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COOKIES FROM SCRAPS AKA "SCROOKIES"

November 29, 2011

Recently, while working in the bakery, I noticed a pile of tart dough scraps on the marble work bench. The bakers had just finished lining small tart pans with dough. We make lots of tart shells, the scraps were plentiful, and they were just about to clean the bench and discard them. Our dough is rolled out twice, as over handling activates the gluten and makes the tarts tough. Unfortunately, some dough is discarded. We try to minimize the waste by cutting the dough circles very close to one another. That morning, the thought of throwing out the delicious pile of perfectly good scraps, tugged at my heart strings. I just couldn't bear to waste all that dough and l quickly grabbed the scraps. I did not rework them, instead, using a pastry wheel, I cut the dough into smaller pieces and mixed a few handfuls of our muffin streusel into the dough, wondering what they would be like if they were distributed through out the dough. Next, using a 2 1/2-inch-diameter plain cookie cutter as a mold, I pressed a 1/3-inch layer of the mixture into the cutter to form a round shape and then I removed the cutter. I had enough dough to make several dozen cookies. After chilling them 30 minutes, I finished them off with sprinkling sugar and a touch of coarse sea salt. If you like roasted cashews, chop a few and put them in with the mix. Omit the salt if you use salted cashews. Pop them in a 350°F. oven and bake them until golden brown, about 18 minutes. They were really terrific. Having the streusel crumbs through out the entire cookie, and the fact that you can break small little pieces of the cookie off like a puzzle piece, and pop them in your mouth makes them fun to eat. Tart or cookie? If you serve them with ice-cream on top—a tart. If you eat them as they are—a cookie. Break them up and fold them in your favorite ice cream, heavenly—I call them Scrookies.

Next I decided to go with the tart concept and I grabbed a stack of small tart molds. I lightly pressed the dough and crumb mixture pieces into the shells, and again lightly sprinkled the tops with the sugar and salt. Once I get an idea in my head, I am known to be like a mad scientist. I opened the low-boy refrigerator, and there was exactly what I was looking for, some scraps of linzer cookie dough. After rolling out into 1/4-inch thickness, I cut the dough into small pieces and tossed in some streusel crumbs. Using my fingertips, I carefully pressed the dough into the molds, and once more sprinkled the tops with sugar. The two on the right are made from the linzer dough, the ones on the left are the tart dough. As you can see from the photos, they looked really nice.

Now I was on a roll, inspired by the recent rage of pop tarts, I used my rugelach dough to make these 2 inch square finger tarts filled with my Strawberry Raspberry Spreadable Fruit. I bet the rugelach dough will make a great pie shell for a Cherry Pie. Will try that when sour cherries are in season.

Tags: at the bakery , dough scraps , linzer dough , scrookies , tart dough

Categories: At the Bakery, Baking Techniques, Cookies, Holiday Recipes, Tarts

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