La Cocotte Verte

Gingersnaps are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, glittering with the sugar they’re rolled in before baking.

Gingercakes are something entirely different: soft, spicy, luxuriously thick. In addition to the classic gingersnap duo of ginger and cinnamon, they include a spicy hit of cloves. Paired with a chocolate truffle filling, they create a perfect little indulgence to accompany a cup of coffee or tea as the finale to a meal or an afternoon treat.

All too often, amaretti recipes are based on commercial almond paste, producing a gummy, overly-sweet, lifeless cookie with an overpowering marzipan flavor and no crunch. These are nutty, crunchy morsels with a chewy, almond-y center. They are delicious as-is, but if you are the sort inclined to gild all passing lillies on [...]

Yet another member of the wide-ranging Mexican Wedding Cookie/Russian Tea Cake family, Almond Crescents are buttery, only lightly sweet, and somewhere between crisp and crumbly. Finely-milled almond flour and a touch of walnut oil are the secret to their rich taste and tender, delicate texture. Almond Crescents keep well stored in a tightly-sealed container, although their confectioner’s sugar coating can get a bit spotty-looking if they are stored for a while, so give them a final roll in the sugar before serving to restore their snowy-white appearance.

Plump, intensely chocolate, with a fudgy texture and a delicate shiny crust, these cookies are a chocolate-lover’s dream. Although chocolate purists may shudder at the idea, added hits of cinnamon and cayenne add warm, spicy notes that round out the chocolate flavors (as well as keep tasters trying to guess what on earth makes these cookies so deliciously different!)

One the best and simplest ways to complete a Summer meal: red-ripe strawberries drizzled with a thick balsamic glaze. Easy, tart-sweet, and healthy! Here the strawberries are accented with crisp shortbreads, richly flavored with ground nuts and spices. To further gild the lily, the shortbreads are topped with crunchy whole hazelnuts and half-dipped in melted bittersweet chocolate.

Sables are delicate French butter cookies, similar to shortbread. Their unique sandy texture and rich, buttery flavor are due to cooked egg yolk and European-style butter, which has a lower water content than American butter. Sables are quite fragile, so handle with care! Their crisp lightness pairs well with fruit, or adds a finishing touch to ices and sorbets.