BOREAL FOREST COOKIES
These cookies are dedicated to winter in Québec, with spelt and unbleached all-purpose flour from Meunerie Milanaise. It's scented with sweet clover extract, and I folded in some chopped dried cranberries before rolling the dough in a mix of dried balsam fir tips and demerara sugar.
I used to use a classic sugar cookie dough from a dog-eared copy of Martha Stewart Living from sometime before 2010, adjusting it almost beyond recognition as I've started using more local flours and less sugar. This recipe tries to let the subtle sweetness of spelt shine, while offering a buttery base for the tang of local cranberries and the grassiness of sweet clover, what is also called mélilot or Québec's vanilla.
This recipe makes a big batch of slice and bake cookie dough to keep in the freezer, or to share with all the people you love but cannot see in person this year.
RECIPE FOR BOREAL FOREST COOKIES
Makes 6 logs of 12 cookies each, or approximately 72 cookies. Recipe very loosely based off of Martha Stewart’s classic sugar cookie dough. Use organic and local when possible ;)
2 tbsp dried balsam fir tips
1 c demerara sugar
4 c spelt flour
2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 c salted butter, room temperature
1.5 c organic cane sugar
2 c large eggs
2 tsp lemon zest (the zest of around 2 small lemons)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp sweet clover extract
1 c dried unsweetened cranberries, finely chopped
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Make the rolling sugar first: remove the needs from the dried balsam fir tips; discard the stems. Put them in a mortar and pestle and grind into a fine powder. Mix the ground balsam fir with the demerara sugar and place in a small baking sheet or large plate. You will roll the logs of dough in this mixture.
Now for the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flours and baking powder; set aside.
In a food processor, mixer, or by hand with a wooden spoon and a strong arm in another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well-combined and fluffy (the mixture will look fluffy because here we are aerating the mixture – read more from Serious Eats here).
To the butter mixture, add in the eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sweet clover extract. Beat to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat to combine. If you are also without a mixer like myself, I find it helpful to use a big serving fork to mix the flour into the butter. Add in the chopped cranberries and mix until the berries are evenly distributed (tip: you can chop them by pulsing a few times in a food processor).
Divide the dough into six equal portions. Roll each portion into a log, about 1.5” in diameter. Then roll each log into the balsam sugar mixture to coat the outside.
Roll each coated log in parchment paper and twist the ends to secure. Freeze until ready to slice.
To bake, slice at ⅛” thick, bake at 350°C for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.
Thank you to Meunerie Milanaise for the gifted flours. I bought the dried balsam fir tips from Prendre Racine in Mauricie, and the sweet clover extract from Beau Mont.
