Tea and Cookies (15 page)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

About ½ cup grape jelly or your favorite preserves, jam, or jelly

1.
Position racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.
Beat the peanut butter and butter together in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in the brown sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. On low speed, add the flour and salt and mix just until the dough is smooth.

3.
Using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie, roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the dough looks set, about 5 minutes.

4.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven. Using the end of a wooden spoon, poke a hole about ½ inch wide and ½ inch deep in the center of each ball of dough. The balls will crack slightly, but don’t worry. Return the baking sheets to the oven, switching their positions from top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking until the cookies are beginning to brown, about 5 minutes more.

5.
Meanwhile, stir the grape jelly well in a small bowl to smooth it out. Transfer the jelly to a 1-quart self-sealing plastic bag, and squeeze the jelly into one corner of the bag. Close the bag and snip off the jelly-filled corner of the bag to make a ¼-inch-wide opening.

6.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven. Using the plastic bag, fill each hole with jelly. Return the baking sheets to the oven and bake until the cookies are golden brown, about 2 minutes longer. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.

NOTE:
Use the standard hydrogenated peanut butter, as all-natural brands don’t work well in this dough.

Austrian Sandwich Cookies

MAKES ABOUT
32
COOKIES

These sandwich cookies sport bull’s-eye holes with preserves peeking through. They were a common component of my aunties’ cookie trays (not that my aunties ever made anything common). Kids love to help sandwich the cookies together, and quickly learn to apply just enough pressure to adhere the halves without breaking them. For a picture-perfect finish, spoon a little extra preserves into each hole to completely fill the cookies. While I am not a big fan of fruit teas, I often serve an apricot- or raspberry-flavored tea that matches the preserves in the filling.

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1¼ cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, beaten, at room temperature

Grated zest of ½ lemon

1 cup apricot or raspberry preserves

Confectioners’ sugar for garnish

1.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cream the butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer set on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar until the mixture is very light in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs, then the lemon zest. Gradually stir in the flour mixture to make a soft dough.

2.
Divide the dough in half and shape each portion into a thick disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap or wax paper. Refrigerate until chilled and firm enough to roll out, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. (If the dough is very chilled and hard, let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes to slightly soften before rolling out.)

3.
Position racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

4.
Unwrap one portion of dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Dust the top with flour and roll out 1/8 inch thick. Using a 2¼-inch-diameter cookie cutter, cut out rounds of dough and transfer them to a baking sheet, placing them 1 inch apart. Gather up the scraps and roll out until all of the dough has been used. Refrigerate while cutting out the other portion of dough. Using a 1-inch-diameter cookie cutter, cut out a hole from the center of each round on the second baking sheet. Because the cookies with the holes will bake more quickly than the whole ones, keep the cookies on separate baking sheets. If you wish, gather up scraps from the holes and roll them out to make a few more cookies.

5.
Bake, switching the position of the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookies are light golden brown, about 12 minutes for the perforated cookies and 15 minutes for the whole ones.

6.
Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire cake racks and let cool completely.

7.
Heat the preserves in a small saucepan until boiling. Rub through a wire sieve set over a bowl, discarding the solids in the sieve. Spread about 1 teaspoon of the warm preserves over each whole (uncut) cookie. Top each with a perforated cookie and press gently to make them adhere. If desired, use a small demitasse spoon to completely fill the holes with the remaining preserves. Let cool until the preserves are set. (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days.) Just before serving, sift confectioners’ sugar over the tops of the cookies.

Candied Walnut Tassies

MAKES
2 DOZEN
COOKIES

In China, candied walnuts, often seasoned with five-spice powder (a fragrant blend of cinnamon, fennel, star anise, cloves, and Sichuan peppercorns used in Asian cooking), are a favorite nibble to enjoy with tea. They’ve been transformed into the filling for these tender miniature tarts with a cream cheese crust and a pecan pie– like filling. You will need two 12-cup miniature muffin pans (each cup measuring 1 7/8 inches across the top and 7/8 inch deep), preferably nonstick, to make these. For a quick way to press the dough into the muffin cups, invest in a wooden tart tamper (available at www.amazon.com and www.fantes.com), which is a very useful and inexpensive tool. I serve these with a strong black Chinese tea, such as Keemun, which helps balance the cookies’ sweetness.

CRUST

1 cup all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, at room temperature

3 ounces cream cheese, cut into tablespoons, at room temperature

Nonstick vegetable oil spray (optional)

FILLING

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon light corn syrup or golden syrup

¾ teaspoon Asian five-spice powder

Pinch of salt

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

1.
To make the crust, combine the flour and salt in a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade and pulse to combine. Add the room-temperature butter and cream cheese and pulse about 15 times, until the mixture begins to clump together. Gather up the dough and shape into a thick disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and easy to handle, 1 to 2 hours.

2.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Have ready two 12-cup miniature muffin pans (each cup measuring 1 7/8 inches across the top and 7/8 inch deep), preferably nonstick. If the pans are not nonstick, spray them with vegetable oil.

3.
Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces. One at a time, place a piece of dough in a muffin cup and use your fingers to press it firmly and evenly up the sides to make a pastry shell. (A wooden tart tamper can help the job go quickly.) Freeze for 5 minutes.

4.
To make the filling, whisk the brown sugar, egg, melted butter, corn syrup, five-spice powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the walnuts and stir well. Fill the muffin cups with the filling (a demitasse spoon is the perfect size for transferring the filling to the cups).

5.
Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling feels set when pressed with your fingers, about 30 minutes. Let the tassies cool in the pans on wire cake racks for 10 minutes. Carefully remove them from the pans (you may need to use the tip of a knife to help coax them free). Transfer to wire cake racks to cool completely. (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, with the layers separated by wax or parchment paper, at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Sugar Cookie Teapots

MAKES ABOUT
3 DOZEN
COOKIES

For a very special tea party, serve these lovely decorated sugar cookies, baked in the shape of teapots (or teacups). Yes, you can simply bake the cookies and serve them
au naturel
, but they can be successfully iced and decorated even by those of us who aren’t particularly artistic. These can be as plain or fancy as you wish, and you may find it more time-efficient to bake the cookies a day or two before icing them at your leisure. To paint patterns onto the cookies, buy new children’s paint brushes and save the brushes for the next time you want decorated cookies. For tea party–inspired cookie cutters, go to www.thecookiecuttershop.com.

SUGAR COOKIES

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

¼ cup heavy cream

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Royal Icing (page 127)

Food coloring paste

Dragées for decorating

1.
To make the cookies, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into a large bowl. Add the butter. Using an electric mixer set at low speed, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, about 2 minutes.

2.
Mix the cream, whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla together well. Add to the flour mixture and stir to form a soft dough. Gather the dough together and divide into two thick disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

3.
Position racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

4.
To roll out the cookies, work with one disk at a time. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until malleable enough to roll out without cracking, about 5 minutes. (If the dough has been chilled more than 2 hours, let stand a few more minutes.) Unwrap the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Roll out the dough to slightly more than 1/8 inch thick. (A silicone rolling pin works best for this somewhat sticky dough.) As you roll out the dough, it will become easier to work with, and tiny cracks on the surface will disappear. Occasionally run a long knife or metal offset spatula under the dough to be sure it isn’t sticking, and dust more flour under the dough if needed.