A wine, a recipe and an album
This combines a lot of my favorite things my friends, hope you enjoy!
The idea here is a pretty simple one, a wine, a recipe and an album to go with it. I hope that you open the bottle, turn on the music and start to bake! Or you can simply just read this and enjoy, maybe listen later. The credit for this new idea is not mine, a friend gave me the idea. I hope I do it justice.
Now, I make the cookie dough 24 hours in advance as it needs to chill in the fridge for a day. So if you do feel the urge to bake these cookies, give yourself two days. I didn’t open the bottle until the second day for the all day baking and decorating party of one.
On one of the last truly hot summer days, when the humidity was high in the midwest and the temperatures were over 90, I wanted something super refreshing to sip on. And since I drink Portuguese wine 90% of the time, a classic Vinho Verde was in order. I also was about to meet up with the same friend who gave me the idea for this post, so of course, I baked my famous cookies for her. I also brought her a bottle of wine from…. Portugal. Shocking I know, I will convert every naysayer to adore Portuguese wines, dare I say even more than their French and Italian favorites, yes, yes I said it.
The wine
Casa da Tojeira is a producer I have been exploring all year. I especially love their vinho branco, a traditional Vinho Verde wine made from a blend of the Loureiro, Azal, Arinto and Trajadura grapes.
The winery is in the Basto sub-region. This is the sub-region that is furthest inland from the Atlantic Ocean in Vinho Verde. There is a gorgeous manor house from the 17th century that was restored int he 70’s for wine tourism purposes. There are 20 hectares of vines on the property and they produce white, red, rosé and sparkling wines.
The recipe, my famous sugar cookies
I am about to give you my coveted sugar cookie recipe. I used to ship these all over the country and sold them for a high dollar amount per cookie, then shipping costs and reliability went down hill so I stopped. But they are a fan favorite, even a picky cookie eater will enjoy them. These are best made over the course of two days. If you have children, or want to have a wine and decorate cookie day with some friends, you can delay frosting for 2 days and still enjoy amazing cookies.
I won’t be sharing my specific frosting recipe as I have never in my life measured it. I break a lot of rules in baking. I won’t pretend that I have the patience to do so now. But, a basic royal icing works just as well, I will include that for you.
Cookies
5 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 cups salted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Cream the butter and sugar together, don’t over mix.
Add in the eggs one at a time, vanilla and vanilla bean paste until combined.
Sift the flour and mix until just combined, don’t over mix.
Tilt the dough onto a work surface, roll into a big ball and wrap with plastic wrap for 24 hours in the fridge, this will ensure the dough keeps shape when baked.
Preheat the oven to 350 the day of baking
After the dough has chilled, dust a work surface with flour, roll out a little bit of dough at a time. I like to keep it a little thick so that my cookies don’t snap when I decorate or transport them. If you are making these with young kids, thicker is better just adjust the baking time for a tad bit longer.
While you roll out a small amount at a time, keep the rest in the refrigerator. Use whatever cookie cutter shapes you’d like, bake two trays at a time.
Bake 8-12 minutes depending on your oven, mine is slow so it takes the full 12, my old one took 8. You will know because the edges will just slightly brown a little bit. Take them out, let them cool on the tray then transfer to a wire rack.
Royal Icing, from Preppy Kitchen
3 egg whites
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (450g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium-low speed until frothy, about 1 minute.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla.
Once fully incorporated, increase speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks shiny peaks form.
Divide icing among small bowls, and dye with gel food coloring if desired. (Keep any icing that isn’t being immediately used covered with plastic wrap as it dries out very quickly.)
Back to Kate and how to decorate
Now is the fun part. If you are like me, you don’t want to bother with cleaning piping bags and how fiddly they can be, plus you need one per color, no thanks. So, what I do is use the back of a small spoon, and dump my base color (sometimes there are many) and drag it evenly around the edges. Do this one at a time, because the icing will dry out, put plastic over the bowls to ensure it doesn’t.
Next take toothpicks and drop other colors onto the main color. Take a fresh toothpick and swirl around. You can honestly not mess this up, decorate how you want. Let the icing harden for at least 4 hours. Cookies will last in ziplock or air tight container for a week.
The album
https://pandora.app.link/bDfsGy9UdDb
When I bake these cookies there is chaos everywhere, but completely organized chaos. My kitchen is covered in flour, I use many more dishes than I needed. I also probably use about 15 spoons, toothpicks and every ramekin I own. So, in order to combat the kitchen chaos I needed an album that kept me moving my hips and shoulders, I needed the same energy level.
I chose one of my all time favorite albums. The Gotan Project is a group I have been listening to since my senior year of high school. This album came out in 2001 and I find it to still be their best. It’s a beautiful album with great instrumentals and vocals. What I love best is you can just zone out of what you are doing and really get in the vibe of the songs. I think it really pairs well with this cookie recipe and wine. I hope you enjoy it.
I leave you with some self promotion. I have added a store to my design website here and there are some fun wine things I wanted to share with you. I am slowly adding more as I approve designs and product quality. Below is a fun Vinho Verde tote bag!
