Category: Duxbridge mysteries

French Butter Cookies From Scratch

I recently had to get a Costco membership – long, boring story – but it’s already paying off.  When I came home from Paris four years ago, my suitcase contained 10 packages of St. Michel Butter Cookies (Galettes). I was besotted.  Super buttery, flakey, not terribly sweet with just a touch of salt. Costco sells them by the very large tin.

I’ve been trying to recreate them ever since, but it’s difficult from memory. Now I have a tin of them, I stand a better chance. These come very, very close.

French Butter Cookies

  • 1/2 cup French Butter**
  • 1/4 cup +1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 cup flour, plus extra for rolling
  • 1/4 cup skim milk POWDER
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • dash of lemon zest

Topping:

  • 1 egg yolk, dash of water
  • Mix together 2:1 sugar and salt

These need a mixer to create the flaky texture. Whip butter until fluffy, add sugar and salt. Mix again until fluffy. Add egg yolk and mix well. Finally, add flour and skim milk 1/4 cup at a time, combining before adding more.  Finish with lemon zest.

**If you can’t find French butter add 1/2 tsp salt to the batter. French butter contains more salt per serving than regular butter. It also has a very distinct flavor that I’ve never been able to recreate, so without it, cookies are delicious, but they aren’t quite St. Michel’s.

Remove to a floured surface and roll out to less than 1/4 inch thickness. The thinner, the crisper the cookie. The dough is super crumbly, so it’s easiest between two silpats or on a marble surface with plastic wrap covering the top. It’s very dry here now, so brushed a tiny bit of water over the dough before rolling thin.

Cut with a cookie cutter. Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle lightly with sugar/salt mixture.

Bake at 350 degree F for about 8 minutes. I set my timer for 4 minutes and then added 2 minutes until they were done.

I decided to up my game with some raspberry jam added before baking

If you want the traditional criss/cross pattern, it’s a bit more complicated. The dough is too delicate to use the fork method for each cookie. Instead, you’ll need to roll them out completely, refrigerate or freeze until firm. Then run a fork diagonally across the sheet of dough in one direction, and then again in the other direction. Only after the marks are made can you cut with a cookie cutter.

I used leftover dough for makeshift tarts filled with strawberry jam

You gotta know, unless I was baking for a super special crowd, that’s a bit too much work for a cookie that tastes just as good without those marks. Like, are Prince Harry and Meghan coming over? VP Harris?  Then, nope.  ;-)

Besides, I made such pretty heart shapes.

Instant Pot Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

Cool weather has settled in and I’ve had a pot of soup on most days. Today I felt like some simple, quick chicken noodle.

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

  • 8 cups water
  • 12 oz sliced carrots (I used frozen)
  • 2 stalks of celery, sliced
  • 1 lb boneless chicken breast, cubed
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 tsp crushed garlic
  • 2 tsp dried poultry seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 oz egg noodles

electric pressure cooker (instant pot, multi-pot, etc), blender

In the blender, add 4 cups water, 1 stalk of celery, and 6 oz of the carrots, blend until smooth. Add mixture to the instant pot, along with remaining water, chicken, vegetables and seasoning. Cover and cook on soup setting for 30 minutes.

Depressurize, add egg noodles, and set to saute setting, cooking uncovered for 10 minutes or until the noodles are tender.  Add more salt and pepper as needed.

x-posted at What’s 4 Dinner Solutions

 

September Grilling: Cantanzaro Chicken and Tuscan Panzanella Salad

Tonight’s menu features the Cantanzaro spice mix. Cantanzaro is a city in Italy.  So there are a lot of herbs this Italian girl recognizes: marjoram, basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano. And garlic, lots of garlic. But the kicker is the lemon and lemon peel.

It’s all very fresh for late summer/early fall harvest and great for grilling. Then I’ve added a fresh take on how to use the last of those fresh tomatoes. And just because I’m feeling ambitious, I included Gelato recipes.

On the board tonight:

  1. Grilled Cantanzaro Herbed Chicken Breasts
  2. Grilled Potatoes and Peppers (recipe here)
  3. Tuscan Panzanella Salad (recipe here)*
  4. Gelato (recipes here)

*the recipe calls for bread bowls, but with this meal, I served it over a bed of bibb lettuce.

Grilled Cantanzaro Herbed Chicken Breast

  • 1 to 1-1/2 lb boneless chicken breasts
  • 2 tsp each: garlic powder, dried marjoram, basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary,
  • 1 tbsp lemon peel
  • 1 cup lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste

grill, marinade container

Butterfly chicken breasts (slicing them open down the center so they lie flat like butterfly wings). Place them in between two pieces of plastic wrap, and pound until they are about 1/2 inch thick – you don’t want them much thinner because they will dry out on the grill.

Crush together the dry herbs. You can do it with your fingers or use a mortar and pestle.  Combine with the lemon peel.

Place chicken breasts in a shallow container with a lid (I love my pyrex containers for this). Sprinkle 1/2 the herbs over the chicken, flip, and sprinkle the remaining over the other side. Cover with lemon juice (start with 1/2 cup and use up to a cup to get coverage).

Marinate for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

Grill quickly over high heat to get a good sear on both sides, reduce heat (or remove the chicken from directly over a coal fire, to the side of the grill), and grill over low heat until the internal temperature is about 160 degrees F.  Once removed from the grill, tent loosely with foil and it will quickly reach an internal temperature of 165 without drying out. Because they are thin, this will not take long, so keep an eye on them.

x-posted at What’s 4 Dinner Solutions