Diamond Cookie

Hello Dear Friends,

You all know my passion for the kitchen now :) Mine is not a path that someone who is not in love with cooking and sharing can walk for such a long time.

Life has salty and sour as well as bitter and sweet for me. The important thing is to be able to stand upright and share what you do in bitter, salty and sour as well as sweet. The most important thing is to keep that deep bond between us always alive.

As a 32-year-old woman who works very hard, I set out on a difficult and disciplined path again. There were some things that didn't sit well with me until I met Usla. When I visited the school I decided that was where I wanted to be :)

Thus began my Professional Pastry and Bakery training, my Days with Usla, which is the second stop of my culinary adventure. It's a great feeling to be in the kitchen again and breathe the same air with people who feel the same passion as me.

Due to my work, I chose to take weekend training. Thus, I could continue my work during the week without neglecting it.

School started on May 25, so we have been training intensively for 1,5 months. In the first weeks, we had theoretical lessons. We have had our kitchen for the past 2 weeks and we have started to learn the basics of pastry.

Meanwhile, I met Osman Chef, Nur Chef and Duygu Chef. All of them have worked in the sector for a long time after studying this business in school. The classes are very disciplined, intense and enjoyable.

As for my classmates, they are all cheerful and enthusiastic.

At every opportunity, I will share with you the tricks I learned during the Professional Pastry and Bakery training.

Our topic this week was Shortbread and cookies, we prepared a variety of cookies. Shortbread has no Turkish equivalent (it's pronounced as shorts-bred). Since kneading the dough is similar to the dough we prepare for crumb pie, I think the definition of Crumb Cookies fits perfectly.

One of the shortbread variations that caught my attention was Elmas Cookies, which we tried together with Nur Şef.

The reason why it is called diamond cookies is that the prepared dough roll is covered with egg white and granulated sugar before slicing. As you can see in the photo, after baking, a crown shines like diamonds around it.

Now let's come to the recipe for this perfect cookie that melts in your mouth.

Ingredients for the Diamond Cookie Recipe

• 225 g butter
• 320 g flour
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1 vanilla stick
• 1 pinch of salt (do not use if your butter is salty)
• 15 g cocoa

For the above:

• 2 egg white
• 1 cup powdered sugar

How to Make Diamond Cookie Recipe?

1. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise into 2 parts and remove the seeds with a knife. (We will use the seeds in the cookies, but do not throw away the remaining vanilla, you can use it in a milk dessert.)
2. Sift the cocoa and flour into the same bowl.
3. Chop the cold butter into cubes and place in a large mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract and start kneading with your fingertips.
4. When the butter starts to soften slightly, add 1/3 of the cocoa flour into the mixing bowl. The dough will start to clump. (The important thing here is that the butter does not melt too much and does not throw the oil out.)
5. Add all the flour, kneading with your fingertips. Take the lumpy dough on the kitchen counter and press it with your hands to form a ball. Make a long roll by rolling the collected dough on the counter with both hands. (It will be 1 lira wide)
6. Divide the cookie roll into 2 parts and place it on a tray that will fit in the refrigerator and cover it with cling film. (If you want to prepare it right away, let it rest in the freezer for 30 minutes, if you want to prepare it after 1 day, let it rest for 12 hours in the refrigerator.)
7. Lightly whisk the egg whites in a bowl. Spread granulated sugar on a tray.
8. Take your frozen dough out of the fridge. First, apply egg white on it with the help of a brush. Then smear it in granulated sugar on the tray.
9. Chop the cookies in granulated sugar 1-1,5 cm thick and place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper at 1 cm intervals.
10. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (The baking part differs from oven to oven. Therefore, press the center of a cookie with your finger without taking it out of the oven and see if it collapses. If it is slightly soft, you can take it out of the oven.)
11. You can store the cookies, which come to room temperature, in an airtight jar for almost 1 week.