Swiss Butterhorns
I started thinking about cookies for this Cookie of the Week project I’m doing and wanted to really find some different treats that aren’t as main stream.
So I started thinking back over all the cookies I have eaten over the years and the butterhorn came to mind. I suppose it, perhaps, is more of a pastry? But I really think it fits into the category so I decided to go with it. Plus I really wanted an excuse to make them.
You see, back in high school and college I worked at my uncles coffee shop, Bertolino’s. If you have ever lived in the Tacoma, Washington area you’ve probably had a cup of coffee there. Bertolino’s is a little bit like Cheers, it’s a place you go where everybody knows your name…and your drink…the customers there are awesome, one even took me to the ER one time when I sliced my finger open on gigantic can of Hershey’s syrup and another regular (who used to work there) took over the shop while I was getting stitches. At the time they were open till midnight which was totally crazy for a coffee shop and last I heard they were open 24 hours. Crazy.
Good times.
Anyway, they always had these butterhorns in the pastry case and I simply loved them. They were always a little on the stale side by the time I came in for the closing shift but they were still worth it. So for some reason they came to mind when I was trying to come up with something to post.
I was able to find a recipe on TasteOfHome.com and I made them yesterday and they are divine and I really like eating them fresh.
Swiss Butterhorns
These have a very simple dough which you do NEED to refrigerate. This is not so much because it make the dough easier to handle (which it does) but because when butter is cold it makes for a flaky pastry. So by chilling the dough you are chilling the butter and thus, killing two birds with one stone as they say, since your dough will be easy to handle and nice a flaky once baked.
So although these are a little bit more challenging than your average chocolate chip cookie, they are simple to make, you won’t be overwhelmed by them, I promise and they are well worth the wait time, trust me I hate waiting for my cookies and I usually skip chilling time if I think I can get away with it.
- FOR THE DOUGH
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup plus ⅓ cup cold butter
- 1 egg yolk
- ¾ cup sour cream
FOR THE FILLING - ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
FOR THE GLAZE - 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 4 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- To make the dough, combine the flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles course sand.
- Mix the sour cream and egg yolk together and add to the flour mixture, run processor until the dough comes together in a ball.
- Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Wash out the processor as you will need it for the next step.
- To make the filling, combine the pecans, sugar and cinnamon in the food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped. Set aside.
- Line baking sheets with parchment and preheat oven to 350˚.
- When the dough is ready, flour your surface well, divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Roll the first portion out into a 12" circle and then slice like a pie into 12 pieces.
- Sprinkle a handful or so of the filling onto the rolled out dough, and then roll each slice starting at the wider end so it looks like a croissant.
- Place on the lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining wedges and dough balls. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until they are just starting to turn golden at the bottom (mine actually took closer to 25 minutes but the altitude could be to blame for that, we are at 5600ft....).
- Once they are out of the oven combine the glaze ingredients and spoon over the cookies while they are still warm.
- Allow to cool on the tray, it's a little hard to move them when they are covered in warm sticky glaze. Once cooled you can stack them on a serving tray and enjoy.
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