Hi! I know I’m a week late. There’s been a tragedy in the family and it didn’t seem appropriate to post.

I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane this week and make a childhood favourite: Arlette cookies!

When I visited Shanghai in the summer, it’d always be a treat to walk with my cousin to the bakery and get a box or two.

These delightful, whimsical rounds of flaky pastry covered in a generous layer of caramelized sugar are just the perfect bite to satisfy those sweet cravings

Let’s get cooking!

First, we make the puff pastry. Puff pastry has a reputation as “advanced pastry”, but this reputation is not deserved.

The only tricky part is “laminating” the dough. Here’s how:

Start by rolling out the dough until 1/4 inch thick, then pound/roll out the butter into a square.

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Place the butter in the middle of the dough

and fold over like a letter.

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Finally, roll back to 1/4 inch thick

Other notes:

• Keep the dough chilled- melting butter destroys the layers
• Flour the rolling pin well!

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Ingredients

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 stick + 2tbsp cold butter
• 1/2 cup ice water
• sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Cut 2 tbsp of butter into small pieces. Crumble butter into flour until well incorporated and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add water and mix to form into a dough. Cover and chill for 30 min
2. Roll dough into a rectangle about 1/4 in thick (about as thick as two quarters stacked on top of each other). Place butter in the center, fold dough over and roll back into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick. (see guide above for laminating). Cover and chill for another 30min
3. Fold dough over again and roll into a rectangle 1/8th inch thick. Sprinkle generously with sugar.
4. Roll the dough lengthwise like a carpet and cut into cookies about 1/4 in thick. Place on baking tray at least 3 in apart and chill for at least 30min.
5. Preheat the oven to 450F. Bake cookies for 7-8 min, then rotate the pan and bake for another 4-5min or until the sides are a deep golden brown. Be carful not to burn!
6. Serve and enjoy!

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I hope everyone has a great week! Enjoy some sweets!

Until next time, bye!

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