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After repeatedly eating what I consider the most delicious cookie I have ever eaten, my wife soon became frustrated trying to replicate it. So I am reaching out to gather ideas. This is the cookie, from a pastry shop. The filling is some kind of soft nougat, but the mysterious part is the cookie itself.

Here are some thoughts:

  • We assume that ingredients include (shortbread): flour, butter, and sugar
  • We tried icing sugar but it became too sweet
  • We tried milk with unclear success (?)
  • We tried eggs (white, yolk) but the taste did not match and it became too soft
  • The surface is a bit sticky
  • The taste is sweet and salty, a bit toasted/burnt which makes it so special

Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture of a full cookie, so here is it half-eaten, as I could not control myself.

What could the dough be made of?

enter image description here

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  • 2
    What's the texture of the cookie? You said the surface is a little sticky, but how's the rest of it? Crumbly, chewy, fluffy...?
    – senschen
    Apr 6, 2021 at 20:29
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    What does the bakery call this cookie?
    – csk
    Apr 6, 2021 at 20:43
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    How big is it? What shape (I presume circular, but is it a flat disc or are the faces rounded)? How thick is it? What country are you in? It's much more likely that it's a specific known type of cookie/biscuit which someone can identify and you can search for recipes of, than that someone here will be able to usefully suggest ingredients based on a single photo. Even with the ingredients known, the method will be just as important.
    – dbmag9
    Apr 7, 2021 at 10:31
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    @Cookie : caramelized milk does exist. It's called "dulce de leche" in spanish. You're also close enough to Belgium that they might be using 'candi sugar', which is caramelized sugar ... but if they had either ingredient, there cookies wouldn't be as pale as they are. (it's also possible that they're using egg whites as a binder, but not the yolks). Someone needs to make the cookie equivalent of Identifont.
    – Joe
    Apr 7, 2021 at 16:34
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    I wonder if the cookie itself is a kind of tuile or langue de chat (more likely, as tuiles have ground almonds), maybe made with brown sugar which would give it a more caramelized taste. If nuts aren't involved, its unlikely to be a schweitzer nusstaler...
    – senschen
    Apr 7, 2021 at 17:46

1 Answer 1

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This is quite a shot in the dark with the minimal information, but I will give it a try.

My best guess is that you already have all the ingredients you need: butter, sugar and flour. What you are missing is probably the ratio. The dark edge with the crisp texture and the nutty flavor is very likely sugar that has self-caramelized in melting butter (similar to the tuille somebody mentioned in comments). Also, the image shows that the cookie is "flowing" - it was not stamped out from a rolled short crust, for example, it was a ball which melted in the oven. And it melted enough that it became very thin, with the edges flowing out to become thinner than the center.

I would suggest that you don't continue trying random recipes, but find a recipe for a cookie of this kind and follow it. You are most likely to find these recipes as recipes for malleable cookies for making e.g. edible ice cream bowls. I don't have my books here, so I can't post the recipe I have (you can come tonight(CET) into chat, if you want) but you can just search for this type of recipe online. Even if you don't find the perfect match, it will probably be a better starting point than random trying.

If you insist on trying yourself though, or cannot find one of these recipes, I would suggest you modify a German shortbread ratio (3-2-1 flour-butter-sugar). Make sure you are using butter, not a margarine or other substitutes, these have different spreading behavior when melting. And then simply reduce the flour substantially, possibly also increase the sugar, and see where that takes you.

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  • "you can come tonight(CET) into chat, if you want" If the information's relevant to the answer, it should probably be a part of the answer, for posterity's sake, in case anyone else finds this question through Googling.
    – nick012000
    May 19, 2021 at 5:40

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