Clotilde over at Chocolate and Zucchini has conducted a most interesting experiment. She wanted to try baking with roasted flour - the nutty, toasty than bread crusts and roux so satisfying - but knew that roasting flour breaks down its gluten network and causes it to lose elasticity. So she employed the stuff in her mother's sablé recipe - sandy, crumbly sablés don't need strong gluten strands. But still, the cookies wouldn't stay together, so she simply squeezed them in her fists. The result, as you can see, bears the imprint of closed fingers, kind of like a plastic baby rattle. Or like a slug, as Clotilde points out. The cookies, flavored with nothing but butter and salt, are absolutely divine, she assures. Check out the recipe.Squeeze cookies
Clotilde over at Chocolate and Zucchini has conducted a most interesting experiment. She wanted to try baking with roasted flour - the nutty, toasty than bread crusts and roux so satisfying - but knew that roasting flour breaks down its gluten network and causes it to lose elasticity. So she employed the stuff in her mother's sablé recipe - sandy, crumbly sablés don't need strong gluten strands. But still, the cookies wouldn't stay together, so she simply squeezed them in her fists. The result, as you can see, bears the imprint of closed fingers, kind of like a plastic baby rattle. Or like a slug, as Clotilde points out. The cookies, flavored with nothing but butter and salt, are absolutely divine, she assures. Check out the recipe.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-19-2008 @ 9:50AM
rachel b. said...
You've got the wrong link on this story.
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5-19-2008 @ 10:44AM
Matt said...
Here's the correct link.
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/04/squeeze_cookies_a_roasted_flour_experiment.php
Reply
5-19-2008 @ 11:16AM
Emily Matchar said...
Whoops! Thanks, ya'll.
Reply
7-22-2008 @ 1:54PM
Jesse said...
Yeah my mom made those pecan crescents....forgot how much I loved them. Thanks for the remind....
Reply
8-15-2008 @ 12:38PM
Christine said...
Ah, that's nothing new...the gluten free community has been trying to overcome baking with gluten-free flours for decades. And so have I, in the past few months, since my 2 year old was diagnosed with celiac disease last September. Try making chewy chocolate chip cookies with rice and corn flour! It ain't easy. However, Xanthan gum helps things out a bit!!
http://www.coeliac.co.uk/glutenfree_living/cooking/75.asp
Oh and by the way, these cookies remind me of the pecan crescents (Fanny Farmer Cookbook) my Grandmother used to make every Xmas...lots of flour, butter, and pecans. Very crumbly. YUM!!!
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