I had a very difficult time with these cookies. First, I accidentally added 1/2 a teaspoon of almond extract before I realized it wasn't vanilla (I have no clue why I completely neglected to read the bottle), but I actually really like chocolate and almond so that turned into a happy mistake. Then I kept mixing and mixing the dough in my stand mixer, but it just would not come together. I finally dumped it out onto my counter, and tried using my hands to work smaller pieces of the dough together. This sort of worked, but I still had a very hard time trying to get it to roll into anything remotely resembling a neat log. I basically gave up on the idea of it actually being round. (Does anybody have any tips about how to get/keep rolls of slice and bake cookies round? I read somewhere to store them in a paper towel tube, but the tube from my paper towels was way too small to actually hold cookies. This is something that I have never once managed to do successfully.)
But, I finally got the dough together (sort of) and put it in the fridge, hoping that the chilled dough would somehow hold together better.
It didn't. When I unwrapped the first log it promptly broke into pieces. I did my best to cut them into slices, mashing them together as necessary on the theory that even if they were ugly they would still taste good.
They certainly aren't the prettiest cookies (and this is the better tray), but by this point I had tasted enough of the batter (love batters that don't have eggs!) to be pretty sure that they would taste good, so I hurried up to bake them.
I really love shortbread cookies and I really love chocolate, but for some reason these cookies just weren't my favorite. I think I prefer a softer chocolate cookie, and my shortbread to just taste like butter, if that makes any sense. They certainly weren't bad, though, I'm sure they won't go to waste!
Your extract confusion sounds absolutely delicious. I read somewhere that rotating the dough one quarter turn will help keep the cookies round. I think it might even be a Dorie tip from the Baking book.
ReplyDeleteYour frustration with the breakage is one of the reasons why I rarely make shortbread, even though they look very tasty! Gah! Curse delicious cookies that come from crumbly dough!
ReplyDeleteI think almond is a better option than vanilla any way :-)
ReplyDeleteCookies in general frustrate me, I would much rather eat them than make them...
I love happy accidents like that! It's too bad you didn't like them in the end, but maybe the next recipe will be to your liking!
ReplyDeleteAlmond huh? I think you should write a book filled with your mistakes then. That really does sound like a great thing!
ReplyDeleteHappy accident, indeed! Not sure about the crumbling. After all the ingredients were mixed into my dough I turned out out on the counter and it was super crumbly. Despite Dorie's warnings about not overhandling, I put it all back in the mixer for another minute or so until it stuck together. The texture didn't seem to suffer.
ReplyDeleteI do love almond extract! It's such an under-used ingredient. Thanks for all the advice on keeping these cookies together.
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