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Sugar Cookie Bars
Margaux Laskey, “American Girl Cookies”
5453 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
5,453
40 minutes, plus cooling
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Make the crust: Whisk the all-purpose flour and the almond flour in a large bowl, then set aside. (It’s best to stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes until ready to use, to ensure a well-chilled dough.)
Slice 3 tablespoons of the butter as thinly as possible without getting obsessive about it. (It’s OK if pieces break.) Cut the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter into ½-inch cubes. Keeping the sliced butter and cubed butter separate, set the butter in the fridge to chill until ready to use.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the ¼ cup yogurt with 1 tablespoon of the water and keep cold in the fridge until ready to use.
Whisk the flour mixture with the 1 teaspoon sugar and the salt. Spread the cubed butter pieces over the flour and cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or your fingers until the chunks look slightly smaller than pea size. Toss the butter slices with the flour mixture, separating them as you go, then gently press them into the flour between your fingers into flat sheets. (This extra step is helpful in creating pockets of steam, which will make for a flakier crust, an added bonus for pie dough makers of any skill!)
Drizzle the chilled yogurt over the flour and butter mixture. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon to toss and combine. If the dough seems dry, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the ice water, and continue tossing and combining, incorporating any dry flour bits at the bottom of the bowl and scraping off the spatula as you go, until the mixture just comes together in a mound. If needed, drizzle more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, without allowing the dough to get too wet.
Transfer the dough to a large piece of plastic wrap, then press the dough into a 6-inch disk and wrap well. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Heat oven to 400 degrees with the rack in the center position. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Prepare the filling: Place ½ cup sugar and the lemon zest in a large bowl and rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingertips. Add the strawberries, cornstarch and salt; mix well to combine, making sure the cornstarch is well incorporated. Add up to another ¼ cup sugar if desired, depending on the sweetness of your strawberries and your desired level of sweetness.
Dust your countertop with flour, then transfer the chilled dough to it and sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough. Roll the dough out to a 12- to 14-inch round, lightly flouring as needed. (It’s OK if the edges break and the shape isn’t perfectly round.) Gently transfer the dough by rolling it over a rolling pin and onto the prepared baking sheet. (At this point, if you’ve forgotten something, like preparing the egg wash, or if your dough has warmed up slightly, place the sheet pan in the fridge for a few minutes.)
Mound the strawberries and their juices in the middle of the dough and leave a 2-inch border. Fold the border over the fruit, pleating as you fold and leaving the center of the galette exposed. Brush the crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake until the crust is golden and the strawberries are bubbling, about 35 minutes. It’s OK if some juices leak. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour and serve.
I made this today. The dough is easy to mix without so many steps. Simply cut cold butter pieces into the flour and almond flour with a pastry blender, butter should be like small peas. Stir in yogurt, sugar, salt. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add ice water as needed. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Quickly knead just until the dough holds together. There should be pieces of butter visible. I added 2 tablespoons of good strawberry jam tossed with the berries. Excellent!
I've made a lot of galettes over the years with a lot of frustration and failure from leakage, edges that unroll, etc. I've discovered if you prepare the galette on parchment paper and then pop it (with paper) into a large cast iron skillet and bake it in this "frame", it will bake beautifully and hang together. When cooled you can just lift the paper and galette out of the pan for serving.
Put the finished galette in freezer for 5-10 minutes before putting in oven. Trust me! Divine crunchiness
Added a thin base of homemade almond paste for a creamy layer- love it!
I followed someone else’s lead on the layer of almond paste on the bottom and hoooooly smokes. Rolled out a disc of almond paste (maybe 3/16” thick?”) and put it on the crust under the strawberries. Divine. Sugar 100 grams only!
Can this work using blueberries?
Chop/pulse/grind blanched almonds in a food processor. I first started doing this when I made Yotam Ottolenghi's Blueberry, Almond and Lemon Cake. So good! https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018821-blueberry-almond-and-lemon-cake I do this for other recipes, and it works well. You won't get the almonds as fine as silky flour, but I like the bit of texture they impart to baked goods.
I used sour cream instead of yogurt for the crust as that’s what I had on hand. Still tasty!
I made the pastry in my food processor and it was perfect. I also reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup and used potato starch as that is what I had on hand. Excellent galette - will try different fruit variations!
You can macerate the strawberries ahead of time with the sugar. Pour off the juices & reduce till almost a glaze; cool & mix back into the fruit and proceed with the recipe. That will keep the juices in check. I use this method for fruit pies (got it from Rose Levy Bernabaum's recipe for apple pie).
Agree on dough, I followed to the letter with the thin slices of butter - I’m not sure if it makes any difference. Used Demerara sugar to sprinkle on crust - yum! I’ve also used whole wheat flour as the second flour in galette crusts, which turns out well.
more flour
Used a cast iron pan as suggested. Following a trick from Sister Pie (in Detroit) - I spread a thin layer of soft cream cheese over the center of the dough before loading the filling. Helps the bottom crust get crisp. Used less sugar (1/4 cup) since summer berries are sweet.
One of the best desert recipes I’ve tried. The crust is just sweet enough but with a nutty flavor from the almonds.
This was a winner. I used 1/2c sugar with out-of-season berries and it was pleasantly tart, which worked well served with vanilla ice cream. I was less finicky with the dough assembly than the recipe calls for and it still turned out perfect. Also, I baked the galette in a cast iron skillet after assembling. It kept its shape very well and the crust was not soggy on the bottom at all.
Delicious with blueberries, but cut cut the filling from5 cups to 4 cups, precooked with 2 T cornstarch and 3 T sugar
Gluten free friends over for dinner last night. Made this using Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour mix and the galette dough recipe on their website (https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/recipes/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-galette/). Reduced the cornstarch to 2 TBSP, combined it well with the zest infused sugar (used 1/2 C) for a pint of sliced strawberries and left that to macerate while I rolled out the dough. Strawberries strained of juice before placing on dough. Will make again!
This was great, but the liquid leaked out (not unusual for my galettes). I used the tip to roll it out on parchment paper, then put it in a cast iron skillet to bake. Worked great. No mess, but the bottom crust got mushy in the liquid that came out.
My pie bottom crust method: Paint the unbaked bottom crust and insides lightly with raw egg white, then dust with flour. let sit a minute or two then fill the pie shell. No soggy crusts! (That being said, strain macerated fruit before filling pie shell.)
Only changes I made were sour cream in lieu of yogurt and demerara sugar for sprinkling and the dough was absolutely phenomenal. Tore in one place and leaked but tasted flaky and delicious. The filling itself wasn’t fantastic despite the strawberries being perfect, maybe my lemon or cornstarch were off? Probably won’t repeat the filling again but will be using the dough for everything in the future, I suck at pie dough and this was so easy and simple.
Subbed blueberries for the strawberries and baked in the skillet suggested below. Turned out perfect! So tasty.
I didn’t have enough strawberries but had some blueberries which I added. It made it a bit messy but, oh boy, was it delicious!! I also used turbinado sugar sprinkled on the crust. Great recipe!
Love this recipe - especially the crust, Everyone loves how French it looks! Used frozen tart cherries, drained well with sugar and cornstarch, Big hit
Delicious. I only had sour cream. It was delicious.
Turned out beautifully- Grated the butter. Almond meal from bag instead of from scratch. Let berries and crust sit in fridge overnight, then poured off extra liquid. Put it in a cast iron pan as others suggested. I will be making again all summer with whatever is in season.
You can macerate the strawberries ahead of time with the sugar. Pour off the juices & reduce till almost a glaze; cool & mix back into the fruit and proceed with the recipe. That will keep the juices in check. I use this method for fruit pies (got it from Rose Levy Bernabaum's recipe for apple pie).
Has anyone tried to make this and freeze for a later date? Can I assemble it and freeze unbaked? Would I then defrost or bake frozen Temp and time??? Thanks
I can't seem to find an answer to: can I sub oat milk, or other non-diary yogurt for yogurt?
Used a cast iron pan as suggested. Following a trick from Sister Pie (in Detroit) - I spread a thin layer of soft cream cheese over the center of the dough before loading the filling. Helps the bottom crust get crisp. Used less sugar (1/4 cup) since summer berries are sweet.
I went with the pulse method in food processor with dough I rolled out dough on a circle of parchment and then thanks to another commenter transferred that to my trusty cast iron skillet My tart did not hold all 5 cups of strawberries so a cup or so plus juice was left behind.. I did not have any leakage. Ps.. only used 2/3 cup sugar 35 minutes baking exactly…. Hard to wait an hour to cool. Heavenly w a topping of Greek yogurt!!
This was a winner. I used 1/2c sugar with out-of-season berries and it was pleasantly tart, which worked well served with vanilla ice cream. I was less finicky with the dough assembly than the recipe calls for and it still turned out perfect. Also, I baked the galette in a cast iron skillet after assembling. It kept its shape very well and the crust was not soggy on the bottom at all.
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