Friday, March 18, 2011

French Friday with Dorie: Salted Butter Break-Ups

 
Salty-Sweet-Buttery-Flaky Cookie
Just before sliding today’s baking project into the oven, I had to seriously restrain myself from sprinkling green colored sugars or jimmies on the top side of my Salted Butter Break-up.



 

All afternoon I had been baking in preparation for our extended family St. Patrick’s Day supper with green cupcakes, shamrock shaped sugar cookies, and other delights.  The doughs were similar for the sugar cookies and the break-up, and I almost gave in and sprinkled the fun sugars on both, but just in time,  my brain kicked in and said, “STOP!”  The break-ups have the sel gris that I am trying for the first time, and nothing should diminish that flavor.

Very cold butter quickly chopped into many small pieces before adding to dry ingredients

Only 3-4 short pulses in the food processor creates pea-size butter pieces
And, thank you brain!  With all the other super sweet baked goods, the break-up with its sweet and salty flavor was a great alternative choice on our dessert menu (although the salted break-up is not necessarily just a dessert).

Dough wrapped and ready for fridge...it will be rolled out while very cold
Besides being a taste treat, the break-up is also a rustic beauty.  It casually invites everyone to just, as its name suggests, break off a piece and enjoy.  And its surprise is a hint of salt in every bite.


Rolling out dough between sheets of plastic wrap means no mess and no added flour

Dough painted with egg-yolk and cut with a deep cross-hatch patten before baking
This fun-to-serve, buttery, giant cookie with the gray sea salt is quick and easy to make and fun to serve and eat.   And, it is so much easier than the individually cut-out shamrock cookies ... this recipe is a “keeper” at my house.


Just out of the oven

Just break off your piece and ENJOY!

18 comments:

  1. LOL about the green sprinkles! I didn't expect to like this as much as I did - I used sea salt infused with blood orange zest. Yours looks bakery-quality!

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  2. Your cookie looks amazingly good! And kudos for having the restraing to NOT put anything green on or in them! =D (Though, I think it would've been ok!)

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  3. No left-over's for us either!! Your looks wonderful....we loved them so much! You are right--they are a real keeper!

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  4. Just break off ur piece and enjoy '' ,love that part and that pic is exactly like in the book.
    I am so excited to see ur grey sea salt too , we get it simple bags in only a few places in some local markets here and its a little difficult to find but i almost always have some of the goan local salt here.
    U restrained urself with the sprinkles for good reason , but i ever can.
    Oh can i tell u again how pretty ur cookie is ?:-)

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  5. Heh funny how festivities can tempt bakers and cooks to do funny things with the food. Glad you resisted the temptation! :D

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  6. What kind of butter did you use, Kris? Your cookie is so white on the inside. It looks beautiful with the lightly golden top.

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  7. I hope you all enjoyed your St. Patrick's Day feast! That sounds lovely!! Your break-ups turned out beautifully and I really enjoyed your post!

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  8. Too funny. It is amazing how when we get in the zone in the kitchen, we don't always think about what we are up to! It looks very lovely.

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  9. It is a rustic beauty...I like that! Great photos~

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  10. great job! I'm still catching up on missed weeks :(

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  11. I just love your phrase "rustic beauty". Perfect description of this cookie!

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  12. I really liked this cookie, maybe because it was rustic. I don't have the patience to be fussy about baking. Yours look like they came from a bakery!

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  13. Nice cookie, Kris! And who mentioned leftovers? My cookie was gone very fast, with just a couple of pieces reserved for the girls' lunch the next day:)
    I was a bit leery about adding salt to the dough, But I am glad I did not chicken out:)
    Great looking cookie!

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  14. Just say no to green sprinkles! lol. You don't want anything in the way of that great color you got!

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  15. "Rustic" was exactly one of the words that I think of with this recipe. And I mean that in the best sense of the word. I was also laughing when you were tempted to "sprinkle the green". I have totally enjoyed viewing the links where folks added colors and sprinkles- they look amazing, yet I am always too scared to veer off course. At least on my first try :)

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  16. I really, really like your first shot with the cookies and the wax paper. very cool. I think green sprinkles would have been fine, but probably for the best that you restrained yourself!

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  17. Your cookie looks great! I'm sure the French would appreciate that you didn't make it green (I might be on their naughty list for making mine green though).

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