Pink Peppercorn Thumbprint Cookies and Cosmonaut Cocktail | Wine Enthusiast
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Pink Peppercorn Thumbprint Cookies and Cosmonaut Cocktail

Courtesy Dorie’s Cookies (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), by Dorie Greenspan

Dorie Greenspan, widely regarded as the queen of cookies, gives the classic jam thumbprint an update with white chocolate and piquant pink peppercorns. Save a little extra strawberry jam for the cocktail, a riff on a classic from late bartending legend Sasha Petraske.

Ingredients

1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pink peppercorns
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup finely chopped best-quality white chocolate
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup strawberry jam
¼ teaspoon pure rose extract or rosewater (optional)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

Center rack in oven and heat to 350˚F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Put sugar, peppercorns and salt in food processor and pulse until peppercorns are pulverized. Add flour and white chocolate, and pulse until chocolate is pretty much ground. Scatter cold butter over dry ingredients and pulse about a dozen times, until the mixture forms large crumbs. Add beaten egg a little at a time, pulsing after each bit goes in. You’ll have moist dough that holds together easily. Scrape dough out onto parchment.

Using small cookie scoop, scoop out level portions of dough or use teaspoon to get rounded spoonfuls. Roll each piece between your palms to make ball. Place balls on baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them. Using knuckle or end of spoon, make deep indentation in center of each cookie.

Slide one sheet into the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Pull out sheet and, with base of a wooden spoon, poke down center of each cookie. Return sheet to oven and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until bottoms are browned and cookies feel firm; they will still be pale. Carefully transfer cookies to rack, and bake second sheet.

Put the jam in a microwave-safe container, add splash of water, stir and cover. Heat jam in the microwave for about 45 seconds, or until it boils. If you’re using rose extract or rosewater, stir it in.

Dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar (it’s okay if they’re still warm) and, using a small spoon, fill each hollow with jam. Allow the jam to cool and set. Makes about 34 cookies.

Cocktail Pairing: the Cosmonaut

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine 2 ounces gin, ¾ ounce lemon juice 1 teaspoon strawberry jam. Shake well and strain into coupe glass.