Dark Chocolate Cookie

This is a very satisfying cookie.  This little morsel has everything you can ask for: crunchy hazelnuts, rich dark chocolate pieces, tiny intense cocoa nibs, a pinch of fleur de sel, all encased in a soft chocolate, not-too-sweet cookie dough. The bonus is that it can be whipped up very quickly!  This is my go-to recipe for after dinner sweet cravings...

Rainbow Cookies

This is one happy cookie...almost too pretty to eat! A little bit time-consuming, I must admit, but absolutely worth the effort!  I stumbled upon this idea from Eugenie's Kitchen, this inspiring, creative blog which I've been following for a while. 

Thomas Keller's Oreos

I have a weakness for cookbooks.  It's gotten to a point where they are overflowing from 2 bookcases, in various heaps of organized chaos on my bedroom floor and bedside tables.  Why cookbooks?  Well, aside from obvious...I find them inspirational.  Sure, I can treat cooking as a chore, like cleaning or laundry...something that simply must be done.  Or I can be creative and have fun with it, making "chore time" my "play time"! Cookbooks inspires me to play in my own kitchen, but I'm also realizing that this attitude has started to transcend into everything else I do.  If something must be done, I might as well have fun with it! 

Crepe Dentelle

Also known by the brand "Gavottes", these crispy, delicate cookies are delectable.  While name may sound foreign and unfamiliar, most people have surely tried it in one form or another.  It is the crunchy wafer that appeared alongside ice cream at a restaurant, the added crispy, crumbled texture at base of a multi-layered cake, or the light caramelly cookie that was served with your creme brulee.

Rosewater Lace Cookies

I came across this beautiful edible lace on Pinterest the other day.  Needless to say, I was instantly obsessed!  Turns out, this is a special flexible icing made by Sugarveil, once scraped onto a silicon lace mat and dried, it becomes an delicate and elegant lace icing.  Magic!

Viennese Cookies

What I love about French baking recipes:
1.  The measurements are super precise.  Everything is weighed with a scale down to the gram...even water.  There is virtually no room for error, given that you have an accurate kitchen scale and the ability to follow simple directions.  (Unless you are striving for finicky treats like macarons....in which case, just keep trying...)
2.  Most French pastries have a long history, concocted before the time of KitchenAid mixers and food processors, hence most recipes come together by hand.  If you have a bowl, a wooden spoon and a whisk, then you're set.  The result?  A light, delicate pastry and little cleanup afterwards!
3.  French pastries are romantic.  Yes, romantic.  If you have ever read a recipe description from Pierre Hermé, you will know what I mean.

Tuiles aux amandes

My Laduree Sucré book is amongst my most prized possessions.  First of all, it's beautiful.  Housed in the signature box used to package the precious Laduree macarons, the book is wrapped in lavender tissue paper, with a cover of pastel green velvet and gold-gilded pages.  Each recipe is accompanied by gorgeous photographs.  More importantly, the recipes are amazing!  Everything I have ever made from this book turned out beautifully.  The only drawback was that the book was written in French, though it has since been published in English; I just didn't have the patience to wait for that edition...thank god for Google translate!

Potato Chip Cookie

As soon as I saw this recipe in the July issue of Martha Stewart Living, I knew I had to make it.  I mean, right away.  As a matter of fact, I did.  I closed my iPad instantly, before finishing the rest of the magazine, ran to 7-Eleven across the street to buy potato chips, then ran back home to make it.  I didn't care that I had a horrible sinus infection and was still running a fever.  I didn't care that it was pouring rain.  I didn't even care that I had a severely sore throat that I couldn't thoroughly enjoy my creations.  It was two of my utmost favorite things, cookies and chips, melded together in the most unlikely union.  I had to give it a go!

The Perfect Sablé - 3 variations: Hazelnut, Lemon, Black Sesame

French sablé cookies are essentially butter cookies, a combination of not much more than butter, flour, sugar and perhaps the occasional egg yolk.  Though sablés require few basic ingredients and are relatively simple to make, they are not simple to perfect.  I know, because I have tried countless recipes and made countless batches...the cookies are tasty and crumbly, but I could not bring myself to call them the "perfect sablé".  The cookies usually turn out slightly soft in the center and that hallmark sand-like quality is too subtle, not quite the will-fall-apart-once-bitten texture I was hoping for.

Chocolate Cigarettes

We've all tried them, or at least, some form of these cookies.  On the side of an after-dinner coffee, a decorative piece atop a crème brûlée, a part of a petit four plate...that unnoticed wafer-thin cookie that's rolled around itself to form a crunchy tube.  Well, it's been taken for granted much too long and deserves some recognition.  (It has feelings too!)  Sure, they're a perfect finishing touch to ice-cream, a decadent dessert filled with ganache, a fantastic complement to a crème brûlée, but with a rich chocolate taste and delicate texture, these cookies can hold up on their own too, and every bit as delicious served solo. 

Breton Sand Cookies

Sablés cookies are a favorite of mine. A favorite to make, since they're essentially easy ice-box slice-and-bake cookies. The dough comes together quickly in a mixer and the unbaked dough can be stored in the freezer, waiting to be baked at a moment's notice. A favorite to eat; it's a rich, buttery cookie that crumbles beautifully upon the first bite. "Sablé" means "sand", referring to the sandy, crumbly texture of the cookie, achieved by working the flour as little as possible.

This is probably one of the simplest recipes in the book "Desserts by Pierre Hermé", though one cannot expect it to taste anything less than amazing from the man whom Vogue magazine has dubbed the "Picasso of pastry"!  The cookie is rich, buttery, delicately crumbly and at once sweet and salty.  The recipe states that these cookies should stay pale in color and be slightly soft, though I prefer mine baked slightly brown around the edges, so I let them stay in the oven a little longer. 

Punitions

Punitions, literally translates as "punishments". Punitions are also the sweet little butter cookies sold at world-renowned baker Lionel Poilâne's shop Boulangerie Poilâne. As the story goes, these plain butter cookies were made by grandmothers in Normandy, Monsieur Poilâne's birthplace. The grandmothers would tuck these buttery treats behind their backs while teasing the little ones to come get their punishments. Hmm...I'd be more than eager to take these "punishments" any day!

French Madeleines

Happy new year!

After a day of after-party recovery, I've resumed my place in the kitchen.
I bought some silicone madeleine molds a few months back, but have completely neglected them since then. I decided that today would be a good day to test them out...and I LOVE THEM!! Why did I even bother with madeleines before silicone molds?! Every single cookie turned out perfect! (It feels weird to call them cookies, but they're not exactly cakes, are they?)

I've found this fantastic recipe from the Laduree "Sucre" book.  What a beautiful book! Velvet bound in that signature Laduree pastel green, gold-lined pages...it even comes in a box just like their macarons! The madeleines came out golden brown around all the edges, slight crispy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside with a hint of lemon. I love that everything is done by hand in this recipe,... no stand mixers, no electric beaters, all you need is a metal bowl and whisk!  The only drawback is that this isn't something to make on a whim...they need to be prepared a day ahead...but well worth it!