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.
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