Cookie guru Dorie Greenspan heads to Chappaqua

If the last few weeks of the election cycle have you feeling a bit sour, you’re in luck. The holiday season is now upon us, bringing with it myriad excuses to dive into something sweet.

Like, the wonderful world of cookies.

Dorie Greenspan, a three-time James Beard Foundation award winner and author of 11 cookbooks, has devoted her latest culinary tome, "Dorie’s Cookies" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $35), to the subject.

“I think I always knew that I would do a cookie book,” says Greenspan, whose New York City cookie boutique, Beurre & Sel, closed in 2013 — leaving legions of fans craving her World Peace Cookies and Classic Jammers.

“People often ask me if I will open up a cookie boutique again and I quickly say, ‘nope!’ But I always knew that I would do a cookie book and that there would be a chapter devoted to Beurre & Sel,” she says, adding that diving into a single subject was refreshing after writing "Baking Chez Moi" and "Around My French Table."

“It was fascinating. I found that thinking about cookies 24/7 for three years made me more creative than less. The more I thought about cookies, the more I imagined. I could have gone on forever, I think.”

In the end, she settled on a collection of 170 recipes, ranging from classic graham crackers and French vanilla sablés to daring Triscuit-and-chutney-filled rugelach and spicy togarashi meringues intended to be paired with cocktails.

Many of the new creations sought to reimagine a favorite dish or memory and “cookie-ize” it, as Greenspan is fond of saying.

In addition to stretching the traditional flavor profile and function of a cookie, Greenspan also encourages home bakers to consider them for the Thanksgiving table.

“I have for years made tarts instead of pies for Thanksgiving,” she says. “We work hard to make these beautiful pies and then they don’t get the attention they deserve because everyone has already had turkey and stuffing, and … pies are kind of too big at the end!”

So Greenspan cookie-ized traditional Thanksgiving pies to scale down portion sizes while maintaining that sacred sense memory.

“I’m very excited about this,” she continues. “First of all, cookies are so much faster to make than pie. Even people who’ve never made pie before can make the pie crust for the Thanksgiving Bars or Sweet Potato Pie Bars. It’s so simple. Second, the recipes make more servings than pie and, because they are so elegantly slim, you can have three different pie bars instead of having to choose. Sort of... ‘have your pie and eat your cookies too!’”

This is not to say, however, that everything Greenspan attempted to “cookie-ize” for her book was a success. Even pros have to occasionally admit defeat.

“I tried to make a licorice cookie,” she tells me in a hushed voice. “I adore licorice but I understand it’s a ‘love it or loathe it’ flavor. I knew it would be controversial but I thought it could be exciting too... Forget it, it was terrible! Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

One of the best things about making so many cookies for the book, Greenspan says, is that they are perfect for sharing.

“There I was, unhappy about the news but happy with what I was baking and I thought, ‘cookies are a good thing for the sharer and the sharee,'" she says.

An idea emerged: “Cookies and Kindness. Bake some cookies from the book to give to someone. Then, tell people you are doing it by taking a picture and adding the hashtag #cookiesandkindness. It’s the sweet revolution. Boy, do we need it!”

Sherry B Dessert Studio in Chappaqua  will host Greenspan on Sunday, as part of its ongoing “sb studio sessions” series that welcomes artists, designers, and artisans to the studio for special events and demonstrations.

“We all have cookbook authors we get excited about and, for me, Dorie has been one of them for a long, long time,” says owner Sherry Blockinger. “Going through her book, it’s fun to see things you have in common—like, I’ve been playing around with pink peppercorns too! Or to see how she’s incorporating Biscoff spread into her cookies. I’m thrilled and honored she’s going to do a session with us.”

In advance of the event, lohudfood asked owner Sherry Blockinger and Greenspan to share some helpful baking tips for the holiday season. Here is what they had to say:

DORIE’S BAKING TIPS

No rolling pin? No problem

“If you don’t have a rolling pin on hand, I have seen people roll out dough beautifully with wine bottles,” says Greenspan. “Dowels, sticks, those could work too but wine bottles are the best.”

Ditch the super-cold dough

“I was taught that you make your dough, form it into a disc, chill it and roll it when it’s cold,” says Greenspan. “If you do that, even if you have the best rolling pin in the world it’s annoying. One day I had a thought and said, ‘I bet the dough doesn’t care when it gets into the refrigerator.’ So now I take the dough when it’s soft and submissive, roll it between parchment or wax paper, and then chill it. Even if you were rolling it with a highball glass you’d be OK.”

To up your game, switch from spoons to cookie scoops

“Having the same size dough balls means the dough will all bake at the same time and your kids won’t fight over who gets the bigger cookie. Scoops are faster, easier and more efficient in every way.”

SHERRY’S BAKING TIPS

Read through the recipe from start to finish

“You want to think of the temperature of ingredients needed and really plan ahead,” says Blockinger. “Many deserts have multiple components to them, so any that you can make a day or two or more ahead of time, you should.”

When in doubt, go with desserts you know

“Don’t choose something that has to be made at the last minute,” says Blockinger. “Thanksgiving is not the day to try out the new souffle you’ve been wanting to make. Don’t put that stress on yourself.”

Experiment with easy, smaller details

“One way that you can easily put a twist on your traditional apple pie is to change the spices that you season the fruit with or to add different flavors of ice cream,” says Blockinger. “Try salted caramel instead of vanilla for serving it a la mode at the table.”

MEET DORIE GREENSPAN

Go: Tickets to “Cookies & Conversation” with Dorie Greenspan on Sunday, Nov. 20, are $20 at http://sherrybwelcomesdorie.brownpapertickets.com/.

Sherry B Dessert Studio, 65 King St., Chappaqua; 914-238-8300; sherryb.com