Category Archives: Favorite Cookie Recipes

Orange You Glad To Discover This Cookie?

Posted on by 24 comments

 A glass of OJ paired with Orange Butter Cookies.

There are dainty cookies. There are itty-bitty cookies. And there are delicate cookies you nibble while holding your pinkie finger in the air.

These Orange Butter Cookies are none of those things.

Indeed, if this cookie were on a playground, it would be the big, hulking bruiser you’d have to make way for fast.

As my husband’s co-worker Kathryn likens, “It’s a monster cookie.”

These cookies measure about 3 1/2 inches in diameter when baked. And I actually made them smaller than the recipe called for. Really!

You’re supposed to form them into balls, using a scant 1/2 cup measure. Me? I used a scant 1/4 cup measure instead, and still they came out pretty ginormous compared to most cookies I bake.

But the flavor is nothing to be afraid of. Buttery, and citrusy, these cookies are crispy on the edges and tender, cakey within. They have this old-fashioned quality about them, reminding me of cookies I ate as a kid that were so big and soft they made for the perfect after-school snack. Of course, the fact that you use your fingers to flatten the dough balls, leaving an impression of your digits after they bake, just adds to the kid-like charm.

The recipe is from “The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread” (Wiley). The book is by Amy Scherber, who launched Amy’s Bread bakery in New York City in 1992, and her Executive Pastry Chef Toy Kim Dupree.

Extras I added, but you don't necessarily have to.

When I tried this recipe, I took the opportunity to try three new products I had on hand. Instead of freshly grated orange zest in the dough (I lacked a fresh orange in the house, if you can believe that), I used orange peel granules from the Spice Hound, which sells at my local farmers’ markets and online. Even though the recipe didn’t call for it, I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of King Arthur’s Orange Emulsion, a concentrated orange flavoring stronger than regular extract. And instead of sprinkling the cookies with regular granulated sugar, I used Nielsen-Massey’s Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Sugar. The results were fabulous.

You don’t have to doctor the recipe with those extras like I did in order to have a soul-satisfying sweet. Indeed, in the recipe below, the only changes I made were to the size of the cookies and the baking time because I made them smaller. The original recipe makes 12 cookies; I made 15.

Read more

A Tale of Two Almond Cookies

Posted on by 13 comments

Welcome the start of Lunar New Year today with Chinese almond cookies. Two different kinds, to be exact.

After all, you can never have too much of a good thing — especially when it comes to cookies.

Oh sure, you could take the easy route and buy a tub of almond cookies at the store. But please, make your own. They’re so much better and fresher. Try either of these recipes, and you’ll be glad that you did.

In one corner (right one in photo), we have the recipe for “Chinese Almond Cookies” from “Classic Stars Desserts” (Chronicle Books) by Bay Area Pastry Chef Emily Luchetti. (If you missed my fun Q&A with her, just click here.)

In the other corner (left one in photo), we have another recipe for ”Almond Cookies” from one of my all-time favorite Chinese cookbooks, “Every Grain of Rice (Clarkson Potter) by Ellen Blonder and Annabel Low.

I know what you’re thinking: “But Food Gal, which cookie recipe is better?” (You are thinking that, right?)

The answer is that they’re both wonderful, but it just depends on what you like.

The recipe by Blonder and Low will probably appeal to the almond cookie purist, the one who wants the exact same look and texture as the ones found in the stores or that arrive on the tray with the check at Chinese restaurants. These cookies have pretty crackles on top, and bake up sandy and crumbly from the addition of shortening.

Luchetti’s version is more for the modern almond cookie aficionado. Her almond cookies are crispy on the edges, and sort of cakey in the center. They are made with butter, and get a jolt of fresh almond flavor from sliced almonds incorporated right into the dough.

So which contender will it be?

Go ahead, make both. What better way to say, Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Almond Cookies (From “Every Grain of Rice”)

Read more

Who Put Chocolate in My Gingerbread?

Posted on by 30 comments

A taste of Christmas with chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies.

Why, Martha Stewart, of course.

Take rich, dark, semi-sweet chocolate chunks. Pair them in a cookie of sticky molasses, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, plus fresh ginger, and you get a cookie that is chewy-licious. It’s like your favorite spicy gingerbread, but with the lushness of good dark chocolate to boot.

Even my husband, who is not always a fan of ginger (what’s up with that?), ate one cookie after another after these babies came out of the oven. See those hands above? Those are his, reaching yet again for another cookie.

“Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies” are from “Martha Stewart’s Cookies” (Clarkson Potter). If you haven’t already heard it by now, it’s become one of my favorite cookie books. I’ve made only about four of its 175 cookie recipes. But don’t be surprised if I bake my way through this book.

I could eat all of these. How about you?

The cookbook is the perfect holiday gift for any cookie-loving friend. Wrap it up with a few home-baked cookies. Well, if you can spare any, that is. In my household, that’s always a tough challenge.

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Read more

And the Winner Is….

Posted on by 8 comments

New York Chef Eric Ripert and cookbook author Cindy Mushet complete their task of eating 26 different cookies.

There are far worse ways to spend a Saturday morning than judging dozens of cookies with the likes of Eric Ripert, executive chef of New York’s four-star Le Bernardin; Dominique Crenn, executive chef of Luce in the Intercontinental San Francisco; Cindy Mushet, author of the Sur La Table cookbook, “The Art & Soul of Baking”; and Emily Luchetti, executive pastry chef of Farallon, Waterbar and Epic Roadhouse restaurants, all in San Francisco.

In fact, I can’t think of when I’ve had quite so much fun so early in the day.

The five of us braved sugar shock to help judge the 13th annual “Holiday Cookie Exchange” contest that aired live this past Saturday on “Dining Around with Gene Burns” (KGO Radio AM810).

First place to Swedish Pepparkakor.

The contest received a record number of entries. Burns, himself, spent a grueling 13 hours whittling down the 500 entries to a mere 26 finalists.

Even so, you just try tasting 26 cookies in one sitting. It was a tough job, but we five were up to the challenge.

Pastry Chef Emily Luchetti, and Chef Dominique Crenn can't believe they ate so many cookies.

In the end, we chose these four winners:

Read more

Cute-As-Can-Be Brown Butter Buttons

Posted on by 10 comments

Heavenly brown butter buttons

These cookie nubbins pack a wallop of brown butter flavor. Even after you finish chewing, the nutty, rich flavor lingers on and on, much like a fine wine.

Their texture is surprising, too — extremely sandy and crisp, almost like a smaller, thicker version of a Chinese almond cookie.

“Nancy’s Brown Butter Buttons” is an heirloom recipe from the Swedish aunt of baker extraordinaire Nancy Kux, who used to own Nancy’s Fancies in San Carlos. Kux always will hold a special place in my heart because it was she who made my unforgettable almond-and-buttercream wedding cake.

Yes, this is the proper way the dough should look.

The recipe is one of many gems in the new “Baking for All Occasions” cookbook (Chronicle Books) by Palo Alto baking expert Flo Braker.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »