Anita Chu’s “Field Guide to Cookies”

Today, I am very, very excited to share with you these wonderful cookies from Anita Chu’s “Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable”. As you know, Anita is the mastermind behind Dessert First, one of the most popular food blogs today. She approaches the classics with a modern and sophisticated touch and her photography is simple, clean and very evoking. And this book follows very much her style.

The first thing that surprised me when I read through “Field Guide to Cookies” was the amount of recipes and photos that were in it given its small size. It is a pocket book but features over 100 recipes and photographs. Really a well written cookie recipe book. I walked into Barnes and Noble on Monday to find this book on the shelves next to established pastry chefs and food writers. I was so proud Anita!

During the holiday season, I really like to bake for friends and family. Cookies make such great homemade gifts and I took this opportunity to review Anita’s book to start thinking about what cookies I will be making for the holidays this year. Certainly a few out of this book like these chocolate crinkles, rosemary and parmesan biscotti and my favorites, raspberry linzer cookies.

For the chocolate crinkles I used 72% chocolate which made them really dark, bitter and rich. I love how these cookies look too, the contrast of black and white.

Chocolate Crinkles

adapted from “Field Guide to Cookies”

6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
confectioners sugar for rolling

Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the meantime, whip the eggs with the sugar until thick. Add the vanilla extract and the melted chocolate and mix.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder into a bowl and add this to the chocolate mixture. Mix until combined.

Place this bowl in the refrigerator for about 2 hours until the dough hardens enough to scoop out.

Preheat oven to 325F. Scoop one inch balls. Roll these in powdered sugar and place them on sheetpans lined with parchment paper. Flatten the tops of the cookies a bit with your fingers and bake until set for about 12 minutes.

Rosemary and Parmesan Biscotti

adapted from “Field Guide to Cookies”

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp baking powder
2 springs fresh rosemary, chopped
3 1/2 Tbs freshly grated parmesan
2 eggs
3 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the first six ingredients. In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs and the melted butter and add to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

Divide the dough into two and roll each half into a log that is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the logs on a sheetpan lined with parchment bout 5 inches apart. Flatten the logs a bit and bake for about 30 minutes until lightly golden.

Let them cool completely and cut with a serrated knife into individual biscotti that are about 1/2 inch wide. Place them on the same sheetpan and bake at 250F for another 30 minutes until dry.

Linzer Cookies

adapted from “Field Guide to Cookies”

1 1/4 cups almonds
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam
Powdered sugar for dusting tops

Finely grind the almonds with the flour in a food processor. Combine this mixture with the spices, salt and baking powder.

Cream the butter and sugar together. add the egg and mix. Scrape the bowl and add the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

Turn the dough on a clean surface and flatten to a rectangle that is about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Roll the dough to about 1/16″ thick. Sometimes these doughs tend to get soft easy so tpicking up the cut out dough and manipulating it too much can result in deformed cookies. To avoid that, I tend to roll the dough on a silicon mat so it is easy to transfer to the refrigerator if I need to. Once dough is rolled, cut with desired cookie cutters and place on sheetpan lined with parchment. Using a small cutter, cut a shape out of half of the cookies which will be the tops. Refrigerate the cookies for an hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for approximately 8 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely.

To assemble, dust the tops with powdered sugar. Pipe a little bit of raspberry jam on bottom cookies and place the top on the jam, applying a bit of pressure so the cookies stick.

I hope you go out to your bookstores today and take a look at this great book and please visit the following blogs to read this book’s reviews, interviews with Anita and other great recipes.Thanks Anita for sharing this book with us!

Nov. 11th – Jen of Use Real Butter
Nov. 12th – Ari of Baking and Books
Nov. 13th – Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy
Nov. 14th – Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice
Nov. 17th – Helen of Tartelette
Nov. 18th – Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen
Nov. 19th – Cannelle et Vanille
Nov. 20th – Bea of La Tartine Gourmande
Nov. 21st – Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

And I also have to thank the lovely Suann from Simplesong for printing these cute cookie boxes for me!