Burnt-Sugar Vanilla Butter Cookies

These creme brulee inspired sugar cookies came from Fine Cooking Magazine's (December 2010) "Dessert in a Cookie." The article featured cookies inspired by classic desserts like lemon meringue pie, chocolate mousse, and creme brulee. Usually I refrain from posting recipes that require fancy cookware (like blowtorches in this case!) but I just couldn't resist trying this one. So if you have the tools, give it a try! It makes for a very cool, unique presentation. The caramelized, burnt sugar on top of the cookie is nice and crunchy. They are best served right after being torched, but I stored some in ziplock bags and they seemed to hold their crunch for at least a few days.

I had a few problems with the recipe, so I made some impromptu modifications. The recipe below is how it was printed in Fine Cooking, but I ended up rolling out my sugar cookie dough and cutting the cookies out with circle cutters. The log-method might work better if you actually freeze the dough for an hour or two to make it easier to cut off round slices without having the dough morph and smush under your knife. I also decided to cut my cookies with a smaller 2-inch cutter, which made for MANY more cookies, so you might want to half the recipe.

RECIPE: Burnt-Sugar Vanilla Butter Cookies
from Fine Cooking (December 2010)
makes 40+ (depending on size)

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1.5 cups plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract (or seeds scraped from 2 vanilla beans)
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer or medium bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add 1.5 cups of sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, mixing until blended after each addition. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just blended, about 1 minute.

Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Using the plastic as an aid, gently knead into a smooth dough (the dough will be soft). Shape into a 12-inch round log about 3 inches in diameter and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until chilled and very firm, about 4 hours. (Optional: Cut an empty paper towel roll open and gently rest dough in the roll, place in refrigerator). At this point, the dough may be refrigerated for several days, or frozen for about a month.

Position oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350F. Line 2 or more cookie sheets with parchment paper or leave ungreased. Put the remaining 1/3 sugar in a small bowl.

Cut the dough into slices about 1/4-inch thick. Gently press one side of each cookie into teh sugar to coat completely. Arrange the cookies sugar side up about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheets. Save teh rest of the sugar for decorating the cookies. Bake, one sheet at a time, until golden-brown, 11-14 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

Dip the sugared side of the cookies into the remaining sugar. Arrange the cookies sugar side up on a flameproof work surface, like a cookie sheet or pan. Pass the flame of a small kitchen torch over the cookie tops until evenly caramelized. Let cool completely, about 3 minutes.