The Complete Cookie - Couverture rigide

Biscotti

Carefully sculpted and dressed to the nines, these are high-style denizens of the cookie world.  Most are fashioned from firm, thick doughs that hold their form when baked, with little leavening added.

Shaped cookies include such fanciful hand-formed configurations as crescents, pretzels, and bow ties.  The shaping is easier if you work with lightly floured fingers.  Pizzelles, made with the aid of a specialized pizzelle iron, can be shaped into old-fashioned ice cream or dessert cones while still hot off the iron.

Biscotti and mandelbrot are shaped into loaves, baked, sliced, and baked once more.  Mandelbrot, which contains oil, should have a toasty crust and a slightly pliable center.  The drier biscotti ranges from merely crisp, if baked the second time standing upright, to downright brittle--and begging to be dunked--when the slices are toasted on their sides.

Rich spritz cookies are made from a buttery dough that's pressed onto sheets using a cookie press fitted with a decorative disc.  For best results, make sure the cookie sheets are at room temperature and position the press perpendicular to the sheet.  Know that the first cookie or two out of the press will probably be a bit irregular in shape.

We call for fitting the press with a simple star-shaped disc; if you use a more intricate pattern, refrigerate the cookies on the sheet for about 5 minutes to firm before baking.  Spritz dough can also be chilled for an hour, rolled out, and cut into decorative shapes with cookie cutters.

Our molded cookies include madeleines, shortbreads, and springles.  Crispy shells with spongy centers, madeleines add an elegant finishing touch to any meal.  They're baked in the sculpted molds of madeleine plaques.  Be sure to grease the molds well; the cakes should pop right out of inverted plaques onto cooling racks.

Shortbreads and shortbread derivatives can be baked either in cake pans or in decorative ceramic, stoneware, or iron molds.  The dough is pressed down firmly into the pan or mold, and often is prescored to facilitate cutting.  For this type of cookie, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and place the pan on the upper rack.

Preparation of springles requires a special decoratively carved rolling pin that scores and molds a pattern onto the dough as it is rolled out.  The cookies are then cut out along the scores and transferred to sheets for baking.

Store shaped, pressed, or molded cookies in cookie jars or cookie tins. They're in their prime for 5 days.  Dry by nature, this type of cookie does not take well to refrigeration, but can be frozen for up to 3 months.  Biscotti and mandelbrot will remain fresh and flavorful for weeks in a jar or tin.
Ginger Pear Biscotti

Yield=About 3 dozen biscotti

This highly unique biscotti is redolent of ginger and flecked with dried pear. We like to eat it in the classic manner, dipped in port or another dessert wine.

Take care not to overcook these during the second baking.   Remove them from the oven as soon as the cookies are very dry to the touch and slightly crisp; like all biscotti, they will continue to crisp with cooling.   For more brittle biscotti, lay the cookies on their sides rather than standing them upright during the second baking.

3 cups all-purpose flour
l/2 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
6 ounces dried pears, diced (about 3/4 cup)
4 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
l/3 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 12-by-15 inch baking sheet with baker's parchment.

Sift the flour, baking powder, ginger, salt, and sugar together into a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the dried pears and make a well in the center.

Whisk the eggs in a small bowl.  Add the vanilla and honey, whisking until well blended.  Pour into the well of the flour mixture.  Stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is completely incorporated.  Set aside for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and form each half on the prepared baking sheet into a 3/4-inch-high loaf about 10 inches long and 3 inches wide.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden.

Remove the loaves to a work surface.  With a serrated knife, cut into 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices.  For brittle biscotti, lay the slices on their sides on the baking sheet.  Return to the oven and toast for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned.  For slightly softer biscotti, stand the slices upright and toast for about 15 minutes.

Remove the biscotti to a wire rack and cool completely.

Who doesn't love cookies? Milk and cookies evoke memories of childhood treats. The delicate cookies served with coffee in so many restaurants provide a small indulgence without excessive guilt. Chocolate chip cookies are as American as apple pie.

In The Complete Cookie, veteran authors Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey present home cooks with a single-source reference for producing the best-ever cookies of every kind: filled, rolled, drop, bar, shaped, pressed, and molded. There are chapters highlighting decadent holiday cookies, as well as those of the healthful persuasion (sugarless, flourless, nonfat, and low-fat). Sidebars offer hints and tips galore on decorating, frosting, cutting, and storing, as well as instructions for homemade fillings, flavorings, and candied fruit. Special sections provide a wealth of essential information on ingredients, equipment, and techniques.

Illustrated with eight pages of glorious full-color photographs, The Complete Cookie is an up-to-the-minute guide for modern cooks. You'll find recipes not only for the classics, including big, chewy chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, but also novel twists on old-time favorites -- such as chocolate rugalach (out of this world!) and ginger biscotti (divine!) -- to suit sophisticated tastes.

Just reading these pages will be enough to have even timid bakers reaching for the nearest sack of flour.