By Lux Sheplee, Staff Writer
As winter sets in and temperatures remain low, people search for things to do indoors. While I enjoy binging shows, watching movies and reading books, this winter season I found myself searching for a new hobby. Baking caught my eye, as not only can it be a time consuming activity, but also because it produces an enjoyable product.
I started with the basics of baking things such as sugar cookies and chocolate chip muffins. One morning my dad was reading The Washington Post and showed me a new recipe for Golden Milk Sugar Cookies. The photo immediately intrigued me, depicting a cookie with an elegant drizzle of icing topped with rose petals and silver leaf.
After skimming the recipe, I encountered ingredients I had never used before. I had never used turmeric or cardamom in a cookie and I was shocked to see black pepper on the list. Additionally, the cost of baking the cookie increased greatly with the inclusion of saffron. After some research, I discovered that saffron is so pricey because the production of 1 ounce of saffron can require harvesting thousands of flowers.
After purchasing the ingredients, I set to work on making the dough. To begin, in a medium saucepan melt 2 sticks of unsalted butter until 75% melted, along with one teaspoon cardamom, one teaspoon saffron, a quarter teaspoon cinnamon, half a teaspoon turmeric, and a pinch of black pepper. The recipe says that this will help bring out the flavor of the spices, and melting the butter only 75% creates the desired texture for the dough. Next, Add in one cup and two tablespoons granulated sugar, followed by one whole egg, one egg yolk, two teaspoons vanilla extract, half a teaspoon almond extract, half a teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon baking powder, and a quarter teaspoon baking soda.
The batter should be very thin at this point, but the final ingredient is two and two thirds cup all purpose flour. After mixing until just combined, I formed two tablespoon balls of dough and placed them onto the cookie sheet. Bake them at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, and when you take them out, they have a yellowish color. As the cookies baked, I combined half a cup powdered sugar, two tablespoons heavy cream, a quarter teaspoon vanilla extract, a quarter teaspoon almond extract, and a pinch of salt for the glaze.
After a diagonal drizzle of glaze, I topped them with rose petals and silver leaf which was a tedious task. My family loved the cookies and their rich flavor, and I took some to school to get the opinion of my fellow classmates.
Senior Henry Zatkowski critiqued, “I’m giving this cookie five out of ten stars, it’s pretty dense and I needed water to finish it.” Olivia Bos, a senior, also rated the cookie five out of ten, commenting, “not going to lie, the flowers and tin foil (edible silver leaf) kind of threw me off.”
While Henry and Olivia were not fans, other students disagreed with this five out of ten rating. Sophomore Kofi Atta-Poku stated, “the presentation is very good. Honestly I like the little foil bit (edible silver leaf) and the icing with the lines that looks really cool. It’s a good cookie, I can taste herbs, it’s not just a regular cookie so I rate it a ten.” Senior Batu Koroglu also rated the cookie a ten, remarking, “it’s better than Crumbl Cookies.” Junior Xavier Cazeau rates the cookie 8/10 describing, “it’s a good mix of sweetness and a little tart, it’s just good overall.”
If you’re bored this winter and looking for something to do, give these Golden Milk Sugar Cookies a shot. They’re fun to make and provide a new pallet of flavors that differ from typical holiday treats.