Snake cookie

August 19, 2011  •  Category:

 

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

  1. Rosa says:

    Interest! That is one wonderful cookie. I love the flavors used.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  2. polwig says:

    This would be so much fun for kids parties too… very tasty also

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. bonnie at sweet life says:

    A wonderful treat for a gathering of women enjoying coffee and friendship!!

  6. Priya says:

    Omg, mindblowing, incredible snake cookie..

  7. 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 😀

  8. umm imran says:

    oh masha`allah excellent …. one for the kids

  9. Angie's Recipes says:

    A very interesting cookie recipe…must be really good with lots of almond slices.

  10. Hannah says:

    I can’t stop smiling! This is just adorable!

  11. Tres Delicious says:

    Those are truly wonderful work of creativity. Magnificent!

  12. 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

  13. Moinette says:

    So fun! I’d love to make this for a club meeting or something. The little “tongue” is a nice touch.

    xx

  14. Erica says:

    Fun idea!!!Great for kids parties!

  15. 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.

  16. 5 Star Foodie says:

    So cool! I love the almonds for the scales here.

  17. 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 🙂

  18. Maria @ Scandifoodie says:

    I love this! Such a fun idea for kids and a tasty treat for adults 😉

  19. 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

  20. 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

  21. 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

Add a Comment