Corked Breton Galettes

Corked Breton Galettes - made dough October 31, 2019 from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan

I'm a book nerd. I borrow from two digital libraries (ebooks and audio books) and belong to a brick and mortar library where I borrow print books. I also have a kindle unlimited subscription on amazon. Being an (ex) Finance nerd, it's a matter of pride and thrift to make sure I read enough kindle books to more than pay for the monthly membership fee.

One of the great things I discovered is that there are some cookbooks available as kindle unlimited borrows. Including this one by Dorie Greenspan. Any longtime readers of my blog will know I went through an overly acquisitive phase of buying baking books and topped the 200 mark at one point. I've donated a lot to my local libraries, especially before I moved, but I still have a fair number. I won't let myself buy any new ones until I use more of my existing ones so I was thrilled to find this on kindle unlimited. The thrill of finding new recipes without the guilt of buying a new baking book is a win-win.

The book itself contains some recipes that are a trifle too exotic for my taste buds. If you consider exotic to be jam and jelly. Which I do. Fortunately, this cookie is adaptable to any filling you choose and I chose Nutella. Or the Costco brand hazelnut spread which, to me, tastes just as good and doesn't contain palm oil.

One of the best tricks I picked up from reading Dorie's Cookies (and yes, I read it like a book from cover to cover) is to slice cookie logs into thick slices and bake them in muffin tins. That will be give perfectly round cookies. Since my cookie logs end up being more square sided than round logs, this was a good trick.

And I have to say, this dough comes together beautifully and is one of the best cookie doughs I've worked with. It's pliable, not sticky or dry and crumbly. Seriously, this dough was great to work with and easily shapes into a log.

The taste itself was basically of a light, airy butter cookie with a hazelnut spread filling. I think I baked it a minute too long as I like my cookies a little more dense but this wasn't cakey. Just airy. These are good for afternoon teas and, if you want to dress them up a bit more, you can sprinkle the tops with toffee bits, mini chocolate chips, toasted nuts or toasted coconut or even drizzle with caramel.

2 1/4 cups (306 grams) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons fleur de sel or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large egg yolks, room temperature

Filling
Nutella, cookie butter, dulce de leche, jam, your choice

1. Whisk flour and baking powder together.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and salt together on medium-low speed until smooth. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition until fully incorporated.
3. Add the dry ingredients all at once and pulse until the risk of flying flour passes. Mix on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, until the flour is incorporated. Turn the dough onto a work surface, press and gather it together and divide in half. Shape each piece into a log about 6 inches long and a scant 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs and freeze for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray regular muffin tins.
5. Cut logs into slices about 1/3" thick. Drop one slice into each muffin tin. Bake the galettes for 18 to 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately press an indentation in the center of each cookie. You can use a wine cork, a tart tamper or the rounded side of a teaspoon. Cool the cookies in the tins then pop them out when cooled to room temperature.
6. Spoon filling of choice into indentations.