Not Derby Pie » cookies and bars

Hazelnut Molasses Crisps

rivka — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:31:52 +0000

Some cookies are made to be shipped. They’re crunchy, sturdy, and can weather any postal worker’s worst mood.

If you can imagine those cookies’ polar opposite, you’d have in your mind the cookies I’m sharing with you today. They are not for shipping, unless your friends will be particularly excited to receive a tin full of hazelnut-flecked, molasses-flavored cookie crumbs. (Incidentally, the crumbs, which you inevitably will have after making and packing a batch of these cookies, are just superb sprinkled on vanilla ice cream. But I digress.) They are, however, the perfect finale to a meal, a day, a 30-minute TV show. They’re a cookie to bring your next door neighbor or to set out at a housewarming/open house/holiday party. where people don’t have to fuss with them all that much. Yes, they’re delicate beings, these cookies. But boy are they good.

I found them in a book by the great Alice Medrich that I checked out of the library some weeks ago. I happened upon the recipe, thought of the bag of hazelnuts in my freezer (I keep all my nuts in the freezer – they stay fresh much longer that way), and copied the recipe. I knew I wouldn’t have the time to make them before the book was due back at the library; I also knew that once I made them, I’d want the recipe on hand to make them again and again. On both counts, I was right.

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Bourbon Pecan Bars

rivka — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:20:44 +0000

People, it’s Thanksgiving time. Turkey and mashed potatoes and yams galore, brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce, and of course, you can never have enough pie.

Except you know what? I’ll beg to differ. I’m a pie lover like the best of ‘em, but at a certain point, I need a break. I want a crumble, a crisp, perhaps some bars. Thanksgiving may be about tradition, but it needn’t resist a change of pace, right?

Look, we can split the difference. These pecan bars are basically pecan pie, in rectangle form. They have crust, they have gooey chewy topping. Did I mention they have bourbon? You will like them. Your guests will love them. And if you want to push things over the top, dunk’em in chocolate. That’ll bring the swoons. No one will miss pecan pie. And if they do? Well, there’s always apple, and pumpkin, pumpkin-caramel, and apple-cranberry, and…

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Ginger Brownies

rivka — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:15:41 +0000

Brownie perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Some like a moist, chewy brownie. (Others inexplicably prefer the cakey kind, but I’m not judging.) Katherine Hepburn liked brownies so chocolatey, they were black – but I’ve also met strange folks who don’t want to be hit over the head by the chocolate. (Again, not judging. Kinda.)

The brownie debate extends quite far: even Duncan Hines lists two options on their packaged brownie mix – one egg for chewy brownies, two for cake-like brownies.

Me, I like a brownie that’s moist and chewy – but it’s important to me that they hold to hold their shape when sliced. Mushy brownies have a time and a place – midnight or later, straight out of the pan, eaten alone or with someone I like a whole lot. For the more civilized occasions, give me a brownie that slices up nicely.

In the past, I’ve looked to Alice Medrich and Dorie Greenspan, who have developed recipes for truly bittersweet, moist brownies. Neither of my standby favorites have any additions, which can disrupt the otherwise smooth texture of good brownies.

But I’m not a total purist. I’ve always been a fan of peppermint brownies, and just as curious about the supporting role other flavors might be able to play. So yesterday, I pulled a stack of cookbooks off the shelf and began looking for inspiration: I wanted to make ginger brownies.

That expedition ended with a thud. I couldn’t find anything I was excited to make. So I turned to the interwebs, and quickly found myself a Martha recipe that looked mighty promising. Spiced with ground ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, they suggested prominent fall flavor but didn’t look too overpowering.

And here I am, blogging abut the recipe, so yes, friends. They were every bit as good as I’d hoped. The texture of these brownies comes pretty close to perfect, for me at least. Chewy and moist, but firm enough to stand up to a knife. I topped them with some of the lovely ginger salt I received from Marx Foods a while back for some sort of contest (I forget the context, but I’m pretty sure it was open to everyone, and they’re certainly not paying me to discuss it here). I was enamored enough of the topping that I’m encouraging you to do something similar below. It’s simple, really: combine ground ginger with coarse salt. Alternatively, snag the ginger salt from Marx Foods. It’s – er – worth its salt.

Ginger Brownies
adapted from Martha Stewart
makes 9 large brownies or 12 smaller brownies (1 8×8 pan)

Note: The ginger salt is out of stock, but equally wonderful is the espresso salt. Try it! If you don’t have fancy flavored salt, just take 1/2 teaspoon of flaky salt in a bowl, add a pinch of ground ginger, and stir until combined. Sprinkle sparingly over the brownies. If you’re not keen on that fuss, just use regular flaky salt.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon for sprinkling
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. Line bottom with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to hang over 2 sides. Butter parchment.

Melt butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and spices. Stir to combine fully. Add eggs, vanilla, and cooled chocolate mixture, and stir to fully combine.

Pour batter into prepared dish and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle sparingly with either ginger salt or regular flaky salt. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Lift out, and let cool completely on rack. Cut into 8 squares or 12 rectangles. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days.

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Amaretti

rivka — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:58:13 +0000

As I’ve said many times on this site, my philosophy of Passover eating is to steer clear of matza meal and potato starch, and keep things as normal as possible. Meringues, mousses, fruit curd of any flavor: these are the ideal Passover desserts. But cookie cravings call, and can’t be ignored, even on Passover. So I’m making good on my promise to share one more Passover cookie recipe before the holiday. Those chocolate cookies sort of can’t be beat — unless you use margarine in place of butter, which I hear can cause problems! — but these amaretti are chewy, flavorful, and pretty addictive in their own rite. They’ve got the golden touch of Passover cookies, which is to say, they weren’t designed with Passover in mind.

The recipe is very lightly adapted from Garrett McCord, who writes his own blog, Vanilla Garlic, and guest posts occasionally for Elise at Simply Recipes. They can be made chewy or crunchy just by fiddling with the baking time. They’re redolent with almond flavor and some vanilla, too. They’re highly scarfable, which on Passover isn’t something to scoff at.

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Best Chocolate Passover Cookies

rivka — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:10:22 +0000

Friends, listen up. This weekend, I went undercover. For you. In search of a perfect Passover cookie that could fool even the most discerning dessert connoisseur, I brought a batch of Passover cookies to the pre-wedding festivities of one of my oldest friends. Now surely you’re wondering why I’d subject some of my favorite people to those little bricks that taste like chalky potatoes and twice-cooked crackers. The answer, of course, is that I’d never do that. Friends don’t make friends eat Passover cookies. Nope. What I did do was treat my near-and-dear to a big tupperware container full of soft, chewy, chocolatey cookies. Also on the menu: muffins, bagels, croissants, and all sorts of other leavened things. And you know what? My chocolate cookies went first.

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Hamentaschen

rivka — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:48:04 +0000

from the archive, just in time for the holiday.

Among the many traditions associated with the quickly-approaching Jewish holiday of Purim, perhaps the most widely-kept one is the consuming of copious amounts of ~~alcohol~~ hamentaschen. Are you surprised that it’s my favorite holiday in the calendar?

Fashioned after Haman’s pocket, hamentaschen are cookies filled with anything from poppyseed to raspberry jam to Nutella, and folded up to resemble a triangle. They’re not too sweet, flavored with vanilla and lemon zest, and perfectly crunchy outside while soft within. Everyone has a favorite filling, and mine — poppyseed — is, unfortunately, hated by many folks. I appeased the masses this year by making a large batch of raspberry-chocolate filled ones. I’ll save the poppyseed for myself. I also scored a tub of halvah (sweet sesame paste), so that should make for some interesting cookies as well.

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Mojito Cookies

rivka — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:39:02 +0000

…and just like that, I’m a married lady. Craziness.

It’s hard to believe an event that took nearly a year to plan could come and go in the span of a few hours. Before the wedding, as we were making dinner or reading the New Yorker or watching Tina Fey be awesome on 30Rock, D and I would turn to each other and ask, “can we just be married already?” We were serious. Marriage was what this was all about for us, and we wanted to just be there already. That’s why the night of the wedding, after all the guests had left and we had taken every last bobby pin out of our hair, we were about as happy as two people can get. You see, not only did we have the most wonderful, joyous, hilarious, fun, exhausting day of our lives, but we were finally married. Everything felt so right.

We’ve spent the past couple weeks checking our our friends’ awesome pictures on facebook and absentmindedly playing with our wedding rings, all the while trying to adjust back to reality. I’m just starting to get back in the kitchen, but I’ve got a few recipes up my sleeve from before the big day that I’m excited to share.

Today’s cookies came about when I craved a proper mojito but didn’t have quite enough rum. I went digging on the interwebs, and found a recipe from the lovely Deb of Smitten Kitchen fame to save the day. Deb had gone to Mexico, and when she got back, she invented “margarita cookies” to take the edge off having to leave. It was the perfect solution: Mojito cookies!

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Back-to-School Raspberry Bars

rivka — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:00:52 +0000

It’s true, I haven’t been in school in five years. A working girl doesn’t know from summer vacation, and there’s no annual school supplies shopping spree at Staples anymore. I miss summer break, and, like any school supplies nerd, I miss those colored sticky tabs I used to use to mark key pages in my textbooks. After five years in the workforce, I’ve somehow managed to wean myself off the small thrills of being a student (even the discounts at JCrew, which I’d love just about now). But there’s one school-time habit that’s still going strong, one that I imagine will continue for years to come. At the profession-steeped age of 27, I’m still making myself back-to-school snacks.

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Brownie Buttons

rivka — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:05:05 +0000

When I was a kid, my mom and I baked brownies about once a week. My mom had her homemade recipes, which of course are excellent — but as a kid, all I ever wanted was Duncan Hines. I would always make sure I was on my best behavior throughout, so that when we were done, I could take my spoon to the mixing bowl and lick it spotless. Duncan still has a special spot in my heart, but when I’m craving brownies these days, I turn to these. They’re a more grown-up, sophisticated version of the classic treat. Rest assured, they’ll quiet even the strongest of brownie cravings.

Other times, I want a nibble, an after-school snack of a brownie that’s just big enough and chocolatey enough to take the edge off my hunger and stave my appetite till dinner. That’s when these brownie buttons come in oh-so-handy. I can see the parents and babysitters sitting up straight in their chair: bring your kids one or two of these buttons, and I doubt they’ll give you a hard time for the rest of the evening. Ok, maybe just the babysitters will get off that easy — but I know I’d have liked to have these to give to those kids I used to sit for. Not that they weren’t wonderful. But pop a brownie in those little hands, and I can only imagine the little angels they’d have become!

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Crescent Cookies

rivka — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:00:53 +0000

Either my blog has secretly been hoarding some of my recipes for its hungry self, or I’m dreaming. I could have sworn that I waxed poetic about these cookies last July, when I made them as the finale for a balcony barbecue I had with some friends. But I’ve searched — in the archives, in the recipe index, under every conceivable name — and they’re nowhere to be found.

Let’s remedy the situation right here and now. You need this cookie recipe. It’s a soldier of a cookie, one whose sturdy crust cloaks a tight log of nuts, dates, zest, and just a bit of orange blossom water. It’s intensely flavorful, but, amazingly, dairy-free. Everyone needs a good dairy free cookie recipe for the back pocket.

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Rhubarb Curd Shortbread

rivka — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:41:27 +0000

It’s official: Rhubarb Curd Shortbread is a winner! These treats took top prize over at Food52′s “your best rhubarb” contest, and they’ll be going into the food52 cookbook! Thanks to you all for voting and visiting!

When it comes to pantry stocking, I’m a minimalist. I keep only those things I need, being careful to clear out those non-essentials, so that I have as much space as possible for vegetables and cheeses in the fridge, ample room in the cabinets for all my pots and pans.

Um, can you hear the snickers and scoffs in the background?

In truth, I couldn’t be less of a minimalist if I tried. I have absolutely no this-not-that discipline; I so readily add to my growing list of “essentials” that my fridge simply feels naked without homemade rum-soaked cherries, Shady Maple Farms maple butter, Huy Fong sriracha and sambal oelek, Aleppo pepper, homemade tamarind pulp, and even a jar of caramelized onions (which I make in bulk and keep on hand — perhaps my wisest decision ever). What has become of my fridge? Whither simplicity?

If you thought this’d be my mea culpa, the one where I clean out the clutter and make some simple toast and butter, think again. The above items, however quirky and specialized, truly have become staples. My toast simply wouldn’t be as good in the morning without a slather of thick maple butter. The rum-soaked cherries made my brunch pound cake a whole different thing, all the more so for its finishing gloss of that cherry-rum syrup. Yes, I’m crazy. But these are the items that bring character to my fridge. They’re what make those “what’s for breakfast?” questions so fun to answer.

And today, I’m adding one more item to this list: rhubarb curd.

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Spiced Chocolate Oat Cookies

rivka — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:08:25 +0000

I’ve been going on about spring now for a couple weeks. While I could do without the watery eyes and runny nose, I think these months are my favorite of the whole year. The earth is waking up from its nap; everything’s in bloom, the produce is killer, and the markets are (my oh my!) very, very crowded.

It only makes sense, given my nonstop chatter about the end of winter, that I’d get a sudden and powerful molasses craving in the middle of April. It was undeniable: peas and asparagus be damned, this lady wanted ginger snaps.

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Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

rivka — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:24:41 +0000

At this point, my quest to find the perfect oatmeal cookie has spanned several years. I’ve tried crisp, lacy varieties, which I find too unsubstantial. I’ve made those big, hunky ones — the kind where two sticks of butter get you a mere six uber-bad-for-you cookies — but they’re so big, they’re practically the blondies of oatmeal cookies: not what I’m looking for. I’ve tried raisins and chocolate chips, dried cranberries and dried cherries, even added pumpkin for a seasonal take on the classic. None has hit the spot.

My perfect oatmeal cookies are full of oats and studded with raisins. They’re mighty crisp on the edges, but the middles have some height and a lot of chew. The batter has plenty of vanilla and a whiff of cinnamon. When you bite in, there’s plenty of cookie to sink those teeth into.

I’ll spoil the end of the story now, and say unabashedly that the search continues. What I’m posting here is not the ideal oatmeal cookie. But you know what? It’s okay. As oatmeal cookies they may score average, but as cookies, they’re just wonderful. They achieve that perfect balance of softness and chew, the sugars practically caramelized from an unusually long mixing period and an extended stay in the oven. The oats — more sparse than in traditional oatmeal cookies, but in just the right proportion here — add heft and home-iness. The tart cranberries and sweet, bitter chocolate cut through the rich butter and caramelized sugar, both of which are present in great proportions. I’ll say it: these cookies are kinda awesome.

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Graham Crackers

rivka — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:00:13 +0000

D’s stepmom, Terri, has an absolute weakness for graham crackers. She says they’re the one thing she absolutely can’t keep in the house, because once she opens the package, she’ll eat every last one. I learned this on our recent trip to Israel, and was pleased to be able to reply that in my bag, I just so happened to have two homemade graham crackers that I’d packed as a plane snack. Naturally, her eyes bulged. I bounded up the stairs and grabbed them immediately.

It had all started innocently enough: having given in several times the previous week to sugary, buttery shortbread and chocolate chip cookies and really so much more, I was determined to bake a snack that would satisfy my sweet tooth without pushing me over the edge. That whole “new year, new habits” thing has nothing to do with it, promise.

Graham crackers were the perfect choice. (They’re called crackers — how bad could they be?) I made a batch a couple days before we left; I gave a few away as holiday presents, and the rest I played around with. Some got a one-sided dunking in chocolate, others became sandwiches.

The cookies were just perfect. They were addictively crunchy, and the addition of whole wheat flour gave them a rustic, graham-y quality. And don’t forget the generous dusting of cinnamon sugar to finish them off.

Now Terri wasn’t all that enthused by the graham crackers, because the particular pair I’d brought were sandwiching a thick layer of intensely brown caramel, which overpowered the rather subtle flavor of the graham crackers. I liked ‘em just fine, but I probably won’t make them again. Graham crackers are meant to be simple, the kind of thing you munch alongside a steaming cup of tea. They satisfy a sweet craving just perfectly, no caramel or chocolate needed.

Graham Crackers
adapted ever so slightly from The Washington Post

For the graham crackers

9 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour, plus more for rolling
1 1/3 cups whole-wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons whole or low-fat buttermilk or milk

For the topping (optional)

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until light.

Combine the flours, baking powder and salt on a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper.

Reduce the speed to low; add the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, in several increments, ending with the flour; beat to form a soft dough. Divide the mixture in half, then wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until well chilled.

For the topping (if using): Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 325 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Lightly flour a work surface. Working with 1/2 portion at a time (keeping the others chilled), lightly flour the top of the dough. Roll out to a rectangle with a thickness of slightly less than 1/4 inch. Use cookie cutters to cut into shapes, or use a sharp knife and a ruler to cut the dough into 2-by-3-inch rectangles. Alternatively, use a scalloped cutter to give your cookies a wavy edge. (I did this on batch number 2.) Prick each cookie two or three times with a fork, and place the unbaked crackers on the baking sheets, spaced 1/4 inch apart. Sprinkle evenly with the topping, if using.

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, then rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes, until golden brown and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets before serving or storing.

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Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread

rivka — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:51:24 +0000

If it wasn’t obvious from my cookie page, I’ve got something of a permanent craving for bite-sized crunchy/chewy treats. Hanukkah isn’t really a cookie-focused holiday — it’s more a celebration of your deep fryer. But Christmas is just around the corner, and every year, I get swept up in the holiday spirit. This year is no exception, and I’m more than happy to bake off a few batches in honor of the holiday cookie season. Just doing my duty, people.

Tonight’s first batch was my favorite chocolate chip cookies. Everyone’s got a favorite recipe: mine are pretty close to the NYT recipe, only I don’t mess around with the two different types of flour, I use natural sugar instead of bleached white stuff, and I use a mix of ghiradelli chocolate chips and chopped bittersweet chocolate for textural contrast.

After a few of those were in the oven — for D, of course, just wanted to please my lady — I moved onto batch number two: hazelnut shortbread. Less sweet but just as buttery and full of toasted nuts, these shortbread are chocolate chip cookies’ sophisticated sibling. They come together in a flash, and can be baked in any number of ways. If you’re in a rush, roll the whole pile of dough into a log and stick them in the freezer for slice-and-bake action later. If you have more time, form them into little individual log cookies. Either way, dunk the finished shortbread into shiny melted chocolate (or just drizzle the chocolate on top using a fork), and roll in toasted nuts on top for some truly elegant December desserts. Oh, and by the way: they make a lovely holiday present.

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Chewy Toffee Blondies

rivka — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:55:13 +0000

Can I just say how touched I am? You all left the sweetest congratulatory messages on the last post, and I’m really just tickled. We’re told this is a pretty exciting time in our lives, and if the last two weeks are any indication, exciting is quite an understatement. We’re floating.

But I digress: this is a food blog, not a get-all-mushy-about-my-engagement blog, and I think it’s about time I passed along some recipes! I was in Chicago on business for the past few days, and in New York with friends to celebrate before that, so the kitchen’s been dark lately, but in the past few weeks, I’ve made some pretty tasty things, including one thing I probably haven’t made in years…

When it’s mid-July and summer’s taken up residence here in Washington, the fruit are at their peak. With ripe peaches and juicy plums in abundance, there’s no good reason to make anything but fruit desserts. That’s why, for the past 10 years, I seem to have forgotten about blondies. They just fell of my radar entirely; when I think of dessert, I think of crostadas and pies and fruit crisps galore. Chocolate? Chocolate who?

The other day, I was moments away from making Dorie Greenspan’s Brown Sugar Bundt Cake (from her book Baking From My Home to Yours). I had the bundt pan out and ready to go, the stand mixer fitted with the paddle, and then, suddenly, had a second thought. Didn’t the recipe say that the bundt was better the next day? I wanted something sweet now. Maybe I should stick to something I know, something comfortingly chewy and chocolatey and altogether delicious, that’d be delicious in under 30 minutes. I flipped a couple of pages and there, staring back at me, were some thick, unctuous-looking blondies. I was sold.

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The Best Tea Cookies on the Planet

rivka — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:06:03 +0000

I’ve always loved the idea of having a local baker — someone whose shop was within a short walk of my apartment, where I could drop by in the morning for a baguette or a scone, pick up a loaf or two of fresh bread, and pop in on a lazy Sunday afternoon for tea and cookies. Sadly, I don’t live in Paris. I do, however, read an excellent blog of someone who does — that’s David Lebovitz, my friends — and his many posts about local bakers regularly elicit pavlovian responses from my growling tummy. The one that most recently got my attention was about Flo Braker, one of his all-time favorite bakers. (Don’t you just love that she’s Flo Braker, the Baker? Hardy har.) Among the many recipes in her arsenal is one for thin,, crispy, buttery almond cookies called “pain d’amande” (almond bread). While I’d never heard of Braker before reading David’s post, after tasting these cookies, I can assure you that now she’s one of my favorite bakers, too.

These aren’t just any almond cookies; they benefit from having become an obsession of Braker’s — she’s literally made the recipe countless times, each time adjusting the proportions of raw sugar and flour by slight amounts until she achieved the perfect ratio of each. As I said, we benefit from her rigor and perfectionism: these cookies are absolutely flawless, and I wouldn’t change a darn thing.

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Cherry Almond Biscotti

rivka — Mon, 04 May 2009 02:57:02 +0000

Two wrist-slaps for me: I made these so long ago, I can’t even remember when at this point. And I was oh-so-sure I blogged about them. But you know what? I didn’t. I realized this yesterday, when I was poking around a great blog I recently discovered (which, in coincidence of coincidences, belongs to an acquaintance of mine from college), and came across a post about biscotti that’s so good, it begs not to be dipped in chocolate. “I make those, too!” I thought, at which point I started poking around my own little blog for any mention of what are, without a doubt, my favorite biscotti ever. Nothing.

My goldfish-memory aside, I’ll now remedy that situation. These biscotti are truly the best I’ve ever made. They’ve got a healthy handful of dried cherries, chopped home-toasted almonds, and just the right amounts of cinnamon and sugar to make them subtly sweet and spicy, not overly so. You know what else? They’re mighty good for you, in the not-bad-for-you kind of way.
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Meringues (Finally)

rivka — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:54:32 +0000

For all those anticipating Passover, these meringues are the perfect Passover dessert. They require no flour or leavening, but actually taste good. I simply can’t go the week without them.

I was looking through my archived photos today and discovered something utterly shocking: I’ve had a website for…how long now? a year and a half?…and somehow escaped until today without posting a recipe for one of my most reliable, fool-proof, standby, can’t-live-without desserts. I make them all all all the time, especially when I have leftover egg whites. On top of being nearly effortless to make, they achieve one of the rare feat of being both non-dairy and delicious. Like I said, rare.

Meringues, my friends, meringues. They are a fundamental part of my dessert repertoire, and the basis for many other desserts (including, among others, this crazy buche de noel, and the ultimate meringue-based dessert, Macarons.

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Coffee Walnut Cookies

rivka — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:14:35 +0000

When it comes to dessert recipe creators, none holds a candle to Alice Medrich. Considered by many the “first lady of chocolate,” she is the founder of the famed Berkeley patisserie Cocolat and the author of several wonderful cookbooks, most recently Pure Dessert. I’ve raved about her twice before — her whole wheat sables and nibbly buckwheat cookies simply demanded it — and I’m prepared to gush once again, because I made her coffee walnut cookies for a party I catered on Saturday night.

Pure Dessert is all about the flavors that inform our desserts. The book is organized by flavor profile, with sections devoted to nuts and seeds, fruit, honey, grains, etc. The book’s organization demonstrates how much thought Medrich has put into each and every recipe. No teaspoon of vanilla or half a cup of corn flour is called for by accident. The coffee walnut cookies are no exception: coffee grinds and ground walnuts make the cookies rich, yet assertively bitter, and altogether addictive. And I love the crunch of the coffee bean that graces the top of each cookie.
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Cinnamon Palmiers (and cheat puff pastry)

rivka — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:45:43 +0000

File this under “things I’ve always wanted to make but thought I needed an excuse.” Not that they’re actually so hard, but let’s face it — nothing is easier than simple chocolate chip cookies, or my go-to dessert of late, chocolate pudding. It’s just that the recipe is very specific, and one must strictly adhere to it, or else the resulting cookie will be dense and tough. But follow the instructions, and your afternoon tea date will thank you. These cookies are the height of elegance, with their flaky texture and caramelized-sugar crust. They’re just the right amount sweet, and very crispy. They might be small and light, but I dare you to eat just one.

As you know, I’m always on the lookout for excuses to tackle culinary challenges. Bryce’s PhD soiree gave me one such excuse, so thank you, Dr. J!

On another note, looking at the recipe just now, I realized that it essentially calls for an easy puff-pastry dough layered with cinnamon sugar. Now I’ve never made my own puff pastry, but I think this is a very user-friendly way to fake it — so I’ll be filing this under techniques; the next time I need puff pastry, I may just make this dough.

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Conquering Macarons

rivka — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:52:34 +0000

If there is an ultimate test for baking aficionados, it is the very delicate, very complex, and oh-so-French macaron. If you’ve never had them, here’s the best description I can muster: two thin almond-flour-meringue cookies sandwich a restrained but sumptuous layer of cream. The flavor possibilities and combinations are endless. There’s something irresistable — something almost addictive — about these delicate little cookies, not least of which is the challenge of making them properly. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never bothered to try. Instead, I just take the occasional stroll to Leopold’s during my lunch hour, and buy a triple threat — one chocolate, one pistachio, and one raspberry. Why bother to make’em when they’re available down the block?

I’ll tell you why. Having read enough posts from other bloggers who make macarons successfully, I’ve come to understand that there’s no greater accomplishment in the baking world than a tray full of perfect macarons. If I’m to consider myself worth my salt, I’ve got to master macarons.
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Cherry Almond Tea Cakes

rivka — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:56:21 +0000

Just peek out the window and you’ll know it’s officially fall. The sky in Washington is a crisp blue today, and the air is breezy and cool. Knowing DC as well as I do, I was sure that the cool front would pass quickly, making way for just a little more of that lovely summer humidity that you can slice through with a knife. Classic DC to dangle fall in front of us before heading squarely toward summer weather. But so far, I’m proving wrong: it’s been a week since the air changed. Summer may truly be over.

Summer produce is also starting to disappear. A couple weeks ago, I scored a fabulous box of “second” tomatoes — about 8 pounds for a mere 2 bucks! With some olive oil, onions, garlic,salt, pepper, and a splash of wine, I transformed them into easy tomato sauce and jarred the sauce for winter.

Before memories of summer fruit have completely faded, I want to share one last recipe. It’s another Martha recipe — thanks, Jana — and it’s super easy and tasty. The recipe is for tea cakes, rich and nutty from almond flour, zingy from kirsch, with a whole cherry — pit, stem, and all — in the center. I brought them to a poolside picnic hosted by Rebecca, Robbie and Sarina earlier this summer. I took off the foil and set them out, and Robbie looked at them suspiciously and asked what they were. When I told him, he said, “What if you accidentally swallow the pit and choke? Basically, they’re like death muffins.” I really wanted to title this post “death muffins” but visions of spam comments from morticians and funeral homes scared me off.
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Date Swirl Cookies

rivka — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:03:29 +0000

Every once in a while, dates make their way into my shopping cart during my snacks run at TJs. The large, dark brown Medjool dates are my favorite variety (and, arguably, the best variety out there). I first discovered them during my time in Israel, where if you’re lucky, you can pluck some low-hanging fruit off a tree toward the end of a hike. Commonly considered the crown jewel of dates, Medjools are a deep, rich amber, and they’re coated with a thin, glossy skin that is at once smooth and wrinkled. Far less stringy then other dates, their texture is soft, chewy, and ever so luscious. No other date even compares.

When my officemate offhandedly mentioned these date swirl cookies, I knew instantly that they’d be next in my queue. Her prescription was simple: “make a refrigerator cookie, mix a paste of dates, brown sugar, spices, and some citrus, roll out the cookie dough, spread the paste overtop, roll up, slice, bake.” Sounded simple enough, but the instructions left me plenty of room to play.
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Rugelach

rivka — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:45:29 +0000

I rarely buy cookbooks. That probably comes as a surprise, considering how much I love to cook, and how pretty cookbooks can be — but I just don’t buy them that often. That’s partly because I tend to browse for recipes online, and partly because, not being able to help myself, I take all the pretty ones of the shelf at Barnes and Noble and before I know it, I’ve already looked at every pretty picture and no longer have any interest in buying the darn things.

On the rare occasion that I actually shell out the cash for one, the self control and patience I’ve been cultivating for years run out in a matter of seconds. I plop down on the couch, open the thing up, and soak up every last picture. Yes folks, that’s why they call it food porn.

Regarding the fillers between the pictures: sometimes I read those. Recipes, I think they’re called.

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Linzer Sables

rivka — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:45:13 +0000

If you love Passover, close your ears for a second…
YAAAYYY it’s done! we can eat bread again!

Ok. It’s out of my system.

Linzer Sables are fantastic. The fact that they involve water, flour, and a nice long baking time is just icing on the cake. I’ve always loved Linzer Torte — that fantastically dense and buttery torte made of almond flour and filled with black raspberry jam — and these cookies share those rich, buttery, nutty flavors, but they’re lighter, crispy, and compact. They’ve also got a fair amount of spice, and I like to add some orange zest, which I find really binds the flavors together. If you’ve got a scalloped cookie cutter, use it to make these cookies look more decorative (and sprinkle them with confectioners sugar for some extra zing.)

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Nibbly Buckwheat Butter Cookies

rivka — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:36:46 +0000

I know, you don’t have to tell me — these look just like those whole wheat sables I posted in January. What can I say? I’ve fallen for nibbly sables and I can’t get up.

This is all Alice Medrich’s fault. I recently acquired her book, Pure Dessert, and ever since, I’ve been baking goodies non-stop. Her recipes are dead simple, and the sweets are addictive. Did I mention it’s called “Pure Dessert?” Yea, it’s pretty hard to go wrong there.
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World Peace Cookies

rivka — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:09:03 +0000

Lots of thank yous in this post! First, thanks to Sarina for pointing out that today is National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day. I know, it’s apropos of absolutely nothing, but it had to be said. Second, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! Now that I’ve got a quarter century worth of silliness behind me, my little bro loves to call me an old fart, and I guess I am. 25, baby!

Now, onto the more relevant thanks:
Thank heavens for Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan. If you’re scratching your head and wondering, “who?” then you’d better catch yourself up to speed. Pierre Herme: world-famous pastry chef and dessert god. Dorie Greenspan: baker, cookbook author, and chronicler of both Pierre’s unforgettable creations and her own. Exhibit A: Dorie Greenspan’s fantastic book, Paris Sweets, in which she includes Pierre Herme’s best-ever chocolate cookies (there called Korova Cookies). Exhibit B: Dorie’s latest book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, in which the same recipe appears under a new name: “world peace cookies.” The new nomenclature implies that enemies would find it tough to argue with a plate of these cookies in front of them; however, fight me for one of these cookies, and I guarantee, YOU WILL LOSE.
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Ginger Spice Cookies

rivka — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:01:26 +0000

I’m going away for a few days this week, and wanted to leave D with an ample supply of goodies for while I’m gone, so yesterday was a non-stop baking marathon chez moi. I’ll admit that I find myself constantly reverting to tried-and-true recipe favorites, like those cranberry cornmeal cookies and whole wheat sables. But these days, when making an old recipe means no blog post, I’m shockingly motivated to seek out new, potentially-delicious recipes. Save the occasional failure and the very infrequent disaster, my adventurousness has been paying off.

As it happens, the only new recipe I made this weekend involved eggplant and feta cheese, so no, it’s not a cookie recipe. But that’s another story for another day. The cookies I made yesterday are all old favorites that have somehow slipped to the bottom of my mental stack, and ginger spice cookies top this list of wonderful but forgotten cookies. No sooner had I sliced up the crystalized ginger than my ginger spice memories came flooding back. After taking a warm, moist, molasses-y bite, I doubted that I’d ever forget these cookies again.
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Cranberry Cornmeal Cookies

rivka — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:05:23 +0000

I am a total sucker for cornmeal. Perhaps it’s a texture thing: cornmeal is both grainy (in a good way) and soft. It’s responsible for creamy, buttery, polenta, and for crumbly, steaming-hot cornbread. Substitute 1/2 a cup of flour for an equal amount of cornmeal in your go-to pancake recipe, and I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you like cornmeal, that is. D conveniently hates cornmeal. Isn’t it funny how things work out?

Even the confessed cornmeal hater didn’t hate the cookies I made last night. In fact, D said “they’re good, they’re just not cookies.” (Cookies=chocolate chip cookies, for those in need of some translation.) Admittedly, these aren’t soft and chewy like tollhouse or the delightful blue chip variety that Deb made this week, but they’re not meant to be. Cranberry cornmeal cookies have a texture more like shortbread: buttery and not overly sweet, with an irresistible melt-in-your-mouth quality. And cornmeal sets them apart from your average icebox cookie. For one thing, it turns the cookies a pleasing shade of yellow. It also gives each bite a coarseness that can’t be achieved with regular or whole wheat flour. Finally, lemon zest and cranberries team up with cornmeal’s flavor so harmoniously that the final product is a song in your mouth. Have cornmeal and I won you over yet?
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Whole Wheat Sables

rivka — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

All my culinary kudos are going to Alice Medrich these days. She does that thing none of us want to do: she makes the same darned thing over and over again, each time tweaking the recipe until it comes out just perfect. All that toil translates: Alice’s chocolate pecan pie is to die for, her chocolate cheesecake in The Joy of Cooking is the best I’ve had, and her new-ish book Pure Dessert tops my wishlist.

The recipes in Pure Dessert tend toward the less-chocolatey, and use complex flavors like sesame and olive oil. Those I’ve tracked down and tried have been nothing short of perfect, and the whole wheat sables I made this weekend were no exception. Within a minute of leaving the oven, they were crispy but not hard to bite, and nicely sandy without being too crumbly. You can hardly tell that half the flour is whole wheat, but the wwflour gives these cookies a really wholesome flavor, rounded out by cocoa nibs and a bit of grated chocolate (my addition). Yes, these are the anti-chocolate chip cookie, so they probably won’t please traditionalists in your house (they didn’t make D’s eyes light up, that’s for sure) but they’re truly wonderful cookies, best enjoyed under a blanket with a piping hot cup of tea. Many thanks to The Wednesday Chef, where I finally found this much-desired recipe!
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Chocolate Pretzel Success

rivka — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:11:00 +0000

A while back, Deb of Smitten Kitchen fame blogged about the shortcomings of Martha Stewart’s chocolate pretzel cookie recipe. “Dry, bland, and not chocolatey enough” and more colorful adjectives described a cocopretzel that just didn’t cut it. She suggested trying to make pretzels out of Dorie Greenspan’s very flavorful and buttery chocolate rollout cookies, which I had been planning to make later that day. I figured what the hell? Chocolate pretzels they would be.

Needless to say, nothing is ever that easy. Dorie’s chocolate rollout cookies are awesome cookies, but they make lousy pretzels. In the oven, they flatten out and spread a bit, losing their pretzel shape, and once cooled, they’ve got the texture of great cookies, not crunchy, crispy pretzels. Pretzels: 1. Rivka: 0.
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Holiday Cookies

rivka — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:06:00 +0000

With candy canes and sprinkles lining grocery store shelves, holiday season just screams, “sugar cookies!” Around this time each year, I toss aside my fanciest dessert recipes and opt for the more humble sugar cookie instead. Sugar cookies can be enhanced any which way, from flavoring the dough to adding crushed candy to topping with sprinkles and frosting….with so many variations, there’s truly a sugar cookie for everyone.

I made sugar cookies twice this season, both times differently than I have before. When Jackie hosted a cookie-making-and-decorating party (a blast, as you may have guessed), I was introduced to the wonder that is maple extract. It’s not the easiest to find, but I’ll be keeping it close for those times when I’m craving maple flavor, but adding maple syrup would change the texture. Apparently 5 lbs. of cookie dough and lots of intermittent nibbling wasn’t enough for me, so I decided to make another batch at home. For those, I used vanilla extract and just a bit of molasses, which imparted an earthy flavor to otherwise regular sugar cookies. I highly recommend these recipes, and I’ve included both of them below.(...)
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