BonBonerie Cut-Out Cookie Recipe

I got this recipe years ago when I took a class at Williams Sonoma from Richard Prince, the pastry chef at the BonBonerie in O'Bryonville. I make these cookies for just about every holiday you can think of. There is a photo gallery of decorated cookies on the BonBonerie website that I refer to all the time. You will need a Kitchen Aid mixer and a kitchen scale for these recipes.

Butter Cookies for Cutouts
from Richard Prince, Pastry Chef at the BonBonerie

Cream 3 minutes:
1 lb unsalted butter
1 lb sugar

Beat in:
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla

Sift and add one cup at a time:
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1lb 8oz. all purpose flour

Do not overmix dough.

Note: This recipe requires a stand mixer (5 qt Kitchen Aid).

This dough can be rolled out immediately, cut and baked. Or you may find it easier to chill the dough before rolling. Roll to thickness of 1/8 in. to 3/16 in.

Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Bottom of cookie should be lightly browned.


Milk Fondant Icing

Bring to boil:
½ cup whole milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light Karo corn syrup

(It is convenient to microwave this mixture right in a glass measuring cup.)

Add to:
1lb 4oz powdered sugar (sifted)

Mix smooth with hand whisk. Do not overbeat, you don’t want a lot of air bubbles in icing.

Flavor with:
4-5 drops of lemon oil (optional)

Note: Dip baked cookies in icing to coat the top. Dipped cookies will dry to touch in 1-2 hours. Allow 6-8 hours or overnight to set completely.


Decorating Buttercream
(for piping details)

Cream until smooth:
6oz butter (room temperature)
1lb powdered sugar
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pure vanilla

Add:
1 tbsp evaporated milk (you may need more)

Beat briefly until light and smooth.

After piping on dipped cookies, this icing should set 6-8 hours or overnight. This icing does not dry hard but will “crust” so cookies can be handled.

Do not refrigerate cookies decorated with this icing but do serve them within 4-5 days.

Be My BFF

Want to be my best friend forever, just stop by with some pistachio macaroons from Frieda's bakery in Madeira. That is what my BFF Delphine did last week. She actually brought an assortment of macaroons: pistachio (my fav), raspberry, hazelnut, lemon and chocolate.

I love these little multi-colored cookies. I was in Paris the first time I had them. My husband and I were wandering the city one day when we happened upon Laduree. This is a magical place. They have a display case full of all different flavors of macaroons. They are just so absolutely beautiful. I love how they are crisp on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside.

I have only made macaroons once. I must put this on my to do list for the winter. Actually, I think they would make a great holiday cookie.

New Word of the Day: Autolyse

One of the greatest things about cooking is that there is always something new to learn. Last night, I was a student assistant at an artisan bread class at the Midwest Culinary Institute taught by Sara Schuk and Mark Frommeyer of Blue Oven Bakery. Because my husband Jeff is the real bread baker in our house, I was given instructions to bring back all of the information that I learned to him.

Sara and Mark are a wealth of information. This was the first bread class that they had ever taught. They shared recipes for 3 seed and whole wheat loaves. When I first walked into the classroom, Sara was making the 3 seed dough. She told me that it was autolysing. She swears by this step, where you mix only the flour and water together and let the mixture rest for 20 minutes. Then you add the other ingredients and knead.

Jeff had heard of this technique, but had not tried it. He consulted his Bread Baker's Apprentice book by Peter Reinhart and sure enough there it was. I'm not quite sure that I understand all of the implications of autolyse, but it has something to do with promoting hydration and helps cut down on kneading or overworking the dough.

Other tips I learned from Sara:

*Always mix bread dough on lowest speed of mixer even if a recipe says medium speed, just mix it longer
*Add water to your mixing bowl first, then add flour (then autolyse!)
*Bread dough should be somewhat sticky, a dry dough will yield dry bread
*Add salt at the very end
*Taste your dough to make sure it has enough salt
*When shaping, create as much surface tension as you can
*Score bread right before baking using a lame (a thin sharp blade used for baking)
*If baking on a pizza stone, preheat on your oven's highest setting for at least an hour
*Use ice cubes in a pan under the stone to create steam in the oven

You can find Blue Oven at Findlay Market on Saturdays and at Awakenings Coffeehouse in Hyde Park Square on Sunday mornings in the winter. From June through October, they are a regular vendor at the Hyde Park Farmers Market on Sundays from 9:30-1:30.

Local Foods on WVXU's Impact Cincinnati Thursday

Great line up of local food experts! Jolene was my teacher this summer for Introduction to Food Sources. Val was our resident canning expert at the Hyde Park Farmers Market. And Susan and I participated in a local foods discussion together at the public library.

From WVXU:

With Thanksgiving almost here, cooks are preparing menus and making shopping lists, getting ready to share a wonderful meal with friends and family. This year a growing number of people are looking close to home for their Thanksgiving dinner ingredients.

Join Impact Cincinnati, Thursday, November 19 at 9:20 am, as we discuss the local food movement.

Guests include: Midwest Culinary Institute Instructor and local cooking teacher Jolene Struebbe , founder and moderator of the Cincinnati Local Foods Group and local foods blog Cincinnati Locavore, Valerie Taylor and co-founder of the Central Ohio River Valley Local Foods Initiative which produces an Eat Local Guide, Susan Miller-Stigler.

Homemade Butter

Last night, to go with our dinner of cheese scones and tomato soup, I finally made homemade butter. I have wanted to try this ever since I started buying local milk and cream from Snowville Creamery. Their website gives directions for making butter, ice cream and cheese.

To make butter, this is what I did:

Let cream warm up a bit to 55-65F
Pour cream into food processor (about half way to top)
Process beyond the whipped cream stage
Butter will separate from the buttermilk
Strain and rinse butter under cool water (save buttermilk for another use)
Press butter with wooden spoon until water runs clear
Ta da, you have butter!

Thanksgiving Wines: Are You Sweet or Savory?

If ask Chuck Warinner, owner of the Dilly Deli in Mariemont, for a recommendation for a Thanksgiving wine, he is likely to ask if you have a sweet or savory family meal. According to Chuck, when you pair wine for Thanksgiving, it is important to consider the entire meal, not just the turkey. Does your family tend to serve sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows and sweet cranberry relish? Then you are a sweet family. If you all go for sage dressing, herbed beans and mashed potatoes, you are the savory type.

For the sweet meal, Chuck recommends a dry or slightly sweet Riesling, a light and fruity Beajolais or a Pinot Noir. He says, “Throw a Riesling on the table and it will go with just about anything.” Rieslings tend to leave the palate cleansed and refreshed. For Thanksgiving, Chuck likes a Riesling the deli is currently offering as one if its wines-by-the-glass, a 2007 Kerpen Riesling Kabinett for $21.99. For a Pinot Noir, he likes 2007 Row Eleven Viñas 3 at $18.99.

Chuck believes that a savory meal can handle a wine with more weight, like a bold, spicy red. At his Thanksgiving table, Chuck always serves an American Red Zinfandel. Red Zins are considered America’s heritage grape and some of the best wines produced in California. Chuck likes the Zin’s spicy, jammy, and peppery hints. He favors the 2006 Burnet Ridge Zinfandel North Coast (the label reads “a wine made among friends”) for $18.99 and a 2007 Saldo from Orin Swift Cellars for $29.99.

Others choices for the savory meal include Syrahs and Cabernet Francs. Chuck likes a locally produced 2007 Kinkead Ridge Cab Franc for $17.99. In fact, Chuck believes the Kinkead Ridge wine is outstanding and possibly the best Cabernet Franc produced by the winery.

You don’t want the wine to dominate the meal, according to Chuck. The focus should be on the food. So he stays away from recommending big, dry Cabernets or buttery Chardonnays. He thinks it is better to stick with wines that have a simple fruitiness and spicy character. Having said that, Chuck emphasizes that it is important not to sweat it too much and serve what you like. Also, he suggests offering a few types of wine to appeal to a variety of palates.

Sometime in November, the Dilly Deli will have shelf labels shaped like turkeys to indicate their Thanksgiving recommendations. Three turkeys are reserved for staff personal favorites and their top recommendations. The Dilly Deli Wines & Gourmet, located in the Mariemont Strand next to Starbucks, is open Monday through Thursday, 10am-9pm, and Friday and Saturday, 10am-11pm.

Cheese Course

For our book/dinner club last night, I wanted to serve something a little different. So I built a meal around a cheese course. I tried to keep the meal light and served a first course Warm Mushroom Salad (Barefoot in Paris). The next course was a Curried Winter Squash soup using blue hubbard, cheese pumpkin and butternut squash. The soup was simply garnished with a swirl of Snowville Creamery cream and caramelized apples. To help transition to the cheese course I served a small scoop of cranberry/orange sorbetto from Dojo Gelato at Findlay Market.

The cheese course was made up of the following:

Cashel Blue cheese from Ireland
Taleggio from Italy
Manchego from Spain
Pierre Robert triple creme brie from France
Prima Donna Gouda from Holland
Pear Hazelnut Paste
Walnut Whole Wheat Bread
Wheat crackers
Red Grapes