Sinclair Lewis Cookies (And The Story Behind These Crispy Cocoa-Almond Cookies With A Boozy Kick)

Every Christmas, my grandmother (aka Granny) would bake hundreds of cookies. The cookies were kept in tins in the unheated coatroom of her old house. It was often my responsibility to haul the cookies into the kitchen, and assemble various assortments on fancy platters and stands.

Though they were hardly the visual beauties of my grandmother's ball, one of my favorites year after year were her cutout cocoa-almond cookies. As with many recipes from the family vault, these cookies come with a story...

The tale starts before Granny was even born. In 1920, right around the time that prohibition laws took effect in the US, my great grandparents, the Schmitts, rented their Mankato, Minnesota townhouse to a notable guest who wanted to get away from the sweltering heat and bustle of Washington, DC. The houseguest was none other than the author, Sinclair Lewis. While he stayed at the Schmitt's house, Lewis completed one of the great American novels, Main Street.

Lewis often travelled outside of town to enjoy the company of my great grandparents and their family at their summer home. On one of those visits, he asked my great grandmother, Laura, to make some cookies, and he provided her with the original recipe that his mother used to make. Laura made them according to the old recipe, and the cookies were a hit.

That fall, Sinclair Lewis returned to DC to publish his book, and the Schmitts returned to Mankato. Upon arriving back at their house, they were dismayed to find that their entire stash of bootlegged liquor had been replaced with water. Every year after that, they would make "Sinclair Lewis" cookies, and lament the stolen liquor.

Granny made sure to remind us of the cookie recipe's provenance, especially when I, as a teenager, actually had to read Main Street as a school assignment.

Every living generation in my family makes these cookies, and I've missed them terribly for the eight years since my celiac diagnosis.

Converting the original family recipe to a gluten-free version wasn't easy. I found that instead of just substituting gluten-free ingredients, I actually needed to change the proportions and composition of the entire recipe. All while keeping the integrity of the flavor and texture of the original. Tall task.

Luckily, after several (and by several, I mean 4--this one was a doozy!) attempts, I was able to very closely approximate the original.

I created a dough that, after chilling, rolls thin enough to make wafer thin, crispy cookies.

After a few minutes in the oven, and a few on the cooling rack, they are all yours! Our last few will be going to Santa...

Hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas!  

Sinclair Lewis Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup almond meal or coarsely chopped almonds

1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 tsp cognac or other brandy variety (I used Courvoisier)

1 egg

In a mixer, cream butter and sugars. Next, add brandy and egg, continue mixing until well-blended. In a separate bowl, mix salt, flours, cocoa, and xanthan gum. Slowly add to wet mixture, and blend until all the ingredients are incorporated. Dough will be sticky. Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate for at least two hours. When dough is chilled roll to 1/8-inch thickness between lightly floured parchment (on bottom) and plastic wrap (on top). Use cookie cutter to cut shapes in dough. Transfer cutouts to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake at 375 for 6-7 minutes until golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Recipe makes approximately 36 medium cutouts.   

Sea-Level Adjustments: because there is no leavening in this recipe, no modifications need to be made to the ingredients. Bake for approximately the same time at 350 degrees.   

The Cornish Pasty, a Savory Pie

When I set out to start this blog a few weeks back, I decided to stick to gluten-free baking recipes, if only to make my own tiny niche in the great big electronic world. Though desserts are my main thing, I can't overlook the savory pastry.

I love savory pastries and dumplings: empanadas, pirogis, pasties, you name it. They are so easy! You make a basic dough, and then fill it with whatever the heck you want. Meat, potatoes, vegetables, spices; the world (or the filling) is your oyster. Drooooool. Who wouldn't want pie for dinner?

My favorite savory pie is the Cornish pasty. (Get your mind out of the gutter- NOT that kind of pasty, the PIE kind!) Pasties, originated in Cornwall's mining villages as a quick and portable meal for miners. Pies were baked fresh each morning, and they would stay warm until lunch. If by chance, the pie did get too cold, its Hot-Pocket-like shape (hmmmn, possibly where they got the idea for Hot Pockets??) allowed pasties to be reheated over a fire and eaten without cutlery.

As a child, my family's Cornish pasty recipe was one of my favorites. For quite a few years in a row, I requested it as my birthday meal, one of the rare times I'd get to pick what was for dinner. My mom would make the pasties with steak, but over the years, I've grown to prefer them with ground beef. The filling of this recipe is very easy to modify. If you are a vegetarian, omit the meat, and add other veggies. If you don't eat red meat, substitute ground turkey or chicken. This recipe is time-consuming in that both the crust and the filling need to sit a while for optimum flavor and workability-however, your time will be well-rewarded!

Since I just made a pie crust a few weeks ago that held together really well, I figured I'd modify that recipe to make the pasty crust. This crust has an additional binding agent in the form of two eggs. The eggs strengthen the dough, creating a sturdiness that a traditional pie crust lacks. Cider vinegar lends a slight bite and saltiness to the flavor.

I made my crust in a food processor, though you could make it by hand with a pastry cutter as well. I first pulsed all the dry ingredients together a few times to mix. Next, I added the butter, and pulsed until the mixture resembled course crumbs. In a separate bowl, I mixed the eggs, vinegar, and water and then slowly added the wet mixture to the dough. I used about ten tablespoons of water, but this may vary slightly depending on your flour blend and the humidity. After the dough came off the sides of the food processor, I turned it out onto parchment and kneaded it for a couple of minutes.

Next, I wrapped it in plastic wrap, placed it in the fridge, and let it chill for the rest of the morning. Though you can chill the dough for as little as thirty minutes, cold dough is much easier to work with.

While the dough was chilling, I got working on the filling. I thoroughly cooked the beef, sliced the onions, and diced the potatoes. I mixed the cooked meat, and the raw potatoes and onions in a bowl, seasoned them liberally with salt, pepper, and parsley, and let it sit for about 30 minutes to soak up the seasoning.

Next, it was time to roll out the crust. First, I divided the dough into 10 even pieces, then I rolled it out into a circle between parchment (on the bottom) and a piece of plastic wrap on the top. (I prefer not to use extra flour to roll out my pie crusts- the flour dries out the dough and makes it harder to work with.) I rolled each piece to about 1/8-inch thickness.

I then placed filling on one half of each circle, making sure to leave a border for crimping, and dotted the top of the filling with a small amount of butter.

Next, I folded the dough over the filling, crimped the sides to hold everything in, and slit the top three times for venting.

Once assembled, the pasties were placed on a baking sheet covered in parchment. I brushed each with egg wash to give the crust a nice sheen and help hold them together.  Into the oven they went.  By the time they were ready a half an hour later, my kitchen was filled with an intoxicating, savory aroma.

Once done, these beauties were golden brown on the outside, but still tender and flaky on the inside. The potatoes and carrots were soft, but not soggy.

The pasties also lived up to their reputation.  I made these in the middle of the afternoon, wrapped them up in a tea towel, and they were still warm for dinner.  Bon appetit! 

Recipe:

Crust Ingredients:

3.5 cups finely ground flour blend (I used Pamela's Artisan Flour)

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 eggs

10 tablespoons ice water

Filling Ingredients

4 medium red potatoes, cubed (I keep peels on)

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 onion, diced

1 lb. lean ground beef, turkey, chicken, or substitute vegetable

1/4 cup broth

2 tsp salt

fresh pepper to taste

1 tsp parsley

1 tablespoon butter to dot on filling

1 egg beaten as egg wash

Instructions: Prepare the crust first. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor or bowl and mix to combine. Next, add chilled butter and mix until course crumbs are formed. In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar, water, and eggs. Slowly add to dry mixture and combine until crust comes away from the bowl. Turn out onto parchment and knead for 2-3 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour, preferably overnight.  

Meanwhile, make filling. Brown meat over medium-high heat. When the meat is almost done, add broth, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. In a bowl, combine all the filling ingredients except butter, and allow to sit for at least half an hour.  

Next, divide chilled dough into 10 balls. Roll each into a circle, about 1/8-inch thickness. On one half, add a spoonful of filling, being careful to leave at least a 1.5 inch border. Dot the top of the filling with butter. Fold the crust over the filling, pinch edges to seal, and crimp. Slit top of crust three times to vent, and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment.  

Once all the pies are on the baking sheet, brush each with beaten egg. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 350 and bake 15-20 minutes more, until crust is a deep golden brown.    

Sea-level modifications: you will probably need only 8 tablespoons of water or so in the crust recipe. Additionally, your second bake time at 350 will probably be closer to 30 minutes- check for done-ness after 20 minutes.  

Long Absences...and Gluten-Free Cranberry Pie

Well...it's been a while. Actually, it's been nearly two weeks. Bleh. How time flies when you're having fun. Oh, wait. Fun? Nope. Surgery. And not the kind you bounce back from quickly. The kind that leaves you flat on your back, in a narcotic-induced stupor for one-and-a-half straight weeks. Grrrr.

Those of you who know me well, know that bed rest isn't exactly my thing. I'm more of a "let's get going" and "are we there yet" type of girl.  Being forced into a stationary position doesn't exactly bring out the best in me, to which my husband can attest.

However, being active is exactly how I got into this situation. I've run for fitness and fun off and on since I was a kid. As it turns out, my body, in particular, my hips, were not made for running. Though I probably would have had trouble eventually due to a congenital malformation in my hip joints, years of running and soccer pulverized the cartilage and bone leaving me creaky and permanently gimpy over the course of the last few years.

Two arthroscopic surgeries (and 7 screws) later, and I'm (hopefully) on the road to recovery. It has certainly been an uphill battle. This last surgery was a lot more complicated than expected. More damage to the joint, a terrible reaction to anesthesia, and a 4-day migraine that led to two trips to the ER, rendered me practically useless for the last 12 days. A few days after surgery, my surgeon showed me pictures of what was left of my cartilage-not much. Because there was so much damage, he was a heck of a lot more guarded about my full recovery than he was before surgery. Bummer. He didn't, however, completely rule running out, so I'm optimistic that I'll at least be able to enjoy shorter distances by late spring. Fingers crossed.

Anyhow, enough about bones and cartilage. Since I can't run, I've turned to baking to lift my spirits. Not great for my waistline, but at least it's good for my mood.

Well, in all honesty, I still haven't baked anything- I'm lying on the couch with my leg on a pillow. But, I baked this pie for Thanksgiving, and I made myself promise I'd get it up on my blog in time for the holidays. Baby steps, right?

The basic recipe is my grandmother's. As I've written before, she was THE pie expert. Every Thanksgiving, she'd make two pies, always the same: pumpkin and cranberry. Though I loved her pumpkin pie, I literally salivated for the cranberry.

The composition of the pie is similar to some rhubarb pies. The cranberries are incorporated in a sweet, loose custard that cuts the tartness of the berries just a little, and turns the filling ruby-red. A hint of vanilla adds depth and sweetness to the cranberry flavor, and a buttery, flaky crust sprinkled with sugar enhances the tartness of the berries.

The filling of this pie is naturally gluten-free, so the crust was my only concern. Anyone who has been baking gluten-free goods for a while knows that duplicating a gluten-containing pie crust is nearly impossible. Chemically speaking, gluten-free flours don't bind to each other the same way. As a result, you see a lot of pie recipes online with no upper crust, or cute little leaf cutouts or other nonsense. What they don't tell you is that these crust recipes are so brittle that you most often need to pinch and prod them into pie dishes with your fingers.

I wanted a crust that I could roll out reasonably well, and that I could actually form into an upper lattice. It didn't come easily. In fact, I think it took four or five Thanksgivings before I finally got it right. Because crusts don't have leavening, the major factor regarding high altitude was the amount of moisture (in this case, ice water) that I had to add to the crust. I've come to the conclusion that the amount of water you have to add changes with the weather, the altitude, and weather or not you're wearing stripes- basically, you have to add whatever it takes to get the dough to bind. That, and you can't treat the crust like it's gluten-containing counterpart. However hard you try, you WILL need to modify your technique just a little.

I created the dough in my food processor just as I would a gluten crust. First, I added the dry ingredients and pulsed a few times to thoroughly mix things together. Then I added small cubes of cold butter, straight from the fridge (cold means really cold in this case!)

Next, I pulsed the processor until a "course crumb" texture was achieved.

Now here's where it got tricky. My recipe called for 1/3 cup of ice water to bring the dough together. 1/3 cup didn't do a thing. I ended up adding six additional tablespoons (very carefully, and tablespoon by tablespoon!) to this particular batch - must have been wearing the stripes. When the dough finally stuck together, I formed it into a ball on some parchment. My crust recipe actually makes two crusts, so I divided the dough, and chilled it for an hour in the fridge. You can skip this step, but beware, you will have a hard time working and rolling out the crust.

Once the dough was chilled, I rolled it out between a piece of parchment (on the bottom), and a piece of plastic wrap (on the top). Gluten free doughs are often intrinsically more sticky than gluten-crusts, and if you sprinkle too much flour on them while rolling, they will become dry and brittle - plastic wrap is a better way to go. After rolling to about 1/8-inch thickness, I inverted the parchment onto my pie plate, patted the crust into place, gently pricked it with a fork a few times to prevent bubbling, and sprinkled it with some sugar for good measure. Not 100% perfect, but here's what I got:

Next, in went the filling, and all that was left was the lattice crust. I rolled out the other half of the dough, and with a pastry cutter, cut about 8 thick strips - I was running out of time by this point, so I went for the rustic look. I formed a lattice with the strips, popped it in the oven, and after an hour or so, I was greeted with this beauty:

We all prefer our cranberry pie chilled, so into the fridge it went. After enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, the pie everyone was waiting for was sliced, and served with a scoop of vanilla-bean ice cream. Yum!

Recipe:

Gluten-Free Crust:

2.5 cups finely-ground flour blend (I used Pamela's Artisan Blend)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

Approx. 1/3 cup ice water (or as much as necessary to bring dough together)

Filling:

2 cups chopped cranberries

3 eggs, beaten until light

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tsp vanilla (or almond extract)

Directions: In a food processor, pulse dry ingredients until combined. Add chilled butter, and pulse just until course crumbs are formed.  Do not over-mix! Slowly add ice water until dough comes together. Turn out on parchment and form a ball. Divide into two disks, wrap each in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour.  

While dough is chilling, make filling. Combine beaten eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla, and stir until combined. Fold in cranberries.  

Next, roll out crust. Roll out between parchment and plastic wrap to 1/8-inch thickness, and invert into pie plate. Leave a large border around edge of crust. Prick bottom gently with fork, enough to leave indentations, but not pierce crust. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Pour in filling.  

Roll out crust for top of pie. Can either be complete crust (with slits for venting) or as I made it, a lattice. If making a lattice, cut strips, and weave over top of pie until covered. Pinch bottom and top crusts together at edge and crimp. Sprinkle with additional sugar if desired. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about one hour, or until crust is golden and filling bubbly.  

Sea level modifications: you may need less water to form the crust, but that will depend more on humidity than elevation. Decrease baking temperature to 350, baking time is the same.