Creme Brulee Cookies

Directions

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla beans and extract until smooth. Add the eggs and the yolks one at a time, mixing until blended after each addition.
2. Stir in the dry ingredients until just blended. Form the dough into a smooth log about 2 inches in diameter and roll it in a sheet of plastic. Dough will be soft.
3. Cut a paper towel tube in half and set the rolled dough onto that to help it stay round. Chill until very firm, about 4 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
5. Put the 1/3 cup sugar into a small bowl. Unwrap the dough and slice into 1/4 inch slices. Gently press one side of the cookie into the sugar to coat and place one inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake until light golden brown, 11-14 minutes. Allow to cool on sheet for about 5 minutes.
6. Place the cookies on a flame resistant surface (foil lined baking sheet) sprinkle the cookies with remaining sugar. Using a kitchen torch over the cookie tops until sugar is evenly caramelized. Let cool before serving.
7. * you can Keep the scraped vanilla beans in a canister with regular sugar. It will give the sugar a slight vanilla flavor.
8. Variant: use caramel extract and salted caramel raw sugar on the top.