Poilâne's Punitions. I feel like I should just write "Need I say more?", post the recipe, and move on.
To be very honest, I did not know about this legendary boulangerie before reading about it in a magazine, right before a trip to Paris. The author recommending the place wrote about the three things she would always buy there: the "Punitions", the flour, and the salt. At the time, I was not into baking nor was I one to understand the quality of ingredients used in baked goods. But still, I was intrigued and made a trip to the Poilâne on rue du Cherche-Midi, and went to see for myself.
In the magazine photograph, the cookies looked plain and pale and exactly what a butter cookie should look like. Well, it turned out that the photograph was, in a way, telling exactly the truth. The Punitions were plain and pale and exactly what a butter cookie should taste like, but perfectly so. They were the ultimate butter cookies. The texture crisp, delicate, and crumbly, and most a beautiful shade of blond ("most" because due to the fact that they are handmade there are a few darker-toned ones which are even more beautiful), the sweetness understated, and the packaging very pretty. I didn't understand what made them so, but I did understand that they were perfect. Poilâne's Punitions left a very big impact on my tongue.
A while ago, I came across
Dorie Greenspan's website and discovered that she had posted
the recipe for Poilâne's Punitions (which she learned from Monsieur Lionel Poilâne himself). I was surprised that I had forgotten about these cookies (so much for my tongue's memory), and that I had not thought of looking for a good butter cookie recipe before. Well, better late than never; I am extremely happy that I found this recipe. I will admit, they probably do not taste quite as good as the Punitions sold in Poilâne. This is probably due to the fact that I am not using the exact same butter, flour, oven, etc., but they are still delicious and very easy to make. I recommend using a cookie cutter with scalloped-edges to make them as pretty as the original Punitions, and also to bake them a bit longer than the original recipe because I think the slightly darker ones are the best Punitions. And for those of you who were wondering, "punition" means "punishment" in French. If you are interested, you can learn why these cookies are called "Punitions" on Poilâne's website,
here.
* note: if you plan to use a food processor to make the dough, read
the recipe originally posted by Dorie Greenspan, here, to learn the perfect way
* { poilane's punitions adapted from lionel
poilâne, via
dorie's website and
paris sweets by dorie greenspan }
— click on the images above, or continue reading for the recipe
