“Are you making those elephant ears again?” my husband asked as I filled the freezer with batches of delicious, but not large, flaky cookies. To make these cookies jumbo-sized, I thought that all I’d have to do would be to roll up huge sheets of dough into a double spiral shape. No such luck—until I had a brainstorm. I rolled out a rectangle of dough, spread it with filling, and rolled it into a double spiral—elephant ear—shape. Then I cut the log of dough into thick slices and rolled each slice again to flatten it into a large cookie. Eureka. It was the solution to making large (5-by-6-inch) butterfly-shaped cookies. To prevent sticking as you roll the dough, sprinkle it generously with sugar. As the cookies bake, this sugar caramelizes and forms a crisp bubbly sugar coating.
These elephant ears are made with a quick sour cream dough that resembles tender, buttery puff pastry.
Almond paste is a finely ground mixture of almonds and sugar found in the baking section of most supermarkets.
makes 12 cookies • cookie making 35 minutes • cookie baking 375 degrees, two baking sheets for about 15 minutes each
cookie dough
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup sour cream
filling
7 ounces almond paste, broken or cut into 12 pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons heavy (whipping) cream or milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
about 1 cup granulated sugar for rolling
PREPARE THE DOUGH. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and mix with an electric mixer on low speed until the largest of the butter pieces are the size of small lima beans, about 20 seconds. The butter pieces will be different sizes, and there will still be some loose flour. Add the sour cream and mix until large clumps of dough form that pull away from the sides of the bowl, about 15 seconds. (Or, use a pastry blender to combine the flour mixture and butter. Add the sour cream and stir with a large spoon for about 2 minutes until a smooth dough forms.) Form the dough into a smooth ball and flatten it into a rectangle about 8 by 5 inches. You will see small pieces of butter in the dough; that is good and contributes to the flaky texture. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes to rest and firm the dough. The dough can also be refrigerated overnight, but then it will have to sit at room temperature until it is soft enough to roll out easily—this can take as long as 1 hour in a cool kitchen.
PREPARE THE FILLING. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the almond paste and butter until smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar, cream or milk, vanilla, and almond extract until blended to a smooth soft mixture. (Or, make the filling in a food processor. Put all of the ingredients in the processor and, beginning with a few on/off bursts, process until a smooth mixture forms, about 1 minute.) Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside at room temperature for up to 1 hour or refrigerate if leaving overnight.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Unwrap the dough. Lightly sprinkle flour and sugar on the rolling pin and rolling surface. Roll the dough to a 14-by-12-inch rectangle. Don’t flip the dough over while rolling, but lift and turn it several times as you roll it to prevent it from sticking to the rolling surface. And when you lift and turn the dough, sprinkle sugar generously on the rolling surface. Use a thin metal spatula to spread the filling in a thin layer over the dough. Turn the dough if necessary so a short side faces you.
Measuring along the 14-inch sides, mark the center of the dough. Rolling from the shorter 12-inch edge that is closer to you, roll up the dough like a jelly roll just to the marked center. Then roll the far side toward the center until the two rolls meet. You will have a double log of filled dough that is smoothly attached on the bottom side. Turn the double log over for easier cutting.
Press in the ends of the log to smooth them, and use a large sharp knife to cut the log into twelve 1-inch-thick slices. Dip both sides of each slice in sugar. Sprinkle the rolling pin with sugar. Roll out each slice of dough to a large butterfly shape about 4 by 5 inches and about 3/16 inch thick, sprinkling the rolling pin as necessary with sugar. The cookies will not all be exactly the same size. Use a large spatula to place the cookies at least 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with about ½ teaspoon sugar.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops are evenly light brown, about 15 minutes. The cookies will spread about 1 inch and rise slightly. The filling may bubble up slightly on some of the cookies and have a few darker spots. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then use a large metal spatula to carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. The outsides of the sugar-coated cookies will become very crisp as they cool.
The cookies can be stored in a single layer in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days.