Payard Cookies

August 17, 2015
This sophisticated collection of 100 cookie recipes by Payard, a third-generation pastry chef, gives home bakers a guide to making sweet treats that are sure to impress. Standouts include diamants, vanilla-flavored cookies rolled in sugar to sparkle; a selection of airy tuiles, including almond, coconut, and cocoa nib; and fig purses, an Italian pastry pocket filled with jam. A chapter featuring minis—madelines, fruitcakes, and cannelés, to name a few—will elevate any cookie platter and garner attention. Holidays get their due with Payard’s Calendar of Cookies, leading readers through the year with royal iced sugar cookies such as New Year’s Eve crowns, to Father’s Day shirts, Halloween pumpkins and ghosts, and finally menorahs and snowmen. The Nutty, Spiced, & Fruity Cookies chapter takes center stage with the elegant, dessert-worthy pyramid-shaped coconut rochers, hazelnut-pistachio slices, and fanned, nut-studded almond gommés. Full-page color photos and an understated design make this a counter-worthy title. For those willing to get their hands dusty with flour and invest in some quality baking time, this cookbook will take them well beyond the basic chocolate chip cookie.

October 15, 2015

Collaborating with McBride, the food writer with whom he wrote Chocolate Epiphany, pastry master Payard teaches home bakers to prepare 100 classic cookies, ranging from French macarons and madeleines to Italian biscotti and pignoli. These small, jewel-like confections (e.g., apricot financiers, coconut rochers, almond tuiles) are firmly grounded in European tradition and make for attractive gifts and afternoon tea accompaniments. For holidays, Payard includes a "Calendar of Cookies" chapter that features seasonal decorating tips and recipes for three cookie doughs (sugar, gingerbread, gluten-free). Notably, he also shares recipes for praline and pistachio pastes, which can be hard to find in stores. VERDICT Experienced bakers will have no trouble with Payard's pleasing and precise cookie recipes.

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