Natasha Pickowicz's Winter Pissaladière

When it comes to candying, why should fruit get all the fun? Some vegetables turn wonderfully delicious after being candied, and they add such an unexpected, chewy, sweet-and-savory blast to all your holiday cookies, doughs, and biscuits. Dried shiitake mushrooms—a staple of savory broth and braises—turn wonderfully nutty, warm, and umami-rich after a gentle candying process. Finally chopped and sprinkled into an earthy rye shortbread flavored with brown sugar and vanilla extract, these candied mushrooms are guaranteed to make all of your cookie baking unforgettable. 

TYPE DESSERT
SERVES 8
DIFFICULTY MODERATE
PREP TIME 30 MINUTES
COOK TIME 15 MINUTES

Ingredients

For the candied mushrooms:

  • 1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar         

For the cookie dough: :

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (30g) powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup (60g) dark brown sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons rye flour
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Turbinado sugar, to finish
  • Flaky sea salt, to finish

Directions

  1. First, candy the mushrooms. Combine the dried mushrooms and water in a medium fry pan and bring up to a boil. Reduce the heat and gently simmer until the mushrooms are tender, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar and bring the mixture back to a simmer. Cook on very low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are glossy and translucent and the syrup has reduced into a tight, viscous sauce, about 30-40 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool completely in the pan; the mushrooms will absorb all the syrup and turn dry and firm. Add a big pinch of flaky sea salt to season. This can be done up to two weeks in advance.            
  2. When ready to mix the cookies, finely chop the mushrooms into small bits and set aside.            
  3. Combine the unsalted butter, powdered sugar, and dark brown sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat with a hand mixer on medium-high speed until the mixture is slightly fluffy, about 2 minutes.            
  4. Add the yolk and vanilla extract and beat until combined, another minute.            
  5. Add the all-purpose flour, rye flour, and kosher salt and gently mix until halfway incorporated; the dough will still look a bit streaky and dry. Drop in the chopped candied mushrooms, and finish mixing the dough until no floury bits are visible.            
  6. Gently shape the dough into a square and place in the center of a piece of parchment paper about the size of a quarter sheet baking tray. Place another sheet of parchment on top to sandwich the dough.            
  7. Use a rolling pin to smooth out the dough to an even thickness spanning the size of the parchment paper, checking to ensure that the center of the dough is the same thickness as the edges.            
  8. Slide the parchment packet onto a baking sheet and transfer to the freezer to chill for at least 30 minutes.            
  9. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.            
  10. Line a half sheet tray-sized baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.            
  11. Remove the chilled parchment-cookie-dough packet from the freezer and carefully peel back the parchment on top.            
  12. Portion the cookies into 2-inch wide shapes, either using your favorite cookie cutter, or by slicing into squares using a sharp kitchen knife.            
  13. Carefully transfer the punched cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with flaky sea salt and a pinch of crunchy turbinado sugar.            
  14. Bake until the edges are golden and the centers are barely set, about 11 to 12 minutes.            
  15. Let cool completely then store in an air-tight container for up to 1 week.  

Pro Tip

I always reroll that last bit of extra cookie dough scrap to get the best yield out of my recipes. But don't forget: you can only re-roll once. This is the mantra you should adopt for all of your holiday cookie baking adventures, as most buttery doughs get tough and dense with every successive reroll. Or, forgo rolling out your dough altogether and pack the dough into a rectangular log about two inch wide. Chill the dough for at least one hour, then carefully shave off thin two-inch-wide cookies. You'll get more rustic shapes, but with zero waste — no rolling pin needed.

To turn these cookies into delightful sweet sandwich cookies, try sandwiching a bit of spiced cherry jam or cranberry chutney in between — these sweet-and-savory cookies would be just as delightful on a cheese board with a slab of Brie or nutty gouda, too. 

RECIPE BY

Chef Natasha Pickowicz

Natasha Pickowicz is a New York City–based chef and writer. She is a three-time James Beard Foundation Award finalist. Much of her pastry work explores the relationship between baking and social justice, including ongoing collaborations with seminal New York City institutions like Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, God’s Love We Deliver, the Brigid Alliance, and Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, for whom she produced a massive city-wide bake sale, raising more than $150,000 between 2017 and 2019. Currently, Pickowicz runs the pastry pop-up called Never Ending Taste, which has been held at NYC’s Superiority Burger, Brooklyn’s the Four Horsemen, the American-Vietnamese bakery Ba. n B., the Taiwanese tearoom T. Company, Los Angeles’s Kismet, and the legendary Chino Farm in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Pickowicz’s recipes and writing have been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bon App.tit, Saveur, Food & Wine, New York magazine, Cherry Bombe, and many other publications. Follow her on Instagram at @natashapickowicz.