Thursday, October 23, 2014

Reasons to Celebrate with Dorie

October marks several Dorie-related occasions--it's Dorie's birthday, it's French Fridays with Dorie's 4th anniversary, and Dorie's new baking book (Baking Chez Moi) comes out. Woohoo! To celebrate, the Doristas were given three recipes from the new book and told to pick one.

I went with Palets des Dames, Lilles Style, which is a fancy name for a simple and delicious cookie that I've never heard of. Charlie helped me bake the cookies, and it turns out to be a perfect recipe for kid participation because there are only a few basic steps, no expensive ingredients, and includes an icing that begs to be dyed colors and/or coated in sprinkles. These cookies bake up with a little bit of a dome, and have a texture that's closer to cake than cookies, so they're nice and sturdy. Not one fell apart after being handled by my overzealous 4-year-old.
 I thought I measured the batter properly, but I only got 24 cookies, instead of 40. I also needed to make two batches of icing to coat all the cookies. Minor complaint. With a touch of vanilla in the batter and a touch of lemon juice in the icing, these are the perfect match for a cup of tea.
Charlie and I had a lot of fun baking these together. Halfway through decorating them, he threw his arms around my neck and exclaimed that he was "so happy!" He kills me with how sweet he is sometimes. He may have been a difficult infant, but he's becoing a pretty incredible kid. Thanks for the memory, Dorie. I'm sure it's the first of many I'll associate with Baking Chez Moi.

Check out the links of the other participants, and the other recipes we had to choose from. I could sure go for some Brown Butter Peach Tourte right about now.

18 comments:

  1. Awe, cute story and adorable picture, Charlie looks very proud of his work. I think he did a great job with the cookie decorating. I was also thinking about adding some color to the frosting, but my food coloring does not seem to have made the move with us. Oh well, mine were not nearly as festive, but tasty nonetheless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charlie looks truly happy with his handiwork! Gonna copycat him, got half portion of dough left!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE the decorations on these ones! Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aw, so glad Charlie got to join in the fun! I have a feeling my family will love these iced cookies, too! So glad to have you celebrating with us!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a lovely post! I agree - these are perfect for holidays - easy and delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Charlie is adorable! Isn’t it wonderful that baking with mom makes him so happy! You both did a great job with these cookies! Happy Friday—Happy Anniversary!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the memory of Charlie expressing his affection- crazy sweet ! I am sure Dorie will be touched :) I picked the canellés because Nana, as usual, graciously offered to hook me up with the silicone molds. I am totally making these lemon cookies (yes, yes, long fancy name to be learned eventually) next. Easy. Sweet. Lemon. Yes please !!

    ReplyDelete
  8. These really are perfect cookies for baking with kids. I love how sturdy they are, yet so tender when you eat them. And the photo of him looking so proud of his creations is great. Here's to a whole new book full of Dorista adventures.

    ReplyDelete
  9. How wonderful - I love that Charlie helped to make them. I will have to make these soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My goodness, Charlie has gotten so big. I want to bake these cookies now with my godsons.

    I am really enjoying the tips and success stories of the palettes. And you were right, the cannelé ingredients are fortunately stuff I always have on hand, so I'm looking forward to take two soon.

    ReplyDelete
  11. A lovely post, and the memories made baking with the little ones is so precious. I definitely have to try those cookies, yours look wonderful. Tricia and I are looking forward to the
    new book coming out, and also, hopefully, her book signing in Princeton in December.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, Charlie is really cutie! What a great memory. The cookies look fabulous and the photo with Charlie smiling proudly with his cookies is priceless -

    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  13. awww that's cute! Is that his handy work with the sprinkles?? Lovely and festive addition! How much fun you had making these! Happy Trifecta Celebration Day!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a "sweet" picture of your darling little boy --- who is growing up. It's fun to watch him via photos on Facebook. I also think these cookies are great to do with kids. In fact I wrote that in my Post - Emma (13) and Clara (11) will like making these with me. It is fun to frost the little domes and get the twirl that Dorie suggests on the top of the cookie. I also only got 24 cookies (ate 5 immediately) because I made them bigger than Dorie suggested. She is right and I made the last few, tiny, tiny. I also had to make more frosting. You. Me. Same Page. I think Charlie showed great restraint on the sprinkles. Usually, with my kids, it's all sprinkles and you can see very little frosting. xoxox

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am glad that your 4 year old wanted to help and liked them. My son was more help in the kitchen at 4 than he is now at 11:)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think Blogger ate my comment. Sorry if this comes through twice. I love the picture of Charlie with his handiwork. Great job! I agree with everything you said about these cookies. I enjoyed them too.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh my! How wonderful! I love the idea of Charlie enjoying this so much. There's nothing like baking cookies with Mom, what a great memory! And you have a picture to remind you!! I thought these were wonderful too.

    ReplyDelete
  18. When did Charlie get so big? I am pretty sure he was about half that size last month.
    Great team effort on the cookies!

    ReplyDelete