Buttered Rum Meltaways
March 8, 2010
Whoever is in charge of book layout at the local Barnes and Noble outsmarted me again. Carefully placed next to the escalator to the kids section was a table with both Martha Stewart’s Cookies and Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes. Since my son likes to play by himself with the trains while I sit and watch (he picks out a chair and insists I sit there instead of any closer), I picked up the books to peruse while sitting. An hour later I somehow found myself in the check out line with not just Frog and Toad and Harold and the Purple Crayon, but also the Martha Stewart Cookie book. Such beautiful pictures and delicious sounding cookies. How could I resist?
These are the first cookies I made from the book and I was not disappointed. They are delicious. I chose them because I needed a cookie that was elegant and impressive but not fussy or hard to transport. These certainly fit the bill. With a healthy dose of spices and rum they are delicious and I love the melt in your mouth texture. I have to admit that I didn’t love them right after they came out of the oven. However after aging overnight the flavors melded together and we all loved the results. I accidently added too much sugar to the dough but since everyone liked them like this I am posting recipe the way I made it. I only baked half of the dough and the rest is safely tucked away in my freezer for a day when I need a sweet treat in a hurry. Not a bad first try from such a promising book.
Buttered Rum Meltaways
(adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies)
1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoons coarse salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) unsalted margarine
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup dark rum
1 teaspoon Butter Vanilla Emulsion or vanilla extract
Whisk together flour, cornstarch, spices and salt in a bowl. Put margarine and 1/2 cup (1/3 cup in the original recipe) confectioners sugar in the bowl of a electric mixer. Beat with a paddle attachment on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in rum and vanilla. (It may not be completely mixed, that is ok) Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a piece of parchment paper, shape the dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 1 1/4 inch thick log. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the freezer at least 30 minutes or up to 1 month.
Preheat the oven to 350. Remove parchment from the dough logs and cur into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Space the cookies 1 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake until just golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool 10 minutes. Place remaining confectioners sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Place the warm cookies in the bag and toss with the sugar.
Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 weeks.
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Recipe Page: https://www.couldntbeparve.com/recipe/buttered-rum-cookies/
Those look delicious. Gotta finish the dough before Passover, right 🙂
I have the cupcake book and have felt kind of mixed about it. Can’t wait to hear what you say about the cookies.
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These look so good! Speaking of Passover, I have made a kfp version of this type of recipe. If you have Dora Lee Patinkin’s first book, it is her Passover butter cookie. If you dredge the cookies in kfp powdered sugar (sugar pulverized with potato starch), the cookies look like meltaways. The cookies have pecans in them and they are just fabulous.
Interesting about the Lorran butter emulsion oil. I had no idea this product existed or was kosher. And it is pareve, too?
@Laura, Hi Laura, the butter emulsion is parve. You can order it through amazon (or click on the link). A passover version sounds great, I don’t have that book but might have to experiment with the recipe on my own. (or if you are willing to share the recipe that would be great too)
I sent you the Passover cookie recipe–it will leave you with enough leftover whites for your meringue recipe! The only catch is that you have to stock up on cake meal to make these cookies (and the stores seem to run out of that fast some years).
Shoshana, I would love to try these, but haven’t found a pareve stick margarine without transfats or salt. Just wondering if you know if such a product exists. If not, I’ll use Earth Balance and omit the salt from the recipe. Do you think the EB tub will give a good result or should I use stick EB? Thanks!
As far as I know there are no tranfat free margarines that are both unsalted and dairy free. I just use the salted ones and reduce the salt in the recipe by 1/8 teaspoon per stick. That seems to work fine. If you are using tub margarine make sure it is the whipped kind rather than the kind with extra water and you should be fine. Like with all things in life my site is always evolving and that recipe may be from before I had such a strict no transfats rule. I will update it.
Thank you, Shoshana, for your quick reply. I usually don’t use the whipped EB in baking as results in my cakes and cookies have been disappointing (perhaps because it’s lower in fat) but if you think whipped is the way to go for these cookies, I have a couple tubs on hand and will give it a try. I appreciate your help and enjoy your site.
If you have the sticks that is your surest bet. I often use the whipped EB in baking because I like the flavor a bit better than the sticks. The key is to measure by weight rather than volume. Because it has air whipped into it the amount in each cup is less but if you weigh 4 ounces per stick called for in the recipe it works quite well. Enjoy!