For some reason I decided (the appearance? I'm not sure...) that they must use a secondary flour in them, not just plain all purpose. I decided oat flour would look pretty. Yes, my thinking is truly that unscientific when it comes to cookies. I have more of an emotional response to them.
I also concluded from the past year's worth of baking that I really like the combo of margarine and shortening in a cookie. It gives a little more flavor and a little more crunch, k
ind of more of a butttery feel. These first two ideas ended up being mainstays in the 3 tries for this year.Batch #4 - I used only oat flour, and added all the usual cookie ingredients except baking powder, because I wanted flat, crispy cookies. I added molasses for flavor.
Conclusion - some of them had too much of a burnt taste, the edges kind of blurred and sizzled on the sheet when they spread and they tasted just ok, at best. Not to mention the color was way off.
Batch #5 - I stuck to usi
ng the margarine/shortening combo but instead of just oat flour, I used 2 parts all purpose to 1 part oat flour. I decided the molasses might have been too heavy a flavor in #4, so used maple syrup. And I love dark brown sugar, so figured that would really boost the taste without dominating. I also had to add a little soy milk because the dough was so dry.Conclusion - I actually knew better than to use the dark brown sugar and shouldn't have done it. It makes a softer cookie here. The color was way better, but I don't pick cookies by how they look, just books. The taste wasn't very good.
Batch #6 - This is tentatively the last batch for this round, unless I weaken. This recipe is a lot like the first one, but with 2 parts oat flour to 1 part all purpose. I stuck to the usual cookie ingredients and went back to the molasses. I also increased the sugar.
Conclusion- These actually taste pretty good! The color is way off, but the texture is similar to how I remember the originals. Every once in a while, I think they remind me of Bordeaux, but then if I think gingersnap, I get more of that going on. The sweetness and texture were both good...but the cookie wasn't buttery enough. In other words, still a FAIL. At least these were pretty good tasting cookies.
Here's the recipe for any input. If anyone else takes a stab at recreating these, please let me know how you do! Decoding these cookies will take more than one mind!
Bordeaux Cookies Attempt #6
Makes 1 dozen
2 Tbsp shortening
2 Tbsp earth balance margarine
1 Tbsp molasses
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking soda
Cream the shortening and eb until fluffy. Mix in the molasses, vanilla and salt. Whisk the rest of the dry ingredients together in a different bowl. Gradually add them to the shortening/eb bowl, mixing well. When well combined, shape into a log about 6 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Wrap in parchment or wax paper and refrigerate for an hour or longer.
When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 375. Line a sheet with parchment or lightly grease it. Cut the cookies into 1/2 inch slices and place on cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. They spread! Bake for 12 minutes or until done. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before trying to remove them, then cool on a rack.
9 comments:
I'm so glad you've restarted your quest for Bordeauxs! I miss them as well. I made two attempts that were wildly off back around the time you first started. I need to try again. We can do this!
Wow! You don't give up! That's fantastic. I'm sure you'll find the duplicate at some point.
Wow these cookie looks really good. I never tried Bordeauxs so I don't really know how they taste. I bet they taste awesome!
Those look good. I love gingersnaps and molasses cookies. I've never tried Bordeaux cookies, but I looked up the ingredients to get an idea. They are unbleached flour, sugar, vegetable oil, invert sugar, butter, nonfat milk, cornstarch, less than 2% of egg whites, salt and baking soda.
So, the main ingredients are flour, sugar, oil, and invert sugar. You might try using oil instead of shortening. But I would think that would make them softer rather than crisper. I dunno. You could sub invert sugar for your molasses. I guess you can find it in cake/candy supply stores. You can also make it. There are recipes online. Apparently it's a simple sugar syrup and a small amount of an acid (cream of tartar or lemon juice)heated together. I don't know if you could just add lemon juice or cream of tartar to your recipe without heating them together in simple syrup first and still get the result invert sugar produces. Or, if you used brown rice syrup instead of molasses to get away from the gingersnap taste you'd still retain the rich taste. I'd keep using some margarine to sub for the butter. You also might try some flax meal for the egg white. Maybe half an egg's worth or less for this small a recipe? Okay. My brain's tired now. I think I need coffee...
I have never heard of Bordeaux cookies before, but they all look great!
P.S. At first I thought their main ingredient was Bordeaux wine, I am always thinking alcohol ;)
well they look good regardless :)
You will have quite a group of devotes if you perfect this recipe though.
Haha- seitanismymotor, I might do better if wine was the main ingredient!
Agnes, thanks for your ideas. I've never seen that kind of sugar but will tackle these again later in the month.
That's with your help, Mel! You gave me some suggestions last year.
Thanks for the support and encouragement, little one and Bex.
It would probably help if I could really remember what the originals tasted like...but I'm just not willing to go down that road.
What dedication to try these 3 more times this year!! I find that I learn so much more about baking when I experiment. Now I just need to get a little braver and try that more often.
i don't think bordeaux cookies have any molasses in them. i think they are maybe a twice baked cookie, but i'm not sure.
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