Cookie... nom nom nom.

February 16, 2008 12:54 PM

Where can I get more of this cookie? Today, from Bonaparte's bakery in Fell's Point Baltimore, I had a cookie labeled "butter soble (raspberry)". Weird thing is, I used to eat these as a child in New Zealand, but the only name I have for them is "pink biscuits" (not very helpful).

Data points:

The "soble" consists of two very thin cookies joined together with raspberry jam and iced with pink icing. The cookies are flat but not crisp; they're slightly bendy when you break them apart.
The Bonaparte cookies were whitish in color under the icing, although the ones I remember from New Zealand were more brownish.
I asked the waitress and she said they only make them during the Valentine holiday.
Googling butter soble, raspberry soble and various combinations thereof does not appear to be helpful.

posted by media_itoku to food & drink (9 comments total)

Could the bakery in Baltimore have named them wrong?

A sable is a shortbread-like French butter cookie, and Googling reveals that sables are pretty popular sandwiched together with frosting or jam.
posted by pineapple at 1:04 PM on February 16, 2008

"Sables" were the first thing I thought of, too. It's common to see them made as jam sandwiches, often with the top cookie having a shape cut out in the middle to show the jam more clearly (like a linzer cookie).
posted by Bella Sebastian at 1:23 PM on February 16, 2008

Are they something like a linzer cookie with simple icing on top instead of powdered sugar? If so, I have a lovely recipe I'll try to dig up online.
posted by Gable Oak at 1:25 PM on February 16, 2008

Might be Shrewsbury or Belgian Biscuits?
posted by dohmer at 1:34 PM on February 16, 2008

Are the cookies sort of soft and puffy? If so, Elinor Klivans has a recipe for "Chocolate-Chip-Filled Melting Moments" in her book The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook. She says that Melting Moments are a NZ/AU specialty. The recipe's fairly involved (it's more of a process than a strict recipe) but doable. It's on page 26 if that helps.
posted by Atom12 at 1:50 PM on February 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Seconding Belgian biscuits. The biscuit part is slightly spicy (hence the brown tinge) and everything else is exactly as you describe. Note the Griffins link dohmer posted shows biscuits held together with pink icing, when I make them at home it's the jam filling / icing on top version you're describing.

They taste best when homemade and the Edmonds cook book has a recipe (indicating it's a kiwi staple). Keep in mind when converting any NZ recipe that our flour is very different to that found in the US, and our baking powder may be too (certainly different to Aussie baking powder). You probably want to find a local version of the biscuit part for wherever you're baking, or try to get hold of some of the Griffins ones.
posted by shelleycat at 2:36 PM on February 16, 2008

Oh, note that I've never heard of a Sable but pineapples description sounds like a Shrewsbury and Melting Moments are rather cakey and not iced on the outside.
posted by shelleycat at 2:39 PM on February 16, 2008

nthing the Belgian biscuits, for sure.
posted by tracicle at 8:17 PM on February 16, 2008

Belgian Biscuits! I knew there must be the original name sloshing around in my NZ memory somewhere! And I even recall the Edmonds recipe - thanks Shelleycat!

Also, now you all have me pining for Shrewsburys. Never really got into Melting Moments though.
posted by media_itoku at 8:38 AM on February 17, 2008