I couldn't wait to try the Salt-n-Pepper Sandwich Cookie from Baked Explorations. I love the combination of sweet and salty (see, e.g., the Baked salted caramel brownie, the salted fudge brownie, the salted chocolate chip cookie, and the peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip cookie). And while I don't have any experience baking with white pepper, I loved the pistachio-black pepper creme caramel I made a little while back. So I was confident that the combination of salt and pepper with chocolate was sure to be, as some might say, #WINNING.
I mixed together my dough of flour, salt, fleur de sel, white pepper, cocoa powder, butter, sugar, powdered sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and melted dark chocolate. As directed, I formed the dough into two balls and refrigerated them for more than 3 hours. When I was ready to bake, I took the dough out of the fridge and discovered that the dough was hard. Deadly-weapon hard. No-way-in-hell-you-could-possibly-roll-it-out hard. Fortunately, I also had a batch of malted milk sandwich cookie dough ready in the fridge, so I left the salt-n-pepper dough at room temperature while I rolled, cut, and baked all of the malted milk cookies.
A few hours later, I rolled out the salt-n-pepper cookies. The dough was much easier to handle than the malted milk dough; it was fairly dry (although slightly prone to tearing) and didn't stick much. I used a fluted 2-inch diameter round cutter and was able to cut 90 cookies (enough to yield 45 sandwiches, more than the expected yield of 36). However, the cookies that I had cut from re-rolled scraps had air bubbles in them; if I ever make these again, I would just throw away the scraps.
This cookie was a good reminder that many things in life, including taste, are in fact just that -- a matter of taste. I do understand, however, why Matt and Renato chose to feature these cookies on the cover of their cookbook along with the malted milk sandwiches; they are both so lovely to look at, especially together!
Recipe: "Salt-n-Pepper Sandwich Cookies" from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at BAKED Sunday Mornings.
I mixed together my dough of flour, salt, fleur de sel, white pepper, cocoa powder, butter, sugar, powdered sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and melted dark chocolate. As directed, I formed the dough into two balls and refrigerated them for more than 3 hours. When I was ready to bake, I took the dough out of the fridge and discovered that the dough was hard. Deadly-weapon hard. No-way-in-hell-you-could-possibly-roll-it-out hard. Fortunately, I also had a batch of malted milk sandwich cookie dough ready in the fridge, so I left the salt-n-pepper dough at room temperature while I rolled, cut, and baked all of the malted milk cookies.
A few hours later, I rolled out the salt-n-pepper cookies. The dough was much easier to handle than the malted milk dough; it was fairly dry (although slightly prone to tearing) and didn't stick much. I used a fluted 2-inch diameter round cutter and was able to cut 90 cookies (enough to yield 45 sandwiches, more than the expected yield of 36). However, the cookies that I had cut from re-rolled scraps had air bubbles in them; if I ever make these again, I would just throw away the scraps.
These cookies have the same filling as the malted milk sandwich cookies, a mixture of shortening, butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. The finished cookies were beautiful, especially with the little sprinkle of fleur de sel on top.
I am at a bit of a loss trying to pass judgment on these cookies. To me personally, the cookie has a nice chocolate and salt flavor on the front end, but a strong and unpleasant aftertaste of white pepper on the back end. While I love pepper, I thought that the pepper gave this cookie a medicinal taste that completely ruined it for me. Tom wasn't a big fan either -- and he definitely preferred the malted milk cookies -- but he thought that the cookie was okay.
I took the cookies to work and received a wide range of feedback. Some gushed enthusiastically without reservation that the cookies were delicious. Others politely said it wasn't one of their favorites. Some said that they were a better match for the sweet filling than the malted milk cookie (which I had brought to work just the day before). Others said the filling was too sweet for the cookie. Some specifically praised the strong salt and pepper flavors. Others didn't like the strong pepper flavor. And some comments were mixed, such as: "Great taste. Weird aftertaste." No one told me that it was terrible, but my co-workers are really nice people, and I wouldn't expect any of them to tell me such a thing, even if it were true.
In the many years that I have been baking -- including the more than a decade that I've been bringing baked goods to my office at least once a week -- I have never encountered a more divergent set of opinions about something that I've made. This cookie is the Rashomon of baked goods. I don't know if I would make these again. I have an idea in the back of my head that I might like them better with black pepper, so who knows, I may have to give them another try.
Recipe: "Salt-n-Pepper Sandwich Cookies" from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at BAKED Sunday Mornings.
Comments
Your cookies look perfect!
Q for you BB--I really hate discarding the dough left over after the "first cut" and I was very interested in your comment about air bubbles. I always thought the problem was that the dough became too tough/chewy from overworking. How do you handle this as a rule? Or does it depend on the dough?