Thurman Merman would approve

Growing up in San Diego, my mom would buy these fruit bars from a local establishment called Dudley’s Bakery. Chewy, dense and studded with raisins, these bars were the perfect pre-swim workout snacks. Over the years I’ve made several failed attempts at cracking the recipe code for these not-quite-cookie bars. I could never get the texture quite right. They were either too dry and crumbly or too chewy–like over-developed gluten.

To be honest, after my last swing-and-a-miss I’d purposefully put the damn things out of my mind.

Until a couple of weeks ago when I ran across a picture on Pintrest that looked like a “close-enough” match to merit the purchase of a bag of raisins.

Thanks to a blog called The Lemon Bowl.

Contrary to what people seem to think, I don’t generally eat a whole lot of what I bake. For me, baking is about making, not eating. It’s a hobby, like quilting or glassblowing or that weird thing they call cosplay that I don’t really understand.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit, these bars were the exception. They’re really good. Wholesome, satisfying, and for me, nostalgic, the magic in these bars is enough to help me not only overcome my distaste for raisins in baked goods, but

They are properly called hermit bars. But, in my head, they’re Thurman Merman bars. Should I fix some sandwiches?

Hermit Bars

adapted from The Lemon Bowl

Ingredients

4 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 C packed golden brown sugar
1 C butter (16 TBS) unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 C dark molasses
2 large eggs at room temp
2 C raisins or other dried fruit

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly pan with parchment (standard half-sheet, 12X17) with parchment. If you want to use a 9X13 pan, you’ll just have significantly thicker bars. Grease and then flour the parchment and sides.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, all of the spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter for 2 minutes.
Add-in brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 3 more minutes.
Mix in eggs one-at-a-time.
Reduce speed and drizzle-in molasses. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
With mixer on lowest speed, slowly incorporate dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Pull bowl from paddle and mix in raisins/dried fruit by hand.
Using an offset spatula (or floured fingers if you are brave), dump dough into prepared pan and carefully distribute until you have an even layer.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes up clean.
Allow to cool completely before cutting.
These will store well for up to a week in an airtight container.

Consider this the gateway hack

I’ve been working on updating our master bedroom for a couple of years now.

It started with bedding. Then we took the plunge and bought a real dresser. While nary a scrap of my own clothing is organized within its deep and generous drawers, I love this dresser. I’ve long admired the mid-century modern influence; even before Jon Hamm became its ultimate accessory. And while this dresser’s clean lines are a clear nod to the movement, the natural finish and walnut grain make it feel smart and casual. When we bought the long dresser, we also considered purchasing its three-drawer younger brother. Alas, I didn’t have any organs to sell that weren’t being used at the time, so we waited.

Until I needed a project. While researching the hardware for my little necklace display project, I wandered through the dresser section of Ikea’s online site.

And found the unfinished Tarva. My goal was to find something I could stain to go with the long dresser while keeping the budget low. At about $80, this baby had potential.

The morning went we to pick this guy up I had TD set the stopwatch on his phone. We were in and out of Ikea in 23 minutes. And that included a trip to every floor to pick up some other odds and ends. Of course it took me another 2 1/2 hours to build the dresser–which was fine with me since I happen to love building Ikea furniture. No really, give me a box of wood…or wood-like parts, an alan wrench and one of those graphic novels they call instruction booklets and I’m pretty much in heaven.

It had been about 20 years since I stained my last piece of furniture, so I did quite a bit of research in advance. I used Centsational Girl’s tutorial on the X base table they built from scratch (ridiculous!) and her tutorial on refinishing this table as my template. Because the wood on the dresser was unfinished, I lightly sanded, wiped-down and then applied a wood conditioner. This was followed by two super thin coats of Minwax wood stain in special walnut. My goal was to enhance the grain rather than hide it. I finished the staining with two coats of clear wood finish (sanding lightly in between). I wanted a natural finish but some protection from wear and tear, so just a couple of coats was the trick. Finally, I swapped-out the wooden knobs for some stainless knobs similar to the ones on the long dresser.

In the top drawer I laid down some anti-slip liner and filled it with night-stand type stuff. You know, lip balm, hair bands, extra furry mice for the Kitchen Gods. I also threaded the cord of a charger through the back and now have a hidden charging area for my ipad and phone. The rest of the dresser is filled with TDs stuff. This is in addition to the giant dresser, his custom closet, the storage bench at the end of the bed and a couple of shelves in my closet. The dude may have a problem.

While this addition isn’t a perfect match to the Room and Board dresser, it wasn’t meant to be. I like a room that feels like it belongs together but doesn’t match exactly.

And now that I’ve broken the seal with our orbital sander attachment and the wood stain, I have at last two more projects in the works for the near future.

Right after we have the bedroom painted.

And the carpet replaced.

And the gallery wall installed…

Two (or three) with tea

Needing a lighter complement, I knew I had just the thing to serve with the quadruple-threat chocolate cookies at Valentine’s.

Light and crispy, these sugar cookies are flavored with sparkling blood orange zest and floral cardamom pods.

These have a higher butter-to-flour ratio than my usual sugar cookie recipe, I kept them in the fridge until right before popping them in the oven and they held their shape just fine.

I topped half with clear sanding sugar and the other half with a simple blood-orange and confectioner’s sugar icing. As usual when using blood oranges, no food coloring was needed. This pink was natural, baby.

I’m not certain if she uses the same recipe, but my mom makes an orange (not blood) cardamom cookie at the Christmas holidays. The mixture of orange and cardamom is reminiscent of the traditional-holiday pairing of oranges and cloves. However, out of context–say, for Valentines Day…or maybe more appropriately at this point St. Patrick’s Day or Easter, these pretty cookies don’t taste out of season at all.

If you like this, you might like these

Chai Cupcakes

Blood Orange Cheesecake

Salty Screw

Cardamom and Blood Orange Sugar Cookies

adapted fromm Bon Appetit, December 2009

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated blood orange peel (I used a microplane)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
Raw sugar

For icing

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup blood orange juice

Directions

Whisk flour, cardamom, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl to blend.
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in finely grated orange peel and vanilla. Add egg; beat to blend.
Add 1/3 of flour mixture; beat on low speed just to blend. Add remaining flour in 2 additions, beating on low speed just until blended.
Divide dough in half. Place between two sheets of parchment or wax paper and roll-out to about 1/4-1/8 inch depending on desired thickness. Repeat with second half of dough. Chill until firm (at least an hour).
Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut out cookies using festive cookie cutters. Carefully transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with sugar if not topping with icing.
Gather dough scraps into ball. Flatten, cover, and freeze dough until firm enough to roll out again, about 10 minutes.
Bake cookies until light golden brown, about 16 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking for even cooking. Carefully slide parchment paper with cookies onto racks to cool completely.
To ice, whisk together confectioner’s sugar, adding juice a little bit at a time until you reach the desired thickness (I prefer mine runny for better coverage).
Lightly grasping the edges of each cookie, dip into the icing so that only the top of the cookie touches the surface. Quickly pull up and let cookies dry on a cooling rack.

Butter, cinnamon and sugar my muffin

When I mentioned the big plans I had over the holidays to attempt making my own puff pastry dough, I had morning buns on the brain. Alas, the sun was too inviting and I decided to play with puff pastry another day.

I still had morning buns on my mind though.

This recipe, if you can even call it that, is embarrassingly simple: a sheet of puff, some butter, cinnamon and sugar. Then, right out of the oven, an additional dip in butter and a final cinnamon and sugar bath (sort of like these french doughnuts).

I took these little darlings to work along with the Jesuites. Someone very important in my organizations who had the ability threatened to fire me if I ever brought them in again. I think this means they were a hit.

Mini Morningish Buns

(one sheet of puff pastry yields 16 mini and 6 regular-sized buns, hun)

Ingredients

Sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1 C granulated sugar
1 tsp (or more to taste) of ground cinnamon
12 TBS butter, softened

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter your muffin pan.
Combined sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl until cinnamon is thoroughly distributed. Taste and add-more spice as desired.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the puff pastry dough until about 18X10 inches. Be sure to life the dough after each roll so that it does not stick to the surface.
Spread a thin layer of butter over entire surface of dough (it will take about a stick of butter, maybe a little less).
Generously sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture across the buttered surface, reserving at least 1/3 of a cup.
Starting at the far long end of the rectangle, roll the dough tightly all the way to the edge of the closest long end. The finished product will look like a log.
If using a mini-muffin pan, cut log in half and then cut each half into quarters and half each quarter so that you have 16 small rolls. If using a regular muffin-pan, cut the log in half and then each half into thirds.
Carefully place each cut roll into the wells of the pan, cut side facing up. You may want to squish the dough down a bit to get it to spread-out in the well.
Bake until dark golden brown (20 to 30 minutes–begin watching at 20).
While buns are baking, melt remaining butter. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl.
Remove buns from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.
Using tongs (or your fingers if you are brave), remove each bun, dip it in butter, roll it in the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture and set atop a cooling rack to cool.
Try not to get fired from your job.

How to catch a valentine

Have a valentine for whom you’d like to show your looooooove?

Need to catch a valentine so that someone will loooooooove you?

Well, have I got a recipe for you. It has everything….

Oh, how I miss you Stefon.

But seriously. I promise this quadruple chocolate threat cookie will get the job done.

And you know what they say. If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.

Quadruple Threat Chocolate Cookies

adapted from Sunset Magazine’s 50 all-time best Sunset Test Kitchen recipes

Ingredients

10 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar plus more for dipping (or cocoa could be used to dip)
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I used the ground espresso right out of a Nespresso capsule)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 C bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 C chopped white chocolate
1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans

Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over low heat. Once butter is melted, remove from heat and add-in the chopped bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates. Swirl pan to cover chocolate (as best as it will) and let stand for five minutes. Using a wire whisk, whisk until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. You may need to return to very low heat.
Whisk eggs, sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla into chocolate mixture. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into chocolate mixture until evenly mixed, then stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Wrap dough airtight and chill until firm enough to hold its shape, at least an hour.
Using a large scoop (I scooped between 1/8 and 1/4 of a cup), scoop dough, placing it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet with two inches in-between (I fit about 8 drops of dough on a half-sheet).
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Dip the bottom of a pint glass or even round surface in sugar or cocoa powder. Gently press down each drop/ball of dough until flattened slightly (the chunks in the cookie should help to keep the thickness at about 1/2 and inch).
Bake until cookies no longer look wet and you can feel a slight crust on top, about 10 minutes (don’t overbake); switch position of baking sheets halfway through. Let cookies cool on sheets on racks.
Cookies freeze nicely up to two weeks in air-tight containers or freezer bags.

Not just a puff piece

A couple of years ago I went to work for a Catholic university of the St Ignatius of Loyola and Marymount persuasions. While I’ve made my career in education, most often at the college-level, this was my first religiously-affiliated institution.

Always the diligent researcher, I went deep when preparing to interview for the job. Part of my motivation was professional—I needed this prospective place of employment to know that I’d done my homework. Selfishly, I also needed to understand the values of the private, religiously affiliated institution. See, I wasn’t raised Catholic. In fact, even though both of my parents affiliate as Episcopal, WASP is the closest to religion I come. And by WASP I mean the hair-band wearing, knowing how to use the appropriate fork and then stabbing you in the back with it part…not the actual Protestant part. But, as usual, I digress.

In my research of this Catholic university in the Jesuit tradition, I was impressed by what I learned. The Jesuits are known as teachers and seekers of knowledge. Among other things, their educational tradition seeks to produce not just successful leaders, leaders in the service of others. It’s kind of their jam. To this end, I was very drawn to the idea of a mission-driven university. This was especially true provided this university’s triumvirate mission: the encouragement of learning, the education of the whole person and the service of faith and justice.

I’ll admit, at the time I didn’t really understand the service of faith piece. But, the other components certainly read like the kind of place I’d like to be producing our future (in the form of college graduates). I didn’t learn until I had an employee ID number that the mission truly saturates the being of the institution. It is in the classroom. It is in the activities and programs in which students participate. It is in the engagement of the alumni. It is a pleasure to work in a place that strives to walk the talk.

I’ve also come to understand that this is pretty standard across other Catholic-Jesuit institutions. Values are important. Being a good person is important. Striving to create a more just society is important.

Which, brings me to a bit of serendipity. About the time I went to work at Loyola Marymount University, TD began collaborating with some colleagues on a documentary about the 1951 University of San Francisco football team (also a Jesuit university). The story is poignantly emblematic of the racial climate of the time. In a sentence, the University’s undefeated football team chose not to play in a bowl game rather than leave their black teammates behind. Ironically, 1951 was the last season for football at both USF and Loyola University (now Loyola Marymount University). ’51 DONS airs this Sunday on ESPN (4:00 PM PST) and ESPN2 (7:00 PM PST):

You can also go here to learn more about the team.

Speaking of serendipity. I had this post for Jesuite pastries scheduled for later in the month. I actually didn’t think to line up my Jesuit themed bits and pieces until yesterday. Sometimes I wonder about myself.

Jesuites are a french pastry filled with almond cream and topped with almonds (and sometimes a layer of icing). They get their name from the three-pointed hats Jesuits are said to have been fond of wearing back in the day. Over the holidays I had big plans to make my own puff pastry. But, unlike most of the country, the sun was shining in Southern California and I abandoned my winter-dark kitchen to go play outside. So, for this recipe and its partner (that I’ll post later in the month), I used prepared pastry dough.

Jesuites

Almond cream recipe adapted from Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel’s Bouchon Bakery

This recipe makes about a dozen Jesuits with two sheets of puff pastry. I was pretty wasteful with the dough…a strategic cutting and you could get several more out of it.

Ingredients

1/2 C + 2 1/2 TBS (75 grams) almond flour/meal
2 1/4 tsp (7 grams) all purpose flour
2 1/2 ounces (73 grams) unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 C + 2 TBS confectioner’s sugar
2 large eggs (1 for almond cream, one for egg wash) (44 grams)
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
flaked almonds (I like the honey glazed variety from Trader Joes)

Directions

note: finished almond cream needs at least 2 hours in the fridge before use

In a medium bowl, sift together almond flour and all purpose flour. Set aside.
Using an electric hand mixer, cream butter until it is the consistency of mayonnaise.
Sift-in confectioner’s sugar and mix on high until fluffy (2-3 minutes).
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the almond mixture in 2 additions, combining on low.
Scrape the bottom of the bowl to combine all ingredients.
Add in 1 egg and combined on low until mixture is smooth (about 30 seconds).
Refrigerate until cold (at least two hours). Can be made up to three days in advance, kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On a floured work surface, roll-out puff pastry to roughly 14X18 inches.
Using a 12 inch bowl as a template, cut out a round using a sharp knife. Cut the circle into 6 equal parts. You should have enough dough left at the corners of the rectangle not included in the circle to cut 4 additional triangles. Repeat with second sheet of pastry.
Space five triangles on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Spread about a tablespoon of almond cream evenly across each triangle leaving about a centimeter along the edges.
Top each triangle with a second triangle, pinching the edges (they’ll break free in the puffing-up process…this is supposed to happen). Repeat until each triangle on your tray is topped.
Paint each pastry with egg wash and top liberally with flaked almonds.
Repeat with second baking sheet.
Bake baking sheets one-at-a-time for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden brown and pastry puffs to about 3 inches.

Showing off the glitter, on the cheap

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a clothes horse and shoe hound (which is odd considering I was born in a year of the ox).

In my defense, I’m pretty careful about how I curate and take care of my…collections. So, I find myself cleaning-out and re-organizing my closet every month or two. I not only own a flipfold. I use it with relish.

For the last couple of years, I’ve kept track of my ever expanding collection of costumy-type necklaces on a giant cork board. It worked well for a long time, but I was ready for a change and itching to use the power drill.

So, I had an idea.

While there are a thousand ways to skin this cat, the method I used cost a whopping $15 all in. After measuring the horizontal space available in my closet and then cruising the Ikea website, I decided that the 22-inch Bygel rail would fit perfectly. Measuring my vertical space, I figured I could fit three of these spaced to accommodate the varying lengths of my necklaces.

To do the actual hanging, I picked up several sets of the coordinating Bygel S-hooks. What I failed to do was calculate the two-inch drop created by the hooks. Of course, I installed the rods before realizing this mistake. It threw off the aesthetic a bit–but not enough to re-hang the rods.

A level, a dozen screws and my power-drill itch scratched and I had a brand new way to display and organize my jewelry.

I was pretty proud of myself. In fact, I thought I’d come up with a pretty clever idea all on my own. Then I went over to Pinterest.

Damn! Damn Pinterest!

At least a dozen or so persons had already had the same idea. With better execution.

What. Ever.

Lone Mountain Ranch Trail Cookies

And we’re back.

The view off of the back porch of my parent’s house for the first couple of days we were there.

TD and I spent the Christmas holidays with my family up in Montana. There was lots of eating and drinking and general merry making by all involved.

TD enjoying a Moscow Mule and the gloaming.

While my parents currently live right outside of Bozeman, their first Montana love (and house) was up in Big Sky. A couple of days before Christmas, we wandered up the pass to Big Sky for lunch at the Lone Mountain Ranch. The property is located just up the road from my parent’s place in the Big Sky Meadow and I’ve hiked their trails in the summers.

Among other things (like the fact that you get your own horse for the whole week you stay there), the Lone Mountain Ranch is known for its locally sourced, gourmet lunch and dinner menus and is open to the public (though they don’t offer us occasional diners a pony for the duration of the meal). One of the constants on their impressive dessert buffet is a hearty, oaty trail mix sort of cookie. Intrepid baker that she is, my mom somehow finagled the recipe from their pastry chef.

And now I’m sharing it with you.

Similar to other recipes of this type, the add-in combinations are endless. I’ve included the recipe in its original but immediately began experimenting. The cookies here have the almonds and cashews but I also added-in butterscotch chips, dried cranberries, golden raisins and shredded coconut (about 7 ounces).

These babies freeze well. And, to be honest, taste better the longer they’re around.

Lone Mountain Ranch Trail Mix Cookies

14 ounces (3 sticks plus 6 TBS) unsalted butter, room temp
12 ounces (1 1/2 C) golden brown sugar, packed
12 ounces (1 3/4 C) granulated sugar
6 ounces honey
4 eggs
1 TBS vanilla
24 ounces (3 1/2 C) flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
8 ounces (1 C) oats (did not specify old fashioned or quick, I used old fashioned)
12 ounces rasins
12 ounces dried cranberries
6 ounces toasted cashews
6 ounces almonds
6 ounces pumpkin seeds
6 ounces sunflower seeds

Direction

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until light and fluffy (2 minutes in a stand-mixer).
Add-in both sugars, cream for 3 minutes.
Mix-in eggs one-at-a-time (mixing until combined in between each).
Mix-in vanilla.
Lower speed and mix-in honey.
Set to lowest speed, add in flour and mix until just combined.
By hand, incorporate oats and fruits, nuts and add-ins.
Drop 1/4 cup mounts of dough onto cookie sheets leaving plenty of room for the cookies to spread.
Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown (or fewer if you like your middle a little soft).
Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets before removing.
TMH note–I think these only got better over time. Make a day or two in advance and give them time for the flavors get groovy.

It’s all just icing on the cookie

“We elves like to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.” Buddy, in Elf (2003).

Generally, my belief when decorating cookies is that the more you mess with them, the worse they taste. While I appreciate the look real royal icing creates, I’ve always shied away from it because of this.

Using lemon juice in confectioner’s sugar, while pretty delicious does have its limitations. Most specifically, I found no matter what I did, the colors bled.

So, this year I decided to go for it with the royal icing figuring that even if they tasted awful, they at least had a chance of looking good.

I did quite a bit of research in preparation and found the royal icing recipe and technique instructions from The Adventures of Sweet Sugar Bell made a lot of sense. Especially the part about the spray bottle.

I’m telling you, the spray bottle was key.

Not to get all metaphysical on ya’ll, but I can’t help but think of T.S. Elliott and his Wasteland (1922) now that all is said and done:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place from the first time.”

The pink peppercorn rides again

In the course of my holiday baking each year, I like to make a couple of different kinds of shortbready-sably type cookies. And each year, I like to try out something a little different.

This year, by different, I meant really different. As in, peppercorny different. In fact, I think that’s where it started. At some point during my planning, TD always asks the same question: “you aren’t going make anything pink peppercorny are you?”

Why yes, yes I am.

If you don’t know about TD and pink peppercorns, you can catch up here. A couple of years ago I had some success with raspberry and pink peppercorn macarons so I thought it might be fun to translate that into a sable.

I added in some white chocolate chunks and accessorized with bright pink sanding sugar for a little pizzazz (yes, I just said pizzazz).

The results were interesting. While not for everyone, I thought they were a complex, if not festive addition.

Raspberry, White Chocolate and Pink Peppercorn Sables

a play on Dorie Greenspan’s sable cookie

Ingredients

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt
2 large egg yolks, preferably at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground pink peppercorns (I use a coffee grinder)
3 heaping TBS freeze dried raspberry powder (I find freeze dried fruit at Trader Joes. You can also find it on Amazon. I also used the coffee grinder to pulverize the raspberries)
8 ounces white chocolate chunks
Sanding sugar if you want to get fancy

Directions

Working with a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until it is smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and continue to beat until smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 egg yolks, again beating until well blended.

Turn off the mixer, pour in the flour, raspberry and pink peppercorn powders. Drape a kitchen towel over the mixer and pulse the mixer about 5 times at low speed for 1 or 2 seconds each time. Take a peek; if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, stir for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. If you still have some flour on the bottom of the bowl, stop mixing and use a rubber spatula to work the rest of it into the dough. (The dough will not come together in a ball — and it shouldn’t. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you’re aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy dough. When pinched, it should feel a little like Play-Doh.)

3. Scrape the dough onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long (it’s easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log). Wrap the logs well and chill them for at least 2 hours. The dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

4. When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and keep it at the ready.

6. Place the rounds on the baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between each cookie, and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top. Let the cookies rest 1 or 2 minutes before carefully lifting them onto a cooling rack with a wide metal spatula. Repeat with the remaining log of dough. (Make sure the sheet is cool before baking each batch.)