Natalie’s 24th birthday was last Saturday, July 20th. When I imagine what she would’ve look like as a young woman, sadness overwhelms me. I miss her so much. It helped that I was surrounded by family in Katy, Texas, and also that my mom made limitless platters of one of Natalie’s favorite dishes: shrimp crystal dumplings (ha gow).
The dumplings look like dainty jewelry. They taste incredible because my mom does not add fillers to her ha gow the way many Chinese dim sum places do. Her ha gow filling is perfectly seasoned premium shrimp. The translucent dough glistens and reveals the pink of the steamed crustaceans encased within. These savory treasures are so good on their own I do not need to dip them in any sauce. No wonder that Natalie loved ha gow. They are pretty, just like her.
I want to make a French cookie today. On my morning walk with Jirachi, I remembered that Natalie had wanted to go to Paris but never got to visit. We will bring her elephant Elley to Paris. I know it will make Natalie happy that we have not forgotten.
It’s been on our hearts to go to Paris for over ten years but we haven’t made it happen for one reason or another: busy jobs, busy studying to pass the bar exam, busy with family and social commitments. Grant lived in Europe for three years when he was a kid and he didn’t have particularly good memories of Paris. I’ve never been to Europe before and I don’t do well on a flight that lasts longer than 6 hours.
We’ve delayed this trip for too long but we’ll finally make it happen in 2026. In the meantime I’ve been reading as many French pastry cookbooks as I can and eating pastries at my favorite French bakery, La Chataigne. I just finished reading from cover to cover (the way I read all cookbooks) Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, Everyone Can Bake, and Life’s Sweetest Moments. Dominique is famous for creating the Cronut and he has the best recipes for cakes. I’ve made his flourless chocolate mousse cake and almond cake with great success and received praise from friends for both. When I made his madeleines, I found that the trick is they have to be eaten fresh, within minutes of baking- or they lose their magic.
I’m fascinated by Dominque’s baking. The other French pastry chef I’m smitten by is Pierre Herme, the “Picasso of Pastry”. He is one of the world’s most famous pastry chef and his pastries look like works of art. When we go to Paris next year we are heading to his shop first thing after we land so I can finally try one of his macarons.
I ended up making Pierre’s chocolate sables. I made them at Christmas and everyone (and I mean everyone, even Sean’s college friends!) asked for the recipe. They are simple to make but it’s important to use quality ingredients or you will not do the recipe justice. I tell aspiring young bakers who are broke that if they can’t afford the ingredients, just come to my house and I will share my supplies. It’s sad to work hard on a recipe and it doesn’t taste as good because you bought inferior ingredients. I used King Arthur Flour, Plugra European butter, Guittard cocoa, and Guittard chocolate. I think the reason Natalie liked my mom’s ha gow so much is the same reason people like my baking; there’s care and attention put into every part of the food, even before you’ve left the grocery store.
Food writer Dorie Greenspan, who teamed up with Pierre for two books, Desserts and Chocolate Desserts, recorded this recipe. According to another food writer, Julia Moskin, these sables are “the most important innovation in cookies since Toll House.”
“They are definitely sables,” Moskin wrote, “but also very American in their explosive crunch and addictive combination of salt, chocolate, and the caramel warmth of brown sugar.”
Ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chip-sized bits
1. Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.
2. Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat for another 1 or 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until the dry ingredients are incorporated (the dough will look crumbly). For the best texture, work the dough as little as possible. Toss in the chocolate; mix to incorporate.
3. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide in half. Working with one half at time, shape the dough into a log that is 1 ½ inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill them for at least 1 hour in the fridge.
4. Center a rack in the oven and heat the oven to 350 F degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with a sharp knife, slice the logs of dough into ½ inch-thick rounds. (If any of the cookie breaks, squeeze the broken-off bit back onto the cookie.) Place the cookies on the parchment lined sheets, leaving an inch of space between them. Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will not look done, nor will they be firm, but that is the way they should be. Transfer the sheets to a cooling rack to rest until they are just warm.