Coffee Walnut Cookies

When it comes to dessert recipe creators, none holds a candle to Alice Medrich. Considered by many the "first lady of chocolate," she is the founder of the famed Berkeley patisserie Cocolat and the author of several wonderful cookbooks, most recently Pure Dessert. I've raved about her twice before -- her whole wheat sables and nibbly buckwheat cookies simply demanded it -- and I'm prepared to gush once again, because I made her coffee walnut cookies for a party I catered on Saturday night.

Pure Dessert is all about the flavors that inform our desserts. The book is organized by flavor profile, with sections devoted to nuts and seeds, fruit, honey, grains, etc. The book's organization demonstrates how much thought Medrich has put into each and every recipe. No teaspoon of vanilla or half a cup of corn flour is called for by accident. The coffee walnut cookies are no exception: coffee grinds and ground walnuts make the cookies rich, yet assertively bitter, and altogether addictive. And I love the crunch of the coffee bean that graces the top of each cookie.

Sometimes, more is less. When it comes to dessert, I'm always inclined to pack as much caramel and chocolate and (while we're being honest) butter as possible into whatever I'm making. Baking Alice Medrich reminds me of the little -- very little -- voice inside my head that squeaks, "restraint!" And when the little voice wins, the result is always so refined and simple, so very...um, pure.

More on the catering gig in a future post, but for those keeping track, my record is officially 2-0. Yeahhhh.

Coffee Walnut Cookies adapted from Alice Medrich

2 cups flour 1 cup walnuts 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons fresh, finely ground medium-roast (not espresso-roast) coffee beans, plus about 70 whole beans for garnish 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) butter 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brandy 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Combine the flour, walnuts, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the walnuts are finely ground. Add the ground coffee and pulse to mix. Add the butter (cut in several pieces if firm) and pulse until the mixture looks damp and crumbly. Drizzle in the brandy and vanilla extract and pulse until the dough begins to clump up around the blade. Remove the dough, press it into a ball and knead it by hand a few times to complete the mixing.

2. Form the dough into a 12-inch log about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or preferably, overnight, or up to 3 days. The dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months.

3. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a sharp knife to cut the cold dough log into one-fourth-inch-thick slices. (If the dough crumbles when you cut into it, let it soften for several minutes.) Place the cookies at least 1 inch apart on silicone-lined baking sheets. Press a coffee bean into the center of each cookie.

4. Bake the cookies until light golden brown at the edges, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking. Let the cookies firm up on the pans for about 1 minute, then transfer them to a rack with an offset spatula. Cool completely. These cookies are delicious fresh but are even better the next day. They can be stored in an airtight container for at least a month.

Cinnamon Palmiers (and cheat puff pastry)

File this under "things I've always wanted to make but thought I needed an excuse." Not that they're actually so hard, but let's face it -- nothing is easier than simple chocolate chip cookies, or my go-to dessert of late, chocolate pudding. It's just that the recipe is very specific, and one must strictly adhere to it, or else the resulting cookie will be dense and tough. But follow the instructions, and your afternoon tea date will thank you. These cookies are the height of elegance, with their flaky texture and caramelized-sugar crust. They're just the right amount sweet, and very crispy. They might be small and light, but I dare you to eat just one.

As you know, I'm always on the lookout for excuses to tackle culinary challenges. Bryce's PhD soiree gave me one such excuse, so thank you, Dr. J!

On another note, looking at the recipe just now, I realized that it essentially calls for an easy puff-pastry dough layered with cinnamon sugar. Now I've never made my own puff pastry, but I think this is a very user-friendly way to fake it -- so I'll be filing this under techniques; the next time I need puff pastry, I may just make this dough.

One word of caution: do NOT pull a Rivka and start an episode of Barefoot Contessa while your palmiers blacken in the oven, because they don't waste any time. The recipe says to bake for 7-9 minutes, flip, and bake 3-5 more minutes. I baked them for 7 and 4, and they came out black. The second roung, I did 7 and 3, and they were perfect: as you can see, there's a fine line between caramelized and burnt. Beware!

Last thing -- hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'll be off until next week, as I'm traveling for the holiday, but I promise to post some healthy recipes to detox from T-day excess when I return.

Cinnamon Palmiers from Epicurious

* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon salt * 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, frozen * 5 to 6 tablespoons ice water * 1 cup sugar * 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Stir together flour and salt in a chilled large metal bowl. Coarsely grate frozen butter into flour, gently tossing to coat butter.

Drizzle 5 tablespoons ice water evenly over flour mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated. Test mixture by gently squeezing a small handful: When dough has the proper texture, it will hold together without crumbling apart. If necessary, add another tablespoon water, stirring until just incorporated, and test again. (Do not overwork dough or add too much water, or pastry will be tough; dough will be lumpy and streaky.)

Form dough into a 5-inch square, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Roll out dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 15- by 8-inch rectangle (with a short side nearest you). Brush off excess flour and fold dough into thirds like a letter. Rewrap dough and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Arrange dough with a short side nearest you on a floured surface and repeat rolling out, folding, and chilling 2 more times. Brush off any excess flour, then halve dough crosswise with a sharp knife and chill, wrapped separately in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour.

Stir together sugar and cinnamon, then generously sprinkle a clean work surface with some of cinnamon sugar and place 1 piece of chilled dough on top. Quickly roll out into a 16- by 12-inch rectangle (1/8 to 1/16 inch thick; if dough becomes too soft, chill on a baking sheet until firm). Trim edges with a sharp knife. Sprinkle top of dough evenly with some cinnamon sugar to cover completely, brushing off any excess. Fold 2 opposite long sides of pastry so they meet in center. Fold in same sides of pastry in same manner, then fold one half over the other (like a book) and press gently with a rolling pin to flatten slightly, forming a long rectangular log. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon sugar if dough is sticky.

Chill on a baking sheet, uncovered, until firm, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. Meanwhile, repeat with remaining piece of dough and cinnamon sugar.

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut 1 log of dough crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices with a sharp knife and arrange slices, cut sides down, 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake until puffed and golden around edges, 7 to 9 minutes. Remove from oven and turn palmiers over with a spatula. (If palmiers begin to unroll, gently press to reshape when cooled slightly.) Continue baking until golden all over and sugar is caramelized, 3 to 5 minutes more. Transfer as done (palmiers may not bake evenly) to a rack and cool. Make more cookies on cooled baking sheet lined with fresh parchment.

Dough, without cinnamon sugar, can be chilled, wrapped well, up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month (thaw in refrigerator).

Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.

If desired, palmiers can be recrisped in a 300°F oven until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Conquering Macarons

If there is an ultimate test for baking aficionados, it is the very delicate, very complex, and oh-so-French macaron. If you've never had them, here's the best description I can muster: two thin almond-flour-meringue cookies sandwich a restrained but sumptuous layer of cream. The flavor possibilities and combinations are endless. There's something irresistable -- something almost addictive -- about these delicate little cookies, not least of which is the challenge of making them properly. Perhaps that's why I've never bothered to try. Instead, I just take the occasional stroll to Leopold's during my lunch hour, and buy a triple threat -- one chocolate, one pistachio, and one raspberry. Why bother to make'em when they're available down the block?

I'll tell you why. Having read enough posts from other bloggers who make macarons successfully, I've come to understand that there's no greater accomplishment in the baking world than a tray full of perfect macarons. If I'm to consider myself worth my salt, I've got to master macarons.

What about making macarons is so difficult, you ask? Well, first there's the batter: it deflates when mixed, yet is meant to produce airy little cookies. Then there's the piping of the cookies onto the baking sheet: perfect circles is a must, ideally perfectly spaced as well. When made properly, macarons should have a "foot" -- a little rim around the bottom of the cookie that looks especially airy and slightly smaller in diameter than the rest of the cookie. Finally, they should, under no circumstances, be cracked on top.

I wouldn't try these on just any old day, and Friday night was anything but. The Masseys invited D and me to a dinner party; also on the invite list were two law professors and their families, one of whom is a very prominent expert on the US Constitution. I know what you're thinking: who are we to keep such company? Don't worry, we've been thinking the exact same thing. We're still reeling from that dinner party -- the food, the company, even the after-dinner concerts by the children (all fabulously talented musicians). An event like this doesn't happen every day. With special company in mind, I decided to try my hand at tackling a very special dessert.

Lest you develop fantasies in your head of everything working perfectly for me the first time around, think again. Just look at the pictures here -- see all the nooks and crannies? My macarons were cracked all over. They didn't really have much of a foot (though it was bigger than on some other bloggers' first tries, which makes me feel a bit better), and I don't think they had quite the right texture, either. I little too crisp, compared to what I'm used to. But this was round one, folks; consider my primed for the next macaron battle.

And dare I say it? Cracks and all, they were ever the hit.

Cherry Almond Tea Cakes

Just peek out the window and you'll know it's officially fall. The sky in Washington is a crisp blue today, and the air is breezy and cool. Knowing DC as well as I do, I was sure that the cool front would pass quickly, making way for just a little more of that lovely summer humidity that you can slice through with a knife. Classic DC to dangle fall in front of us before heading squarely toward summer weather. But so far, I'm proving wrong: it's been a week since the air changed. Summer may truly be over.

Summer produce is also starting to disappear. A couple weeks ago, I scored a fabulous box of "second" tomatoes -- about 8 pounds for a mere 2 bucks! With some olive oil, onions, garlic,salt, pepper, and a splash of wine, I transformed them into easy tomato sauce and jarred the sauce for winter.

Before memories of summer fruit have completely faded, I want to share one last recipe. It's another Martha recipe -- thanks, Jana -- and it's super easy and tasty. The recipe is for tea cakes, rich and nutty from almond flour, zingy from kirsch, with a whole cherry -- pit, stem, and all -- in the center. I brought them to a poolside picnic hosted by Rebecca, Robbie and Sarina earlier this summer. I took off the foil and set them out, and Robbie looked at them suspiciously and asked what they were. When I told him, he said, "What if you accidentally swallow the pit and choke? Basically, they're like death muffins." I really wanted to title this post "death muffins" but visions of spam comments from morticians and funeral homes scared me off.

Tasty as they are, these tea cakes win brownie points for presentation. They take so little effort and look absolutely adorable. I'm not recommending you make them now, since cherries are out of season and probably won't taste so hot, but stick it in the mental rolodex. When the weather gets warm again, these should definitely be high on your to-do list.

Cherry Almond Tea Cakes

* 1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, plus more for muffin tin * 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for tin * 1 1/4 cups finely ground unblanched almonds * 1 cup sugar * 1 teaspoon coarse salt * 5 large egg whites * 4 teaspoons kirsch (cherry brandy) * 30 sweet (Bing) cherries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush 30 cups of 2 mini-muffin tins with butter, and dust lightly with flour. 2. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When it begins to sputter, reduce heat to medium. Cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until butter has lightly browned. Skim foam from top, and remove skillet from heat. 3. Whisk together flour, ground almonds, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add egg whites, and whisk until smooth. Stir in kirsch. Pour in butter, leaving any dark-brown sediment in skillet, and whisk to combine. Let stand for 20 minutes. 4. Ladle 1 tablespoon batter into each buttered muffin cup, filling about halfway. Push a cherry into each, keeping stem end up. With a small spoon, smooth batter over cherries to cover. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and cakes are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges to loosen, and unmold. Cakes can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature overnight.