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This recipe is from Not So Humble Pie. I tried this back in 2015 as a cookie to share, but it was a minor disaster because I didn’t follow the directions. The cookies spread out ridiculously, they were so thin and fragile that you had to eat them standing right there over the cooling racks. They were not at all good for sharing. But the flavor. Oh, the flavor. In 2016 I decided to give them another go because I still remembered how delicious they were. That time I weighed the dry ingredients, and used the exact ingredients listed in Not So Humble’s recipe. I didn’t try to convert the measurements from UK to USA. Success! If you do not have a kitchen scale, then please proceed at your own peril. These are refrigerator cookies and are among the easiest type of cookie to make. 

• Ingredients
• 1-1/3 cup butter (11 oz.)
• 12 oz. sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 8 oz. bread flour
• 8 oz. cake flour
• Pinch salt
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1 Egg white, whipped lightly with a fork
• Decorative or sugar crystals

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Mix in bread flour, cake flour, salt, and cardamom. Divide into two or three portions and roll each portion into a “log” of about 1-1/2″ to 2″. Wrap each log in waxed paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. I leave mine for an hour or more. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Once chilled to quite firm, brush each dough log with egg white and roll the log in decorative sugar. Cut each log into slices of 1/4″ and place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. They should be lightly browned and will be a crunchy cookie.

I do these cookies in batches, only taking one log out of the refrigerator at a time. I think part of the spreading problem has to do with the chill on the cookie dough. Keep it cold. Rolling in sugar has its own challenges, the logs are hand-rolled and therefore uneven, so don’t really roll flat against the pan where the decorative sugar is spread. I sprinkle the sugar over them as I roll. You’ll end up with a mess on your hands, and the egg white tends to dissolve the decorative sugar if you touch it, but if you handle the logs as little as possible after the egg white has been brushed on, it’s fine. Then I pop the remainder of the roll back in the refrigerator until I’m ready for it. Keep the dough cold! And lastly, I make mine about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter because they’re seriously addictive and maybe whole-cookie bites into your mouth keep you from eating too many. Maybe. Merry Christmas!