A decade ago Mickael Benichou traveled from Paris to Queens, New York. His intent was to learn English, which he did, but that summer held much more for him. His discovery was the woman next door, a home cook whose cookie aromas beckoned Mickael to knock on the door and make a dear friend.
That woman, Ida, was kind enough to share her recipes with Mickael and his passion was born. With a partner trained in Parisian pasty techniques and with his own sense of style, Michael has transformed those Queens flavors into a line of superior cookie products. You can see the cookies and more details at www.moonstreet.com.
Mickael’s firm, Moon Street Patisserie, sells its exclusive products in France, the UK, and Ireland. And in only one spot in Manhattan.
If you can’t visit NYC and don’t have European plans this summer, but you really want these cookies, then here is your salvation: the new cookbook Le Cookie. One of those lovely slim volumes published by Ryland, Peters, and Small, Le Cookie is a compendium of stylish recipes and matching photographs that will tug at your appetite.
There are five recipe chapters:
- Cookies
- Brownies
- Whoopies
- Cupcakes
- Macarons
I love this organization, one where brownies are given their own chapter. Brownies are not cookies. They are brownies and they deserve full respect, if not their own country. [I have the news on as I write and there is still another group demanding their own nation. I have sympathy, but the new-nation movement seems to have gotten out of hand. That said, if some of you want to form Brownie Land on some tropical island, I’m in.]
The very first brownie recipe in Le Cookie displays the Parisian boldness evident in every recipe in the book: the Bonjour Brownies combine macadamia nuts with walnuts and almond flour — along, of course, with butter and sugar and chocolate.
The recipes here are a blend of Ida’s heritage recipes updated just a tad, plus a bevy of new, cutting-edge concoctions to give you flavor experiences you’ve not had:
- Praline Chic cookies pair praline and milk chocolate
- Rebel Rose cookies, a signature for Moon Street, blend candied rose petals and freeze-dried strawberries
- Bijoux Blondies twice combine white chocolate and olive oil, first in the cookie and then in the rich ganache on top
- Made-in-France Whoopies from Brittany feature, what else, salted caramel
- Pavlova Cupcakes are adorned with vanilla Chantilly
- Raspberry Cheesecake Macarons offer a flavor overload
- Mojito Macarons layer rum ganache and mint between classic Vanilla Macarons
Really and truly, every recipe in Le Cookie is a treat that makes you pause before turning the page. The only issue is where to start. And that isn’t an issue at all really. Any of these recipes will make you sigh, smile, and reach for just one more.
If you want great flavor combinations and striking elegance in style, then Le Cookie belongs next to your supply of chocolate and butter.
Yes, I’ll test recipes, be compelled to eat them, and soon share the ideas with you’re here. My grandson is visiting from Texas next week. He’s going to make the selections!