Beloved Baking

The heart holiday

Dear Bread Fans,

Have you been relishing hearts this week? I grew up making Valentine’s with my mom & learning a deep appreciation for this holiday’s loving intent. I still get excited about saluting friends with cards & cookies.

A leaf melted snow into a heart!

This year I attempted to recreate Uncle Seth’s cookies, a cakey treat stacked thick with pink frosting. This is a storied cookie & you can read it’s history here. I met this wonderful cardamony treat when I moved to Seattle in August 1990 with my boyfriend Al. We stayed with our pal Seth & his brother Gene, who was in grad school. Seth worked at a convenience store downtown, a fancy one where he had to wear a button down shirt & tie. Al & I used to drive downtown to pick him up at the end of his shift.

Now, I’ve never been much of a baked good buyer. I love the process of baking & sharing. But I can’t resist coincidence! What are the chances of a guy named Seth making a cookie that my friend Seth sold? I bought it, and it was love at first bite.

The frosting has almond extract & cream cheese, and the substantial cookie is not dense — nowhere near a shortbread. In the 9 years I lived in Seattle, I grabbed the cookie as an occasional treat — it was nearly ubiquitous, smiling at me at coffee carts & shops, wrapped in a cellophane sleeve. Once I was back home in upstate NY, my domestic self-exile complete & motherhood in full swing, I sometimes tried to recreate it. My son Francis, who has an incredible flavor compass, joined in the game.

He didn’t even know what he was trying to approximate, but at 9 or 10, he nailed a beautiful simile. His cookie was so good that a chef asked him to make it for his restaurant. Organization being supremely lacking in this household, that did not happen. If I made any record of his recipe, it’s tucked away safe & sound.

So every now and again, I take a stab at making them. I found lots of online recipes to guide me, and used one on Wednesday to make valentines. I’m making more today for my brother’s 50th birthday party! But I had to dress up the frosting, and the cookie didn’t nail my memory. So this time I’m using my valentine Ellie’s recipe.

To turn these into Uncle Seth’s clones, cut into big hearts or circles about 1/3 inch thick, skip the stamp & glaze. Use your favorite cream cheese frosting dolled up with cardamom, almond extract, red food coloring or dried red berries, and a splash of rose water if you have it.

Wheat Stamped Sugar Cookies 

Makes about a dozen. These are unbelievably satisfying for being so simple!

• 2 cups whole wheat flour — I used half spelt & half all-purpose

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom (or to taste) — I doubled this

• ¼ teaspoon coarse salt

• 10 tablespoons butter, softened

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar

• 1 egg

For the glaze mix: 1 cup of confectioners sugar and 4-5 tablespoons of cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and prep trays with a baking mat, parchment paper, or lightly greased.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt.

3. In a separate bowl – by hand or with a mixer – cream butter and sugar.

4. Add egg and beat well.

5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture.

6. Chill the dough before shaping. 

7. Take about one tablespoon of dough and flatten it to a disk.

8. Dip the cookie stamp into flour and then press the dough.

9. Transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheet and bake 350℉ for 10-11 minutes.

10. Let cookies cool completely and apply glaze with a pastry brush and let it set.

On Valentine’s Day, I brought a tray of these to Naughter’s because the people in that place are my sweethearts. Turns out it was their 2nd anniversary!

In case you did not notice, I have to tell you that Tuesday was Pancake Day, which earned its title as part of feasting prior to Lenten deprivations. So I lavished my attention on this favored food, and made some cornmeal rye pancakes for supper, filled with vegetables & topped with cheddar that melted on the flip. Plain yogurt was the ‘syrup’ for this dinner. Here’s my recipe, and here’s wisdom from a 1904 Gold Medal Flour cookbook.

‘To bake pan cakes with comfort do not grease the griddle,’ said the Pancake Goddesses of 120 years ago. They did not have much control over their heating elements, so I say please, use some butter.

I cannot leave this heart-filled week without making sure you see this bread story from Lexie Smith about the spiderwebbing wonder of sourdough, and the horror that’s happening in Gaza.

Yours, Amy

PS: I wrote another valentine this week, about my devotion to research, over at Wordloaf.