All posts tagged: cookies

Ooh la la! Lemon Palmiers!

Published by Kathy Hunt

Because I lack the patience to wait in long lines, fight the crowds at historic sites and deal with other cranky, sweaty tourists, while friends are off baking at the beach or exploring national parks, I spend the summer tucked in my kitchen, reliving past vacations through food. Few sweets remind me more of poking around picturesque French villages than palmiers. Originating in Southern France, these flaky, caramelized cookies are a mainstay of patisseries and, in my case, the perfect breakfast-on-the-go. What can I say? Whether at home or on the road, I like my breakfasts small, portable and sweet. Palmiers get their name from their unmistakable shape. In French palmier means “palm.” Along with being compared to palm leaves, they have been likened to butterflies, eyeglasses, hearts and elephant ears. If I’m baking these cookies, they might resemble a palm tree or, on an especially harried day, a work of modern art. How do these cookies end up looking like palm leaves? Imagine dozens of layers of buttery puff pastry dusted with sugar and …

Danish Raspberry Slice or Hindbærsnitte

Published by Kathy Hunt

Hindbærsnitte is the latest addition to my ever-growing list of international dessert crushes. Some people liken it to homemade Pop Tarts. Others equate it to thumbprint cookies. Neither comparison comes close to the sweet splendor of this lovely Danish cookie. Inspired by Viennese confections, hindbærsnitte was born in Copenhagen in the late 1800s. The legend goes that in 1850 Danish bakers went on a long-term strike over unfair wages. To keep the country in breads and sweets, bakers from Austria were hired to fill the vacancies. Their time in Denmark and the culinary traditions that they shared would influence the creation of many Danish baked goods, including hindbærsnitte. With its flour- and almond-based dough and thick, fruity filling this cookie does remind me of such Austrian specialties as Linzer tortes and augens. The literal translation of hindbærsnitte is raspberry slice. Its name more or less explains the treat — baked cookie dough blanketed by raspberry preserves, topped with another sheet of baked dough and then sliced and iced or iced and sliced. The order of …

Double Chocolate S’mores Cookies

Published by Kathy Hunt

On the whole I don’t find supermarket baked goods all that enticing. The breads usually seem too airy, the cookies too bland, the cakes too slathered with artificially flavored frosting. However, last week, before the most recent, and hopefully last, snow of the season, I grabbed a cookie from my local market’s bakery section. Rather than satisfy my ever-present craving for sweets, it drove me to dig out my measuring cups, electric mixer, pen and notebook and create my own take on a s’more cookie. What made this particular cookie so special, so inspiring? Sweet without being cloying, chocolaty without being too rich, it struck the perfect flavor balance. Dotted with chunks of graham cracker, chocolate and marshmallow, the cocoa-enriched dough was far more complex and appealing than the usual double chocolate chip cookie. As with its campfire namesake, this cookie was so good that it left me hankering for “some more.” (Yep, that’s how s’mores got their name. You can’t just eat one graham cracker-chocolate bar-toasted marshmallow combo. You always want “s’more.”) As the …

Bewitching Black Currant Palmiers

Published by Kathy Hunt

A few Sundays ago I lucked out and found fresh, plump red and black currants at the Rhinebeck Farmers Market. Unlike the red currants, which I’d churned into sherbet, I took a fairly traditional approach with the larger, purplish-black fruit and cooked up a batch of black currant jelly. Why jelly? Like their red relation, black currants contain a large amount of pectin, the substance that causes foods to thicken and gel. To make black currant jelly, I simmered the fruit with some sugar and lemon juice. Once the berries had softened and the sugar had dissolved, I strained the reddish-violet syrup into a glass bowl. I allowed it to cool and set and — voila! — I had black currant jelly. Because I’d wanted to do more with currants than just make preserves, I came up with a twist on an old family favorite, palmiers. Made from puff pastry, this simple French cookie gets its name from its palm leaf-like shape. Depending on where you live and how you perceive its appearance, you may …

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

Published by Kathy Hunt

If you’ve dropped by Kitchen Kat more than once, you’re probably aware of my insatiable sweet tooth. Pies, cakes, candies and tarts. I love and make them all. What you might not know is that I am perpetually on the lookout for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. From Amy’s Bread, Birdbath, Levain and Jaques Torres to the less pricey offerings at Jack’s and Insomnia and the vegan version at Joe I’ve tried them all. You name the bakery or recipe. I’ve eaten the cookie. Last summer, while in the thick of promoting Fish Market, I came across what may be the best chocolate chip cookie that I’ve ever had. Crisp, sweet, aromatic and with just a hint of spiciness, it was the cookie that I’d been craving. This divine treat came not from a professional bakery or The Joy of Cooking but from my friend Elizabeth’s sunny kitchen. I took a bite of one, devoured it and then reached for another and another and another. Before I knew it, I was covered in cookie crumbs …

A School of Lemon Sugar Cookies

Published by Kathy Hunt

Two weeks ago, as I cut and baked seven dozen fish-shaped, lemon sugar cookies for the Fish Market launch party, I thought of my late father and all the rolled, sugar cookies that we’d made together when I was a kid. Every Christmas and spring he’d pull out a large, aquamarine, Pyrex mixing bowl, wooden rolling pin and an eclectic collection of tin cookie cutters and spread these tools over the kitchen counter. This display of kitchen equipment could only mean one thing — we were about to kick off our biannual baking spree. No matter the season I’d insist on using every cutter, which meant that we ate bunny- and shamrock-shaped cookies at Christmas and reindeer and Santa Claus cookies at Easter. Then again, by the time that I’d finished slathering the cookies with royal icing, colored sugars, chocolate morsels and candy sprinkles, no one could tell exactly what he was consuming. Unquestionably, my dad was a good sport when it came to cookie making and decorating. Then and now, the secret to cutting …

A Love Affair with Greek Cookies

Published by Kathy Hunt

This year Valentine’s Day fell on the very same night that for the past six years my literary fiction book group has met. I had a tough choice to make; eat a romantic dinner with my husband or moderate a discussion of Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot. In the end I did what any lifelong, insatiable reader would do. I baked a batch of Greek cookies, invited Sean to the book group and spent the evening with some of my favorite people, treats and activities. The cookies that I baked are kourabiedes. Reminiscent of shortbread cookies, these crescent-shaped sweets are usually consumed at holidays and special occasions. Hence my decision to serve them on Valentine’s Day. Okay, that isn’t the only reason behind my making them. Flavored with splashes of vanilla extract and anise liqueur and blanketed with soft, fluffy confectioner’s sugar, they have been my cookie of choice since the ninth grade. My addiction started in the home of one of my closest childhood friends. The daughter of Greek immigrants and restaurant owners, Nickie …

Misunderstood Macadamias

Published by Kathy Hunt

Compile a list of misunderstood foods and macadamia nuts would undoubtedly rank near the top. For years I’ve heard them called everything from macadamien and macadam to plain old mag nuts. Then there’s the issue of origin. Although macadamia trees hail from Northeast Australia, many folks insist that they’re native, if not exclusive, to Hawaii. Get past those misconceptions and you face the question of consumption. How do you cook with macadamia nuts? More than a handful will argue that you don’t cook these plump, buttery jewels; you eat them straight from the vacuum-packed can. Uncultivated in Australia until the late 1800’s, these nuts initially were called Queenslands nuts. Botanists later changed their name to macadamia to honor the chemist, John McAdam, who had promoted their cultivation. In the 1890’s macadamia nuts traveled to Hawaii. Because they prefer moist yet well-drained, fertile soils and moderate temperatures, the trees and nuts thrived there. In fact, today the state produces close to 90% of the world’s macadamia nuts. What do you do with macadamia nuts? Most people …