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Cookies
David Lebovitz is one of my favorite pastry chefs because he writes the most precise recipes and has exquisite taste. He was the pastry chef at Chez Panisse for many years and has written a couple of excellent cookbooks. His recipes always work and taste wonderful. This cookie is no exception.
This recipe comes from Bon Appetit and I have an admission: I didn’t follow the recipe. Instead of cooking the 3 flavors of chocolate in 3 separate bowls over simmering water, I microwaved them. Perhaps they wanted the cream cheese batter to be firmer, so it would plop on the top, instead of run, more like camouflage. (I’ve never studied camouflage design, so I’m not sure what it looks like in detail.) Of course I could have waited until the batter firmed up a little or microwaved it less, but I think that my end result looks pretty damn good.
I thought everyone had either made or tasted this recipe so I was hesitant to teach it to a recent class. But when I needed something quick and easy to fill in a time gap, I decided to go for it and make them. I was surprised that not one person was familiar with the recipe and they were all really excited to try them.
I don’t think I’ve made any cookie in my lifetime as much as I’ve made these.
Everyone who knows me knows I’d rather come up with a new recipe than repeat an old one. But these cookies are the rare exception. I make them every time I need to bring cookies anywhere and the reason is easy: everyone who tastes them, loves them.
That being said, they are also extremely easy to make. All you need to do is stir the condensed milk with the coconut, whip egg whites separately and fold them together. Food scientist, Harold McGee, says that egg whites beat just as well directly from the fridge as when they come to room temperature. That is is a time saving revelation and what I’ve been doing. No more standing around waiting for egg whites to get warm.
Tempering the chocolate
Helen Fletcher, the well known pastry chef whose blog is pastrieslikeapro.com has come up with an extremely easy way of tempering chocolate. The formula is 6 oz. of chocolate to 1 1/2 tablespoons shortening, such as Crisco. It is extremely important to not overheat the chocolate when melting it. Also, do not use a large bowl. Use a bowl that is a little bigger than the chocolate, anything too large makes it difficult to dip the cookies. Microwave the chocolate and shortening for 70 seconds at 50% power and stir well. It will probably need 10 to 20 more seconds at 50% power. The less heat and the more you stir, the greater the chances that the chocolate will remain satiny.
The cookies are truly simple to prepare. The time spent is melting and dipping them into chocolate. For those of you who like quick and easy. just skip the chocolate. The macaroon will still be delicious.
You can use either a tablespoon size scoop or a smaller 2 teaspoon scoop. Fill the scoop and put it batter side down on parchment and press down on it.
Melt the chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl with shortening until almost melted. Stir and if necessary, heat for 10 seconds at 50% power.
Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
1 package (14 oz.) sweetened shredded coconut
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, (This is needed if using Eagle Brand condensed milk. It is not needed in market brand milk., such as Safeway.)
2 large egg whites
Dash cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (about 55 to 60% cacao), finely chopped or chips, melted with 1 1/2 tablespoons shortening at 50 % power for 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds.
1. Arrange the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the coconut, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and cornstarch until blended.
3. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until firm peaks form. Fold one third of the beaten whites into the coconut mixture to lighten it and then fold in the remainder.
4. Scoop tablespoon-size mounds of the mixture onto the baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Or, for smaller macaroons, us a 2 teaspoon size scoop. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes for large macaroons and 18 to 22 minutes for smaller ones, or until tops are lightly golden and bottoms are browned. . Shift the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Transfer the baking sheets to racks and let the cookies cool completely. Remove from parchment.
5. Dip the bottoms of the macaroons into the melted chocolate, letting any excess drip back into the bowl. Return the cookies to the lined baking sheets.
To make ahead: Macaroons can be kept at room temperature for several days, refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen.
Makes about 24. large or 32 small macaroons.
These are the world’s easiest brownies, bar none. You only need 3 ingredients—a jar of Nutella, 5 eggs and 1 cup of flour. Plus, after you’ve finished combining the ingredients, you have only one dirty bowl and a mixer to wash (I use my electric hand mixer.)
One of my favorite pastry chefs just wrote a cookie book that if you like to bake, you’ll want to get. It is called Craving Cookies by Helen S. Fletcher. Her website is pastrieslikeapro.com. Her book has more how-to tips and photos than any cook book I’ve seen in a long time. That is because Helen and her husband, a retired photographer, wrote, styled and photographed everything.
If recipes could be a ball game, these are a home run. I hadn’t made them in years when I decided to make them for a brunch class I was teaching for high schoolers in LA.
I call these make-your-own biscotti, because once you’ve made the basic batter, you can flavor it as you wish and stir in any additions you like.
Oftentimes the simplest cookies are the best. These are the easiest ever. No mixer. No butter to bring to room temperature and only 6 ingredients. I make them often to bring to neighbors and store in the freezer for whenever I need a pick-up.
My reason for choosing to blog these cookies is because the one ingredient that people haven’t gone crazy about hoarding (at last near me in Northern CA) is eggs——and chocolate chips and cocoa powder are hopefully in your pantry.
I hope I am still in time for you to bake these delicious gingerbread cookies for the holidays. They absolutely shout Christmas with their pungent ginger, cinnamon and molasses flavors.
One and one-half pounds of semi-sweet chocolate churned into 12 ginormous, crunchy, chewy, nutty chocolatey cookies is pretty radical to me.
Crispy, fudgy, salty-sweet, these simple cookies may look ordinary, but wait until you taste them. They are like a potato chip. It's hard to eat just one.
A bowl, a wooden spoon and a microwave is all the equipment you need to make these amazing brownies. They are so rich and fudgy and leave you with such a delicious lingering chocolate taste that it’s hard to stop eating them. Once you taste brownies with peanut butter chips, you may never go back to using nuts again.
I don't know whether I am more excited about the taste of these rich, sophisticated cookies or the easy technique I've discovered for rolling and cutting them.
I used to make my lemon bars with milk. One day I was out of it, so I substituted sour cream. What a difference! Richer custard with more tang. These have lots of filling over a buttery shortbread crust.
These taste like two very crunchy, buttery oatmeal cookies sandwiching a sweet-tart filling of dried apricot preserves. Baked in a 9x13-inch pan and cut into bars, they are great keepers and are sturdy enough to be hearty travelers.
