If You Give a Boss a Cookie

Chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, coconut macarons, Pave Montmartre almond cake

Peanutty blondies with fudge icing, brownies, french chocolate macarons with raspberry buttercream

We're invited for dinner with the boss. To the eternal question "What Can I Bring" he replied, "BYOB, but if you want to do pastry, sure."

We live in Dante's Inferno - better known as the month of August in Texas. Most desserts have no chance of making it from my house to the party without melting, sweltering or falling face down on hot pavement. Rather than sweat this assignment, I'll turn to the experts in cookies and brownies and come up with a Treat Tray. Good plan.

These recipes deliver in ways that delight a crowd.

Find David Leite's article "The Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie" in The New York Times, then try his recipe, adapted from "Mr. Chocolate" Jacques Torres. Right now I have a big batch of this dough "aging" overnight in the fridge. This cookie dough is so good, you could save it in the freezer for those times when friends need immediate solace. (I once soothed a co-worker with a log of cookie dough at the office. We hid in a closet and ate it.)

Dorie Greenspan shares her "Salted Butter Breakups," and thank goodness. This unusual cookie is crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside and attractively scored with cross hatches made by a fork. It's meant to be rolled out large and served in one giant piece for the table, allowing guests to break off what they want. For my purposes, I might precut it into diamond shapes so they fit on the tray.

Another Greenspan gem is the Peanuttiest Blondie from her book "Baking From My Home to Yours." A blondie makes a good visual counterpoint to the ubiquitous chocolate version, so try this nutty recipe loaded with peanut butter, nuts and chocolate chips. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom after generously adding peanut butter, which left the dough too much of a good thing. Cardamom and peanut butter, make a note.

Speaking of brownies, Smitten Kitchen has a wonderful version The Huffington Post called "the only brownie recipe you'll ever need." No more fussing with how much and what kind of chocolate makes the best brownie - this recipe uses Dutch Process cocoa powder. My DP cocoa of choice is the E. Guittard Cocoa Rouge.  I took this brownie to Iowa for the annual Ragbrai bike ride across the state. I needed more than I brought. It disappeared faster than a certain bike team riding with a certain former Tour de France winner. The brownie is a champion.

Over on the Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen site, Jeanne Ambrose has a "Quick Salted Caramel Fudge" that's a great answer to a day of too many meetings. It's no-bake, it's fast, it's good for the soul. If you don't have Dulce de Leche for the top coat, may I suggest the caramel sauce at Epicurious.com?

By the way, have you noticed how I love to mention Jeanne, who talks about David Leite, who talks about Dorie Greenspan, who knows Ruth Reichl? When you find what you like, it's natural to share what you love in this sweet world. My fantasy birthday party would include all of them, the good folks from King Arthur Flour (Jeffrey Hamelman, this means you!) and Kathleen Flinn, the one who wrote "The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry." Why not Jacques Torres himself? Feel free to tell me who else should be there.

Speaking of Reichl, there is a chance I'll go overboard with the treat tray concept and spin the ice cream in Reichl's post on the classic American sundae. The vanilla ice cream and the fudge sauce are the stuff of childhood happy faces. This could truly impress the boss' two children.

Finally in thinking about treats, I scribbled these coconut macaroons from a magazine page found floating around in a salon. They remind me of what macaroons used to be before French fashion took over and we all learned how to make the shells and buttercreams of a fancier dessert. I like that little twist with the lime. I recently interviewed the winner of a cookie contest. She adds gin to hers.

Lime Coconut Macaroons

2 large egg whites

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

¼ tsp kosher salt

7 ounces coconut (4 cups)

Preheat oven to 325.

Whisk egg whites and sugar in a large bowl to combine until frothy. Whisk in lime zest and salt, add coconut, fold to coat. Drop by tablespoons on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 18-22 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Store in airtight container at room temp. They freeze beautifully.

Did I say finally? For visual appeal, let's add on. It's for the boss, after all.

Strassburger Cookies
(adapted from a final exam at Le Cordon Bleu)

Unsalted butter, room temp          6 oz

Powdered sugar                                4 oz

Eggs                                                    1 each

Yolks                                                   1 each

Vanilla extract                                   ½ tsp

Cake flour                                          10 oz

Cardamom                                         ½ tsp

Raspberry jam (or other for finishing)

Preheat oven: 360

           

1.     In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, powdered sugar and cardamom until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

2.     Add egg and yolk, one at a time, mixing between each to incorporate. Add vanilla and continue mixing.

3.     Add cake flour and mix until incorporated and all flour is worked in, but don’t overmix.

4.     Fill piping bag fitted with star tip, pipe out cookies in figure eight shapes onto baking sheets lined with parchment.

5.     In separate piping bag, add raspberry jam, then pipe in two places in the middle of the figure eight shape.

6.     Bake 3 minutes, rotate pan, bake 3 more minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack.