Step 1—Make the dough: Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour and salt, and stir with a spoon or spatula, until the dry ingredients come together into a sticky dough ball—but do not overwork the dough or your cookies will be tough instead of tender.
Step 2—Form logs: To make the dough easier to work with, chill it for 15 minutes. Divide in half and form two 8- to 9-inch logs on separate sheets of wax paper, using the paper to shape and smooth the logs. Wrap tightly and chill in refrigerator until very firm (at least 3 hours or overnight). Logs can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or wrapped a second time in foil and frozen up to 1 month.
Step 3—Bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. On a separate sheet of wax paper, lightly brush each log with egg white wash and roll in (or heavily sprinkle with) coarse finishing sugar. Using a knife, cut the chilled dough into ¼- to ½inch slices (your choice). Bake for 15–20 minutes, rotating pan once for even baking. Cookies are finished when edges are light brown but centers are still pale.
PRALINE SABLÉS:
Follow the recipe above, but in Step 1 fold ½ cup Crushed Praline (recipe follows) into the dough before shaping and chilling. When Madame makes the praline version, she also replaces the ⅓ cup coarse finishing sugar (in Step 3) with ½ cup or more crushed praline, pressing lightly to make sure particles stick to the egg-washed dough logs.
Praline is a brittle confection made of almonds (or hazelnuts) and caramelized sugar. A popular ingredient of French pastry chefs, it can be served as candy; ground and used as a flavoring; or even sprinkled over ice cream or on top of tarts, custards, and cakes.
Makes 2 cups
⅓ cup water
¼ teaspoon lemon juice (to prevent caramel from crystallizing)
1¼ cups white granulated sugar
1⅓ cups slivered almonds, toasted (see How to Toast Nuts on page 334)
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. To make caramel, combine water, lemon juice, and sugar in a 2-quart saucepan. Place over high heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. After 10 or so minutes of continual boiling and stirring, the mixture will turn light golden. Just as the color deepens to a darker golden, remove pan from heat (if it darkens too much it will burn). Add almonds and stir well. Carefully pour this very hot mixture onto prepared baking sheet. Flatten into an even layer. As it cools, it will harden. (You have just made a delicious almond brittle!) Break into pieces. Place pieces into a resealable plastic bag and crush into a coarse powder with a rolling pin, meat mallet, or bottom of a heavy mug. (Who needs anger management?) For easy cleanup, fill pan with water, add utensils, and boil to melt crusted caramel.
“Like a party in my mouth,” said Sergeant Manny Franco upon tasting Clare’s super-moist, chocolate-glazed mocha cake. The cake is wonderfully spongy so it soaks up the rich, chocolate glaze beautifully. As Clare mentioned to Franco, the flavor notes of coffee and malt (from the dark beer) intensify the chocolate. You hardly taste the coffee in the cake or the beer in the glaze; you simply enjoy a deeper, more satisfying chocolate experience.
Makes one 8-inch round, single-layer cake
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup cake flour (if using all-purpose flour, see note at end of recipe for proper amount)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup buttermilk, low fat is fine (to make your own, see end of recipe)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup black, brewed (and cooled) coffee
Chocolate Guinness Glaze (recipe follows)
Step 1—Prep the pan: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut out a round of parchment paper and place it in the bottom of an 8-inch round layer-cake or springform pan. Lightly coat the paper and sides of the pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Step 2—One-bowl mixing method: Place both sugars, cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to blend. Add in the buttermilk, egg, oil, vanilla, and coffee. Whisk again until the ingredients are well blended (but do not overmix or you’ll create gluten in the flour and your cake will be tough instead of tender). Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
Step 3—Bake: Place the cake in the center of the oven and bake for 30–35 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (with no batter clinging to it). Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of the pan, place your serving plate over the top and carefully flip to remove. Peel off the parchment paper. You now have a flat and even top to your cake! To finish, pour the warm Shiny Chocolate Guinness Glaze (recipe follows) all over the cake top, allowing it to drip down the sides and soak into the spongy cake. Let the glaze sit for about 30 minutes to set. Then serve and eat with joy!
Note on Cake Flour: I highly recommend using cake flour for this recipe for the best result. Cake flour is milled finer and lighter than regular all-purpose flour and will give you a more tender cake. If you’ve never bought cake flour before, look for it in boxes (not sacks) in the grocery store aisle where all-purpose flour is sold. If I still haven’t convinced you to use cake flour, and you want to use all-purpose flour for this recipe, then make sure to reduce the amount of flour by ¼ cup.
How to Make a Buttermilk Substitute: Buttermilk adds a wonderfully bright tang to recipes, deepening the complexity of flavor beyond plain milk. To make your own sour milk replacement for buttermilk, simply place 1 tablespoon lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a measuring cup and fill it with milk (whole or low fat) until the liquid reaches the 1-cup line. Allow this mixture sit for 10 minutes at room temperature, and then use it as you would buttermilk in any recipe. (Note: Clare’s Moist Mocha Cake recipe calls for only ½ cup buttermilk.)
Clare Cosi is always on the lookout for things that might make her favorite Irish cop happy. Guinness stout in the glaze of a chocolate cake? Perfect. “When using beer for a recipe,” she warns, “allow it to sit and warm to room temperature. Of course, beer foams when you first pour it. You’ll need to let the foam settle before measuring the beer or simply spoon off the foam and measure the liquid. To keep the extra beer from going to waste, you might want to invite someone who likes beer to join you in your kitchen.” (And, in Clare’s case, it’s no mystery who that someone is going to be.)