Alice Medrich - Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

CHEWY GOOEY CRISPY CRUNCHY MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH COOKIES BY ALICE MEDRICH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEBORAH JONES

Copyright 2010 by Alice Medrich

Photographs copyright 2010 by Deborah Jones

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher.

Published by Artisan

A Division of Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

225 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014-4381

www.artisanbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

eISBN 9781579655723

DESIGN BY MORLA DESIGN

ART DIRECTION AND PHOTOGRAPHIC STYLING BY SARA SLAVIN

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Cookies are easy, enticing, and fun. They invite creativity and reward experimentationno rocket science required. Yet, even in this era of culinary obsession, chefs ignore cookies, and home cooks cling to the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips. So I asked myself: What if cookies reflected our modern culinary sensibilityour spirit of adventure and passion for flavors and even our dietary concernswithout losing their universal friendly appeal? What if cookies were hip (but not too hip)? And why not celebrate the physical and sensual appeal of cookies by grouping them by texture? Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy is my response to these, lifes larger cookie questions.

I began by revisiting my own repertoire, always asking, Do I still like these? Do they appeal to modern tastes? I changed leavenings, baking temperatures, and pan liners to improve textures. I sometimes cut sugar or butter (for more flavor!), or added more spice, or new spices. I tried olive oil, herbs, and pepper. I adjusted salt to offset sweetness and heighten flavors. I tuned up cookie classics like snicker doodles, sugar cookies, coconut macaroons, even brownies, with a shower of grated cinnamon stick or nutmeg, or with fragrant sugars spiked with cardamom, garam masala, chili powder, or star anise. How many times did I say, These are good, but lets do it again with a little more of this, or add some pepper, or what about whole wheat or oat flour? Indeed, What about this? What about that? was my constant mantra.

Even plain flour gave me pause. Ive always insisted that bleached flour makes more tender cookies. But now, after a career-long, oft-stated commitment to simple ingredients and pure flavors, I confronted my bleached-flour habit. Tinkering and tasting, I found that I could get tender, even melt-in-your-mouth cookies with unbleached flour, and that the plainest cookies not only tasted but also smelled better when I used it! I revised my recipes (as necessary) for unbleached flour.

What else is new? Classic crispy wafers called tuiles come in flavors from vanilla bean to saffron, lavender, tarragon, and thyme. Nutty Cocoa Cookie Bark flaunts Parmesan and pine nuts. Or forget the cheese and make it kitschy and kid-friendly for the holidays with crushed peppermint sticks and drizzled white chocolate!

My collection of bittersweet brownies remains priceless, including Less-Is-More Overnight Brownies. Look for Buckwheat Linzer Cookies with cacao nibs as well as Spicy Linzer Bars. Youll also find an inspired handful of gooey caramel-filled Latin American cookies called Alfajores.

My classic chocolate chip cookies with melted butter are here, but so are shatteringly crisp, ultrathin chocolate chip cookies that redefine the genre. Look for cookies with whole grains such as Great Grahams (addictive!) and Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookiesright next to superb Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip and Wheat-Free Double-Oatmeal Cookiesand more. Indeed, I adored the creative challenge of making delicious cookies without wheat and I used a variety of strategies to that end. Sometimes I used a single non-wheat flour; other times I blended flours and starches. Rather than seek or rely on a one-size-fits-all blend of flours, I wanted the best taste and texture for the particular cookie at hand.

Meanwhile, if you think you know meringues, try Banana Pecan Meringues, Peanut Butter Clouds, or meringues loaded with salted nuts and milk chocolate chunks, then think again. Youll also find ethereal French Macaronsand everything you need to know to make them successfully.

My recipes are organized by texture. If you love crispy cookies, go directly to the Crispy chapter, then check out Crunchy, just in case. Browse the Chunky chapter for cookies or bars chock-full of nuggets and bumps. If what you are looking for has nothing to do with texture, go to Smart Search (pages 67) to find quick-and-easy cookies, wheat-free cookies, cookies with whole grains, or cookies for Weight Watchers, for example.

I aimed for the highest standard: if a cookie that was lower in fat, wheat-free, or whole grain was just pretty good, then it wasnt good enough! Thus cookies that meet these criteria are not segregated, and omnivorous cookie lovers should not ignore them.

Most of my recipes are short and simple, but each includes the essential details to ensure great cookies. Throughout the book you will find loads of information and help if you need to brush up on beating or folding egg whites, piping meringue, handling phyllo dough, and other common cookie tasks.

A personal collection such as this is not meant to be encyclopedic. I hope you find this one whimsical yet practical, quirky but comforting, eccentric but engaging. I hope that Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy will pull new bakers into the kitchen for the first time and inspire seasoned hands to ever greater heights of cookie creativity.

No matter what kind of cookie you choose, you will get the most from this book if you read the information in this chapter before you start with any of the recipes. If you simply cant wait that long, read Quick Start while you are preheating the oven.

Cookie recipes are the simplest in the bakers repertoire: ingredient lists are brief and familiar, and instructions are few and uncomplicated. But simplicity does not mean a recipe can be executed casually, that the details are whimsical, or that the measurements are flexible. In reality, cookies are tiny pastries. As such, they are subject to all the rules of baking: mundane acts of measuring and mixing, cookie sheet preparation, oven temperature, and timing make the difference between tough and tender cookies and between ordinary and extraordinary cookies. If youve ever eaten ten chocolate chip cookies made by ten different bakers all using the same recipe, you know what I mean.

Experienced cooks have their own measuring, mixing, and baking habits. Cooks (even those of us who are professional bakers or cookbook authors) do not measure and mix the same way. And each of us has our special tricks. The information that follows will get you into my kitchen and my head by explaining why I do what I do and why some of my methods may be different from what you are accustomed to or what you find in other books.

A good recipe uses specific descriptive language to tell you what to do, when and for how long to do it, and with what utensil. It includes visual cues to look for so you know you are on the right track. All of this is designed to help you achieve results that resemble those that we got in my kitchen. If you change the details, you will change the resultsfor better or for worse!