Rosemary Pine Nut Cookies
Dahlia developed these cookies—shortbread topped with rosemary, pine nuts, and nougatine—to serve alongside the Butterscotch Budino (page 272) at the Pizzeria, to contrast with the smooth texture of the pudding. We now make two versions: the small cookies to serve alongside the budino in the Pizzeria and a larger version to sell individually for Mozza2Go. You will need a 1 1/4-inch or a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make these.
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 2 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies or 1 1/2 dozen 2 1/2-inch cookies
Ingredients
for the nougatine topping
for the cookie dough
Preparation
Step 1
To make the nougatine topping, combine the cream, honey, and sugar in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Use a small, sharp knife to split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Use the back of the knife to scrape out the pulp and seeds and smear the scrapings onto the butter. Discard the bean or save it for another use. Add the butter with the vanilla scrapings to the saucepan and cook over high heat, stirring once or twice to ensure even cooking, until the mixture comes to a boil. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the flour, whisking constantly until smooth. Turn the mixture out into a bowl and fold in the pine nuts and rosemary sprig. Set the nougatine aside to cool to room temperature and remove the rosemary. The nougatine can be made up to a week in advance. Transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until you are ready to bake the cookies or for up to a week. Bring it to room temperature before using it.
Step 2
To make the cookie dough, combine the butter and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix them at high speed until the mixture is creamy and smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt, and mix to incorporate. Add the flour and the polenta, and mix until thoroughly combined. Dust a flat work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough for a few minutes until it comes together into a ball. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to three days, or freeze it for up to two months. (Defrost the dough overnight in the refrigerator.)
Step 3
Adjust two oven racks so that one rack is in the top third of the oven and one is in the bottom third. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 4
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Dust a flat work surface with flour, cut the dough into chunks, and knead the dough on the countertop to soften it, until it is the texture of Play-Doh. Dust your work surface again with flour and dust a rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour to the surface or the rolling pin if the dough is sticking. (Depending on the size of your countertop, you may have to roll the dough out in two batches. Cut the dough in half and refrigerate one half while you roll the other.) Cut the dough with a 1 1/4- or 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, making the cuts as close together as possible. Carefully lift the rounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between each. When you have cut all the dough, gather what is left and reroll it and cut it in the same way. (If the dough is too soft to reroll, gather it into a ball and refrigerate it to chill it slightly before rolling it again.) Discard the scraps left after rerolling the dough once. If all of the cookies don’t fit on two sheets, put them on a third parchment-lined baking sheet, if you have one, or place them on a sheet of parchment paper and refrigerate the dough while the first batch is baking. If you are reusing the baking sheets, set the cookies aside to cool slightly before removing them from the baking sheet, then bake the second batch in the same way as the first.
Step 5
With the nougatine at room temperature, work it between your fingers, creating a thin disk about the size of a dime for smaller cookies, aquarter for the larger cookies. Place a circle of nougatine in the center of each circle of dough. Stick a few rosemary tufts on top of each cookie, making sure to pierce the dough with the rosemary so it doesn’t fall off in the oven.
Step 6
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, switching the baking sheets on the upper and lower racks and rotating them from front to back half way through cooking time so the cookies brown evenly. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and set aside to cool to room temperature.
suggested wine pairing
Step 7
Vin Santo Del Chianti Classico (Tuscany)
