When I read in Fany Gerson’s My Sweet Mexico that well-rendered lard actually has less saturated fat than butter, I decided to finally try it. Making a special trip to the farmer’s market, I picked up a tub of Flying Pigs farm leaf lard – the best grade for baking. A little bit of lard goes a long way to making pie crusts flaky, so I thought it would work well for mantecados. I didn’t want to lose the barely there flavor of butter so I didn’t go whole hog, using equal parts lard and butter. Instead of cinnamon and cloves, I opted for crushed anise seeds and lemon. As promised, they were all crumble and sand – a new favorite that couldn’t be older. Feliz Nochebuena!

Mantecados de Ánis/Anise Shortbread Cookies
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces leaf lard, at room temperature
1 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from one large lemon
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon anise seeds, crushed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and lard at medium speed for about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and increase the speed to medium-high. Occasionally stopping to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, continue to beat until it is pale and fluffy, an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Blend together the flour, spices and salt. Add this to the creamed butter all at once then stir with a wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of turns. Return the bowl to the stand and mix on the lowest speed until the flour is just incorporated, do not over mix. Turn out the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, push together to form a large flat disc, and wrap well. Refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Scoop out the dough in tablespoons, roll into a ball and place on the cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Using a small spoon dipped in flour, press down on each ball so it form a round disc about 1/2-inch thick. The dough will be fragile but if it cracks or the dough falls apart it can be gently pressed together or reshaped. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake the cookies until the edges are lightly golden, though the tops will still be pale, 12-14 minutes. Remove from the oven and while still warm, sprinkle generously with confectioners’ sugar. Using a spatula, carefully remove the cookies and lay out on a cooling rack.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen.

Established in the Colchagua Valley, between the Andes and Pacific, the olives are gently shaken from the trees with the same machine used to harvest grapes in the surrounding vineyards (though I like to imagine the work done by a crack team of gentle giants). The olives are pressed within four hours of harvesting – by-products are repurposed as organic fertilizer and even the pits are used to fuel the generator. The company launched its O-LIVE & Co and award winning Santiago lines in the US last year. Not limited to a single producer, Jim Leahy of Sullivan Street Bakery has also started to market Chilean olive oil under his own label.

A few months ago, I received some bottles of Olisur and planned on doing a well considered tasting and comparison to the Spanish olive oil I keep on hand. Unfortunately, I found myself short one night mid-recipe so I cracked open the first bottle without any ceremony, telling myself there was plenty left to do a real tasting later. Since then I’ve used it for vinaigrettes, sofritos, sauces, stews, beans and fish. No tastings but lots of flavor – grassy, peppery, green. Having drained the first bottle to the last drop, the remaining two were in danger. There’s nothing better than a night of picadera so I planned on putting together a grazing menu for some friends for long weekend catch-up, serving the olive oil on it’s own with just some bread for dipping.

For the rest, I was going to round up the usual Mediterranean suspects – manchego, membrillo, prosciutto – but decided to go south instead – all the way south. I knew we’d probably skip dinner so I made sweet and savory pork empanadas from Chilean viticultarist Valeria Huneeus and galleticas de aji amarillo topped with a feta cilantro dip. Curious about other Chilean products, I made my way down to Soho’s Puro Chile and found tinned king crab ready for dressing and almonds dusted with merkén, a Mapuchen spice made from cacho de cabra (goat’s horn) peppers and blended with coriander and cumin.  Similar to a smoky pimentón, it’s been making its way into everything since.

Of course I had to include wine and stopped by Puro Wine. The Carménère they recommended had its own story. Originally from the Medoc region of Bordeaux, cuttings were brought to Chile in the mid-19th century shortly before a plague of phylloxera made the grape all but extinct in France. The vines thrived in Chile but in disguise. For over a hundred years, they were confused with Merlot, giving Chilean Merlot its distinct quality but robbing the Carménère of its own identity. Rediscovered in the 1990’s, an in depth study confirmed that it was actually “the lost grape of Bordeaux,” thriving in the same Colchagua Valley where the olive groves took root, because no one told it not to.

Galleticas de Ají /Ají Crackers
Inspired by Three Generations of Chilean Cuisine by Mirtha Umana-Murray.

4 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 -2 tablespoons ají amarillo paste
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
½ cup parmesan, shredded
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In an electric mixer fitten with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the  ají amarillo paste and continue to beat until just combined, occasionally scraping down the sides, about 1-2 minutes. Combine flour, parmesan, salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the flour mixture for a couple of turns. Return to stand and mix on low speed until flour is just incorporated. Pour onto a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log. Chill until firm at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet non-stick liner or parchment paper.

Cut the log crosswise into ¼” slices placing them on the prepared baking sheet about ½” apart. Place in the oven and bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to rack.

It’s impossible to cook a Julia Child recipe without summoning her in some way.  From the first moment, you can feel her peering over your shoulder – self-assured, encouraging, generous.  Once you’ve started, you’ll do anything to keep her there,  so I’m always on the look-out for Julia Child cookbooks.  Just before my last birthday, I found a second-hand copy of From Julia Child’s Kitchen that included this recipe for les Madeleines de Commercy.  When the Cooking Channel invited bloggers to celebrate her upcoming birthday by posting about one of her recipes, I knew which one I wanted to make.

This recipe is everything I love about Julia Child (I’m sorry but I just can’t call her Julia).  Well before Madeleines were readily available, wrapped in plastic and holding their breath at any given Starbucks, she was trying to find the her own way back to the perfect Proustian Madeleine, part cake, part cookie and made to crumble in tea.  After featuring Madeleines à la génoise on her show, she responded to a viewers desire to see the heavier Madeleines, with the hump in the middle, made famous by the bakers of Commercy (and of course Marcel Proust) with this recipe.

Based on Pierre Lacam’s Le Nouveau Mémorial de la Pâtisserie et des Glaces, the batter rests for an hour to allow the butter to congeal so that the hump will form during baking.  I’d made them once before and tried to adapt them to my Kitchen Aid mixer, an unnecessary step.  Julia Child had seen the electric mixer and the beaters, if they were called for, she would have told us.  Limiting myself to a mixing bowl and wooden spoon was oddly liberating, a reminder that modern conveniences aren’t always convenient.  I could have even done without the specialized Madeleine pans with the shell-shaped depressions.  Her husband, Paul, believed early cooks used cockle shells and they tested it with ribbed scallop shells that worked.  As they were baking, I could imagine whipping up a batch on a dessert island (provided it was stocked with unbleached, all-purposed flour as well).

Rested, scooped and baking, they were at the halfway point when I started to get nervous.  The batter had spread evenly to fill the shells but there were no humps in sight.  With only a couple of minutes left, they started to emerge and I breathed a sigh of relief.  Unmolded and wobbling back and forth like newborns, I had the same question as Julia Child.  Wondering why they should be baked in shell-shaped molds if they’re served hump side up, hiding the pretty ridges that were formed, she regrets “that only the ancient bakers of Commercy can say, if they could but mumble to us from their tombs.”  For once, she didn’t have the answer, but it was comforting to know that even Julia Child looked for ghosts in her kitchen.

Les Madeleines de Commercy/The Madeleines with The Hump on Top

Original recipe found in  From Julia Child’s Kitchen by Julia Child.

2 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
4 ounces unsalted butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons for buttering the molds (total of 5 1/4 ounces)
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Grated lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
3 drops of lemon juice (or 2 of lemon and 2 of bergamot)

2 large Madeleine pans

Per original recipe, all ingredients should be brought to room temperature before mixing so that the melted butter does not congeal in the batter before the ingredients have blended together.

Combine flour and sugar in a mixing bowl and add three quarters of the eggs.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend into a heavy cream – if very stiff, add a little bit of the remaining egg, one droplet at a time.  Set aside for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, bring all of the butter to a boil until it begins to brown very lightly.  Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and tablespoon of flour in a small bowl and set aside.

Stir the rest of the butter over cold water until cool but still liquid.  Beat the remaining bit of egg into the batter and stir in the cool butter.  Stir in the salt, vanilla, grated lemon zest, lemon juice (and bergamot if using).  Cover the batter, and set aside in the refrigerator for at least one hour.  Meanwhile, paint the Madeleine cups with a light coating of the browned butter and flour mixture, wiping up any pools that form in the bottom.  Set aside or refrigerate if the  kitchen is warm.

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Using a spoon and rubber spatula, drop a rounded tablespoonful of batter into each Madeleine cup.  Do not spread the batter to fill the mold.  Repeat with remaining batter and mold.  Set pans on the middle rack and bake for about 15 minutes.  The batter will spread on its own to fill the cups and a hump will gradually form in the middle.  Unmold onto a rack, humped side up.

Serve as is, or sprinkle tops with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.*

Makes 2 dozen Madeleines.

Notes:  When cool, they can also be wrapped and frozen for later.

I’d been burned before.  Last summer I found an old recipe for Brazilian coconut candies called  brasileiras.  I put all the ingredients together as directed – egg yolks, freshly shredded coconut, sugar – but they wanted nothing to do with each other.  I Googled “brasilerias” to find my mistake but the results were (not surprisingly) unhelpful.  A few weeks later, I attempted beijinhos de coco or “coconut kisses”. Similar to the brasileiras, they’re a combination of condensed milk, butter, and grated coconut that are rolled into balls and decorated with a single clove.  This version called for a final dip in chocolate and almonds.  I should have known when I wasn’t able to form the coconut into balls, mounds or anything like it that I’d made a mistake somewhere.  I kept going anyway, making an expensive chocolate almond mess.  I pretended they were edible, but after a day or two, I stopped kidding myself and threw the rest away.  I hadn’t looked a coconut in the eyes since.

That’s where I was yesterday when I read Julia Moskin’s New York Time’s article, “Milk in a Can Goes Glam“, that included this recipe for coconut brigadeiros by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz.  I needed something to bring to a friend’s house and these would be perfect (if it worked).  As Leticia explains:

“Brigadeiros are like the cupcakes of Brazil,” Ms. Moreinos Schwartz said. “They are at every birthday party.” (They are named for a once-popular politician, Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, who ran for president in 1945 under the slogan “Vote no brigadeiro, que é bonito e é solteiro” — “Vote for the brigadier, who’s good-looking and single.”)

Traditionally, brigadeiros have added cocoa powder and the fudge is then rolled in chocolate sprinkles.  The coconut version is similar to beijinhos, but I didn’t mind switching the chocolate to coconut as long as they had a new name (with a flirty origin) to make a fresh start.

Brigadeiros de Côco/Coconut Brigadeiros
Barely adapted from Leticia Moreinos Schwartz, The Brazilian Kitchen.  The recipe is straightforward, but I made sure I had a spare can of condensed milk in case I need to start over.  It called for corn syrup, which I usually avoid, but wasn’t taking any chances.  When my first batch produced the blob as promised, I decided to use my spare ingredients to switch out the corn syrup for honey.  Darker and sweeter, I decided to roll them in toasted coconut.

1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons light corn syrup or mild honey
1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut (see note).

In a medium-size heavy saucepan, combine condensed milk, coconut milk, butter, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup shredded coconut. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk constantly until fudgy and whisk leaves trails in the mixture, 8 to 10 minutes. When mixture is ready, it will pull together into one soft piece, leaving browned residue on bottom of pan.

Slide mixture into a bowl. (Don’t scrape the pan; leave any residue behind.) Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until very firm, 3-4 hours.

Place remaining 1 cup of coconut in a wide bowl.  Scoop out a teaspoon of batter and roll into a ball.  Drop into the coconut as you finish rolling it.  Roll 4 to 6 brigadeiros at a time through coconut, covering surface completely. Lift out and shake off the excess.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 1 month. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: About 30 brigadeiros.

Note: If you’d like to toast coconut for rolling.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread remaining coconut on a baking sheet checking often and stirring regularly, about 4-5 minutes.

I’ve become deeply suspicious of Cuban cookies.  It’s not really the cookie’s fault.  They’re just not what we do.  Growing up, home baked cookies weren’t foreign but they did have the exoticism of something you’d mostly like get at a friend’s house.  Tres leches, meringues, tocino del cielo, flan were home, toll house was not.  The last couple of months, I’ve tried a few forgettable variations. I follow the recipes to the letter but cusubes elude me and my caballitos de queque were cinnamon drenched failures.  This being the cookie season, I looked though all my Cuban sources for a new recipe that was traditional but workable.  Many called for Crisco with 1950′s abandon while others were really turrones (blended with more Crisco).

Finally, I found estrellas de chocolate.  Star-shaped chocolate sandwich cookies with peppermint cream cheese filling dipped in melted chocolate and rolled in coconut, it sounded like an Oreo having a nervous breakdown.  I had to try it.  Refusing to go down with a bad recipe a third time, I decided to approach each part separately and see what worked.

I used my favorite chocolate wafer recipe and replaced the butter in the heavy chocolate coating with grapeseed oil for a lighter finish.  The cream cheese and peppermint filling worked really well but I left off the shredded coconut.  In the end, they were pretty but plain so I added a little sanding sugar.  I had taken away so many of their frills that I wanted to give them back a little sparkle so they still felt like themselves.

Estrellas de Chocolate/ Chocolate Stars
I came across the idea in Nitza Villapol’s Cocina al Minuto but the recipe is largely adapted from Gourmet, December 2007.  Getting it all down, I realized that it seemed like a lot of steps but it actually goes very smoothly since the filling and coating can be done quickly while the dough is chilling.

For cookies:
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For filling:
3 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Chocolate coating:
1 cup (166 grams) 72% bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (25 grams)  grapeseed oil

Make dough:
In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt then set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed till creamy about one minute.  Slowly add sugar and continue to beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 5 additional minutes.

Add flour mixture all at once and stir with a spoon or spatula for a couple of turns.  Return to stand and beat on low speed until just combined.  Divide dough in half and form into discs.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate till firm, at least 3 hours (dough can be chilled up to 2 days).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle.  Line two baking sheets non-stick liner or greased parchment paper.

Between two sheets of parchment or wax paper, roll out dough to a 1/8″ thick.  Refrigerate or freeze until firm again, about 10 minutes.  Repeat with the second disc.

Using a star cutter (or other desired shape), cut out as many stars as possible from first chilled square.  Immediately transfer cookies to prepared sheet, arranging them 1/2 inch apart.  (If dough becomes to soft, return to freezer until firm.)

Bake until baked through and slightly puffed, 10 to 12 minutes.  Cool on sheet on rack for 5 minutes then transfer to rack.  Repeat with remaining dough.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Slowly beat in confectioner’s sugar until light and fluffy.  Blend in peppermint extract.  Using a pastry bag, pipe filling onto flat side of cookie and top with second cookie.  Chill until filling is set, about 15 minutes.

Place chocolate in a double boiler or heatproof bowl over simmering water and stir until melted.  Off heat, slowly add grapeseed oil until completely blended.

Place cooling rack over a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper.  Balance each filled cookie on a fork over bowl and cover with chocolate until completely coated.  Place on rack and repeat.  Freeze cookies till coating set, at least 15 minutes.

Makes 25 large or 50 small cookies.

I had resolved to take a dessert break last week but made an exception for this batch of Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.  They were made on request to take as a gift so I wasn’t tempted for long, though the box did go out 1 or 2 or 3 light.  Similar to nutty Mexican polvorones known as wedding cookies here, the recipe calls for added chocolate, coffee, and optional ancho chile powder.  Though the recipes in the book are pretty foolproof, I didn’t think the chile could only be optional if they were to give an authentically Mexican kick to the crackles. 

Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.  This is my go to recipe for thank yous and hostess gifts, especially during the holidays, and comes together easily.  For another alternative mixing chocolate and chile, click here for a Mexican brownie recipe from A Chica Bakes.

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon brewed espresso
6 ounces 70 percent cacao bittersweet, finely chopped
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) plus 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (3 ounces) almonds, toasted and cooled completely
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder
3/4 cup (3 ounces) unsifted confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread almonds on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, about 7-9 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Bring two inches of water to a simmer in a double boiler or heavy saucepan.  Turn off the heat.  Place the chocolate, butter and espresso in a double boiler or heatproof bowl and set over steaming water.  Stir until chocolate is melted and set aside to cool.

Beat together the eggs with the 1/2 cup of sugar in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment at high speed until it is pale and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes.  Blend the melted chocolate into the eggs until incorporated, about 1 minute.

In a food processor, pulse flour, cinnamon, baking powder, chile powder and almonds till finely chopped, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.  Stir with wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of turns to ensure that all of the flour is incorporated.  Cover with plastic and refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours.*

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls and roll in the remaining granulated sugar and then roll generously in the confectioner’s sugar.  Place on prepared cookie sheet, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake one sheet at a time for 11 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until cookies are set.  They should slide when nudged and not stick to the pan.  Cool on a rack.

*At this point the dough can be refrigerated for three days or scooped into balls and frozen in plastic freezer bags for up to three months.

I was in the final stretch of making Sunday lunch for my uncle and favorite cooking aunt, debating where I should buy a jar of dulce de leche to add to the polovorones or shortbread cookies I’d made earlier.  The gourmet shops nearby carry the good but expensive La Salamandra while the Colombian stores have a wider selection but seemed too far away in Queens.  I decided to make my own instead.  Though I knew it was easily done at home, I’d always avoided it in the past.  Worried about exploding cans, we’d take them off heat too early and end up with milky mustard instead of a deep caramel (though it was still happily eaten).  I found these recipes on From Argentina With Love for making dulce de leche at home that skipped the treacherous can boiling.  Unwilling to face yet another grocery store run to buy whole milk, I tried the second version where a can of condensed milk is cooked in the top of a double boiler over a pan half filled with water.  Though it takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours, it only needs to be checked and stirred about every 45 minutes freeing me up to work on other things.  Because I’d rolled the polvorones thinner than usual, I watched the cookies closely and shortened the baking time to 10 minutes.  I let the dulce de leche cook the entire time for a thicker consistency.  Too rich to spread, it was the right consistency for holding together the crumbly cookies.  A painless last minute (+two hour) solution.

Polvorones con Dulce de Leche/Spanish Short Bread with Dulce de Leche
This is my favorite shortbread recipe adapted from A Taste of Old Cuba by Maria Josefa Lluria de O’Higgins.

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar plus more for rolling
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dulce de leche for filling (see above)

Beat together butter with the 1/2 cup of sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment at medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract.

Combine flour and salt and add to mixer at once the stir with wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of turns.  Return to stand and mix on low speed until just incorporated.  Refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Roll the dough 1/8 inch and return to the refrigerator for an additional 15 minutes.  Cut into desired shapes.

Bake them for about 14 minutes, until lightly golden.

When they are cool, fill them with one teaspoon of dulce de leche filling and sandwich with another cookie.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Makes 3 dozen.

This week I’ve been practicing my Abuela Carmita’s natilla, a traditional custard similar to the Spanish crema catalana.  A teacher in Cuba, my sister and I were left with her in the morning to learn Spanish which our parents worried we’d forget.  After making us cafe con leche with toast (sliced in thirds and sprinkled with sugar), she would start the natilla early so it would have time to chill.  Setting aside the whites to make meringues later, she’d heat the milk and beat the egg yolks.  My sister and I would watch her stir, ready to fight over the wooden spoon and the raspa left behind in the still warm pot after she’d poured out the custard into individual blue bowls.  Mixing the meringue with my grandfather, they’d piped it into tiny mounds and set them to bake, then he would make lunch while we sat down to our lessons.  Lamenting that if we still lived in Cuba we’d be learning French instead, she’d lead us through the letters and rhymes in our silabarios until lunch was ready.  When it was finally time for dessert, my grandfather’s bowl would have the cinnamon stick and lime peel (not sure why) while ours had our initials written across the top in cinnamon (which I just realized is almost impossible to do).  The crisp meringues would disappear in a puff leaving behind a slightly soft center while the custard was smooth and creamy but held its form.  Teaching myself the recipe, I worried that the yolks would scramble and spent almost an hour in my sweltering kitchen stirring one batch over too little heat.  Remembering her easy patience, I tried again. Getting it right on my third attempt, I can’t stop going to my refrigerator to look down at the same blue bowls finally full of my grandmother’s natilla.

Natilla/Cuban Custard

4 cups whole milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 2″ lime peel
1 pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine milk, cinnamon, lime peel and salt in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat until it just begins to boil.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Using and electric or hand mixer, beat the egg yolks on medium, gradually adding the sugar until they’re pale yellow and form a ribbon. Whisk in the dissolved cornstarch to the egg mixture.  Whisk in one cup of the cooled milk.  Add the rest of the cooled milk.  Return egg and milk mixture to saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens, about 13-15 minutes.

Removed from heat and add vanilla.  Strain mixture into large serving bowl or individual bowls or ramekins.  Sift cinnamon over custard to taste.  Chill in the refrigerator until set, at least 2 hours.

Makes 8 servings.

Meringues*

4 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of sugar, divided

Preheat oven to 200 degrees**.  Line two large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites in an electric stand or hand mixer on a low setting until foamy for about a minute.  Add a pinch of salt and increase to medium speed till they hold soft peaks.  Gradually add 1/2 cup of sugar and increase to high speed till meringue holds stiff peaks, about 2 minutes.

Gently fold in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.  Pipe onto the prepared baking sheet in the desired shape using a pastry bag  or drop into small mounds with a spoon.

Bake in preheated oven for about 2 hours, checking every 20 minutes or so and rotating pans so that they don’t take on any color.**

Makes 60-75 meringues.

*In Colombia and many other Latin American countries they’re known as suspiros or sighs which I have to admit is the perfect word.

**Meringues are simple but tempermental and baking times and temperatures vary.  After the initial baking, I left them in a closed oven overnight to continue drying out.

I don’t know if it was the treasure island theme, the two tiered Italian carousel or a contact high from too many helium balloons, but in the late seventies, Omni International Mall sold the most incredible chocolate chip cookies ever made.  To this day, if any one in my family mentions that they had a really great cookie, the first question is always, “Omni International good?”  Although it’s hard to find a bad chocolate chip cookie, everyone has a different criteria for what makes a great one.  The Omni cookies met every possible criteria simultaneously. They were cakey but crisp, gooey but dunkable, and then they were gone.  The Omni went from being an upscale retail experiment housing Pucci and Hermes to a tropical shipwreck and sometimes Miami Vice location that prompted your parents to ask if your doors were locked when driving past.

Still, I’ve always wanted to make a classic chocolate chip cookie that made me feel the same way they did.  Last Christmas, at the end of a cookie making marathon, I started a final batch of chocolate chip cookies using the Guittard Super Chips, following the straightforward recipe on the package. I was shocked by the results.  I’d tried a few different recipes before, but they typically melted too fast into crisp edged, pools of butter and chocolate. These were different.  They were golden and crisp on the outside and cakey in the middle.  The oversized chips have a little bit of added vanilla making them really flavorful.  I thought I had finally figured out how to make my own version of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

I spent the next year trying to reproduce them without ever coming close.  I seemed incapable of putting all the ingredients together again, in just the right way, for the same result.  I had become pretty adept at making all kinds of cookies, the more complicated the better, so it stung that such a basic eluded me.  Then this past Christmas, again after a cooking marathon, there they were.  Christmas miracle cookies, so smug, that I hated them a little. I finally realized what had been missing.  In both cases, I had been too rushed to let the butter completely soften to room temperature.  This weekend, I tried my luck during a nondescript, non-holiday and there they were again, like they’d never been gone.

I was never trying to recreate the Omni cookies.  I don’t need to tip  windmills to know that these mythic cookies were most likely the result of an early Mrs. Fields outpost plus thirty years of nostalgia.  My cookies could never be as great as the Omni cookies, only as good because I could conjure them at will.

Super Cookie Chip Cookie Recipe
This recipe is adapted from the basic Guittard recipe.

1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
10 ounces Guittard Super Cookie Chips or other high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven 375 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar until light, about 5 minutes.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Add flour mixture all at once and continue to mix on low until just combined.  Fold in chips.

Drop by well-rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 3 dozen.