Cookie Swap: Perfectly Plain

I love cookies which appear plain, but taste special . I considered making some very interesting cookies I recently read about, for my entry in the
cookie swap. These "spoon cookies" were the subject of an article by Celia Barbour in the most recent Gourmet Magazine. A tradition in Ms. Barbour's Norweigan family, they are a jam sandwich cookie, made with browned butter, and shaped with a spoon. They are a model of elegant, painstaking deceptive simplicity, and the article made me wish I was a member of the Barbour family. I did make those cookies, they are delicious, and well worth the work. But they seemed to be so much her story that it would have felt peculiar to write about them. I highly recommend reading about them, though.

Not that I invented these chocolate cookies either-they are the furthest thing from original. They are, however, my all time favorite chocolate cookies, and this a "family" recipe in the peculiar sense that I learned of it through my daughter, a/k/a redfox. She made them for Christmas presents last year, after spotting the recipe in a New York Times Entertaining Supplement. They are from Pierre Herme, via Dorie Greenspan's wonderful Paris Sweets. I have gone on about this collection before, it is really, really good, and useful.

These goodies taste quite sophisticated, but not in a way which would offend the smallest, fussiest toddler, and they are as easy to make as any old american refrigerator cookie recipe. They are a tiny bit salty, and addictive as can be. This is the only chocolate cookie my elderly mother really likes. I can claim no credit whatever- I just follow the recipe,linked here. If you have trouble with the NYTimes linkage, email me, and I will send you the instructions. They look very, very ordinary, but taste truly special.

The only thing I do a bit differently is that I shape my rolls into long, thin oblongs, rather than cylinders, because I like the plain tiny wedge shaped cookies which result. Today, I was lazy and substituted callebaut bittersweet chips for the chopped chocolate. It's fine this way, but actually, I think chopping the chocolate a bit smaller than a chip makes an even nicer cookie. I cannot stress too much the importance of good chocolate, good cocoa, and absolutely use sea salt-preferably fleur de sel, if you can. You will notice the difference if you don't, no kidding.

You can see my first try spoon cookie here as well. Even my klutzy efforts have an endearing clam-like appearance. Obviously, I need way more practice with the spoon shaping part, but I must have done the toasted butter part properly, because they taste really good. A similar recipe can be found here, but it does not have the detailed browned butter instructions found in the Gourmet article. I don't know about you, but I hadn't been all that clear about the methods and stages of butter browning, and found these instructions helpful.

Comments

[Nic]

I think that the ideal cookie is one that is deceptively simple looking but delicious tasting. These sound really delicious.

[Luisa]

This recipe was the reason I bought that cookbook in the first place. The cookies are totally alluring and addictive.

[Rorie]

These chocolate cookies look heavenly - I'm definitely going to be making them soon! Yum!

[Arif]

would you mind sharing the recipe - the NY Times link doesn't work anymore. Thanks!

[lindy]

Thanks all.
Arif-If you email me, I will forward it to you. I have both recipes typed up already as an email I sent to someone else- but I haven't got your email address.

[Miss Tenacity]

I made Celia's cookies today, too! They are insanely fussy in her rendition (which is to shape them with a spoon and then build sandwiches out of them). But the taste is spectacular and I haven't even waited the requisite "2 days" yet. :-)

Of course, I wonder if they would be just as good and a bit less work to just treat them as shortbread and mash the dough into a pan all at once, then cut later and make the sandwiches that way. Hmmm.

I would also love the NY Times cookie recipe if you've got it typed up. Thank you very much.

[Tania]

Your cookies look and sound delicious, but now I'd love to taste them! Could you please send me a copy of the NY Times recipe? Thanks very much!

[Naugamonster]

Hello! Would love the recipe to these cookies, as well... the link is dead. Hope you can post the recipe for us all to enjoy! Many thanks!! ;)

my proper email is the address after "NOSPAM_."

[redfox]

Ha! I just wound up here after searching for the Celia Barbour recipe for myself. Nice to see we are in sync.

[Maida Barbour]

These are my mom's cookies (Celia's my sister) and they're Finnish, not Norwegian. You can find an active link at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/233297. And one more thing: yes the spoon shape is necessary to get that amazing 2-3 days later softening effect Celia mentions. Flat shortbread dough might work, but the extra work to use the spoons is well worth it, seriously.

[lindy]

Thanks Maida: I don't know where I got the idea they were Norwegan, the article says quite clearly that they are Finnish! I appreciate the active link, and I'm sure others will too.
I agree that they are well worth the trouble of using the spoon method- they're lovely.
I felt the extra 2 days not only softened them, but even improved the already excellent flavor, they are great cookies. I didn't find them all that "fussy", it just took a bit of time to learn to push them out of the spoon intact.

[Paige]

Thanks for a delicious-sounding Scandinavian recipe! I have got to try these!

[Joyce]

I know I am 2 years late !! However, these cookies look very delicious - would you mind sharing the recipe - the NY Times request for a lot of personal information which I am not ready to give out. Much appreciated.

[Jack Snyder]

Do you have sugarfree chocolate bars???

Thanks! Jack Snyder