The Cookie Bible from Rose Levy Beranbaum!
I have been a big fan of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s books for a very long time. I went to my bookshelf to see just how many of her books I have, I counted six. Of these six, my absolute favorite is Rose’s Christmas Cookies. I can’t recall a Holiday Cookie Tin that has not featured at least one of her cookies. I was eager to take a sneak peek at her newest book coming out, The Cookie Bible.
See below for the recipe for Lemon Madeleines.
The Layout
- Intro – brief description and a memory or an anecdotal story for the cookie.
Temperature, baking time, and equipment – organized into a table.
Ingredients – listed in volume and weight measurements also organized in a table, easy to see and follow.
Directions - Mise en place-steps that need to be done before making the dough ie. taking out butter to soften or bringing eggs to room temp.
- Making the dough-If a particular cookie can be made in either a food processor or stand mixer, both methods are listed. I love this. Followed by:
- Forming cookies
- Baking cookies
- Cooling cookies
All her cookbooks are organized this way, meticulous and thorough. It’s like getting a Master Baking class in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Each recipe finishes with Baking Gems, MORE valuable tips, and tweaks!
The Recipes
I flipped through the book to earmark recipes I wanted to try. This is where I felt like the book came up a bit short. The selection of cookies seemed just a bit dated. Today’s cookies include new flavors and spices and eye-catching colors created by using freeze-dried fruits.
Few recipes in this book jumped out at me and shouted MAKE ME! Quite a few recipes in the book are also in Rose’s Christmas Cookies. Recipes I already make and love like Cloud Cookies, Meltaways, Lion Paws, and Spritz Cookies. If I didn’t have Rose’s Christmas Cookies I might have been putting Post-Its on those very pages. Recipes have been scaled back in the new book to yield smaller batches of cookies, a good thing, as it limits how many cookies I can eat.
Read through the recipe before making it. I found this book even more detailed than her older books. Explicit directions like when to take the butter and eggs out before making the dough or what type of flour to use for each recipe.
If only I had taken my own advice and read the recipe first
I plowed through the first recipe, Dream Chocolate Chip Cookies, only to be stumped when I found I hadn’t added the egg. Turns out that twenty minutes before making the dough, I was supposed to crack the egg into the mixer bowl, add the vanilla, and cover it so it can come to room temp first. The egg should have been in the mixer when I creamed the butter and sugar.
Lemon Poppy Seed Madeleines were next up. Once again, detailed instructions produced a tender sweet-tart Madeleine. Next time, I would reduce the poppyseeds, a bit too much crunch. I actually liked them more the next day as the syrup had time to absorb so the cookies weren’t sticky to touch and the tartness had mellowed.
The Verdict
With all that being said. Here is my take. If you do not own a Rose Levy Berenbaum Cookbook, this would absolutely be a lovely addition to your kitchen. This book will make you a better baker. Filled with invaluable tips and technique information, it takes that extra step of explaining why specific ingredients and techniques work in a recipe. Although there isn’t a photo for every cookie in the book, the photos included are gorgeous.
Happy baking!
I reviewed The Cookie Bible via NetGalley
Lemon Madeleines
Ingredients
Oven Temp 350f/175c. Baking Time: 14-15 min for large madeleines Special Equipment: Madeleine molds-lightly coat with baking spray with flour. Disposable pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-1/2 inch pastry tube. 2 baking sheets lined with plastic wrap and lightly coated with nonstick spray.
Batter
- 8.5 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons, unsalted butter 120 grams
- 2 large eggs 100 grams 1/3 cup plus 1 T, (94ml)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla 5ml
- 2 tablespoons milk 30 grams (30ml)
- 1 cup bleached cake flour, sifted into the cup and leveled off 100 grams
- 1/2 cup sugar, preferably superfine 100 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup sugar 5.25 ounces = 150 grams
- 2 teaspoons loosely packed grated lemon zest 4 grams (from about 2 lemons)
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds, optional 19 grams I would use a little less
Lemon Syrup
- 1/4 cup sugar 50 grams
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained 47 grams
Instructions
Preheat Oven
- 20 minutes or longer before baking, set oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven. Set oven to 350°F.
Mise En Place
- 30 minutes to 1 hour ahead, cut butter into tablespoon-size pieces. Set on the counter to soften.
- 30 minutes ahead, into a 1 cup/237 ml glass measure with a spout, weigh or measure the eggs. Whisk in vanilla. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set on counter.
- Wash lemons with dishwashing liquid, rinse, and dry before zesting. Finey grate lemon zest. Freeze any extra for future use.
Make the Batter
- Add the milk to the egg mixture and whisk it in.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and optional poppy seeds on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and half the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides.
- With the mixer off between additions, add the remaining egg mixture in two parts. Beat after each addition, starting on medium-low speed and gradually raising the speed to medium, then beating on med speed for 30 seconds, to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Pipe the Batter into the Molds
- Fill the prepared pastry bag about 3/4 full with batter. Pipe the batter into the molds. filling them about 3/4 full (4gms for each mini-mold, 16 gms for large cavity). No need to smooth the batter. Refill the bag as needed.
- Ok, I didn't pipe I just used two spoons and scooped the batter into the molds.
Bake the Madeleines
- Bake the mini-madeleines for 10-12 minutes, large ones for 14-15 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out completely clean and the madeleines spring back when pressed lightly in the centers. While they are baking, make the lemon syrup.
Make Lemon Syrup (1/3 cup/95gms/79ml)
- In 1 cup/237ml glass measure with a spout, stir together the sugar and lemon juice. Heat in the microwave just until the sugar is dissolved. (Or use a small sauce pan over medium heat.)
Brush the Medeleines with Syrup, Unmold, and Cool
- As soon as the madeleines come out of the oven, place the pans on a rack, poke the madeleines all over with a wire tester, and brush it with 1/3 of the syrup.
- Metal molds, use a toothpick or pin to carefully dislodge them from molds and then invert them onto the prepared cookie sheets (this prevents sticking)
- Brush madeleines with remaining syrup and allow to cool completely. Let sit for 2 hours for syrup to distribute.
- STORE: Airtight one layer; room temp, 3 days; refrigerated, 5 days; frozen, 3 months.
Baking Gems
- Use superfine sugar for the best texture
- After coating with baking spray with flour, brush molds with pastry brush to remove excess spray to prevent air bubbles from forming in the fluted tops of the madeleines.
- If you do not have enough molds to bake all at once, chill batter in fridge until ready to use.
- When done, madeleines will spring back when pressed lightly in the center even before they are done.