Even though the cookie is named “The Laura Cunningham” for Chef Thomas Keller’s partner, for me it will be “Tender Loving Care” because that is how I feel about baking. Every recipe done with care. It’s the secret ingredient that makes things taste that much better. The TLC is a take on the oatmeal cookie but instead of raisins it has chopped pecans. So here we go, Week #2 of the Bouchon Bakery Book Project.
Time for a new blog series on afternoon tea, my new favorite activity. Not everywhere I go is has a traditional tea service but there is still a sit-down experience to enjoy a hot beverage and treat. It feels good to do that sometimes, especially when I normally eat standing in the kitchen while cooking. I’ll start my series with my visit to Blue Bottle Coffee Bar at the Museum of Modern Art.
In October I went to the MoMA on a free day. What would have been cost for admission now went towards dessert! Next to the rooftop garden, Blue Bottle Coffee has a little shop where you can get coffee, tea, hot cocoa as you would at any other location. What makes this particular spot special is the dessert menu inspired by paintings in the museum. Pastry Chef Caitlin Freeman’s creations are quirky and playful. Her most famous piece is the Mondrian Cake so I went with that.
Here we go! The first recipe of 100+ in the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook. We’re starting out with cookies to ease ourselves into the whole project and to start it’s Thomas Keller’s Pecan Sandies.
I am excited to share with you this new project that I am a part of. A group of us at Williams-Sonoma Union Square have joined together to bake our way through Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery cookbook.
Every week we will test a new recipe and post a blog recap on Friday. Because we have a group of people baking we will cover as many variations as possible such as convection/standard bake, varying equipment (there are some specialty tools used), metric vs standard measurements.
When I first skimmed through the book I noticed all the measurements were given in both metric and standard which is great as I prefer to weigh my ingredients. Also, everything is so precise. Vanilla paste: 7.7 grams. Eggs? Thomas Keller’s method is to weigh them after straining out the chalaze, the part that connects the egg white and yolk. To stay true to the book, I will do the same as tedious as it sounds.
Check back here each Friday as I will be posting my own entry on each recipe we do.
If you would like to participate, see here for details. It is incredibly easy. We want this to be something everyone can be involved in!
