Vanilla Wafers, Michelle Polzine
Ingredients
1 vanilla bean
1 cup sugar
8 oz. soft butter
½ tsp. sea salt
7 oz. room-temperature egg whites (¾ cup + 2 Tbsp.)
1½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Directions
1. Split vanilla bean and rub with sugar to strip all seeds into a bowl. (Save empty carcass for another use, such as scenting a stash of granulated sugar.)
2. In a stand-up mixer, use paddle attachment to combine vanilla with sugar, butter, and salt. Cream until light and fluffy.
3. Very gradually, add egg whites. (This part takes a long time. Don’t add them too quickly, or the mixture will fall apart.)
4. After all whites are added, carefully stir in flour. Be sure not to overmix.
5. Place the dough in a pastry bag fitted with a standard nozzle. Pipe onto parchment-lined baking sheets in about ½-inch dots. These will become 1–1¼-inch cookies, so leave space.
6. Bake at 325°F until edges are brown and middles have a little color, approx. 15 min. If edges are getting dark and middles are still white, reduce oven temperature.

Makes about 11 dozen

Persimmon-Bourbon Cookies, Nicole Krasinski
Ingredients
1½ cups dried persimmons
7 oz. room-temperature butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 whole egg
1 Tbsp. bourbon or rum
½ tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1 cup toasted, cooled, and chopped pecans

Directions
1. Cut persimmons into small pieces. (If very dry, hydrate in warm water and a little bourbon for 30 min. Drain well.)
2. In a stand-up mixer, use paddle attachment to cream butter and brown sugar on low until well combined, about 3 min.
3. In a small bowl, lightly whisk egg, bourbon, and salt to combine. In another bowl, sift flour and cinnamon.
4. Add egg mixture to creamed butter; mix gently to combine. Add flour and cinnamon; fold in by hand. Add chopped pecans and persimmons; fold in gently by hand.
5. There are two ways to shape the cookies. First: Chill for at least 1 hour, then scoop batter into small balls. Second: Roll batter into logs, chill, then cut into small rounds. (For crunchy edges, coat the entire log with turbinado sugar before cutting.)
6. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place chilled cookies on a Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake until you can pick them up without their falling apart, about 10 min.

Makes 5 dozen

Chocolate-Lemon-Pecan Truffles, Elizabeth Falkner
Ingredients
14 oz. cream
18 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
2 oz. Cointreau
2 oz. honey
1 tsp. salt
1 oz. room-temperature butter
1 lb. toasted pecans, chopped

Directions
1. Bring cream to a gentle boil.
2. Pour cream over chocolate and stir.
3. Add zest, Cointreau, honey, and salt. Stir until smooth.
4. Add butter and stir.
5. Chill in fridge. Scoop truffles with a melon baller or 1-inch ice cream scoop. Use hands to shape each portion into a ball.
6. Roll in pecans and store in the fridge. (The truffles melt easily.)

Makes at least 3 dozen