Monday, November 10, 2014

Palets des Dames


Per Nana~
As we start our journey of baking from Dorie Greenspan's newest book, 
BAKING CHEZ MOI, our first recipe is a delightful cookie with an almost
 cake like texture.  Called Palets des Dames, it is a simple recipe consisting
 of butter, sugar, eggs and flour with a flavoring of vanilla added. Once they
 are baked and have cooled they are then dipped into an icing made with
 confectioner's sugar and whole milk. At this point Dorie suggests adding a
 drop of lemon flavoring but in my case I added almond extract.
 I am not a fan of lemon flavors. 
However you could add many things to the icing as well as decorate the 
cookie if you wanted to be creative.  This recipe would be a lovely 
addition to a Holiday cookie collection since it is an easy recipe that
 can be frozen and then iced later. 
Per Tricia~
We had a tradition when my kids were in elementary school that involved
 taking a 1st day of school photo with all the kids at the bus stop.
 Yes, we took the standard shots with the kids but also made a point of 
getting the annual shot of the group's new shoes.  Yup. 
It was dubbed "new clean sneaker day" by my friends and I.  
The parents had all agreed that this was the only day that all the kids
 would have new sneakers at the same time. (or clean sneakers :) 
Weird, yes. Real and special ? Check and check.  
Why mention this now ?  
I kept thinking about those first day shots as I gazed at my clean and brand 
new copy of BAKING CHEZ MOI, and then looked at my much loved and
 oft used copy of AROUND MY FRENCH TABLE. Four years into that
 adventure, the book is looking a bit rough around the edges. My BCM 
copy will likely show war wounds soon enough and I look forward
 to each splatter and stain. And yes, I took a pic of the new book :)
Now for this week's cookie recipe. 
I have wanted to make these since viewing the results from those bloggers 
who celebrated Dorie's recent birthday by testing these cookies. 
A fan of lemon flavoring (which you can see I did not inherit) in just
 about anything, I was certain I would love these cookies. And I was right. 
 The only tweak I made to the recipe is that I had to make twice the
 amount of icing called for, but was happy to do so. I think that my icing may 
have been a bit heavy handed, but no one was complaining. I added some
 decorations to celebrate the season. Both taste testers loved the results 
and I plan to make another batch with almond flavoring in the very near future. 
We are off to an excellent start on the "cook the book" adventure for 
BAKING CHEZ MOI and I am looking forward to each new recipe. 

32 comments:

  1. A cookie for all seasons! I love how you have both the pumpkins with Tricia's and Nana's holly dish. So happy to be baking along you, ladies.

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  2. These are the best aren't they ladies! Happy to start baking through this with you both!

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  3. Oh, boy are we going to be busy in the kitchen! Love both plates of festive cookies! Even without chocolate, Bill was happy to sample :) xo

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  4. Yay!! The first recipe for TWD! So happy to be baking along with both of you! Both of your cookies look simply beautiful! Nana, I love the idea of the almond flavor! A bit of an Italian take on these French cookies…a must try! Tricia, I love your comparison of the new sneakers to our new Baking Chez Moi! So very true! Happy baking ladies!!

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  5. Love the sparkles! I know my book gets dirty, worn, and "loved", and I wouldn't have it any other way. Glad you're baking along with us!

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  6. I love the different sprinkles! So cute! I am so glad you are joining us in this baking adventure. Its going to be a blast!

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  7. OK, I just learned something new about Nana today - she doesn't care for lemon. Filing that away in my mental bank :-)
    Love the festive cookies. Glad to see my favorite mother-daughter duo joining in the fun!

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  8. We love these too! Happy to be starting a new project with you ladies! Nana I bet these were good with almond in the glaze. I thought about doing the same but decided to go as directed for the first try. But then I love lemon and its so subtle. Tricia I enjoyed your clean sneaker day story:) What a fun idea! Young mom's out there....

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  9. I was also thinking these would be a great addition to a Christmas cookie roundup! Your cookies look wonderful all sparkly!

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  10. Look forward to baking with you on TWD. I love your story of new shoes and new cookbooks. A great tradition. I always get choked up on the first day of school no matter how old my son gets, he is now 11. It never gets old.

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  11. I love the idea of almond flavouring in these! I wish I'd taken a photo of my book when it was new ....it's already showing the love! I'm looking forward to baking with you both.

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  12. I love the idea of taking a picture of the new, clean, book. My copy of Baking is covered with butter, chocolate, flour, and written notes on every page! It will be fun to bake through Baking Chez Moi!

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  13. I love that you ladies both made festive looking cookies. Nana, your Christmas plate is the perfect showcase for these little snowflakes, and almond would have been nice too. Tricia, I adore the gold sprinkles - just like Christmas!

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  14. Tricia and Ro, so happy you liked these! I did make them before as well (and again for TWD). I agree, they really are perfect for dressing up, or just keeping them plain. I didn't do any flavoring in the icing, but a great idea... next time! Yours look beautiful!

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  15. Nana, I love the addition of almond extract and look forward to trying that! Tricia, my mom used to take pics of us getting on the bus and we hated it. (I don't think she'd have gotten us to stand still long enough for the shoes, though.) I also really like that both of you had some late fall/early winter festivity for your cookies! Tricia, those gold and then the red--just gorgeous!

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  16. Cookies look very festive - and really enticing. Glad you enjoyed the recipe too.

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  17. Cookies look great..love the extra icing and decorations! I'm looking forward to baking with both of you through such a beautiful new cook book..will try to keep it clean at least for awhile. It was great meeting you both in Seattle and I've enjoyed following your cooking adventures on Facebook..this blog is making me hungry ;)

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  18. I too had been wanting to make these cookies ever since the FFWD celebration. I was so happy when they were the first recipe chosen. Both your cookies look so delicious! Nana - I bet the almond flavored icing was tasty!

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  19. So sweet! I love "new, clean sneaker"day! What a fun tradition. I love that you thought about that tradition with the brand new book and AMFT. Even though I haven't made it all the way through it is covered in wine and smudges of all sorts. I managed to spill milk while making these! I am so glad to get to bake along with you! :)

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  20. Almond flavour sounds good to me. Your cookies looks very festive with the colourful sprinkles. Reminds me that Christmas is coming soon!
    It's great to be baking with everyone at TWD!
    Love the idea of the "clean sneakers" photos! I'm sure the kids would look back on it with happy memories when they are older!

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  21. All of your cookies look just beautiful! And it was fun seeing the Christmas plate...I'm already in the mood for Christmas decorating!

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  22. I love the creative way you guys decorated the cookies. I loved them too. I have many well used cookbooks and wish I had taken a "before" photo too!

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  23. Hi Ladies! I am also so excited to be baking with both of you. I agree, these will be great for the holidays, or any day.
    Thanks for sharing the "clean sneaker day" story Nana! Brings back great memories. Hugs to both of you!!!

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  24. Love the almond extract idea. And the gold sprinkles. I agree about the icing--I BARELY had enough and was scraping at every last bit for the last few cookies, would have been better to have just made double the amount.

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  25. Both your versions look beautiful! And I think these cookies are especially nice in fall and winter - perfect for the holidays. Though I love lemon like you, Tricia, I think I'm going to try Nana's almond version some time, too.

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  26. I like your substitution of almond. One of my favorite flavors!

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  27. I understand the first-day-of-school thoughts completely! Can't wait to see the end-of-project picture of a spattered and spotted Baking Chez Moi. Beautiful cookies - xoDorie

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  28. glad to see you baking with us. yes--this book is going to get a workout! almond sounds like a lovely flavoring for these cookies.

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  29. Am loving the gold sprinkles! I didn't even know that they existed but they look perfect on these cookies!

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  30. This is one cookie you certainly can play around with the flavors - both versions look wonderful. And the sprinkles give it a fall look - perfect!

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  31. I love how festive your cookies look! Just looking at them puts me in a festive mood :)
    It's funny where our thoughts go while we are cooking!

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  32. You ladies are so ambitious in the kitchen! I look forward to following your baking adventures, and occasionally baking myself. I made these for our FFWD celebration so am postponing my debut! Both of your versions look great. I especially like Tricia's autumn sprinkles.

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