CHICAGO (WLS) -- Almost every family has memories of baking cookies together, and now, one of Chicago's top pastry chefs is sharing some of her expertise in a new book on the subject.
Mindy Segal loves cookies so much, her first cookbook, "Cookie Love," documents the tips, techniques and secrets to creating consistently delicious ones. She already sells and serves them at her Bucktown restaurant, Hot Chocolate, but she wanted to share her expertise with fellow cookie lovers.
"I baked cookies with my mother. And I think I'm not alone in that department. I think most people grow up baking cookies with their family," Segal said.
She showed me one of her favorites: hot fudge rugelach with cocoa nibs, chocolate and hazelnut streusal. She rolls out cream cheese dough to an even thickness, then uses a cutter with a scalloped edge.
"It kind of makes the cookie look like ribbons," she said.
Hot fudge is spread evenly with the aid of a key tool: "Offset spatula, comes in multiple sizes," she said.
She sprinkles on a streusel of cocoa nibs, brown sugar, flour and hazelnuts, then cuts the dough into tiny triangles.
"As opposed to rolling we fold, because I don't want the hot fudge to come out," Segal said. "Also, very important to spray the sheet pan."
And after she assembles them on a sheet pan, she brushes each one with egg whites, which "gives the dough a shine."
Finally, a sprinkle of bourbon barrel-aged smoked sugar.
"That's putting the bam in the cookies," she said.
After she first baked them, Segal thought she had failed miserably.
"What wasn't supposed to happen was I didn't think the hot fudge was gonna bleed out and then make these little 'angel wings.' But then, when they let them cool, and you pick them up, you get these Angel Wings," she said.
Having absorbed some of the sugar from the sheet pan, they're exquisite, resulting in a cookie-within-a-cookie.
"I love these cookies. I get very excited," Segal said.
So with more than 60 cookies and well over 100 recipes, there is plenty to love in this book, including some things that didn't turn out quite the way they were supposed to originally.
"Cookie Love" by Mindy Segal
Hot Chocolate
1747 N. Damen Ave.
773-489-1747
Upcoming signings/appearances:
Thursday, June 11, 2015
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Book signing party at NAHA
500 N. Clark Street
Thursday, June 18, 2015
7:30 p.m.
Women & Children First signing
5233 N. Clark St.
http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.com/event/author-reading-signing-mindy-segal-cookie-love
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
7 p.m.
Winnetka-Northfield Public Library event
768 Oak Street, Winnetka, Ill. 60093