VANILLA SAND DOLLAR COOKIES
I recently happened upon a sand dollar cookie stamp at Der Kuchen Laden, Frederickburg's topnotch kitchen store, and snapped it up, thinking what a great hit beach-themed cookies would be during Gulf Coast getaways. For kids summering on Bolivar Peninsula, a day at the beach meant a fistful of sand dollars, sugar shells, and colorful beach glass as smooth and opaque as Texas honey. Sand dollars were the hardest to find because the disk-shaped marine creatures habitually burrow into the sand. We'd swim out to the sand bars and dig for dollars by burying our feet a few inches into the sand and sliding along until our toes hit the critters' hard internal shells. We'd pluck them out of the sand and haul them home. Popular legend holds that sand dollars are really mermaid's coins. If I'd heard that as a little girl, I surely would have gathered even more. This recipe is a variation on the common shortbread cookie, without eggs or other leavening, because, according to the cookie stamp people, the rising of the cookies obscures the pattern left by the stamp. Makes sense to me. Although it is expensive, I like to use vanilla bean paste because it has little flecks of vanilla seed in it, giving the cookie a sandy, beach look. It is available at kitchen specialty stores and at many upscale grocers.
Yield makes about 5 dozen 2-inch cookies
Number Of Ingredients 5
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners or grease generously with butter or cooking spray. With a pastry brush, lightly coat a cookie stamp with a neutral-tasting vegetable oil, such as canola, or mist it with cooking spray.
- Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-low speed until combined. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed just until thoroughly combined. (Don't overmix here or the cookies can be tough.) Using a 1 1/4-inch scoop, drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Stamp each dough ball firmly enough to make an imprint, but don't press so hard that the cookie flattens to less than 1/4 inch thick. Bake until the cookies begin to look golden brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. The cookies will keep for a few days in an airtight container.
- You'll find cookie stamps in many patterns at most well-stocked specialty kitchen stores, or check out www.rycraft.com. In addition to ones depicting sand dollars, they stock numerous others that are sea-related, including seahorses, sea turtles, crabs, starfish, and dolphins.
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