Vanilla Dreams and Swedish Dreams

I found the Vanilla Dreams recipe on the King Arthur Flour web site and the Swedish Dreams on the community page of the same site.  I've been including these in my holiday baking for several years now.  They are incredibly easy to make and I've been making them in advance this year and freezing them.  Both utilize a little known ingredient found more in Europe than here.  I buy mine from KAF and this is how they describe it:

Baker’s ammonia (ammonium carbonate) is a classic leavener, called for in your grandmother’s or great-grandmother's recipes.

• Baker's Ammonia (ammonium carbonate) makes extra-crisp cookies or crackers.
• Use in old-fashioned recipes calling for it (or for hartshorn).
• Yes, it has a very strong smell when baking; don't worry, it totally dissipates by the time the cookies are done.

The Swedish Dreams are a variation on the vanilla dreams by replacing 1 tsp. of the vanilla extract with either orange or lemon extract.  I use Fiori di Sicilia in mine and it smells like heaven in my kitchen whenever I use it in my baking.  It's another item I get from KAF and here is it's description:

Here at The Baker's Catalogue, we have to restrain ourselves from using Fiori di Sicilia in EVERYTHING! We think it's second only to vanilla, as far as flavorful multi-tasking goes.

• A Baker’s Catalogue exclusive!
• A combination of citrus and vanilla with a pleasingly floral aroma.
• Use about 1/2 teaspoon in a typical recipe for cookies, pound cake, pie, meringues, sweet bread, etc.
• Italians use Fiori di Sicilia ("flowers of Sicily") to scent their panettone and pandoro.
• For best freshness, refrigerate after opening. And caution, don't spill it on the counter, please – it stains.
• TEST KITCHEN TIP: You know that wonderful marriage of flavors you taste when you combine vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet in the same bowl? That’s what Fiori di Sicilia tastes like. We find that using it in just about anything mild and sweet–anything where competing flavors, like chocolate, don’t interfere–adds a wonderfully mysterious taste. Your friends will be guessing just what you’ve done to your sugar cookies or yellow cake or sweet bread to make them taste SO good!

I also use this in my homemade Angel Food Cake and it is devine!  Now on to the recipes!

Vanilla Dreams Cookies

  

Ingredients:

·       1 1/4 cups sugar

·       1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

·       3/4-1 tsp. salt*   

·       2-3 tsp. vanilla   

·       2 cups flour        

·       1/2 tsp. baker’s ammonia or 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

·       coarse sparkling sugar for coating

·       *If you use salted butter, reduce the salt to 1/2 tsp.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.  Place sparkling sugar in a bowl. 

    In a mixer, beat together the sugar, butter, salt,  and vanilla extract. Add the flour and baker's ammonia, and beat until the dough comes together, scraping the bowl once; it'll seem quite dry at first, but keep beating, eventually it'll become chunky and cohesive.

    Scoop the dough by teaspoonfuls (a teaspoon cookie scoop works wonderfully well here) into the bowl of sparkling sugar. Roll the dough balls in the sugar to coat.

Put them on the prepared baking sheets, and use the bottom of a glass, dipped in sugar if necessary to prevent sticking, to flatten the balls to about 1/4" thick. 

    Bake the cookies for about 20 to 25 minutes, until they're a very light golden brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

Servings:  4 doz. cookies

Swedish Dreams Cookies

  

Ingredients:

·       1 cup (7 ounces) sugar         

·       2 sticks unsalted butter

·       1 tsp. salt*

·       2 tsp. vanilla extract    

·       1 tsp. orange, lemon or Fiori di Sicilia extract, optional    

·       2 cups (8 1/2 oz.) flour

·       1/2 tsp. baker's ammonia      

·       coarse sparkling sugar, for topping

·       *If you use salted butter, reduce the salt to 1/2 tsp.

Directions:

    Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.  Place sparkling sugar in a bowl. 

    In a mixer, beat together the sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, and orange or lemon extract. Add the flour and baker's ammonia, and beat until the dough comes together, scraping the bowl once; it'll seem quite dry at first, but keep beating, eventually it'll become chunky and cohesive.

    Scoop the dough by teaspoonfuls (a teaspoon cookie scoop works wonderfully well here) into the bowl of sparkling sugar. Roll the dough balls in the sugar to coat.

    Put them on the prepared baking sheets, and use the bottom of a glass, dipped in sugar if necessary to prevent sticking, to flatten the balls to about 1/4" thick. 

    Bake the cookies for about 20 to 25 minutes, until they're a very light golden brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

Servings:  4 doz. cookies

To flatten the cookies, I use the plunger from my Cuisinart food processor.  It gives the cookies a pretty swirl design.  When I do the Vanilla Dreams I use white sparkling sugar and for the Swedish Dreams, orange sparkling sugar to tell the different flavors apart.  Sparkling sugar is a larger grain of sugar than sanding sugar and doesn't melt in the baking process.  It also gives a nice crunch to your baked items.

If you are going to store or freeze them, store the two flavors apart to keep the orange flavor from being absorbed into the vanilla ones.  Enjoy!

All About Vanilla!

As those of you who know me well have experienced, I do tend to ramble on a bit about baking.  One of the things I like to tell people about is genuine, high quality vanilla and the difference it will make in your baking.  I found this article on the King Arthur Flour site and on the back of the vanilla sampler from Nielsen-Massey I picked up today from Williams-Sonoma.  And, I thought I would share it with you all:

Vanilla, one of our favorite baking flavors, is anything but plain. Vanilla’s exotic yet comforting combination of floral and spice is sought after by cooks worldwide. Pure vanilla (synthetic versions just don’t compare) is derived from the vanilla bean, fruit of an orchid plant.  Vanilla originated in Mexico and was brought to Europe about 1520 by the explorer Cortez.

Today, most of the world’s vanilla comes from Madagascar and the surrounding Bourbon Islands, off the coast of Africa. Smooth, mellow Madagascar Bourbon vanilla is an all-purpose vanilla, ideal in everything from cookies and sticky buns to cake and ice cream. It is considered to be the highest quality pure vanilla available.  It takes the name "Bourbon" not from Kentucky Whiskey, but from the French Bourbon court that ruled Madagascar in the 1800's.  Mexican vanilla, derived from a thicker and darker bean, has a stronger, spicier taste. It pairs well with cinnamon and other assertive flavors.  Beware of vanillas claiming to be from Mexico.  You want to buy only from a reputable dealer of Mexican vanilla as they have found arsenic in quite a few and many that were advertised as genuine were in fact imitation vanilla.  Tahitian vanilla is less intensely flavored but known for it's aromatic, fruity, cherry-like flavor and ideal for light, fruit-based desserts and sauces.  This is a favorite of pastry chefs and performs best when used in low or no-heat applications as it's delicate flavor can become weakened in the presence of high heat.  Also ideal for refrigerated and frozen treats, cream fillings, smoothies and shakes.

While pure vanilla extract is familiar to bakers everywhere, vanilla comes in other forms as well, including vanilla paste, a thickened vanilla extract; and vanilla bean crush, an extract with crushed pods and seeds, which makes elegant-looking ice cream, whipped cream, and frosting, with its dark flecks of bean.

Seeds scraped from the interior of soft whole vanilla beans impart pleasingly strong flavor when steeped in custard, milk, cream, or syrup. Vanilla powder, made by grinding dried whole beans, offers robust flavor in hot drinks. And delicately infused vanilla sugar is a distinctive condiment.