Cookies, by Plonq

[plonq]

A few months ago, mom casually mentioned in IM that a friend of hers had brought some rosewater cookies when she dropped by for coffee. She couldn't remember if they were Syrian or Turkish in origin, but she went on to describe something that sounded more like little nut-filled cakes than cookies. She also waxed poetic about how good they were. The idea intrigued me, and I filed it away for future reference. Something triggered a memory of the conversation a couple of weeks ago, and on a whim I started researching recipes for rosewater cookies. Initially I had been trying to find something close to what Mom had described, but I stopped looking when I found something that was closer to glorified sugar cookies.

I am not the worlds most talented baker, and sugar cookies sounded like something that is about my speed.

I was pretty sure that I had seen rosewater for sale at the grocery store on previous shopping trips, so I quietly added it to our shopping list for the weekend. Even if they had not carried it (they did), I know of a couple of other stores in town that would definitely have had it in stock.

The recipe itself is pretty standard flour/sugar/butter recipe, but with the addition of rosewater in place of regular water. (I can post it here, or link to it if anyone is interested.) It involves rolling the dough into a tube, chilling it for an hour or so, then slicing it thin for baking. I made a batch of cookies early last week. I am not sure how many cookies the recipe is supposed to make, but I got 3 1/2 dozen cookies out of it. They turned out pretty good, but I missed a step (I forgot to sprinkle sugar on top before baking them), and I overcooked them a bit. All in all I felt that I could have done a little better, so I made some more this evening.

This time around I rolled the dough out into a longer, thinner tube and cut the cookies a little thicker. I think my main mistake with the first batch had been in cutting the cookies too thin. The recipe said to cook them for 10 minutes or until they were light brown around the edges. Even though I had removed them from the oven the moment they had turned light brown around the edges, they continued to brown as I was trying to get them off the cookie sheet. This week I set the timer for 11:50 and removed them from the heat whether they looked done or not. Much better.

So far they have been a hit with everyone who has tried them. Since rosewater is a very unusual ingredient around here, people can identify that there is something different about the cookies, but they can't quite place it.

Comments

[atara.livejournal.com]

Ew, yuck, no. :)

It's the distillate of rose petals.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I have always liked to think that it is the tears shed by roses when you tear them from the vine -- but I think atara's answer is probably more accurate.

[pierrekrahn.livejournal.com]

That's what first came to mind for me too.

And I was glad and relieved when I asked Plonq to clarify :)

[pierrekrahn.livejournal.com]

I used to make sugar cookies years ago.

One thing I remember is that if I waited for them to turn golden brown before I took them out of the oven, they would turn into rock. But if I took them out when they appeared to be slightly undercooked, they turned out perfectly.