This recipe came out of a tour that one of our writers took to a Dutch tulip farm. Streaked with cashews and crunchy caramelized sugar, the cookies were, in the editors’ opinion, every bit as appealing as the flowers. When we made them recently, however, we used roasted, salted cashews instead of raw ones, which transformed the cookies into something even more spectacular.
Gourmet’s Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008. Although we’ve retested the recipes, in the interest of authenticity we’ve left them unchanged: The instructions below are still exactly as they were originally printed.Make cashew praline: In a heavy skillet cook 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tablespoons water and a pinch of cream of tartar over moderately high heat, washing down any undissolved sugar that clings to the sides of the skillet with a brush dipped in cold water, until the mixture is a light caramel. Stir in quickly 1/2 cup finely chopped raw cashews. Pour the praline onto a buttered piece of foil and with a buttered spatula spread it into a thin sheet. Let it cool until it hardens and chop it coarsely.
In a bowl beat 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter with 1/3 cup sugar until it is creamy. Beat in 1 egg yolk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in 1 cup flour and two-thirds of the chopped praline and form the mixture into a dough. Form the dough into cylinders 2 1/2 inches long and 3/4 inch wide and put them about 2 inches apart on a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cylinders with the remaining praline and bake them in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for about 1 minute and with a spatula remove them to a rack to cool completely. Makes about 18 cookies.
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