Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Every time I write about a new book from Nancy Silverton, I go on and on about what a huge fan I am. And, I still am. I still make her recipe for sourdough bagels and sourdough baguettes after learning from her how to make my own sourdough starter in the first place. I always enjoy reading a new book from her as I did with The Cookie That Changed my Life of which I received a review copy. This new book was intended as a collection of revisited, well-known baking recipes presented in the best possible versions of themselves. It was inspired by some tinkering with a peanut butter cookie that Silverton felt achieved perfection. But, the interesting thing that recurs throughout the book is that for many of these familiar favorites, she mentions not really liking them. Rather than creating a "perfected" version of some of these recipes, she was instead coming up with a new version that she actually liked. With the angel food cake, she added a chocolate swirl; a classic pecan pie became a tart; and simple snickerdoodles became a much more involved and expensive cookie with browned butter and demerara sugar. I found that the snickerdoodle recipe was flawed. Way too much sugar was called for, and the result was a disappointment. Despite these critiques, I still loved this book. The ginger stout cake, which was only slightly adapted from Claudia Fleming’s original recipe, was delicious as our Christmas dessert with whipped creme fraiche. And, I will forever be following the instructions for twice-baked croissants that I filled with smoked salmon and cheese rather than ham and cheese along with a flavorful bechamel that coats the interior of cut-open croissants. And, yes one more and, the oatmeal raisin cookies recipe that came from Marge Manzke of Republique was positively divine. I didn’t realize until reading it here that Republique in Los Angeles took over the space that was formerly Silverton’s La Brea Bakery. What a great history for this piece of real estate. 

The oatmeal raisin cookies are gluten-free and made with unblanched almond meal. They’re also made with browned butter. In the past, I might have questioned if browning butter and then chilling it was really worth it for cookies. These cookies taught me that yes, it is very worth it. It’s also worth it to use big, plump raisins, and Sunview Organics are my favorites. So, unlike a traditional, simple oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, this one is a bit more involved. The dough was chilled before portioning, and then each ball was placed in a ring for baking. I used English muffin rings, and they prevented the dough from spreading too much. The buttery, nutty flavor was indeed reward enough for the added bother. 

There are raspberry crumble bars and a coffee cake I want to try, and I’m curious about the very particular approach to focaccia shown in the book. For me, it was the oatmeal raisin rather than peanut butter cookie that might have changed my life. Seriously, brown some butter and make these cookies.

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Spiced Saba, Raisin, and Nut Cookies

There’s something about Italian sweets that fascinates me. Sometimes the flavor combinations are unexpected and delicious, and sometimes the draw is obvious as with gelato. I was happily transported to Italy and specifically with some recipes to Sardinia while reading my review copy of La Vita e Dolce: Italian–Inspired Desserts by Letitia Clark. Clark, and English pastry chef, wrote this book from her home in Sardinia just as the pandemic was getting started. She writes that she wanted to “cling to and celebrate those moments of sweet, everyday pleasure.” Making sweet treats at home is a simple way to experience and share a bit of joy each day. And for me, making and sharing Italian sweets is particularly enjoyable. I’ve posted before about my deep affection for anginetti cookies which are lemony, little round delights, and I was thrilled with pezzetti di cannella that bring together cocoa, cinnamon, and lemon zest in a fabulous, glazed cookie. And, of course, the savory-sweet combination of grapes and rosemary in schiacciata all’uva is divine. So, I couldn’t wait to peruse this new book. It includes cookies, tarts, cakes, spoonable sweets, yeasted and fried treats, gelato, and sweets to give as gifts. The recipes were all created in a very approachable manner for the home cook. I could spend serious time with the gelato chapter alone. From the Sparkling Lemon Sorbetto to the Ricotta and Fig Ripple Gelato, there are tips for best results and anecdotes about gelato shops in Italy. I got stuck in the Gifts chapter wanting to try the Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Sour Cherry Salame and realizing I’ve never made Panforte, yet. As I read through the book, I decided I need more Torta della Nonna in my life as well as Crostata de Marmellata. I quickly became jealous as Clark described the quality of the fruit available in Sardinia. Still, I want to try the Citrus, Campari, and Yoghurt Upside-Down Cake with what I can get here. First, though, the Pabassinus cookies or Spiced Saba, Raisin, and Nut Cookies had my full attention. The mix of cinnamon, cloves, aniseed, and lemon zest with saba and the nuts and raisins sounded like a combination I had to taste. The fact that the cookies are traditionally decorated with sprinkles just reinforced my interest in them. 

In the head note, it’s explained that the cookies’ name comes from the Sardinian word for raisin which is “pabassa.” Step one was procuring some saba, and that was easy enough with an online order. To begin the cookie dough, slivered almonds and walnuts were toasted and then chopped. The aniseed was toasted in a dry skillet and then crushed with a mortar and pestle. The raisins were soaked to plump them, and I used orange juice for that. The prepped nuts, aniseed, and drained raisins were mixed with flour, sugar, softened butter, egg, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ground cloves, saba, and lemon zest to form a dough. After chilling the dough for 30 minutes, it was rolled and cut into diagonal shapes. The cut cookies were baked, cooled, and dipped into confectioner’s sugar glaze before being showered with sprinkles. 

How can sprinkles not make you happy? The idea of this book was to spread joy, and these cookies most definitely did that. I loved the mix of flavors from the spices, the brightness of the citrus zest, and the tangy sweetness of the saba. It’s going to be fun to have even more Italian sweet treats to enjoy at home and to share with others. 

Pabassinus


Spiced Saba, Raisin, and Nut Cookies

Recipe excerpted with permission from La Vita e Dolce: Italian–Inspired Desserts by Letitia Clark, published by Hardie Grant Books, June 2021. 

These little diamond-shaped biscuits are found all over Sardinia, with recipes differing from region to region. Pabassinus, deriving their name from the Sardinian word pabassa, which means ‘raisin’, are traditionally made for All Saints’ Day (1 November), the addition of spices, citrus zest and a large quantity of dried fruit and nuts being the edible markers of religious festivals. Crumbly, nutty and wonderfully spicy, they are so inseparable from the period leading up to Ognissanti that when I asked a friend if she would make them with me in September, she point-blank refused. I first made these with a friend’s aunt, who measured everything by eye (‘quanto basta!’) and baked them in a wood-fired oven as she had done on the same day every year for her entire life. Many households in Sardinia still have these ovens, which are lit for special occasions. Traditionally bread is baked first, then, as the temperature cools, the dolci are baked afterwards. Saba, or sapa is a dark, richly flavoured syrup made from cooked grape must. Traditionally in Sardinia this was also made from prickly pears (fichi d’India), which grow wild all over the countryside. They were gathered with canes and then boiled down with water to produce a thick, dusky syrup which was then used as a sweetener. Few people make this syrup now, but sapa made from grapes is still used for many traditional dolci. If you can’t find sapa, then a dark honey, black treacle or date molasses are all good substitutes. The biscuits are usually decorated with a simple white glacé icing and multi-coloured sprinkles (Sardinians are inordinately fond of sprinkles) but they are also very good un-iced and unsprinkled. They keep well in an airtight container for a few days. 

Makes 30 larger or 40 smaller cookies – enough for a festa 

100 g (3 1⁄2 oz) blanched almonds 

70 g (2 1⁄2 oz) walnuts
2 tsp aniseed


120 g (4 oz) raisins 

270 g (10 oz/2 1⁄4 cups) 00 or plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra to dust 

140 g (4 1⁄2 oz/2 2⁄3 cups) sugar


120 g (4 oz) butter or lard, at room temperature


1 egg and 1 egg yolk


1⁄2 tsp salt


1 tsp baking powder


pinch of cinnamon


pinch of ground cloves (optional) 

1 tbsp saba


zest of 1 lemon


zest of 1 orange 

For the icing 

130 g (4 oz/1 cup) icing (confectioner’s) sugar 

2 tbsp lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon, roughly) 

sprinkles (optional) 

Preheat the oven to 180oC (350oF/Gas 4). Arrange the almonds over the base of a baking tray (pan) and roast in the oven until just lightly golden, about 8–10 minutes. Remove from the oven and chop the almonds lengthways into nibs. Chop the walnuts roughly. 

Toast the aniseed in a dry shallow pan for 1–2 minutes or until it begins to smell good. Remove and bash the seeds gently in a pestle and mortar, or in a deep bowl using the bottom of a rolling pin. Soak the raisins in boiling water (or tea or coffee or anything hot you have to hand – fennel tea would also be nice) until softened (around 3 minutes). Drain them well in a sieve, squeezing to remove any excess liquid. 

In a bowl, mix together the chopped nuts, bashed aniseed and soaked raisins with the rest of the ingredients using your hands (messy but satisfying) or using a wooden spoon until you have a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and leave to rest in the fridge while you clean up. Once the dough has rested for 30 minutes, roll it out on a work surface dusted with flour. Roll out to 1 cm (1⁄2 in) thickness, then cut diagonally into large-ish diamond shapes, re-rolling and cutting any edges until you have used all of the dough. 

Place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 12–15 minutes (keep a close eye on them as they burn fast). Remove and leave to cool. 

To make the icing, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice in a small bowl until just at pouring consistency. Decorate the biscuits with the icing and sprinkles, if using.

Note: These are almost always made into rough diagonals here in Sardinia, but if you prefer to use your favorite cookie cutter then feel free to do so. They’d make very good Christmas cookies too.

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Big Sur Chocolate Chip Cookies

I remember when I first became aware of Maida Heatter. It was in the late 1990s, and a friend gave me her copy of Saveur magazine. She knew I was getting more and more interested in cooking, and she told me about some of the great stories in that issue of the magazine. It was a really fantastic issue. There were stories about New Orleans restaurants with recipes, and Thanksgiving leftovers recipes, and there was a story about Maida Heatter. I instantly became a huge fan and continue to be all these years later. It was her Polka Dot Cheesecake recipe in that article that fascinated me. I tried making it as soon as I had a chance, and it turned out perfectly. The instructions worked exactly as they should, and it was the most delightful thing I’d ever baked. That recipe also appears in the book Maida Heatter’s Cakes. And now, it appears in her latest book, Happiness Is Baking: Cakes, Pies, Tarts, Muffins, Brownies, Cookies: Favorite Desserts from the Queen of Cake, as well. I received a review copy of this new book that contains her classic recipes. In her introduction, she encourages the reader to treat this and all cookbooks like a textbook. She suggests you write notes on the pages to remember any little changes you should make next time from baking time and ingredients to the reason why you made the recipe. She writes: “In the future you will find that your own notes have added to the book and made it more valuable to you.” When I read that, I realized that’s why I started this food blog. I wanted to track what I was cooking, what changes I made to original recipes, and when and why I made each dish. Maida Heatter wants nothing more than for home bakers to enjoy succeeding at all their baking projects. Her instructions are always the best. This new book includes Everyday Cakes, Special Occasion Cakes, Cookies, and Pies Tarts Brownies Bars and More. There are multiple chocolate cakes and lemon cakes, and I’m convinced I should try every one of them. I just have to decide which to make first, The Best Damn Lemon Cake or the East 62nd Street Lemon Cake. The instructions for Mildred Knopf’s Orange Puff Cake have me very intrigued. To begin, egg whites are whisked with salt on a large platter. There’s a note that “this cake may seem like a lot of trouble, but, believe me, this is the sort of adventure in baking that makes a cook’s reputation.” How could you not try this recipe? The Bull’s Eye Cheesecake appears along with the Polka Dot. There’s Mississippi Mud Pie, Coffee Buttercrunch Pie, Key Lime Pie, the Pecan Squares Americana that I’ve made before, three versions of brownies, and more. 

First, I pre-heated the oven for chocolate chips cookies. I have a mental list of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes, and I suspected these Big Sur cookies would end up on it. They’re big, thin, crunchy cookies with oats and walnuts, and I always love a big cookie. Interestingly, the recipe includes a small amount of lemon juice. I’d never seen that in a chocolate chip cookie before. Making the cookie dough was completely straightforward with creaming of butter and sugar with vanilla and lemon juice. The sifted dry ingredients were added followed by the walnuts and chocolate chips. The dough was portioned into large mounds with lots of space on the cookie sheet and only four cookies per sheet. The dough mounds were flattened slightly with wet hands before baking. 

I had hoped the lemon juice would be apparent in the finished cookies, but there wasn’t enough to taste it. I assume the acidity helped activate the baking soda. The oats, walnuts, chocolate, and cinnamon did contribute to excellent flavor and texture though. I’m glad I followed the recipe exactly the first time using it. Normally, I would be tempted to swap in pecans in place of walnuts, but the walnuts were delicious. And, yes, baking these cookies was definitely a source of happiness. 

Big Sur Chocolate Chip Cookies 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from Happiness Is Baking: Cakes, Pies, Tarts, Muffins, Brownies, Cookies: Favorite Desserts from the Queen of Cake. 

These California cookies are 6 inches in diameter — they are the largest homemade chocolate chip cookies I know (nothing succeeds like excess). They are crisp, crunchy, buttery, delicious. Too good. Irresistible. But because of their size, don’t make them for a fancy tea party. Do make them for a barbecue or a picnic, or for any casual affair. 

Makes 12 to 15 very large cookies 
1 1⁄2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour 
1⁄2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
6 ounces (1 1⁄2 sticks) unsalted butter 
1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1 teaspoon lemon juice 
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 
1/3 cup granulated sugar 
2 large eggs 
1⁄4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats 
6 ounces (generous 1 1⁄2 cups) walnuts, chopped or broken into medium-size pieces  
6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate morsels 

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment or foil. 

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon and set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the vanilla and lemon juice and then both of the sugars and beat to mix. Beat in the eggs one at a time. On low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients and then the rolled oats, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula and beating only until mixed. Remove from the mixer and stir in the nuts and morsels. 

Now work next to the sink or have a large bowl of water handy so you can wet your hands while shaping the cookies. Spread out a piece of wax paper or foil. Use a 1⁄4-cup measuring cup to measure the amount of dough for each cookie. Form 12 to 15 mounds of the dough and place them any which way on the wax paper or foil. Wet your hands with cold water, shake the water off, but do not dry your hands; pick up a mound of dough, roll it into a ball, flatten it to about 1⁄2-inch thickness, and place it on the lined sheets. Do not place more than 4 cookies on a 15 1⁄2 x 12-inch cookie sheet. These spread to gigantic proportions. 

Bake two sheets at a time for 16 to 18 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back as necessary to ensure even browning. (If you bake only one sheet at a time, bake it on the higher rack.) Bake until the cookies are well colored; they must not be too pale. Watch these carefully; before you know it, they might become too dark. 

When you remove them from the oven, let the cookies stand for about a minute, until they are firm enough to be moved. With a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool. If the racks are not raised at least 1⁄2 inch from the work surface, place them on a bowl or cake pan to allow more air to circulate underneath. 

When cool, wrap them with bottoms together, two to a package, in cellophane or wax paper or in plastic sandwich bags. If you do not plan to serve these soon, freeze them.

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Meyer Lemon-Almond Meringue Tartlets and Holiday Roundup

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was delightful. I have a few sweet treats from my holidays to share today. For a Christmas dessert, I wanted to make use of my homegrown Meyer lemons but of course couldn’t decide what to make. I mulled it over for days and flipped through several books while considering various cakes, tarts, and frozen desserts. Then, I pulled Baked: New Frontiers in Baking off the shelf, found the little lemon-almond meringue tartlets, and wondered how I’d ever forgotten this recipe from this book. It was just what I wanted to make. They’re cute, individual-sized tartlets with a tangy lemon filling, and the pastry for the tartlet shells was made with an interesting twist. Amaretti cookies were ground and added to the flour in the dough. Amaretto liqueur is also suggested, but I used almond extract instead. Some years are better than others for my lemon trees, but I had plenty of lemons for the curd. I was amazed by the dark yellow color the Meyer lemons gave it, and the flavor was divine. For the fluffy meringue topping, I remembered from recently reading BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts a recipe guaranteed to not weep or collapse over time. I planned to make several tartlets and serve them over the course of a few days. So, I followed the instructions for that magical Marshmallow Meringue which involves heating the egg whites and sugar to 175 degrees F before whipping. Some almond extract was added to the meringue as well. I piled the meringue high on each tartlet and toasted it with a kitchen torch. I can report the meringue performed perfectly and did not weep at all even after leftover tartlets had been refrigerated for three days. The combined result was everything I hoped it would be. 

As usual, I baked possibly as many cookies as Mrs. Claus this year. I returned to a couple of favorite recipes and also tried two new ones. I made my favorite sugar cookie dough for rolled and cut cookies. I decorated them with royal icing and crushed candy canes. I used half of the sugar cookie dough to revisit the Hawaiian Snowballs recipe. This is a favorite cookie of mine with the chopped, dried pineapple and macadamia nuts in the dough. I also made white chocolate-covered Chocolate Peppermint Cookies again. As a big fan of white chocolate and mint, I think these are even better than thin mints. One of the new recipes I tried this year was Chai Snowballs from Martha Stewart Living, and they will definitely be making a repeat appearance. The other new recipe was Cranberry-Oat-Almond Shortbread topped with white chocolate from Sweet: Desserts from London's Ottolenghi. Rather than rolling out the dough and cutting these as suggested in the book, I made two logs of dough and sliced and baked. This recipe was also a keeper. I try to give away as many cookies as possible, but I do have to taste to make sure everything turns out ok, right? After all of that delicious sugar, I’ll be skipping dessert for a bit, but I don’t regret one bite.

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Alfajores

Of course, I love trying new baking recipes especially when I get to play with nonstandard ingredients. And, I really love it when I get to try making treats that are sweetened with things other than refined sugar. I bake fewer sweet things than I used to, and I mostly avoid refined sugar except on special occasions. I’ve had some mixed results with this type of baking. A honey-sweetened carrot cake and some maple syrup-sweetened cookies that I baked were really far better on the first day than the second. And, a vegan, date-sweetened caramel I tried didn’t deliver the thrill of traditional caramel. So, I was cautiously excited to try the recipes in the new book Sweet Laurel by Laurel Gallucci and Claire Thomas of which I received a review copy. I wanted to love the flavors, and I really wanted the recipes to work well. After being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune digestive disorder, Laurel Gallucci became committed to creating delicious baked good with no grains, gluten, dairy, or refined sugar. She and her friend Claire opened the bakery Sweet Laurel to showcase these creations. They offer “indulgent yet healthful” treats made with the simplest ingredients. No gums, fillers, or soy is used in the recipes. In fact, all the ingredient lists are surprisingly short. The chapters cover quick breads and breakfast treats, cookies and bars, pies and tarts, layer cakes, fillings and icings, and decorating techniques. I quickly zeroed in on the doughnuts with various glazes. They’re baked doughnuts made with almond flour, coconut oil, eggs, and maple syrup, and the glaze options include chocolate, strawberry, turmeric lemon, and coconut butter icing. Then, there are Classic Snickerdoodles, and the only reason I haven’t baked them yet is because I would eat every one of them. The Zesty Lime Pie and the Caramel Chocolate Banana Cream Pie are both strongly tempting me as well. Among the cakes, there are classics like the The Chocolate Cake That Changed Everything that inspired the friends to open the bakery and an old-school Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with pieces of blood orange standing in for the usual maraschino cherries. I couldn’t wait to get baking, and my first recipe from the book was the Alfajores that happen to be vegan as well as grain-free and free of refined sugar. 

There are three parts to this recipe, and each can be made in advance to make the final assembly a bit quicker. First, I made the Shredded Coconut “Powdered Sugar” topping. Rather than sifting actual powdered sugar over the cookies, these are topped with pulverized, unsweetened coconut that looks like powdered sugar. The coconut was blitzed in a food processor until fine. Next, I made the Vegan Caramel filling. I opted to puree the ingredients in a blender for the smoothest possible texture, but a food processor could also be used. Almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, dates, vanilla, and a pinch of salt were pureed until smooth. It seemed like a nice, thick mixture for filing the cookies, but next time I will take the suggestion of adding two more dates to make it a bit thicker. The cookies couldn’t have been easier. The dough was a quick mix of almond flour, a little salt, melted coconut oil, and maple syrup. That’s it. The dough was placed between two big sheets of parchment paper and was rolled out to about an eighth of an inch thickness. Small rounds were cut and baked. While cooling, the cookies were dusted with powdered coconut. Once cool, half of them were flipped and topped with vegan caramel before being sandwiched. 

Above, I mentioned some other lackluster, vegan caramel I had tried in the past. This was not that. This vegan caramel had all of the yummy factor I expect from caramel. I could have sat down with the bowl of it and a spoon. Next time, I will make it a little thicker so the cookies can withstand more filling without sliding apart. And, the deliciousness remained for these cookies the second day and the day after that. I can’t wait to bake more things from this book.

Alfajores 
Reprinted from Sweet Laurel: Recipes for Whole Food, Grain-Free Desserts. Copyright © 2018 by Laurel Gallucci and Claire Thomas. Photography by Claire Thomas. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. 

Our favorite coffee shop is just blocks from where we grew up, and one of its featured treats is the alfajore, a melt-in-your-mouth Argentinian sandwich cookie. Traditionally made with shortbread, dulce de leche, and an abundance of powdered sugar, it’s the perfect cookie to pair with a cup of strong South American coffee. In our version, we switch out the dulce de leche for our vegan caramel, and coat the cookies in our coconut powdered sugar. Don’t forget to brew a pot of coffee! 

2 cups almond flour 
1⁄8 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt 
1⁄4 cup coconut oil, melted 
1⁄4 cup maple syrup 
Shredded Coconut “Powdered Sugar” for topping 
Vegan Caramel, for filling 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. In a small bowl, combine the coconut oil and maple syrup. A little at a time, add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring until a dough comes together. 
3. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it about 1⁄8 inch thick. Remove the top piece of paper and, using a 1 1⁄2-inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, until the edges begin turning golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a rack, dust heavily with “powdered sugar,” and cool completely while you prepare the vegan caramel. 
4. Gently spread 1 to 2 teaspoons of vegan caramel onto a cooled cookie, then sandwich together with another cookie. Repeat with the remaining cookies and serve. Store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer indefinitely. 

Vegan Caramel 
We believe our early success has a lot to do with this recipe. There have been vegan caramel super fans since day one (seriously, one guy has a weekly order), and once you try it, you’ll know why. You’ll see it pop up in a few recipes in this cookbook, but we won’t judge if you eat this straight out of the jar with a spoon! Our favorite way of serving it is on top of sliced bananas, or with a piece of dark chocolate. You can buy ours at sweetlaurel.com, but here’s our secret recipe. 

1⁄4 cup almond or cashew butter or puree, storebought or homemade 
1⁄4 cup maple syrup 
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted 
1 or 2 fresh dates, pitted 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch of Himalayan pink salt 

1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. 2. Transfer the caramel to a glass jar and place in the refrigerator to chill. The caramel will stiffen up in the refrigerator, so if your recipe calls for it to be spreadable, let the caramel sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour, and give it a good stir before using. The caramel will keep for about 1 month, refrigerated. 

Shredded Coconut “Powdered Sugar” 
Makes 1/4 cup 

1⁄4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut 
2 teaspoons arrowroot powder 

1. In a food processor, blend the coconut and arrowroot until a fine powder forms. 
2. Sift the mixture over the doughnuts, generously dusting each, then serve.

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Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies with Peppermint-White Chocolate Brittle

As the holiday season was approaching, I pondered new and different cookie recipes to try this year. There are cookies that are good for giving as gifts in person and cookies that can withstand being mailed as gifts. There are also cookies that really only work for serving at home if they’re particularly fragile or require refrigeration. I was looking for options that fit into the first two categories. I also really wanted to spend some more time with a book that I bought a couple of years ago but hadn’t gotten around to mentioning here on the blog. It’s Cookie Love: More Than 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary by Mindy Segal, and it’s full of what I might call special occasion cookies. Although there are some straightforward recipes in the book, several of the cookies require a multi-step process. That was the case with these sandwich cookies, but I can tell you that all the steps involved were worth it. Segal named this recipe The Black Sabbath after the band’s early music because of the intense, dark chocolate flavor of the cookies. As written, the filling is made with cream cheese and flavored with crushed Starlite Mints. Because I wanted to end up with a cookie that wouldn’t require refrigeration, I made a buttercream filling instead. And, because neither grocery store where I shop sells Starlite Mints, I added peppermint extract to the buttercream. Then, more chocolate appears for dipping the cookies, and they’re finished with shards of peppermint-white chocolate brittle. 

To make the cookies, you want to use a dark cocoa powder. In the past, I’ve used a very dark cocoa from Savory Spice Shop. This time, I found Droste cocoa powder from Holland, and it makes a lovely, dark, black cookie. The dough needs to be divided into two disks and chilled for several hours or overnight after being mixed. It was easy to roll between big pieces of parchment paper. Without the parchment, quite a lot of flour would have been needed for rolling since it is a sticky dough. After rolling to about a quarter inch thickness, the dough in the parchment layers should be placed on a sheet pan and chilled again before cutting the cookies. Each step works best when this dough is a bit cold. The cookies were cut, placed on baking sheets, and docked with a fork before baking. Once cooled, the cookies were matched up for best sandwich fitting. I made a simple buttercream with softened butter, melted white chocolate, confectioners’ sugar, peppermint extract, a little vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Each cookie bottom was given a generous swirl of filling. Next, the brittle was made with more melted white chocolate and, since I couldn't find round mints, crushed candy canes. For the brittle, you want some varied texture in the crushed candy. It adds mint flavor, a little color, and some crunch to the brittle. The mixture was spread on a sheet pan and chilled until firm. To finish, dark chocolate and milk chocolate were melted together. The sandwich cookies were partially dipped into the melted chocolate and topped with broken pieces of the white chocolate brittle. 

The sweet mint candy and white chocolate balanced the dark chocolatey-ness nicely. This was a really fun cookie to make and to eat, and they hopefully made good cookie gifts. Happy Holidays and happy cookie baking to all of you! 

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Sarah Bernhardts Cookies

I previously had baked from five of Alice Medrich’s books and always appreciate her insight into ingredients and precise instructions. However, I’d never used her first book until receiving a review copy of the newly republished Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts which first appeared in 1990. A lot has changed in the availability of varieties of chocolate and cocoa powder since then. These days, you can find exactly the cacao percentage you’d like to use for dark and even milk chocolate. But, back before such offerings could be found easily, Alice Medrich was creating incredible, artful desserts at her shop in Berkeley starting in 1976. In this new publication of the book, she has added some updated information including a Chocolate Chart. The chart indicates what percentage of cacao chocolate should be used for each recipe since when the ingredient lists were first written, they just called for semisweet or bittersweet. And, these are beautiful desserts. Any fear of attempting them will dissipate as you read the book. The instructions explain which recipes are deceptively simple and any of the more complicated steps for the truly show-stopping treats are carefully explained and illustrated. There’s a chapter full of torts that are all easier to make than you might first think, and they can be served simply or adorned. The Mocha Pecan Torte with a Mocha Glaze is one I want to try. Next is a chapter of Designer Desserts, and these require a little more time and attention for the incredible results. The Strawberry Carousel with White Chocolate Mousse and the Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tart are both elegant options for a special occasion. Not every recipe in the book is chocolate-focused. You’ll find a Coco Cabana cake made in a dome shape and topped with big pieces of coconut, Lemon Roulades that are made in petite individual serving size, and a Citrus Tart with glistening candied citrus slices. There’s also a chapter of Petite Rewards full of smaller treats like Walnut Squares which take brownies to a new level, Chocolate Dessert Cups that can be filled with ice cream or berries, and these dressed-up cookies shown here named for Sarah Bernhardt. 

So, who was Sarah Bernhardt? She was a French stage actress who performed around the turn of the 20th century. The cookies were invented in Denmark when she visited Copenhagen. They’re made up of an almond macaroon base topped with a chocolate ganache, and the cookie is then dipped into chocolate glaze. In Cocolat, the photo shows perfect, little confections. The ganache has been piped into precise cone shapes, and only the top is covered in chocolate with the cookie base seen below. They are also adorned with flecks of gold leaf. Mine look a little more casual by comparison, but the flavors and textures were divine. They can be made in stages, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First to make the cookies bases, you do want to carefully measure the egg whites. It should be exactly three tablespoons and not just an eyeballed amount from one to two eggs as I did incorrectly the first time. My first attempt produced cookies that spread too much but were delicious thanks to the almond extract. The second time, I measured the egg whites and ended up with a thicker paste of a batter that was easily piped into small rounds. For the ganache topping, the recipe suggests making a double batch of the Chocolate Ganache in the book. That seemed like a lot of ganache to me, so I decided to just make a single batch and see how far it would go. I ended having more than enough to top all the cookies. The ganache is a simple mixture of warmed cream and chopped chocolate, stirred until melted and smooth, that was chilled overnight before being beaten to a silky, smooth texture. After lightening the ganache in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, it was piped onto the cookies. I created more of a swirl shape rather than a cone. The cookies were then chilled while the chocolate glaze was made. The glaze was made from chopped chocolate, butter, and corn syrup. Once melted and mixed, the glaze needs to cool to about 90 degrees F before being used. And, it’s handy to place the glaze in a tall container to dip the cookies into it. You could dip the entire top of the cookies or just the ganache, but work quickly so the ganache doesn’t become too soft. Then, chill the cookies again until ready to serve. 

Alice Medrich is a master of chocolate confections, and I always love learning from her. The techniques in this book, from working with chocolate for glazes and piped decorations to ribbons of chocolate to top a cake, will set you on a path to making amazing desserts. And, as she points out, regardless of how the creations look, they’re going to taste delicious. 

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Granola Cookies

Baking with a mix of flours and various types of natural sweeteners has become my new standard. I love trying different types of grains and nuts in flour form for breads, pancakes, and cookies, and all kinds of treats. So, it was a delight to see the newest book from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart, A New Way to Bake: Classic Recipes Updated with Better-for-You Ingredients from the Modern Pantry, that focuses on just that kind of baking. I recently received a review copy. Not all of the recipes are gluten free, but some are. And, not all of the sweet recipes are free of refined sugar, but less-refined organic sugar is recommended when granulated sugar is used. It’s a collection of mostly traditional, comforting recipes that have been amped up a bit in the nutrition department with a reduced use of white flour. The accompanying photo with every recipe will make you want to taste each one. At the very beginning of the book, I couldn’t wait to try the Gluten-Free Quinoa Pancakes sweetened only with maple syrup and the Vegan Banana-Oat Pancakes made with shredded coconut and orange juice. Still in the Breakfast chapter, I want to try the Double-Chocolate Rye Muffins, the Pumpkin Spelt Scones with Maple Glaze, and the Seeded Breakfast Rolls. Beyond breakfast, there are also cookies, brownies, pies, tarts, cobblers, cakes, breads, and more. I’ve marked many, many pages including the dairy-free Chocolate-Coconut Pie made with coconut oil and coconut milk, the Molasses-Oat Bread, and the Seeded English Muffins. So far, I’ve made two recipes from the book. I’ll be writing about the Cornmeal Drop Biscuits soon, and today I want to tell you about the Granola Cookies. They’re actually not made with granola. Instead, they’re made from a lot of the same things that go into granola. 

These are dairy-free cookies since no butter is used. Coconut oil was combined with brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. I used less-refined muscovado sugar rather than regular brown sugar since I had some on hand. Eggs and vanilla were added next followed by flour and I used whole wheat pastry flour. Baking soda and salt were also added. Last, oats, flaxseed meal, pumpkin seeds, large unsweetened coconut flakes, chopped dark chocolate, and unsweetened dried cherries were folded into the dough. Once mixed, the dough was refrigerated to firm up, and then it was scooped onto baking sheets and baked for about 14 minutes.

This cookie checks every item on the desirability list: chewy, nutty, fruity, chocolaty, and delicious. And, there’s lots of room for personalization since you can use a different type of nut or seed, choose your favorite kind of chocolate, and pick a different dried fruit if you like. In fact, at the beginning of the book, there’s a suggestion to experiment with all of the recipes by trying different combinations of flours, milks, sweeteners, or fats. There’s even a handy chart and more ingredient info at the back of the book to help with making substitutions. Tinkering with and tasting all of these recipes is going to be fun.  

Granola Cookies 
Recipe reprinted with publisher's permission from A New Way to Bake: Classic Recipes Updated with Better-for-You Ingredients from the Modern Pantry.
 
Coconut oil takes the place of butter in this brown-sugar–based dough. Wholesome granola mix-ins—coconut flakes, dried cherries, pepitas—are added alongside bittersweet chocolate chunks for an irresistible old-fashioned drop cookie that’s a great energy-boosting snack. 

MAKES ABOUT 40 
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil 
1 cup packed light brown sugar 
2 large eggs 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon coarse salt 
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 
1/4 cup flaxseed meal (ground flaxseeds) 
1/2 cup hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas) 
3/4 cup large unsweetened coconut flakes 
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup) 
1 cup unsweetened dried cherries or cranberries, chopped 

In a bowl, with an electric mixer, beat oil and brown sugar on medium until well combined, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and salt, and beat until combined. Stir in oats, flaxseed meal, pumpkin seeds, coconut, chocolate, and cherries until well combined. Refrigerate dough until firm, about 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart, onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden, 13 to 14 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies cool completely. 

(Cookies can be kept in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.) To make the cookie whole grain, swap in spelt flour for the all-purpose. To make gluten-free, substitute 1 cup of Wholesome Flour from Cup 4 Cup (available at cup4cup.com) for the all-purpose, and use gluten-free oats.

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Empire Cookies

Who doesn’t love a celebration? The cookbook I want to tell you about today is focused on pure fun. Butter Celebrates!: Delicious Recipes for Special Occasions by Rosie Daykin, of which I received a review copy, has recipes that are perfect for several major holidays and other reasons to celebrate throughout the year. Butter Baked Goods is the author’s bakery in Vancouver, and it has become an important part of lots of customers’ celebrations. She mentions that it’s very important to her to always remember that their baked goods aren’t just cakes or cookies, they are elements of shared memories of important days. It’s a great reminder that all the moments we choose to celebrate become those things we remember most. And, it’s lovely inspiration to whip up something sweet and delicious for the next occasion that comes along. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so I got to work on the heart-shaped, sandwich Empire Cookies as soon as I saw them. The Heart-Shaped Raspberry Pop Tarts were a close contender. For Easter, there are orange-flavored Bunny Buns that are shaped with little ears sticking up on each bun and Coconut Marshmallow Bunnies. I want to bake the Lemony Lemon Loaf for my mom for Mother’s Day, and if no friends’ baby showers pop up on my calendar, I’ll find another reason to make Lamingtons. Of course, there are chapters for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s as well. But, let’s get back to those Valentine’s cookies. 

The dough is like sugar cookie dough and is made with butter, confectioners’ sugar, eggs, vanilla, pastry flour, and salt. I used a mix of whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour. Once mixed, the dough needs to be chilled before being rolled out. After chilling, my dough was a little crumbly and seemed like it might not roll out easily. I remembered a tip from Maida Heatter about kneading cookie dough to be sure it’s well-mixed. A quick turn or two of kneading by hand was all that was necessary, and then the dough rolled out nicely. It needs to be rolled somewhat thin so that the cookies won’t be too thick once sandwiched in the end. Heart shapes were cut, and I cut enough for one baking sheet of mini hearts as well. The cookies were baked and cooled before being frosted and filled. No need for piping bags or fancy techniques here. A simple frosting of confectioners’ sugar, water, and almond extract was spread on the top of half the cookies. Next, jam was spread on the bottoms of the remaining cookies. I used locally-made Confituras Cranberry Cinnamon jam for the filling. The hearts were sandwiched together and ready to be served. 

These cookies are especially festive due to the shape and the red jam filling, and they happen to be irresistible once you taste them. They’re a nice mix of tender and crunchy, and aromatic almond extract makes the frosting delightful. Like the rest of the not-too-fussy-or-complicated recipes in this book, this was a treat to make a special day even more memorable. 

Empire Cookies 
Excerpted from Butter Celebrates!: Delicious Recipes for Special Occasions by Rosie Daykin. Copyright © 2016 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. 

These cookies came about at the bakery after constant daily requests from customers. I am not sure why I resisted for so long given my love for all things raspberry and almond, but when I did eventually answer the cry, I made a lot of people very happy. For Valentine’s Day we cut them into pretty scalloped hearts but you can make them year-round using a simple circular cutter. 

3/4 cup butter, room temperature 
1 cup icing sugar
 
1 large egg
 
1 egg yolk 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla 
2 3/4 cups pastry flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt 

Finishing Touches: 
1 cup icing sugar 
2 tablespoons hot water 
1 teaspoon almond extract 
3/4 cup raspberry jam 

Makes: 1 1/2 dozen (2.5- x 2.75-inch) heart-shaped sandwich cookies 
You will need: heart-shaped or 2.5-inch circular cookie cutter, 2 (11- x 17-inch) rimmed cookie sheets lined with parchment paper 
Storage: These cookies will keep in an airtight container for 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

1. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

2. Add the egg and the egg yolk and beat on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla. Beat again. 

3. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour and salt until fully combined. 

4. Shape the dough into a large disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Allow the dough to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. 

5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

6. On a well-floured work surface, roll the dough out with a rolling pin until it is approximately 1⁄8 inch thick. You don’t want the cookies too thick as you will be sandwiching two of them together. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Very carefully, using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheets. 

7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are a light golden brown around the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool slightly on the trays before trans- ferring them to wire racks to cool completely. 

8. Meanwhile, prepare the icing. In a small bowl, combine the icing sugar, hot water and almond extract. Using a whisk or spoon, stir the icing until it is smooth and glossy. 

9. Using a small teaspoon, place approximately 2 teaspoons of raspberry jam on the bottoms of half the cookies. Using the back of the spoon, gently spread the jam almost to the edges of the cookie. 

10. Use a small offset spatula to top the other half of the cookies with the almond icing. Don’t press too hard when doing this as they are delicate cookies and you don’t want your tops breaking! 

11. Place the iced cookies atop the raspberry-filled bottom and press gently to sandwich them together. 

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Pecan, Oat, and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

A few weeks ago, Kurt and I had a conversation about sports drinks. We’d both been out in the hot weather and were feeling dehydrated, and Kurt asked if a good, all-natural sports-drink type of product exists. My short answer was no. But, the more I thought about it, I decided the best option might be coconut water. I personally have not conducted any scientific tests, but I do find coconut water to be very refreshing and hydrating after working out outside in the heat of summer. And, incidentally, when I choose a brand of coconut water, Harmless Harvest is my favorite. I want to point out that this conversation and the beginning of my preference for Harmless Harvest all happened prior to that company contacting me about their Harmless Movement campaign. I was delighted to receive gifts of a branded mason jar and espresso cup and coupons for samples of coconut water. My reasons for choosing Harmless Harvest are: they use organically-grown, special green coconuts and never use ultra-processed mixes or blends; their farmers use traditional cultivation methods ensuring unique coconut flavor goes directly into the bottle; rather than pasteurizing the product, they use a special multi-step micro-filtration process to protect flavor; their product contains no GMOs, no additives, and no preservatives; and theirs is the first-ever Fair for Life-certified organic coconut water. It’s very rare that I’m approached by a brand that I am so happily willing to promote. I was able to sample a flavor option I hadn’t tried before as well. Harmless Harvest makes a coconut water with Fair Trade coffee and a little caffeine boost. I thought a snack with some dark chocolate in it would be a good match for coffee-flavored coconut water. I pulled a recipe from my files from the May 2015 issue of Living magazine, and this not-too-bad-for-you cookie with no butter, no flour, and no sugar quickly became my new favorite treat. 

Not often do I shout from the rooftops about a vegan cookie with no flour in it, but this really is a delicious cookie. First, pecans are finely ground, and that’s what gives the cookies body and great flavor. To the ground pecans, oats, baking powder, salt, cornstarch, olive oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract were added. The mixture was stirred to combine, and the dough was ready to portion and bake. Keep in mind that this dough doesn’t spread or settle as it bakes, so after placing mounds on a cookie sheet, press each to the thickness you prefer before baking. The cookies baked at 325 degrees F for about 20 minutes. 

Kurt’s favorite cookie is oatmeal-chocolate chip, so he was excited to find these cookies in the kitchen. He took a bite and declared them fantastic before I let him know they contained no butter, no sugar, and no flour. None of that mattered. They’re rich from the pecans and olive oil, nicely sweetened with maple syrup, and the big chunks of dark chocolate don’t disappoint. And, they go perfectly with Harmless Harvest coconut water with Fair Trade coffee. 

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