Cookie Challenge #5: Cocktail Cookie Week

It’s Cocktail Cookie Week at the Cookie Challenge Countdown and we have some prizes to give away: Gloria B wins a Confetti Sweets GC; Jane H wins an Italian Centre Shop GC and Janice B wins a Darling GC. Congratulations! You have all been emailed.

Tip of the Week: Use the good butter and the tangiest, most flavourful hard cheeses for these cocktail cookies—aged cheddar, Parmigiano Reggiano, Piave Vecchio, aged Pecorino or Manchego, for example.

What is a cocktail cookie anyway? It’s savoury rather than sweet, something to have with drinks. It’s handy to have a few recipes in your repertoire to serve instead of nuts when the neighbours come over for some holiday cheer or to put on a charcuterie board. The first cookies were savoury, such as the Persian ka’ak—hard dough rounds with sesame seed. The Dutch played a big role in the story of the cookie—from the name (koekje, meaning little cakes) and warm spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg brought back to Europe via the Dutch East India Company. We can trace so much of the cookie’s development through the history of exploration and colonization; where people go cuisine follows. Biscuit or cookie? The Brits say biscuit but North American pretty much say cookie, thanks to that early Dutch influence.

Parmesan Shortbread (pictured) and Cheddar Pistachio Biscuits

Kaelin Whittaker (Awn Kitchen) a grad of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland makes really good cheesy savoury cookies. “A great base for canapes,” – Kaelin Whittaker.

Pierre Herme’s Olive Sablé

The sablé, invented in the Marquise de Sablé’s kitchens in the Loire Valley, was presented to the court of Louis XIV in 1670. It’s similar to shortbread, with a rich crumbly texture, and uses a specific technique to cream the butter. This recipe, by French pastry luminary Pierre Hermé via Dorie Greenspan, departs from the traditional in several ways. The dough is made in a stand mixer (sablé recipes traditionally rub the butter in by hand) uses a hard-boiled egg yolk, potato starch, olive oil and olives. I used pitted Kalamata olives and a fruity olive oil (you want a robust oil with flavour, not a delicate French oil). It reads fiddly, but comes together quickly and easily. Chilling the dough allows the olive flavour to develop.

Hit the Share this Cookie button to invite your fellow cookie fanatics to the Cookie Challenge. Every friend you invite is an extra entry for prizes.

“People who see us at the farmers’ markets think we only do cookies,” says Kathy Leskow, owner Confetti Sweets. “When I first started the business, I got up at 5am to make and package cupcakes and squares. Then, we moved to concentrating on just our original six cookies. We have now brought back our delicious nostalgic squares and cupcakes because customers have been asking for them! They are just so good. Our most popular are the brown butter rice krispie squares. Our squares can be purchased individually, included in a gift basket or added to holiday square platters too. “Our production team dreams up all the cupcakes. It’s all in their creativity—with flavours like Billy Miner pie (almonds and mocha), Bounty Bar, and even Churro cupcakes. My job is to translate their ideas into a solid production schedule to make it all happen!”