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Cookielicious

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Mindy Segal

Break fast with gorgeously ingenious cookie confections
from Chicago pastry chef Mindy Segal.

Lynne Konstantin | Arts & Life Editor

LEMON GOAT
BUTTER TEA
CAKES

Dan Goldberg | Photographer

Most people either love goat cheese or
hate it. I hate it, but I love goat butter. It has
a mild, sour flavor that adds unexpected
depth to baked goods — and it tastes noth-
ing like goat cheese. The kitchen was already
stocked with goat butter for our Goat Butter
Brioche when I started thinking about what
else we could do with this delicate ingredi-
ent. Flavored with lemon zest and orange
blossom water, this lovely cookie is perfect
with afternoon tea — but it is not at all a
girly cookie. Its complex flavors also make
it a favorite of my husband, Dan Tompkins.
These cookies bake very quickly, so keep an
eye on them. They are best when still soft
in the center, and they dry out when baked
too long.

½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted goat but-
ter, at room temperature
1 cup minus 1 Tbsp. cane sugar

details

42 October 6 • 2016

indy Segal is a self-
described right brain,
million-ideas-per-
minute kind of girl.
Her dad, a one-time jazz
musician, introduced Segal and
her brother to riffs, scatting
and the joys of improvisation.
Her brother followed their dad’s
lead by playing piano. Segal fol-
lowed suit with cookies.
“I am a cookie nerd,” Segal
writes. “I geek out about cook-
ies. When I was a little girl,
I munched on Windmills,
dipped Chips Ahoy in milk and
reached for anything labeled
‘angel food’ or devil’s food.’”
Because of her high-energy
personality, Segal was perpetu-
ally grounded as a kid. Stuck
at home, she would find her
way into the kitchen — when
she was 13, her parents gave

Zest of 1 lemon (approximately 1
Tbsp.)
2 extra-large eggs, at room tempera-
ture
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon orange blossom water
(optional; try ziyad.com)
1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon sea salt flakes
For Coating:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp. coarse cornmeal

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with
the paddle attachment, mix the butter
briefly on medium speed for 5 seconds.
Add the cane sugar and lemon zest and
beat until the butter mixture is aerated
and very white, approximately 4 minutes.

her a KitchenAid mixer for
Chanukah, in which she con-
cocted one baking experiment
after another.
After working under some
of Chicago’s most celebrated
chefs, in 2005 Segal opened
HotChocolate restaurant and
dessert bar — where nine dif-
ferent flavors of hot chocolate
are served and which has
earned her a reputation as the
city’s queen of pastry as well as
a James Beard award. She also
recently wrote Cookie Love (Ten
Speed Press), a delicious go-to
for perfect-every-time, beyond-
your-wildest-dreams cookies
— providing “secrets for turn-
ing classic recipes into more
elevated, fun interpretations of
everyone’s favorite sweet treat.”
Many of Segal’s creations
are layered, dipped, filled

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl
with a rubber spatula to bring the batter
together. Crack the eggs into a small cup
or bowl and add the vanilla and orange
blossom water. In a bowl, whisk together
the flour, baking powder and salts. On
medium speed, add the eggs, vanilla
and orange blossom water to the butter
mixture, one egg at a time, mixing briefly
before adding the second, until the batter
resembles cottage cheese, approximately
5 seconds for each egg. Scrape the sides
and bottom of the bowl with a rubber
spatula to bring the batter together. Mix
on medium speed for 20 to 30 seconds to
make nearly homogeneous.
Add the dry ingredients all at once and
mix on low speed until the dough just
comes together but still looks shaggy,
approximately 30 seconds. Do not over-
mix. Remove the bowl from the stand

Try this recipe, reprinted with permission from Cookie Love, by Mindy Segal (Ten Speed Press, 2015).
For more recipes from Cookie Love, visit TheJewishNews.com.

