asher, was instantly intrigued. He pulled a tall stool up to the counter and chose the shapes – stars and candy canes.
For the next three days, first thing in the morning, he pulled out the tart dough from the freezer, the tin with the cutouts, the rolling pin, the silpat, and the baking sheet, plunking them on the counter one-by-one. He branched out to other shapes – angel, toy soldier, reindeer. Not meant for sharing, of course, although we did manage to snag just one each.
The ultimate holiday cookies were to be at the Holiday Tea hosted by the iconic Top of the Mark with 365 degree views of the city. All the guests could choose between stars, reindeer and an ornament – shapes with huge canvases. Toppings included sprinkles galore, sugar shapes of mini stockings, mittens, Santa heads and royal icing in red, white and green to pipe and decorate. Asher delighted in the experience.
Even though those Holiday Tea cookies were the ultimate in appearance, my son still preferred the simple tart dough cookies from home. It is a sweet tart dough, more akin to shortbread, with much less sugar than traditional sugar cookie dough.
Sweet Tart Dough
1 cup plus 2 T organic unbleached flour
3 T. organic sugar (or coconut sugar)
½ t. salt
1 t. vanilla
½ t. cinnamon
1 stick of chilled butter
1 egg
Combine flour, sugar, salt and vanilla powder in a bowl. Cut chilled butter into tiny cubes and rub into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse sand. Lightly whisk egg in a small bowl and add gently to flour mixture. Knead the dough until egg is incorporated. Form a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze at least 30 minutes for immediate use, or up to 3 months.
Roll dough to 1/4” thickness. Bake cookies at 325 degrees for 7-8 minutes until edges are golden brown. Makes about 36 cutouts. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired.
Note: I prefer to mix by hand as it produces a delicate, lighter dough. Dough needs to be as chilled as possible to keep flaky texture. Dough can be rolled out to form shapes up to 3 times as long as it is still cool to the touch.
