LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2023

SMART COOKIES

Danish Butter Cookies

For many Canadians, the holi days aren’t complete without an iconic blue tin of Danish butter cookies. These wreaths tap into that nostalgia and amp up the flavour with real vanilla bean. Piping cookies isn’t as hard as you think—filling the bag with a bit of dough at a time will make the job much easier. 1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out 2 3/4 cups (675 mL) all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp (2 mL) fine sea salt 1 1/4 cups (310 mL) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1 tbsp (15 mL) whole milk White paper cupcake liners to serve (optional) 1. Arrange racks in top and bottom thirds of oven. Preheat to 350°F (177°C). 2. In bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar and vanilla seeds, reserving pod for another use. Work seeds into sugar with your fingertips until evenly distributed. Fit mixer with paddle attachment and add flour and salt. Blend on low speed until combined. Add butter and mix on low speed until mixture is finely crumbled and resembles almond meal, 1 to 2 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs with milk. Raise speed to medium-low then slowly add milk mixture to dry ingredients. Mix just until a smooth dough forms, about 1 minute. 3. Smear a dab of dough on each corner of two baking sheets. Place a piece of parchment overtop, pressing down on corners to ad here—this prevents paper from slipping while piping cookies. 4. Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, transfer to a heavy 16-inch (40-cm) piping

MICHELLE LUCAS LARVING “Danish butter cookies from a tin were my favourite holiday treat growing up. This version uses real vanilla bean, and the dough is soft enough to pipe rather than use a cookie press.”

WHAT TO SERVE Cave Spring Blanc de Blancs Brut Sparkling VQA VINTAGES ESSENTIALS 213983, $32.95 Sparkling wine is an excellent accompaniment to any dish. This traditional method Chardonnay is no exception. The sparkler’s bubbles complement the buttery goodness of a classic Danish cookie.

set and are lightly golden around the edges, 14 to 18 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 min utes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room tem perature for up to 1 week. Serve in paper cupcake liners, if desired.

bag fitted with a medium open star piping tip such as Ateco #824 or Wilton #1M. Pipe into 2-inch (5-cm) wide wreaths on prepared baking sheets, 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. 5. Bake in top and bottom thirds of oven, switching sheets half way through, until cookies have

Makes 42 cookies

224 FOOD & DRINK HOLIDAY 2023