Maman: Grandma Gracie’s Shortbread Cookies
Maman (mother in French) is the creation of Benjamin Sormonte and Elisa Marshall. Their locations offers both savory and sweet foods inspired from the south of France and North America. Their high quality, locally-sourced ingredients are the root of their delicious menu. The French-American bakery sells a selection of savory baked goods, breakfast and lunch options.
Grandma Gracie’s Shortbread Cookies is a recipe from Elisa’s grandmother. As a kid, Elisa loved this “snowball” cookie. It’s a very simple recipe that is also very flexible. You can add chocolate, nuts, candies, etc. to give this cookie another twist. We kept it simple and just added chocolate chips to ours. The end result was a classic shortbread cookie with chocolate chunks throughout.
Although we did enjoy these cookies, we made one tiny mistake. Based off the texture of the cookie, we used a little too much cornstarch in the recipe somehow, which made the cookie a bit thicker and crumbly. Nonetheless, the cookies didn’t last long in our kitchen.
This recipe came from the book Maman: The Cookbook by Elisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte.
Recipe
Ingredients
3 cups (435 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (60 g) cornstarch
4 sticks (1 pound/450 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups (195 g) confectioners’ sugar
5 ounces (140 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped, or 3/4 cup (140 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Tip: Did you forget to soften you butter? Elisa’s maman taught her a great trick: Grate a hard stick of butter on the coarse side of a box grater to instantly soften the butter, making it the perfect temperature for baking.
Directions
1. Set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 F (150 C). Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and cornstarch.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the almond extract. With the mixer running on low, gradually add 1 cup (130 g) of the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating for about 1 minute to fully combine. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches and beat on medium for about 2 minutes to fully combine. Fold in the chocolate.
4. Using your hands, roll the dough into 1 1/2-to-2-inch (3.75 to 5 cm) balls and arrange on the prepared sheet pans about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Transfer one sheet pan to the oven and bake, rotating the sheet pan as needed for even baking, until the bottoms are light brown — the tops will remain pale — 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Repeat to bake the remaining cookies.
5. Meanwhile, place the remaining 1/2 cup (65 g) confectioners’ sugar in a wide, shallow bowl. Set a wire rack inside a sheet pan.
6. Roll the cooled cookies in the confectioners’ sugar, then place on the rack.
Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
