Le Cookie: The American classic gets a French twist
A recipe for an over-the-top everything-on-top chocolate chip cookie
Bonjour! Bonjour!
I remember being tickled when I learned that the French had adopted the word cookie. And I remember being surprised when I learned that le cookie - it sounds so sophisticated, doesn't it - refers to only one type of cookie: The chocolate chipper, explaining why none of my French friends understood how there could be whole books devoted to cookies.
Le cookie has been around for a while, but it's only recently that Paris pastry chefs have given them star turns, and what they've done is really exciting. To put it in my best franglais, Le cookie has been relooké! Actually, it's been turned upside down.
LE SPIN ON LE COOKIE
From super-chef Cedric Grolet to the corner pâtissier, French bakers have been playing an original riff on our classic chocolate chip cookie and it's great. The cookie part is definitely a member of the extended Toll House clan, except – and here’s the best part – the chips that give the cookie its name are on top! So are the nuts. And the occasional bit of dried fruit. And sometimes some caramel. Bakers are making cookies the way they'd make tarts and the cookies are showy. They're clever. They're fun. And, because everything is on top, they feel like a new kind of cookie.
Photo from Baking with Dorie by Mark Weinberg
I got so excited about these new cookies that I made one up for BAKING WITH DORIE and called it Peanut-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Paris Style - it's a peanut butter cookie topped with a peanut praline (think crushed brittle), chunks of chocolate, and a peanut-praline butter (the whirred-until-spreadable brittle).
LE YUMMY
Since I first picked up on the trend, the toppings I've seen have become even more extravagant. Over the weekend, I stopped into Fou de Pâtisserie and discovered that they had a new cookie, Le Yummy, by Charlotte Zeitoun of Cookidiction, which bills itself as “real American cookies in Paris”.
Le Yummy by Cookidiction at Fou de Pâtisserie
It’s an abundantly topped cookie and, like some of the other most recent takes on the classic, this one has chocolate and nuts inside as well as out. At its heart, it’s a delicious peanut butter cookie – adding peanuts and Valrhona Caramélia chocolate to cookie dough is a luscious detail – topped with caramel and peanuts and peanut praline and candy-coated peanuts. At the Fou de Pâtisserie boutique, it’s also a show – the cookies are finished to order and it’s fun to watch. If you want to see Charlotte Zeitoun make the cookie and get the recipe, it’s here (in French). Here’s my cookie being made at the shop.
LE RITZIEST COOKIE
One of my favorite Paris versions of the over-the-top topped cookie is the one created by François Perret of The Ritz. I discovered it last summer when I went to his pastry shop, Le Comptoir, and I loved it so much that I tracked him down to talk about it. He was kind, adorable and generous and helped me work out the recipe. The first time François made the cookie he was at home during the “lockdown” and he baked it for his family. Later, when he made it for the pastry shop, he made individual cookies (still does), but when he baked for his family he made one big cookie that they could share. It’s the one I love most.
The base of the cookie is a remarkably chewy, brown sugar cookie – a cross between a sablé and the best American cookie. Some of that texture has to do with the sugar. He uses French cassonade, a coarse, almost grainy brown sugar that’s refined in a different way from our American brown sugar. François’ cookie spotlights hazelnuts – he uses a very thin hazelnut puree from Italy in the cookie dough, and the top of the cookie is covered from edge to edge with unskinned hazelnuts and chocolate chunks. The final touch is a sprinkle of fleur de sel and dabs of salted caramel.
I wrote about the many marvels of the cookie in my December 2021 column for the New York Times Magazine (by subscription).
Photo by Linda Xiao for the New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophie Leng
MY VERSION OF THE "TOPPED" COOKIE
When I returned to Connecticut to make the cookie, I tweaked it a bit. I used turbinado sugar in place of the French cassonade, which I couldn't find. Because Michael doesn’t love hazelnuts (thank goodness he has other winning traits) and because the hazelnut purees that I found weren’t as fluid as the one François used, I made the cookie with almond butter (a thinnish butter made only with almonds) and used almonds instead of hazelnuts on the top. Another time, I made the cookie with runny peanut butter – really peanut puree – and put peanuts on top. And just because I could, I made the cookie with Lotus Biscoff Cookie Butter one time and with Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter another; I think I used almonds then, but I might have opted for peanuts. The original cookie was baked in a cake ring; I baked mine in an upside down springform pan, minus the bottom. And when the salted caramel that I’d bought in Pont Aven was gone, I speckled the cookie with caramel topping I found in the ice cream aisle of Big Y. Despite the little changes, the cookie retained all of its charms. It’s a spectacular! Scroll down for the recipe.
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ONE BIG EVERYTHING-ON-TOP COOKIE
Adapted from François Perret of Ritz Paris Le Comptoir (my original version appeared in NYT Cooking)
Makes 10 to 12 servings
Just a few things to keep in mind when you prep the recipe:
The ingredients for the dough need to be soft and at room temperature – it’s an easy recipe, but the details matter
The butter needs to very soft, as in the consistency of mayonnaise
Ditto the almond butter – if it was refrigerated, pull it out and bring it to temp before you mix it in
And the egg mustn’t be cold
Also:
I use turbinado sugar or “sugar-in-the-raw” – both sugar-cane sugars that give the cookie a pleasant graininess. If you can’t find them, it’s better to use brown sugar (light or dark) than to miss making the cookie.
I’ve made the cookie with whole chopped almonds and, when I didn’t have them, I used sliced and slivered nuts. It’s nice to start with whole nuts, if you can, because then the pieces you chop will be different sizes and that’s always fun.
Like so many members of the chocolate-chip family, this cookie is comforting if you eat it warm, but Chef Perret likes to bring the cookie to room temperature before topping it with salt and caramel. If you wait until the cookie is cool, the caramel will hold its shape rather than melt, and provide something I love in sweets: intermittent surprises!
And yes, you can change the nut and nut butter flavors – see above and PLAYING AROUND below. (I used peanuts for the cookie in the picture above.)
INGREDIENTS
1 1/3 cups (181 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (4 ounces; 113 grams) very soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup (150 grams) turbinado sugar (see above)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoons (54 grams) pure almond butter, well stirred
1 large egg, at room temperature and lightly beaten
4 ounces (113 grams) semi or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (48 grams) whole almonds (blanched or skin-on, roasted or not), coarsely chopped (see above)
About 3 tablespoons (about 60 grams) caramel topping, for finishing
Fleur de sel, for finishing
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put the ring of a 9-inch springform pan (without its base) upside down on it. The ridge that runs around the ring should be on top.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer or elbow grease), beat the butter, sugar and salt on medium-low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. You’re not looking to beat air into the mixture, but you do want to get it smooth. Scrape in the almond butter and mix for 2 more minutes. Add about one-third of the dry ingredients and beat on medium-low until blended. Pour in the egg and mix on low until incorporated. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix on low only until they just disappear into the dough. Scrape the dough into the center of the springform ring.
Using a flexible or offset spatula or your fingers, spread the dough out as evenly as you can – it takes some cajoling. You don’t have to press it down aggressively, but you should try to get it relatively smooth. Scatter the chocolate over the surface and then scatter over the almonds.
A test I did before I realized it was better to turn the springform pan upside down
Bake the cookie for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and immediately — and carefully — open and lift off the springform. If it looks as though the cookie might have stuck to the ring, run a table knife around the edge of the cookie before opening the clamp. Let cool to room temperature.
When the cookie is cool, sparingly – or generously – dot the top with caramel; if you’d like, you can drizzle the caramel. Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel. Cut the cookie into 10 to 12 wedges or go rogue and cut it into other shapes.
STORING: Wrapped, the cookie will keep for about 4 days at room temperature. You can wrap leftovers airtight and freeze them for about a month; defrost in the wrapper. The caramel might get a little wonky, but the cookie will still be tasty.
PLAYING AROUND: I’ve played around with different nuts and nut butters and you might want to, too (see above). Hazelnut, peanut, pistachio and almond are all easy swaps, the only important thing to keep in mind is that the butters have to be at room temperature and shouldn’t be too thick. And, while I’ve always opted for caramel as the finishing touch, there’s no reason it couldn’t chocolate or butterscotch sauce. If you have any other ideas, I hope you'll share them in the comments!
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