Michelle Clark’s minor obsession with a dark chocolate–chipotle truffle got her thinking: could it translate into a cookie? The St. Paul, Minnesota, resident kicked the idea around for a few weeks before formulating an unforgettable cookie. “It has fun with your tongue,” she said. “You take a bite and you get one flavor; then you chew and you get another flavor. It’s not just, ‘Here, have a sugar cookie.’” To those who may say that Clark’s unconventional entry doesn’t overtly shout “Happy Holidays,” she has a response. “Sure, it’s not your basic Santa cutout cookie,” she said. “But it has both chocolate and cinnamon, and those are both Christmas flavors to me. Besides, to have the scent of chocolate and cinnamon in the oven, well, what’s more Christmas than that?”
A last-minute need to fill out a holiday cookie tray found Kay Lieberherr of St. Paul, Minnesota, turning to the palmiers at Surdyk’s in Minneapolis. “It turned out that everyone asked for the recipe for the palmiers, and not for the cookies that I had baked,” she said with a laugh. That response sent her on a mission to develop her own palmier recipe. Using commercially prepared puff pastry makes this recipe a snap to prepare. “I love it when you don’t spend a lot of time on something, yet people think, ‘Wow, that must have taken days,’” said Lieberherr.
Recipe by Agatha Kulaga & Erin Patinkin of Ovenly | Introduction by Food52's Kristen Miglore
Recipe by Maria Speck | Introduction by Food52's Kristen Miglore
Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crunch
FROM YANKEE MAGAZINE
Recipe introduction from Food52's Genius Desserts by Kristen Miglore:
The first step of our tarte Tatin recipe was on the stovetop, not in the oven. We arranged apple quarters in concentric circles in a skillet on their cut side so we could fit more fruit, and flipped the apples over as they caramelized. We prepared the caramel right in the skillet with the apples so the flavors melded and the apples were boiled in the buttery caramel sauce until they absorbed the syrup and become virtually candied. We then covered the syrup-soaked apples with an egg pastry that contained confectioners' sugar rather than granulated sugar, which can make the dough grainy. After baking our tarte Tatin recipe, we flipped the tart over, revealing concentric circles of apples glazed with golden caramel.
This recipe is inspired by the now famous Salty Honey Pie served at Four and Twenty Blackbirds in New York City. I have added tahini and chocolate to my pie as they are natural bedfellows and seem to bring out the best in each other. Add a pinch of sea salt flakes and a touch of vinegar to round things off and this is what you get.
When we were testing recipes for this book, our friend Paul came to the house carrying a basket of figs fresh from the tree. Being a warm and friendly team, we happily accepted his offer to make us a dessert. When we first tasted his tarte, we knew the recipe had to be in the book. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll be hooked, too. Figs are a rich source of minerals, including magnesium and calcium, and are also powerful antioxidants. This is a delicious dessert with no refined sugar or gluten—a summer delight.
This is a summer treat to make when peaches are at their best. If you wish, replace the peaches with apricots, the strawberries with raspberries and the Kirsch with Drambuie.