#ilovecookies Archives - Page 3 of 3

Finding Dorie (Vanilla Polka Dot Cookies)

By threejamigos | November 25, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

Rock and rollers, Tom Cruise, that Bieber Kid, they all have their groupies. I am a Dorie groupie. Yep, not ashamed to admit it. Dorie is the bomb. Are you wondering-who? Not that hilarious little blue fish in Finding Nemo? No. “You mean Ellen DeGeneres who voices that cute little fish?” Nope. I am a fan of Dorie, Dorie Greenspan-cookbook author, dessert queen, cookie connoisseur and baker extraordinaire.

The Real Deal

I recently drove up to the City to see her at Omnivore Books, one of many tour stops (how does she do it?) for her newest book, Dories Cookies. A hefty compendium of deliciousness that, yes, is all about the cookie. Her recipe for Jammers, a buttery sable’ topped with jam and streusel alone makes it worth getting. I don’t know Dorie on a personal level, but she is gracious, humorous and generous-one of the nicest souls you’ll meet. This comes across when meeting her in person and in her writing.

All this, and her cookbooks are REALLY, REALLY good. The recipes are well written, easy to follow, and the results are YUMMY. Before heading to the book signing I spent an agonizing few minutes trying to pick which book of hers I wanted her to sign (I literally have all of them). I went with the first Dorie book I ever bought, Paris Sweets. It contains her iconic recipe for Korova Cookies, aka World Peace Cookies and has the loveliest illustrations.

As I waited in line, I talked to Dorie’s husband Michael. Wouldn’t you know it, he is just as nice! The list of recipes I have tried from Dorie’s books grows ever longer and this newest book will definitely add to it. Right about now is when I start looking in earnest for cookie recipes for the holidays. I opened the book and bam, Vanilla Polka Dot Cookies caught my eye. The cookie starts with a buttery, vanilla laden dough made with egg whites. The dough smelled so delicious, I had to stop myself from dipping my finger in the bowl and popping a swirl of dough in my mouth.

The dough comes together quickly and can be used for this recipe immediately. Scoop, roll and dip. Place the balls on a lined baking sheet press to flatten and bake. How easy is that?

The dough does not spread so press the cookies to desired thickness. I wanted a flatter thinner cookie, a smaller cookie, approximately 2.5 inches in diameter. I used a tablespoon ice cream scoop to portion the dough. The cookies took only 14 minutes to bake, well short of the suggested 20-22 minutes. My cookies were much smaller which accounts for the shorter baking time. Watch the cookies carefully when baking, they brown very quickly. All in all these fit the bill for a crispy, buttery festive cookie perfect for the holidays. I brought them to Thanksgiving dinner and the kids gobbled (get it?) them up.

The recipe for these cookies can be found here along with her recipe for World Peace Cookies, courtesy of the Star Telegram. If you are a Dorie fan like me, take a photo of any of Dorie’s cookies you make from her book, post it on Twitter or Instagram, and tag it with #Doriescookies and @Cookies4Kids. This will automatically trigger a 5 dollar donation to pediatric cancer research, woohoo! Thanks and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

All Things Reconsidered (Raspberry Diamants)

By threejamigos | August 22, 2016 | Comments 2 comments

Not all was amazing during our impromptu trip to New York for my cousin Mike’s surprise party in January (here is the good stuff though, from my The Big Apple post). After visiting Ground Zero, we headed to Payard’s, a well known French bakery with an outpost on Houston Street. All I can say is maybe it was an off day, but the pastries were disappointing at best. We ordered a lemon tart, an oatmeal cookie and a Napoleon. The Napoleon and cookie weren’t memorable at all, which is a good thing because the lemon tart was memorable because it was NOT good. The crust (I love crust) was so tough we had to use our knife and fork to chisel through it.

Ugh, so Disappointing

I went up to the counter (ok, never said I wasn’t obnoxious) and asked “what one item in here would prove to me that Payard is worth his reputation. To her credit she laughed and gave me a complimentary slice of the Payard Tart. It was ok, definitely better than the lemon tart.

Anyway You Slice It

When we first arrived I spied his book Payard Cookies on display and my reaction was oh nooo, not another cookbook and its about cookies! My cookbook addiction was about to rear it’s ugly head since I seldom pass up the opportunity to add to my collection.

After trying the desserts I walked out without a copy.

You might be asking where is this story going? Well, having put Payard Cookies out of my mind I was perusing a favorite blog, Ipso-Fatto recently and to my surprise she had posted glowing reviews of a couple of cookies from Payard. Well, maybe we did catch Payard on a bad day. I tried the Raspberry Diamants and you know, they’re pretty darn good and a breeze to make.

It is a slice and bake cookie which I love, so flippin’ easy. You can make the dough in advance and leave it in the fridge. You can bake as many or as few as you want and freeze the remaining dough for a rainy day. These cookies are a riff on sables’, the French version of shortbread cookies. Diamont, French for diamonds, refers to the sparkly edge on the cookies created by rolling the dough in coarse sugar before baking. Description done, let’s go make some delicious cookies!

It’s Berry Good

Adding raspberry jam makes this cookie a little softer than a classic sable’. Which gives the cookies a sweet tart flavor and flecks of red color. Payard adds red food coloring to the dough to make the cookies pink but I didn’t. Use jam with seeds, it adds a bit of crunch. You can kick these cookies up a notch by making a sandwich cookie using raspberry jam for the filling or a raspberry buttercream. Oh snap.

Uh-oh looks like I may be adding yet another cookbook to my collection.

All Things Reconsidered (Raspberry Diamants from Payard)

Prep Time 20

Total Time 45

Ingredients

Adapted from Payard Cookies

14 tablespoons 200gms unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup 80 gms powdered sugar
1 large egg yolk reserve egg white
1/4 cup 60gms raspberry jam with seeds (I used TJ's)
1-3 drops of liquid red food coloring optional
1 3/4 cups 225gms all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 cup 200gms granulated sugar or sanding sugar

Instructions

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat softened butter with powdered sugar until fully combined. Add egg yolk, raspberry jam, and food coloring. Mix until well combined.
Add flour and salt and mix only until dough comes together. Careful to not overmix.
Place dough on piece of parchment paper and roll into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Freeze dough for approximately 2 hours, or until log is chilled all the way through. You can freeze dough for up until one month.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment.
Remove dough from fridge. Put granulated sugar in a large rimmed baking sheet.
Brush the reserved egg white on the outside of the cookie dough.
Roll in granulated sugar until completely coated. Return to fridge for 5 minutes to chill.
Remove from fridge and slice roll into 1/4 inch slices. Place on parchment lined sheet approximately 1 inch apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies just begin to turn color and the edges are golden brown.
Remove cookies from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Bam! Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints

By threejamigos | December 22, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

The kids are home! These cookies disappeared crazy fast (which makes me happy). Who doesn’t like a buttery, crumbly, tender shortbread-like cookie with a hint of citrus and filled with sweet, tart jam? Bah humbug if that’s you!

Here is Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas to launch this post!

Bam, I LOVE Jam

I have a weakness for toast with butter and jam, PBJs and day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry jam. Ok, so I’m cheating, it’s cranberry sauce but if it’s between slices of bread it’s jam to me. My first-holiday cookie post highlighted Dorie Greenspan’s Jammers. While they are worth the effort, there are times when you just need to bust out a batch of yummy cookies. These thumbprint cookies fit the bill. The recipe comes from Food Network, Emeril’s Holiday cookies. Yes, THAT Emeril, BAM! Delicious cookie. The original recipe calls for raspberry jam surrounded by a tender buttery cookie kicked up with lemon zest and juice. Like many recipes, this one lends itself well to “alterations”. I used orange zest and juice. I’m sure just about any citrus juice and zest will work. Dancing in my head? Not sugarplums but visions of thumbprints made with lime + strawberry jam and lemon + blueberry jam . Let me know if you come up with a winning combination. Use your “jamagination”.

Jest Jammin’

The original recipe mixes liqueur with the jam, I skipped this step. But a Chambord or Framboise would work well. Just stir the liqueur, 1 tablespoon, into the jam before filling the cookies. Chill the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour before forming cookies. Form the cookies, place them on a cookie sheet, and chill again for approximately 10 minutes so that the sheets are cold and the dough is firm. This helps the cookie from spreading too much. I used a 1-ounce ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. I might make them a little smaller for holiday gift-giving. The cookies did not need the full 20 minutes of baking time. Start checking at 13-15 minutes. They will brown quickly.

Print Pin

Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints

Bam! Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints adapted from Emeril!

Course cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Almond Cookies, emeril, jam, thumbprints

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 8

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Dry Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

2 sticks 1 cup butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest feel free to substitute orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Jam Finish

1/2 cup raspberry jam or jam of choice, anything works

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with parchment or silpat sheets
In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients, whisk to blend.
Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Add the flour mixture in 2 additions and beat just until moist clumps form.
Gather the dough together into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.
Chill for 30 min-1 hour until dough firms up.
Pinch off the dough to form 1-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Use your floured index finger or 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon press center of each ball making a depression. I use the end of a wooden spoon.
Fill each indentation with about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam mixture.
Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.