THE NIBBLE Gourmet News & Views
Trends, Products & Items Of Note In The World Of Specialty Foods
Read all of our content on TheNibble.com, the online magazine about specialty food.
Archive for Cookies/Cake/Pastry
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June 28, 2008 at 8:00 am
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Coffee & Tea
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Cookie, waffle, chocolate and caramel in one luscious treat. Above, the Milk Cappuccino Dutch Moon stroopwafel cookie. Photography by Saidi Granados. |
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Stroopwafels are an old Dutch treat, invented in the town of Gouda in 1784. The traditional way to eat them is with a cup of coffee, tea or cocoa. Just before it is eaten, the stroopwafel is placed on top of the hot cup in order to soften it up; the filling melts, and scents of cinnamon and nutmeg are released into the air. Originally a poor man’s treat made from crumbs, the cookies are ubiquitous in Holland, from inexpensive supermarket varieties to artisan-baked cookies. An American wife and Dutch husband have revived the artisan art in New Amsterdam, with delightful results: Chewy, chocolate-dipped Dutch caramel wafers, for small daily indulgences, guest treats and gifts. They are perfect with coffee and tea, and a novel gift for a host or hostess.
We were sad when one of our favorite artisan producers in Massachusetts discontinued the delicious stroopwafel from its line. The complex yet homey cookies just weren’t moving as fast as other items, they said. We can only conclude that it’s because most Americans have never heard of a stroopwafel, and don’t know how good it is. Whether from a gourmet producer or the supermarket, it’s not easy to find a stroopwafel in this country. |
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So we were thrilled when, at a recent restaurant trade show in New York City, we came across Dutch Moon Cookies. New Yorker Tracey Denton and her Dutch husband Eelco Keij, created this Dutch treat for Americans. Succulent and cinnamony, it’s a most delicious introduction to the stroopwafel.
Read the full review on TheNibble.com.
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June 25, 2008 at 9:34 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Gluten-Free
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Great taste and gluten free. So’s the whole line of Mariposa baked treats. From top to bottom: Triple Chocolate Truffle Brownie, Coconut Lemon Square, Mocha Truffle Brownie. Photography by Saidi Granados. |
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This is the first gluten-free product to ever be named a Top Pick Of The Week, and the second “restricted diet” food.* But these brownies, coffeecakes and biscotti are good enough so that anyone can enjoy them and ask for seconds. With more people discovering they have gluten allergies, we want any of your friends and acquaintances who have such restrictions to know about Mariposa Baking Company.
*Divvies Cupcakes, a prior Top Pick, are dairy-free, egg-free and wheat-free. Some other Top Picks are naturally gluten-free because no products containing gluten are used in their production (e.g. olive oil and soft drinks).
Recommended by a NIBBLE reader, this bakery in Oakland, California, is a marvel. We taste quite a bit of gluten-free, sugar-free and fat-free baked goods, hoping to discover ones that taste good enough to recommend to people on restricted diets. Our standards are that they have to be good enough for everyone in the household to enjoy. Whatever magic is being practiced at Mariposa Bakery, these wheat-free, gluten-free brownies, biscotti and coffeecakes can be enjoyed by anyone. |
So even if gluten-free isn’t your food focus, take a minute to think of someone who will appreciate you forever for forwarding this review. Read more about Mariposa’s delectables in the full review. And take a look at more of our favorite baked goods in THE NIBBLE’s Cookies, Cakes & Pastries Section. |
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June 20, 2008 at 8:20 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, Cookies/Cake/Pastry
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While most Americans don’t have to go too far to buy a tarte aux pommes (French apple tart) or a mille-feuille (Napoleon), one of the toughest baked delicacies to track down is a macaron, a French macaroon. Those fortunate enough to dine out often on haute cuisine may get a decent macaroon on a petit-fours plate. Sometimes you can find them at retail; but like Aesop’s fox and his grapes, the macaroons are often dull when they should be exciting.
A hasty note: We are not speaking of the type of macaroon that is a hearty, chewy, mounded cookie made with coconut (see Erica’s Macaroons, another Top Pick Of The Week). Those coconut macaroons are only one variation on the theme, having evolved from the original Italian almond paste cookie, which was similar to today’s amaretti (read the history of the macaroon). French macaroons evolved in a different direction, some into ethereal, filled, meringue-like cookie sandwiches—pretty, variously flavored and colored, a delicacy for a sophisticated table. Yet, not everyone has the knack for making them this way. We’ve nibbled on quite a few macs that have made us long for better flavor and texture. |
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One of New York City’s prominent patissiers, Florian Belanger, recognized the need for an alternative to droning, monotonous macaroons. He began Mad Mac to supply restaurants, hotels and retail pastry stores nationwide. Thanks to online ordering, you, too, can enjoy tasty bites of Mad Mac, in colors that make a special dinner or a party even more festive. Made from egg whites, sugar and almond flour, macaroons are often a better end to a fine dinner than heavier sweets. And they’re easier: All you have to do is open the box and put them on a plate.Read the full review, see more photos of these mad, fun macaroons and get a tray or two for your own festivities. |
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June 4, 2008 at 2:11 pm
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Tip Of The Day
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| Turn plain tarts into ravishing beauties with creative garnishing. Some chocolate curls or rolls, a mint sprig, a few raspberries or a slice of star fruit, combined with a dab of crème fraîche or whipped cream, can turn something simple into something special. Read THE NIBBLE’s article on Garnish Glamour for dozens of ideas for both sweet and savory foods. |
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Put your own garnish on these tarts made from Clearbrook Farms Tart Kits, a Nibble Top Pick. |
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April 22, 2008 at 8:28 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, Special Sweets, Cookies/Cake/Pastry
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| We’re always on the lookout for “special” cookies, to bring (or send) as gifts or to serve as a light dessert at the end of a fine dinner. And when we invite friends and neighbors for tea or coffee, we like to set out something noteworthy yet effortless: impressive cookies. Alas, with the expense of running an artisan bakery these days, it’s not easy to find something noteworthy, much less impressive. The cookies in the case at most of our local bakeries and specialty food stores are pretty unexciting and not worth the calories. Meet Jon Dough—a.k.a. Jon Chazen, a pastry chef who is at the ready with a solution to the dull cookie blues. His company, Dough Ray Me, specializes in what we call mignardises (min-yar-DEEZ, from the French for “precious”)—although Jon Dough is too down-to-earth to use the term. Mignardises are a type of miniature baked good, also called petit-fours (you may get a plate of them at the end of dinner at a fine restaurant). Mignardises can take many shapes, and Jon’s are bite-size cookies. The ten varieties range from familiar flavors (double chocolate and peanut butter-chocolate) to the less familiar (hazelnut-cardamom and sesame-gingerbread). |
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Dough Ray Me cookies are so petite, they can sit on the saucer of a teacup. |
| The versatile bites are most welcome for entertaining, as a light dessert or a garnish for more elaborate desserts, and as a snack for people who deserve the best. Beautiful packaging choices makes these cookies a “precious” gift for any occasion. Party-givers can buy them in bulk. Read the full review of Dough Ray Me and then order your own stash. You can find more of our favorite cookies in the Cookies Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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March 18, 2008 at 8:03 pm
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Daily Food Holidays
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| We like oatmeal cookies, so we need no excuse to bake up a batch to celebrate Oatmeal Cookie Day. Our favorite variations are oatmeal chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin, where we substitute dried cherries for half of the raisins. But other people (specialty food companies, to be specific) have done a darn good job of baking their own variations on the oatmeal cookie. Here are some of our favorites:- Try the oatmeal cookies from Najla’s Kosher Gone Chunky. They arrive frozen, to be baked up whenever you need one or more. We must admit, they were so good, we ate the frozen dough from the freezer. |
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Wicked Whoopies’ Oatmeal Whoopie Pie: creme sandwiched in-between two crunchy, cinnamon-flavored oatmeal cookie. |
| - The makers of our favorite chocolate chip cookies, Levain Bakery, also make an oatmeal raisin cookie—huge, moist and delicious.
- Yee hah, these spicy Ancho Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Sparx are good.
- If you need a sugar-free oatmeal cookie, Curious Cookie has good ones.
- And if you want a whoopie pie made with two oatmeal cookies and a creamy filling between them, Wicked Whoopie Pies will oblige (photo above). Find more of our favorite cookies in the Cookie Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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March 13, 2008 at 2:28 pm
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Daily Food Holidays
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| March 13th, Coconut Torte Day, begs the question: What is a torte? Is it just a pretentious word for cake, something to make you think the torte is more special than an everyday cake? Nein, mein freund. While torte is the German word for what the British (and Americans) call cake and the French call gâteau, they don’t refer to identical confections. Different cooking traditions led to different styles of baking. British cakes and German tortes (and Italian tortas) are generally hardier creations than delicate French gâteaux. The French, those keen culinarians, went for light, rich, layered affairs stuffed with custard, whipped cream or butter cream, frosted, and decorated with fresh fruit—oh la la, but very perishable. While British culinary tradition created sturdier, longer-lasting pound cakes and fruit cakes, tortes are rich, dense cakes made with many eggs and little or no flour, using ground nuts (and sometimes breadcrumbs) for texture. A torte is thus easily recognizable because it’s much shorter than a cake, one layer and often no more than 2-1/2 inches high (there’s not much, if any, flour to rise). And it’s wider than a cake—10 to 12 inches in diameter compared to an 8-to-9-inch cake. That’s to compensate for the height, so each short wedge will be a good portion. |
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We love coconut, but with no time to bake a coconut torte, we’re having an all-chocolate Empire Torte with coconut ice cream. |
| “Flourless chocolate cakes” are actually tortes. Some are made with neither flour nor nuts, but just chocolate, sugar, eggs and flavorings, like our favorite Empire Torte, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. It comes in four flavors: Original plus Caramel, Orange and Raspberry. There’s no coconut, but you can have a scoop of coconut ice cream or sorbet on the side, and celebrate Coconut Torte Day in high style. For more cakes, tortes and gateaux, visit the Gourmet Cakes Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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March 13, 2008 at 11:20 am
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Recipes, Tip Of The Day, St. Patrick's Day
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Make a white chocolate frosting with Irish cream liqueur. Photo courtesy of Equinox Maple Flakes. |
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Celebrate the 17th with Irish Cream Icing. You can bake or buy brownies or a loaf cake and add this tasty homemade topping. Take 1/3 cup Irish cream liqueur (such as Bailey’s) and 8 ounces of top-quality white chocolate. Buy a good chocolate bar instead of baking chips, which can be vegetable oil instead of real chocolate. You can buy Green & Black’s, one of our favorites (it’s organic, too), readily available at Whole Foods Markets and elsewhere. In a small pan, bring the liqueur to a slow boil; then remove from the heat and whisk in the chopped white chocolate until it’s completely melted and the icing is smooth. Refrigerate until it becomes thick enough to spread, stirring occasionally. Spread the icing over the brownies or cake. Keep refrigerated until 30 minutes before serving.
- Make Irish Coffee to go with your dessert.
- Find more cake recipes in the Gourmet Cakes Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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March 7, 2008 at 6:06 pm
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Recipes, Tip Of The Day, St. Patrick's Day
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Bite me, I’m Irish. |
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You’ve got plenty of time to find a shamrock cookie cutter before the St. Patrick’s Day festivities begin. Then, bake up a batch of delicious butter cookies. (If you don’t have a shamrock cookie cutter, you can always make regular shapes with green décor.) Use your own favorite recipe, or try this recipe from Land O’ Lakes. Unless you need to use margarine for dietary reasons, always use butter—fresh butter, not a bar that’s been sitting in the refrigerator for a month, picking up flavors from other foods. You can also use the shamrock cookie cutter to make shamrock toasts for hors d’oeuvres, shamrock pancakes and even vegetable cut-outs. |
If you don’t want to bake, treat yourself to these hand-decorated cookies from Eleni’s, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week (read our review).
- See more of our favorite cookies in the Cookies & Brownies Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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March 6, 2008 at 7:52 am
· Filed under Special Sweets, Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Tip Of The Day
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| NIBBLE readers have the option to read our Top Pick Of The Week product review on TheNibble.com, or get it by email. It is emailed on Tuesday mornings at 8 a.m. By 8:37 a.m. on Tuesday, we got an email from this week’s Top Pick, Lisa’s Cookie Shop, saying that their “website was being hit like crazy” and they were “receiving a ton of online orders.” What does this mean?
1. People really like chocolate chip cookies, and Lisa’s other offering, bar cookies.
2. Photographer Claire Freierman did a very convincing job, making those cookies and bars look great on the page.
3. People are up really early reading their email, because the Top Pick has a national readership, and only about 25% live on the East Coast. |
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Lisa’s crunchy chocolate chip cookies.
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| The crisp, crunchy, wonderful chocolate chip cookie group includes Chocolate Chip Coconut Chocolate Chip cookies and Kitchen Sink (with cranberries and macadamia nuts). You could make meal of these cookies and never feel ill, they seem so wholesome and nutritious. We know, as we’ve done it five or six times while “researching” the review. Just the fragrance of butter, chocolate and other fine ingredients leaping out of the bag might be satisfying enough for those who feel the need for restraint. The soft, chewy Pecan Bars and Raspberry Bars are equally magnificent. The Pecan Bar is like a pecan-coconut pie-in-a-bar. And THE NIBBLE staff flipped over the moist, tender Frazzleberry Cookies—shortbread thumbprint cookies, rolled in coconut with a big well of lush raspberry jam. Everything is baked to order, so read the full review and order yours. Find more of our Top Picks Of The Week in the Top Picks Archives on THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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