One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes

by Tracey Zabar, Ellen Silverman (Photographer)

A delectable collection of cookie recipes from New York’s best chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers. Cookies are the perfect end to a wonderful meal. One-bite meringues and macaroons melt in your mouth, while linzers and tuiles are the ultimate fanciful confections. Tracey Zabar has selected distinctly original cookie recipes from seventy-five of the very best culinary talents in Manhattan. Some are the chefs’ personal recipes, while others are the signature creations of top restaurants-Le Cirque, Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern, Artisanal, City Bakery, Felidia, Daniel, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns are included in this scrumptious mix.
This irresistible array of more than ninety confectionary recipes for the home baker includes butterscotch and oatmeal cowboy cookies from Chef Mario Batali and his son Benno; coconut macaroons from master baker Sarabeth Levine; a chocolate chip cookie invented by Chef Todd English of Olives that combines his children’s favorite chocolate flavors with walnuts; Chef Jason Weiner of Almond’s rugelach; and Eli Zabar’s tempting buttery sugar cookies. There are also international cookies-Jammy Dodgers from England, wedding cookies from Puerto Rico, Kipferl from Austria, and Lamingtons from Australia. And chefs Francois Payard, Andre Soltner, and Daniel Boulud have added artful creations to the plate. This beautifully photographed book will not only appeal to discriminating dessert lovers but also to fans of New York City’s culinary scene, the cookie-swap aficionado, and the bake-sale maven. 

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2011

Reviews

[BRNTerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

THINGS I'VE MADE:

JACQUES TORRES CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES



This cookie is the one on the books cover. It looks a lot better than it tasted. It's very buttery. It's attractive but I don't care for the flavor of them and wouldn't make them again. The dough balls spread out nicely and I love the crackle top. The ones in the photo were from my first batch. They were baked on 325 degrees for 15 minutes but that was too long. 13.5 minutes is the perfect time for 1 tablespoon of dough.

RASPBERRY MUFFINS



These miniature muffins are actually called' chocolate chip berry muffins'. I left out the chocolate and used whole milk in place of cream. They're supposed to be made with cake flour but I used all-purpose and just left out two tablespoons of it. I made half the recipe and got 23, using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out the batter. They baked in 14 minutes, six minutes less than the recipe stated. The full recipe (using 1 1/2 c. flour) states you'll get about 24, which is clearly wrong. You'll get double that amount, or 12 regular size muffins. I added vanilla extract and a bit of almond extract to the batter but it needed more almond.

These are incredibly moist, almost too moist because of the raspberries. The tops were gummy the next day. They're not quite sweet enough. Despite those things this is a very good recipe. The muffin cups are almost 2" in diameter. The baked muffin tops are flat like in the photo in the book.

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES



These are beyond great and worth the price of the book. They have oats in them and only three tablespoons of peanut butter. I was positive I wouldn't be able to taste the peanut butter but I was wrong. I can taste and smell it. I think someone experimented with an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe by adding a little peanut butter to it and that's how this recipe came to be. Just for the heck of it I'll add an extra tablespoon of peanut butter to make 1/4 cup/4 tablespoons.

I used a 1 1/2" diameter/1 tablespoon cookie scoop and got 35 dough balls. The dough is soft and took ninety minutes to be firm enough to scoop out without sticking to the scoop. The cookies in my photos were baked eleven minutes and were too crunchy after they cooled but ten minutes was perfect for the other batches, at 350 degrees. My cookies actually look better than the photo in the book.

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES



These turned out great. I made half the recipe. I left out the chocolate chips and added chopped pecans and cinnamon. We were told to let the melted butter cool 'slightly' so I let it cool for just ten minutes. The temperature dropped 30 degrees, from 136 down to 106 Fahrenheit. I got 38 dough balls using a 1 1/2" diameter/1 tablespoon scoop. It took eighty minutes for the dough to be firm enough to scoop out. The dough spread out good and these baked in 10 1/2 minutes. My only complaint is that the dough needed more salt. I think I'll use 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon next time, not 3/4 teaspoon. I'll definitely make these again and maybe divide the dough in half, adding chocolate chips to one half.

MY THOUGHTS: The four things I baked turned out great in appearance and I liked the taste of them all except for the chocolate chip cookies, the first thing I baked out of this. There are still quite a few things I want to make out of the book, including several more chocolate chip cookie recipes. There aren't enough photos of the finished products and I wish publishers would understand the importance of them. I prefer to see what I'm baking before I actually bake it.

There's a good variety of recipes, like cookies, cakes, muffins, pies, and so on. I like that you can omit chocolate chips and substitute other things in place of them, like dried fruits and nuts, and create your own recipes.

I'm pretty happy with this book and can't wait to try more recipes.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

A soso cookie cookbook.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of these recipes sounded delicious, but too many of them use difficult techniques and/or hard-to-find and expensive ingredients to be practical for most home cooks. Definitely worth reading though-I think pretty much anyone who bakes could find several recipes they can't wait to try. And the photography is amazing!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

liked this collection from zabar with cookie recipes from famous chef favorites.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made several cookies from this book and they all turned out incredibly well. My favorite was the madeleine recipe. I’d never been able to make the perfect madeleine until now. I learned that the secret is placing the batter in the fridge overnight. This allows the batter to rise, which led to the fluffiest and most delicious madeleines I’ve ever made.

The book has a superb selection of recipes from all over the world (France, Belgium, Mexico, Austria, Italy, the U.K., and even an Amish rendition of Whoopie Pies!). Many sound like old family recipes that have been passed down. There are several variations on shortbread cookies, chocolate cookies, sugar cookies, biscottis and other dunking cookies. The recipe for macarons is so simple, I’m going to try it next.

Other reviews mention “hard to get ingredients”...but I have yet to encounter anything out of the ordinary. I’ve actually been surprised how un-intimidating all the recipes are.

This is a terrific and expansive cookie book that I’ll be buying as future presents. There’s 183 pages of recipes and plenty of photos. I love it.