Cookie #16

Life is short.  Eat the cookie.

These days I’m in hot pursuit of anything new, creative, and unexpected that brings joy and makes me smile.  As expressed by the pure existence of this blog, I love trying new things, and the habit of exploring the unknown, experimenting, failing, iterating, and trying again feeds my curiosity and speaks to my soul.  

Perhaps it is no surprise then that I am particularly drawn to people who share the same creative drive and colorful zest for life, the individuals who love learning and aren’t afraid of failure.  That’s why when I came across local food blogger Sarah Kieffer, I knew I had struck gold[1].

As a self-taught baker and the Minneapolis writer behind The Vanilla Bean Blog:  A Baker’s Soliloquy, Sarah Kieffer is a creative force with a pronounced, undeniable sweet tooth.  As she shares in her blog, Kieffer began seriously testing her chops as a “home” baker once her children were born, and after years of repeatedly experimenting and figuring things out, she finally hit her sweet spot[2].  From Olive Oil Sugar Cookies with Pistachios and Lemon Glaze, to Devil’s Food Cake with Ultra-Rich Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache, to Meyer Lemon Cake with Crème Fraîche Finish, Kieffer is a true baking artist, and her recipes are both exquisitely delicious and wickedly original. 

But the best part?  Kieffer’s love of literature and how she channels the power of words to fuel the magic she makes in the kitchen.

Indeed, she writes,

“I have always found a comfort in the act of baking, and while I enjoy the end result of a kitchen filled with sweet treats, I find there is so much more to it than just sugar and butter, some flour and eggs…

…There is so much value to what we are actually making.  The dishes and meals we make for loved ones, and the act of preparing them:  To cook and bake and eat them together connects us beyond the physical.  It’s not about eating or creating just for the sake of doing so.

There is something deeper, something soul-ful that happens when we slice the cake, when we break the bread.  There is taste and smell that draws out memories, binding us to those present, those past.

There is purpose in our food:  Both the physical and the unconscious, the labor of our hands, the labor of our heart.

This, to me, is real communion:  The act of sharing, the act of receiving.”

Soul food served with a side of soul and a generous helping of literary depth and pure creative genius?  Sign this girl up!

Well beyond the point of baking novice, Kieffer’s work is featured in The New York Times, The Today Show, America’s Test Kitchen, Food + Wine, The Washington Post, and many other noteworthy, highly credibly publications.  In 2014 her blog won “Reader’s Choice Best Baking & Dessert Blog” in the SAVEUR Best Food Blog Awards, and she published her first cookbook, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book a few years later in 2016.  Her latest book, 100 Cookies, is one of my recent obsessions and has sparked the inspiration for this post as well as several future posts to come.

As the title suggests, 100 Cookies explores—you guessed it—100 recipes inclusive of classic cookies, novel treats, brownies, bars, and more.  Kieffer organizes her cookie bible into eight distinct chapters: “The Classics” (what she describes as her “personal cookie canon[3]”), “Brownies + Blondies” (designed to meet everyone’s “cocoa longings”), “The Next Level” (extravagantly elevated recipes designed to meet your holiday hosting needs), “Pan-Banging Cookies” (a ripple-effect-making technique that landed praise from The New York Times[4]), “Mix + Match” (rounding out the cookie section with crowd-pleasing sandwich-style favorites), and “Extras” (the grand finale promised to make your sweet tooth explode with pure delight). 

Since there’s clearly no shortage of inspiration here, I decided to select my first recipe in a bit of an unconventional (and yet Cam’s absolute favorite) way:  I used a random number generator. 

Now let me say this:  I am nothing if not planned, methodical, and organized.  Yes, I love riding the creative wave and exploring all things new and novel, but I also adore calm and order[5].  So, while it might not seem like a notable feat or even a big deal, my decision to use a random number generator to kickstart my Kieffer-inspired baking endeavors is nothing to scoff at:  I had chosen to put my trust in the cookie gods, and my fate sat squarely in their flour-covered, numerically randomized hands.

Choosing to let go and let cookie, destiny led me to recipe #16:  Bourbon Sablés with Chocolate.  Upon turning to this page, I immediately recognized two things I love—chocolate and bourbon—but if I’m being honest, I was a little intimated by the “sablés” part of the equation.  For starters, what the heck is a “sablé?”  Is it tasty?  Would I like it?  Was I about to wreck this first recipe and put my baking skills to shame?  I didn’t know.  But I was intrigued enough to find out.

It turns out a sablé is a round French shortbread cookie that originates in Sarthe.  The word “sablé” translates to “sandy” in English, and the cookies are typically crumbly, tender, and heavy on the butter.  Kieffer uses this recipe to build on her traditional sablé staples by adding dark chocolate and a splash of bourbon.  As she writes, “the results are a pretty little cookie that is crispy and buttery, with a perfect hit of booze and bittersweetness.” 

Suffice it to say, the woman is spot on:  These cookies are fantastic.

Now, I had never made shortbread-style cookies before[6], but Kieffer’s book makes it surprisingly simple and fear-free.  I simply let my butter soften to room temperature and then combined butter, sugar, salt, egg yolk, bourbon, and vanilla in a stand mixer.  Following Kieffer’s directions, I combined the ingredients at a low speed before adding the flour and bittersweet chocolate chunks.

Then came the fun part:  Transferring the dough to a clean work surface and shaping it into a long cylindrical log.  I used my hands to roll the dough out like clay and then covered it in plastic wrap to cool in the refrigerator for a couple hours. 

Once the dough had sufficiently chilled, I sliced the log into quarter-inch circles, spacing them out evenly on my sheet pan.  I baked my cookies one tray at a time until the edges achieved a light golden-brown effect and let them cool completely before serving devouring.

And voilà:  That was it!  As the French say, “easy peasy lemon squeezy[7].”  I was pleasantly surprised both by the therapeutic baking process and the scrumptious end product.  Cam and I gobbled up our cookies in an embarrassingly short amount of time, only solidifying my decision to slowly make my way through Kieffer’s 100 recipes with eager curiosity and unrestrained gusto.  In fact, I commit to dedicating several One Thing A Day blog posts to this sweet tooth extravaganza:  Cookie #16 is just the start, and I can’t wait to discover everything I taste, learn, and create along the way.

So remember:  Life is short.  Eat the cookie.  Lay down your framework, start with the unexpected, and see where it leads.  The world is your oyster cookie, and it’s about time you take a bite.

[1] Or, in the words of fellow food blogger, Food Network television host, and American sweetheart Molly Yeh, I had struck a “cookie gold mine!”

[2] Pun most certainly intended.

[3] God, I love that!

[4] More to come on this in future posts!

[5] What can I say?  It’s that Type-A personality!

[6] Shoutout to myself for trying something new!

[7] Okay, they definitely don’t say that… But can you imagine if they did?  With that accent?  The delivery would be incredible.  Perhaps even magnifique.  Now I really want to find a French person and make this happen…