Alice Medrich is a ‘crispy’ girl.
The award-winning pastry chef’s new cookbook, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies, ingeniously categorizes the sweet treats found within by texture, and Medrich reveals that her preference is for cookies that have a bit of bite to them.
“I like to hear that crunch, that little shattering sound between my teeth. It's like eating potato chips, I can't get enough of it,” she tells CityLine.ca, adding that though the idea to group by texture wasn’t hers, she loved it.
"When you work on a really familiar topic it's great to take a different view of it for a change. Cookie books are usually organized by, well, maybe chocolate cookies, shortbread cookies, brownies. I think it was the designer's idea, to tell you the truth, but it was so brilliant that we went immediately for it."
A browse through the Chewy chapter yields recipes for Medrich’s Ginger Cookies, boasting three kinds of ginger (fresh, dried, crystallized), as well as New Classic Coconut Macaroons and Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars. Flip ahead to the Melt-In-Your-Mouth chapter for pastel-hued French Macarons as well as tender Almond Sables and Salted Peanut Toffee Cookies. Great Grahams, Snicker Doodles, and an array of biscotti populate the Crunchy section of the book.
Medrich’s passion for creating perfect cookies shines through both in the book and in person, and she jokes that sometimes it’s difficult to get her out of the kitchen when she’s recipe testing.
"When I make something that tastes okay to me, of course I want to know what to do to make it taste better,” she says. “But even when I taste something that I think is pretty good, my mind goes right to, 'But what if...?' What if I made this little change? What if I tweaked that, or increased a little of the flavour ingredient, or decreased a little butter?”
Perhaps surprisingly, reducing the fat in recipes sometimes led to a more flavourful finished product, the Berkeley, Calif.-based baker notes.
“We've been told that fat carries flavour, and that's true, but if you have too much fat it starts to dull out the brightness of flavour, so judiciously cutting back on fat can actually heighten flavour,” Medrich notes. “I also took a modern culinary sensibility to this task, and I did cookies with herbs and spices, cookies with salt and pepper, cookies with ingredients like herbs that we often use in the culinary side of cooking, like fresh thyme and fresh tarragon. So I did what the chefs are doing with our food these days, taking it into the future, taking it into right now."
In keeping with the current culinary landscape, Medrich’s book also includes wheat-free recipes (see recipe for Wheat-Free Rugelach, below), cookies containing whole grains, and others still that are free of dairy. There are also cookies that keep for at least two weeks, doughs that freeze well, and lower fat versions of certain recipes. But don’t be fooled into thinking these recipes are any less delicious – on the contrary, the pastry chef says focusing on diet categories was an exciting challenge for her.
As she explains it was about working flavour and texture to create, “the best possible new recipes in the category. I learned so much with gluten-free, in fact I got quite fascinated by it. I'm very proud of that collection of recipes."
Whereas pie pastry can be intimidating for some, and cakes can seem daunting, there’s something about cookies that’s universally appealing. Perhaps because a batch can be whipped up in virtually no time, with relatively few ingredients.
“I think everybody feels cookies are approachable,” Medrich nods. “The recipes are short and sweet. They look easy, they are easy. I think one thing about cookies is that they’re a little deceptive -- they look easier than they are. Just because the recipe is short and simple doesn’t mean that the details don’t make a difference. They do.”
The biggest mistake home bakers tend to make is in measuring out flour, which is why Medrich wants to see more kitchen scales in use.
“Flour measurement is probably the biggest thing that makes a difference between a little poem of a cookie and a doorstop,” she remarks. “I know people who’ve said, ‘I just can’t make good cookies.’ My sense is that the single thing that would make a better cookie for them is if they would measure flour either with a scale or by lightly spooning and levelling off instead of digging the cup into the compacted bag of flour and levelling it off against the side. It’s possible to get almost 50 per cent more flour into the cup that way.”
Aside from that, the veteran baker insists you don’t need a hugely kitted-out kitchen to bake a perfect cookie. A delicate hand with the flour, a light-coloured, heavyweight aluminum cookie sheet, and a well-calibrated oven, and if you’re not sure about yours, an oven thermometer so that you can adjust as needed.
“You know you don’t always even need a mixer to bake cookies,” Medrich says. “Many cookies are actually better if you just mix them by hand the way our grandmothers and great-grandmothers did it. A big spoon and some softened butter will do the job. It doesn’t take that much.”
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich is now available in stores.
Wheat-Free Rugelach
These cookies are a little bit flaky and tenderly crumbly at the same time. People who know and love rugelach may not even notice a difference. The flaky cream cheese dough used for these rugelach can also be substituted for the dough in Pecan Tassies (page 258) or Cardamom Caramel Palmiers (page 244), so this recipe is the key to several little pastries and cookies. Xanthan gum is available in the baking aisle of better grocery stores, gourmet stores, and online (see Resources, page 362).
Makes 52 cookies
Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Dough
1 3/8 cups (7 ounces) white rice flour, preferably extra-fine (see Note, page 153, and page 355)*
1 3/4 cups (6.375 ounces) oat flour (see Note, page 153, and page 354)**
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons xanthan gum (see page 359)***
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1/2pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
For the Filling
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup (2.5 ounces) dried currants
Salt
Equipment
Cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper or foil
Box grater
To Make the Dough
Combine the flours in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.
In a large bowl with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and water for about 2 minutes on medium speed. The mixture will look wet and stretchy.
Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs (it will not be smooth). Using the largest holes on a box (or other) grater, grate the butter into the bowl. Mix on low speed to break the butter shreds into bits and distribute them. The mixture will resemble loose crumbs, sticking together only when pinched. If necessary, sprinkle and mix in another tablespoon of water. Do not try to form a cohesive dough. Divide the mixture into quarters. Dump one-quarter in the center of a sheet of plastic wrap. Bring the sides of the wrap up around the mixture on all sides, pressing firmly to form a 5-inch square patty. Wrap the patty tightly. Repeat with the remaining 3 portions of dough. Refrigerate the patties until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
To Make the Filling
Mix together the sugars, cinnamon, walnuts, and currants in a medium bowl.
Remove 1 piece of dough from the refrigerator. If necessary, let it stand until pliable enough to roll, but not too soft. Roll between sheets of plastic wrap into a 14-by-18-inch rectangle a scant 1/8 inch thick. Peel off the top sheet of plastic from the dough. Sprinkle a quarter of the filling over the dough, and then sprinkle with a tiny pinch of salt. Roll over the filling with a rolling pin to press it gently into the dough.
Roll the dough into a long log: Starting from one long edge, lift the plastic wrap to fold 1/2 inch of dough onto itself. (If the dough sticks to the plastic, refrigerate the whole business for 10 minutes before proceeding.) Continue to roll the dough using the plastic wrap. Finish with the seam on the bottom, or centered on top (if you like the ragged edge as I do). Sprinkle the log with pinches of sugar. Trim the ends. Cut into 1-inch slices. Using a small spatula, place the pieces 1 1/2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and deep brown on the bottom. Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool. Let the rugelach cool completely before storing or stacking. Rugelach are always most exquisite on the day they are baked, but they remain delicious, stored in an airtight container, for about 5 days.
Upgrades
Apricot Nut Wheat-Free Rugelach
Use the filling for Apricot Nut Rugelach (page 250)****.
Chocolate Hazelnut Wheat-Free Rugelach
Use the filling for Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach (page 250)*****.
Date Nut Wheat-Free Rugelach
Make the filling, omitting the currants. Sprinkle the dough with filling and sprinkle with salt as directed. Cut 25 to 30 pitted dates in half lengthwise. Lay 6 to 8 date halves end to end, with ends slightly overlapped, along one long edge of the dough. Roll the dough and continue as directed.
Cacao Nib Wheat-Free Rugelach
Substitute 1/2 cup finely chopped cacao nibs for the walnuts. Use in place of filling as directed.
* Rice Flour (Brown or White)
White rice flour is finely milled white rice, not to be confused with sweet rice (glutinous rice) flour. Brown rice flour is milled from brown rice, and thus it includes the rice bran and germ, making it a nutritious whole grain flour. Brown and white rice flours are used in wheat-free baking, often in combination with other flours or starches. Look for Wheat-Free Butter Cookies (page 44), Wheat-Free Cutout Cookies (page 46), Wheat-Free Rugelach (page 252), and Wheat-Free Mexican Wedding Cakes (page 308). Store rice flours in the refrigerator or freezer to preserve their flavor and keep them from becoming rancid. The extra-fine rice flours available from Authentic Foods (see Resources, page 362) are especially nice; cookies made with them have a beautiful texture without the grittiness that rice flours can often impart.
**Oat Flour
Oat flour is finely milled oats. It is high in protein, fiber, B1 vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and antioxidants. Better still, it imparts a lovely oat flavor to baked goods, or just a nuance of nutty flavor when blended with other flours and starches. Oat flour makes terrific Wheat-Free Double-Oatmeal Cookies (page 152), Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 134), Wheat-Free Butter Cookies (page 44), and more. Store oat flour in the refrigerator or freezer to preserve its flavor and keep it from becoming rancid. For gluten-free baking, buy oat flour specifically labeled gluten-free, which indicates that it’s free of cross-contamination from wheat in the fields or during processing. Bob’s Red Mill brand is available in good supermarkets and by mail order (see Resources, page 362).
***Xanthan Gum
Xanthan gum is a by-product of cornstarch production, produced through the fermentation of a bacterium called Xanthonomonas campestris on corn syrup. Xanthan gum, in powdered form, is increasingly available in the baking aisles of good supermarkets and easily found online (see Resources, page 362). Xanthan gum is used in commercial products to add volume, thicken and stabilize liquids, and hold particles in suspension (in salad dressings, for example). It is also used to create a smooth, ice-free texture in ice creams and frozen desserts. In gluten-free baking, it simulates gluten by binding ingredients and creating chewy textures that would otherwise be lacking. Cookie recipes may use up to 3/4 teaspoon per cup of nonwheat flour.
****Apricot Nut Rugelach
Process 1 cup apricot jam or preserves in a food processor if there are large pieces of fruit. Mix with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Roll out the dough as described. In place of the filling, spread each piece with one-quarter of the jam mixture and then sprinkle with 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts. Sprinkle with salt, roll up, and bake as described.
***** Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach
Combine 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped toasted and skinned hazelnuts (see page 16), and 1 cup (6 ounces) miniature chocolate chips. Use in place of the filling. Sprinkle with salt, roll up, and bake as directed.
Excerpted from CHEWY
GOOEY CRISPY CRUNCHY MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH COOKIES by Alice Medrich (Artisan
Books) Copyright 2010.