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A Cookie Book from a Baking Icon

Love cookies? Then what you need is "Dorie's Cookies," the latest book from baking icon Dorie Greenspan. 

It was pure heaven to sample the contents when Greenspan appeared for a signing and demo at Melissa's Produce. Imagine taking your pick from platter after platter of fantastic cookies, not just gooey treats but also savory rounds to go with drinks, which some would not regard as cookies.

"Because it is my book, I could call anything a cookie," she countered, adding that supermarkets in France sell savory cookies, labeling them crackers. 

Looking at the finished cookies (above), you can't see the hard work that went into them--the testing and retesting, the figuring out why a recipe worked or failed, the overthrowing of time-honored baking traditions to get a better result. "The great thing about writing a book is you always learn something new," Greenspan said.

You probably know those old saws about refrigerating dough before rolling it out, adding flour in two or three steps and mixing salt with dry ingredients. Follow Greenspan, and you'll throw those rules away. Flour should go in all at once at the end so you don't overwork it, she said.  Salt should be added with the butter, because then it will blend into the dough more evenly.

And you can roll out cookie dough as soon as it is mixed, if you roll it between sheets of parchment (above). However, you still have to refrigerate or freeze it before baking. 

And you don't have to bake only on cookie sheets. Greenspan uses muffin tins too (above).

As rigorous as a laboratory scientist, Greenspan not only tests recipes repeatedly, but in two countries, in Paris, where she spends half the year and then in the United States with American ingredients.

What she has found is that differences in ovens, measures and weights, even cooking times, don't make as much difference as she had thought. This is "my brand new revelation," she said. "And it just made me so happy."

This drive for perfection has made her a baking superstar, an award-winning author (she's racked up four James Beard Awards) and food media celebrity. This is her 12th cookbook. Read more about her by clicking here. 

Now take a look at some of her cookies, as served at Melissa's.

World Peace Cookies are on the cover of the book and in a section devoted to cookies that were sold at Beurre & Sel, the shop that Greenspan and her son Joshua opened in New York. The color looks like a dark view of the world, but when you bite into the cookies, they're as sweet as peace.

Little Rascals also came from Beurre & Sel.

And so did Classic Jammers.

Chocolate gets a lot of attention in "Dorie's Cookies."  This is her Newest Chocolate Chip Cookie, thin and chewy. 

And here is a savory cookie, flavored with Parmesan and rosemary. 

I had thought about ending with one of the recipes, but it didn't seem fair. Greenspan writes at length about each cookie, and a recipe wouldn't be complete without her comments and the baking tips and suggestions for variations that she provides.    

Instead, I will evaluate the book using Greenspan's own words, although she did not say them about herself. "Baking is the easiest thing," she told her audience at Melissa's (above). If you have a good recipe all you have to do is follow it."

A Turkish Brunch Plus a Recipe

Imagine going all the way to Turkey to learn about its fabulous cuisine and falling in love with--French fries.

This happened at Orkide Ibrahimli, a restaurant in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey. The fries appeared there at a brunch for journalists attending Gaziantep's first bulgur festival. 

The plate was simple, fries topped with vibrantly red tomato sauce and garnished with mild peppers. It intrigued me to the extent that I recreated it at home, making up my own tomato sauce. See the recipe below.

Was this all I liked at the brunch? Goodness no. The assortment of dishes was fantastic (above), covering the table.

Here is my plate, filled with good things only to be emptied and filled again. 

These beautiful puffy rolls are called kubban. I tore mine apart and smeared the pieces with kaymak (thick, rich cream) and honey.

A highlight was Gaziantep's famous cream-filled breakfast pastry katmer (above), topped liberally with local pistachios, considered the finest in Turkey, and probably the world.  

After that came another pistachio-laden treat, batma kaymak (above). This arrived as a circle of dough spread with cream.

A waiter came by to sprinkle on pistachios and honey (above). Sugar added even more sweetness. (A plate of the fries with tomato sauce is in the photo too.)

You can tell that I love sweets, but there was plenty of savory food too, including skillets of soft-fried eggs (above), skewers of grilled vegetables and sucuk (sausage), eggplant, stuffed breads and more.

There were olives and other condiments to eat along with the dishes (above), also fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers set out with a bowl of red pepper flakes.

Cheeses, fruit preserves and kaymak were on the table too. And syrupy dried apricots with almonds. 

(For a full description of the brunch and mouth-watering photos, check Faye and Yakir Levy's article at this link.)  

Afterwards came Turkish coffee and a survey of the heavenly pastries in Orkide's bakery. The photo shows only a little of the enormous variety. Next time, I'll leave with a sackful. 

FRENCH FRIES WITH SPICY TOMATO SAUCE
Based on the dish served at Orkide Ibrahimli in Gaziantep

3/4 pound tomatoes, peeled
1/4 cup chopped shallots or onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon bottled red pepper paste
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Dash Aleppo pepper or other hot pepper
French fries, frozen or homemade
Sliced fried or sauteed green chiles

To make the tomato sauce, puree the tomatoes, shallots and garlic in a food processor or blender.

Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Stir in the tomato paste and red pepper paste, then the pureed tomato mixture and water. Add paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Add enough Aleppo pepper or other hot pepper to make as spicy as you like.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes. 

Serve over hot French fries. Garnish with chile slices. 

Makes about 1 cup tomato sauce, equivalent to an 8-ounce can.

Note: Aleppo pepper and jars of tomato and red pepper pastes from Turkey are in markets that stock Middle Eastern ingredients. 

Thanks to Mustafa Özgüler, chef/owner of the restaurant, for this sumptuous morning meal.

Photos by Barbara Hansen

Tasting the Foods of Andalucía

Look at this tempting arrangement of Spanish food. 

Everything on the table was prepared under the direction of Juana Gimeno Faraone, the founder of La Española, the market and meat processor in Harbor City that has provided Spanish ingredients since 1982.

You can get sandwiches and coffee at La Española any day and paella on Saturdays, but this display had a special purpose--to promote the foods of Andalucía in southern Spain. Faraone (above) is from Valencia.

Five representatives of Andalucían products talked about their olive oil, olives, vinegar, ham and canned tuna--not ordinary canned tuna but melva de Andalucía (frigate mackerel). This is a protected species that yields delicious firm, mild meat.

The brand above is packed in sunflower oil. Filippo Orlando of Pesca y Salazones del Suroeste in Ayamonte, Spain, brought it to the tasting.

These sherry vinegars are amazing, a couple of them so rich and concentrated that only a few drops can work magic.

Intense Pedro Ximénez vinegar (second from right) comes from a super sweet dessert wine made from sun-dried Pedro Ximénez grapes. 

Dark, raisiny Arrope, a dessert vinegar (at left), is produced from cooked Palomino and Moscatel grape must and would be heavenly sprinkled over vanilla ice cream. You can get Arrope for as little as $12.99, said Eric Davis, who poured the samples. That's a far-cry from expensive balsamic vinegars. 

Carmen López (above) represented Jaencoop, the second largest producer of olive oil in the world. There are 12 million olive trees in the south of Spain, she said, yielding 67 million kilos of oil each season. Her company deals with 20,000 farmers, has 16 production centers and a lab to monitor quality. 

López proudly talked about Prólogo, which won a silver medal this year at the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition.

Prólogo was entered in the international division of the northern hemisphere judging. It is made from the picual variety of olive. 

You have to have big bucks to buy jamon (ham) ibérico. The price is high because it takes up to five years to process this delectable ham, which comes from black pigs called pata negra because their hooves are black. They're fed on acorns in autumn and winter, said Oscar Lerena of Consorcio de Jabugo, a consortium of six ham companies.

The fat of the ham is a different color from that of other hams, he said, and melts at room temperature. Like olive oil, it is high in oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat. And so Lerena describes a pig that yields jamon ibérico as "an olive tree on legs."

Miriam Vidal Barcenilla of Campomar Nature, a company that specializes in organic products, presented fat green olives for tasting. These are soaked with water and salt for a year, she said. Campomar also produces organic olive oil, almonds, vinegar and wine. 

This wasn't a trade show but an informal gathering for a handful food writers. We sat outside in a tented area, enjoying the tapas and plenty of red wine--Miguel Torres Altos Ibéricos Crianza 2012, a Tempranillo from La Rioja (above).

This is what we ate:

Toast topped with jamon ibérico--what a treat.

Two types of olives, some stuffed with anchovies and others paired with boquerones (cured white anchovies) on picks.

Toast with ham, Spanish fried tomatoes and a quail egg

Little pizzas topped with fresh fava beans, fried tomatoes, ham and cheese.

Black paella with squid, mussels and clams. The paella was made with bomba rice, a short grain rice that absorbs liquid and cooks dry and so is suited to paella but not to risotto. Arborio is best for that soupy dish. 

Quince paste on toast with two kinds of cheeses, topped with walnuts.

Red piquillo peppers stuffed with creamy brandada de bacalao (salt cod).

Blood sausage on toast with caramelized onions.

Afterwards came a shopping spree. I loaded up on Spanish sweets, a half case of the wine we drank and a bottle of olive oil. I couldn't resist crisp almond-shaped wafers filled with almond cream and cakes of apricot and fig paste with almonds (above).  

The sweets have just been put out for holiday shopping. The market (above) is crammed with gift possibilities, including cookbooks, wines, a large stock of olive oils, cheeses, Spanish paprika, jars of Spanish fried tomatoes and Spanish style sausages that are made there. 

 Or how about a Marinesca paella kit (at right in the photo), which includes bomba rice, canned paella ingredients and broth? All you have to do is add liquid. Then pick out a shiny paella pan to go with it.

Thanks to Linda Vesco Burum who coordinated the writers; to Alex Motamedi, La Española's general manager, for helping me choose my purchases; to Jordi Boada of Extenda, the trade promotion agency of Andalucía, and to Doña Juana Faraone for her delicious food.

Photos by Barbara Hansen except for Prólogo

La Española Meats, 25020 Doble Ave., Harbor City, Calif. 90710. Tel: (310) 539-0455.