Snake cookie
August 19, 2011 • Category: Cookies
My mom lived in Dallas for a couple of years and being a very sociable person, she joined the newcomer’s club, made friends with all of the neighbors, and pretty soon had a fully booked social calendar with bridge parties, luncheons, museum visits and the like.
This is the type of communal cookie I would have liked to make and offer these ladies during their bridge and tea get-togethers. Each person can snap off a piece (as small or large as desired) and savor it with tea or coffee.
The crust is a pâte sucrée, a classic recipe from chef Roland Mesnier’s Dessert University who was the White House pastry chef, baking cakes and cookies to a long string of presidents and dignitaries.
According to chef Mesnier, he always made sure there was a plate of petits fours available at the White House; none of that whimsical stuff though!
The crust is crunchy and buttery and combined with a couple coats of apricot jelly or amardeen and the extra crunch of the almonds scales, it is hard to resist.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter (8 ounces)
- Rind of a lemon or orange
- 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla
- Dash of salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of amardeen syrup or apricot jam or preserves
- 1/2 cup of almonds slices
- 1/2 teaspoon of agar-agar if using amardeen syrup (optional)
- dragées, to shape the eyes (optional)
METHOD:
- Place the softened butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer; mix well until the mixture is light-colored, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Combine. Add the egg and mix; add the flour and mix until it disappears. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour or longer.
- Tear off half of the dough, leaving the rest refrigerated; taking one potato-size lump of dough, shape it into a narrow tube and set it on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper; continue with more until a snake shape is formed, making the hear fatter and the tail narrower. Using a knife, form a groove all along the snake. Insert almond slices and a couple of eyes with dragées if desired.
- Bake the snake in a 350Foven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden with brown accents; the dough should be crisp when it cools. Cool the cookie.
- Brush apricot preserve, jam or amardeen all over the dorsal part, in two batches; (wait for the first coat to dry). Serve.
NOTE: This dough is sufficient for 2 large snakes or a batch of about 75 cookies. It will freeze well, tightly wrapped, for two months. Shape the dough into a log, refrigerate or freeze and cut in 1/4 inch slices.
To make jam out of amardeen syrup, pour the syrup into a saucepan (you should have two cups); heat until simmering and add 1/2 teaspoon of agar-agar; stir continuously for 30 seconds to one minute. Cool. If you are using one cup, reduce the agar-agar to 1/4 teaspoon.
For a different look:
Simply form ring shapes and insert almonds all around; when bakes into a golden-brown hue, let them cool a bit and apply the apricot jam with a brush.
Comments
21 Comments • Comments Feed
Rosa says:
Interest! That is one wonderful cookie. I love the flavors used.
Cheers,
Rosa
On August 19, 2011 at 3:53 pm
polwig says:
This would be so much fun for kids parties too… very tasty also
On August 19, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Velva says:
This is a beautiful “communal” cookie. It’s like breaking bread with each other. In this case, we would be breaking cookies.
Velva
On August 19, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Banana Wonder says:
Love this cookie and the story behind it. It would no doubt be a great “ice breaker” and could almost be subed for a bday cake – just got to make an indent and the snake’s head for a candle ;-p
On August 20, 2011 at 12:26 am
bonnie at sweet life says:
A wonderful treat for a gathering of women enjoying coffee and friendship!!
On August 20, 2011 at 12:28 am
Priya says:
Omg, mindblowing, incredible snake cookie..
On August 20, 2011 at 2:19 am
Sasha says:
I LOVE this idea! I mean its just so simple and so adorable! Im going back to uni in september and this would go down a storm with my housemates i think, definitely will make it 😀
On August 20, 2011 at 2:50 am
umm imran says:
oh masha`allah excellent …. one for the kids
On August 20, 2011 at 4:08 am
Angie's Recipes says:
A very interesting cookie recipe…must be really good with lots of almond slices.
On August 20, 2011 at 5:51 am
Hannah says:
I can’t stop smiling! This is just adorable!
On August 20, 2011 at 6:58 am
Tres Delicious says:
Those are truly wonderful work of creativity. Magnificent!
On August 20, 2011 at 7:11 am
A Canadian Foodie says:
What a fun idea – and the topping and cookie sound delish – also quite a hoot when looking at that face… clearly SINfully decadent!
🙂
Valerie
On August 20, 2011 at 7:42 am
Moinette says:
So fun! I’d love to make this for a club meeting or something. The little “tongue” is a nice touch.
xx
On August 20, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Erica says:
Fun idea!!!Great for kids parties!
On August 20, 2011 at 4:37 pm
bergamot says:
Lovely cookie… as a communal dish this will do great for the bonding. BTW, I made the fresh pineapple cake twice and it is a really wonderful recipe.
On August 20, 2011 at 5:44 pm
5 Star Foodie says:
So cool! I love the almonds for the scales here.
On August 20, 2011 at 6:37 pm
giulia says:
this looks amazing!! and i just discovered this wesbite but have put it in my favs straightaway!!! if u want to- take a look at mine 🙂
On August 21, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Maria @ Scandifoodie says:
I love this! Such a fun idea for kids and a tasty treat for adults 😉
On August 22, 2011 at 11:55 am
Oui, Chef says:
Great pate sucre recipe, but I have to say the snake freaks me out a bit. I can see making these in different shapes though. – S
On August 22, 2011 at 7:16 pm
weirdcombos says:
good looking tasty snake cookies! I’ve got to get over my baking phobia would be a fun way of overcoming it.
Cheers,
Heguiberto
On August 22, 2011 at 11:06 pm
domi says:
Absolument superbe et ça me donne des idées….réptiliennes et sinueuses.
pour mon émail : domidion@numericable.fr
mon nom d’utilisateur : domi
Gros bisous et bonne fin de semaine
On January 21, 2012 at 12:10 pm