Author Notes: I created this recipe for my cookie boutique, Beurre & Sel, using Fonseca Bin 27, a delicious ruby Port. To start, I cook dried cranberries with Bin 27, honey and spice, and then fold them into a spiced shortbread dough. Before baking the cookies in a muffin tin (at Beurre & Sel I cut and make the cookies in 2-inch metal baking rings), I dab the center of each round of dough with cherry jam and then surround the jam with cocoa streusel. It’s a bunch of parts that add up to one great cookie. —Dorie Greenspan
Makes: about 30 cookies
Ingredients
For the cranberries and cookie base:
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5
black peppercorns
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2
points star anise
-
One
2-inch piece cinnamon
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1/4
cup Fonseca Bin 27 Port
-
2
tablespoons water
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1
tablespoon honey
-
1
cup dried cranberries
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2
cups all-purpose flour
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2 1/2
teaspoons ground cinnamon
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1/2
teaspoon fine sea salt
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1/4
teaspoon ground ginger
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1/4
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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8
ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
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1/2
cup (packed) light brown sugar
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1/4
cup sugar
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1
large egg, at room temperature
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2
teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the streusel and jam:
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1
cup all-purpose flour
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1/3
cup (packed) light brown sugar
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1/4
cup cocoa powder, sifted
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2
tablespoons sugar
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3/4
teaspoon ground cinnamon
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1/2
teaspoon fine sea salt
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6
tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
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1/2
cup cherry jam
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1
tablespoon Fonseca Bin 27
Directions
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To make the cranberries:
Tie spices in a cheesecloth bundle and put in a small saucepan 2. Add honey, water and BIN 27. Simmer for 1 min. 3. Add cranberries and cook and stir until liquid evaporates. Discard spices.
Cool cranberries. -
To make the cookie base:
Mix flour, cinnamon, salt, ginger and black pepper together. -
Beat butter until creamy. Beat in both sugars. Add egg and vanilla and beat
until smooth. - Blend in flour mixture, then stir in the Port-cooked cranberries.
-
Divide dough into 2 disks. Wrap and chill 1 hr. Roll each disk between wax paper until dough is 1/4 inch thick.
Freeze for 3 hrs. -
To make the streusel:
Mix all the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter together in a large bowl. Rub everything together with your fingers until streusel forms moist crumbs. Cover and chill for at least 1 hr. -
Baking Instructions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Have a 12-cup muffin tin on hand. - Stir the cherry jam and Fonseca BIN 27 together.
-
Cut out 2-inch rounds of dough. Drop a round of dough into each muffin cup. Put about 1/2 tsp. of jam in the center of each cookie and spread into
a small circle. Top with streusel. -
Bake 14 to 15 mins, until streusel sets and jam bubbles.
Cool to room temperature before serving.
Photo by Kyle Orosz