Eat First

Madeleines: Oh la la! A cookie with a dual personality

Are they a cookie? Or are they a mini cake?

Madeleines are techically a cookie, but the batter is cakelike and they also have a spongy, cakelike texture. My baking guru, Dorie Greenspan, calls them "side of the saucer cookies,'' perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, or a flute of Champagne. Bubbly gets my vote.  I love their rounded and scalloped shape -- and call them delicious!

I got the bug to bake madeleines last year, after a birthday dinner at Moro's Table in Auburn. One of the desserts offered that evening was a plate of just-baked mini madeleines, dusted with powdered sugar. Our order would take about 15 minutes, our waiter said. No problem, we lingered over wine and ordered coffee. The madeleines were served fresh out of the oven.

 

A couple days later, I spotted a madeleine pan at Marshalls. It set me back less than $10, so it was meant to be.

Madeleines look fancy, but they're really easy to make. They call for ingredients that most people have in their kitchens right now -- flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder, vanilla extract, confectioners sugar -- and lemon zest. You might not have a lemon on hand (which is why it's a good idea to always keep some lemon zest in the freezer). The recipe is made in stages, which makes it less formidable. Refrigeration of the dough, for at least three hours or up to two days, is essential to giving the madeleines their signature, slightly domed shape, Greenspan says.

Madeleines aren't cookies for mass production and holiday gift-giving. They're best eaten the day they are made and the recipe makes just a dozen, or three dozen mini madeleines. But they would make a great dessert for a holiday dinner, served with a seasonal ice cream from Gannon's Isle or Arctic Island or a scoop of Mercer's Wine Ice Cream. That's how we served them for a recent dinner party, for friends who had never had madeleines or wine ice cream.

 

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

 

Traditional Madeleines

From "Baking: From My Home to Yours,'' by Dorie Greenspan

 

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

Grated zest of one lemon

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

 

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

 

Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rubs the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant (I used a pastry cutter for this). Add the eggs to the bowl. Working with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick and light, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the batter form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines.

 

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter 12-full size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Or, if you have a nonstick pan, give it a light coating of cooking spray. If you have a silicone pan, no prep is needed.

 

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don't worry about spreading the batter evenly; the oven's heat will take care of that. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes and minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan(s) from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.

 

If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch(es), making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan(s), before baking.

 

Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners sugar. Makes 12 large or 36 mini madeleines. Store any leftovers in an airtight container (they are not as good the next day).

 

 

It's December! Time to bake!

Flour? Check. Sugar? Check. Eggs? Check. Butter? The more, the merrier. Check!

I love holiday baking and baking for gift-giving. It's the best time of the year. It's cold outside but the kitchen is warm because the oven is in use A LOT! And the aroma of cookies fills the air all the time. What's not to like?

My goal is for baking time to be productive, satisfying and free of mishaps and "cookie fails." There is a strategy to baking in quantity, over time. It doesn't just happen. So I decided to make a list and share some tips.

 

1. First and foremost: Get organized!  Take stock of ingredients, decorations, tools and baking sheets and make sure you have everything you need. You don't want to be making Lemon Extract Cake and find you have no lemon extract or have your heart set on World Peace Cookies and find you have no cocoa powder.

2. Is your oven used as extra storage space? Can't remember the last time you turned it on -- or when you last purchased baking powder and baking soda? Do yourself a favor: Toss the old and buy new. Baking powder and baking soda are key ingredients that are essential to baking success. And they don't cost very much. So put them on your shopping list.

3. Don't use lack of time as an excuse not to bake. Make efficient use of the time you have. Measure/prep your dry ingredients the night before you plan to bake. Set your butter and eggs out, too, and wake up to perfect room temperature ingredients and get baking.

 

4. Get to know refrigerator cookies. Refrigerator cookies are slice and bake cookies, but a major step up from the storebought variety. The dough is made ahead and usually shaped/rolled into a log or logs. Refrigerator cookies are easy, elegant, convenient and indispensable. Add a couple of them to your repertoire.

 

5. Speaking of chilling: Many cookies are freezer friendly -- so make room for precious cargo in your freezer and bake ahead.

 

6. Christmas is all about traditions, but branch out and try something new, too. New can be a roll of the dice and there is not always time for a test run, so turn to a reliable baking source. One of my favorites is Dorie Greenspan, baking goddess and author of "Baking: From My Home to Yours.'' I like the way she writes her recipes, with precise explanations and descriptions. Example: "The cookies won't look done, nor will they look firm, which is exactly as they should be.'' Descriptions like that help you feel confident in what you're doing.

 

 

7. Make your trickiest, most challenging and/or time-consuming cookie or cookies first. Everything you make after that will seem like a cakewalk.

 

8. Host or get yourself invited to a cookie exchange. You get to hang out with friends, share your cookie creations with an appreciative audience and come home with an array of different cookies to share (or horde). Think of it as a cookie swap -- win-win!

Got a holiday baking tip or tips to share? I'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment in the Comments section, below. Happy Baking!

Jamesville's Pastry Palace suits kings, queens and mere mortals

Walking into the Pastry Palace in Jamesville is like coming home -- coming home to the former Snowflake Pastry Shoppe, a legendary Syracuse bakery and fixture for years on East Fayette Street.

Pastry Palace owner Francis Yemma spent almost 20 years at the former Snowflake (RIP), and he makes cakes that take you back there: strawberry whipped cream cake, banana whipped cream cake, chocolate cake with bananas, coffee cakes and more. His cheese Danish (Danishes?) look fabulous, and he also bakes all kinds of cookies: Half Moons, chocolate chip cookies, Italian cookies, rugelach (above), fruit flips, mocha drops, etc. 

Not sure what you want? Not a problem. Yemma supplies samples and patiently answers questions.

The mocha drops (above, right)? "You have to like maple,'' he says. They're actually a combination of maple, mocha and chocolate -- which means they're a whole lot of flavor.

I was after something more subtle, something to nibble with coffee, and came home with a selection of rugelach ("little twists'' in Yiddish; and the best rugelach in Central New York, in my humble opinion), delicate almond bars with shortbread bottoms, raspberry jam filling and lots of nuts and fruit flips -- a folded-over shortbread cookie, with apricot or raspberry filling.

Top row, rugelach; middle row, almond bars; bottom row, fruit flips.

My box of 16 treats cost $6.65, a bargain in the world of artisan baking. And not a crumb was left.

Pastry Palace is at 6499 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, behind a convenience store/gas station in a plaza that's also home to the village post office. Call 492-1905.

In an ironic twist, it's across the street from Sweet Endings Bakeshop, a business whose specialty is custom-order cupcakes, cakes and cookies.

Tiny Jamesville might be a speck on the map, but it's a major Central New York dessert destination.

  

And the award for Outstanding Performance by a Kitchen Appliance goes to: My KitchenAid Classic stand mixer

I couldn't get by each day without our hard-working refrigerator-freezer and basic but reliable coffeemaker. But the award for Outstanding Performance by a Kitchen Appliance in a Leading Role goes to: my trusty KitchenAid Classic Plus stand mixer.
I've had her for going on 20 years now and she occupies a choice corner of our limited, old-house counter space -- unlike lesser-used and lesser-loved appliances that are relegated to the basement shelves for storage.

She's made countless cakes and loaves of bread, hundreds of batches of cookie dough and turns out a bowl fluffy whipped cream in a snap. My "other" isn't as much into baking as I am, but he, too, has come to appreciate the stand mixer's speed, efficiency and ease of operation.
I saw a lot of KitchenAid mixer attachments leave the store during my holiday stint at Williams-Sonoma, including the meat grinder and various pasta attachments, but I've never used anything other than the tools that come with it: the flat/paddle beater, wire whip and dough hook.

I did buy an attachment called a Side Swipe blade, which is not made by KitchenAid.  The gizmo, which cost about $25, has little silicone "fins'' that act like a spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl -- no need to stop and do that by hand.

The tool comes in handy when making, say, chocolate chip cookie dough: The bowl gets "scraped'' and the chocolate chips and nuts don't get crushed.

 

Several years ago, my other got me a second stainless steel bowl for my mixer, which is very useful during marathon baking sessions -- no need to stop and wash the bowl between cookie batches.

And with the sun out and spring and summer on the way, I'm daydreaming about the $99 ice cream bowl attachment I spotted at the KitchenAid Web site. I'd use it just to make fat-free fruit sorbets, right?!? The KitchenAid stand mixer comes in several models now (Artisan series, Pro, etc.) and lots of cool colors, like kiwi green, candy apple red and carnation pink, but the Classic Plus, in basic white, meets my needs and aesthetics just fine. I think I paid $159 for it way back when and it paid for itself in use and enjoyment a long time ago.
The thing has been with me through thick (cheesecake and lemon extract cake batters; mashed potatoes) and thin (devil's food cake batter) and has never once failed to start or get the job done. Even when I've doubled a recipe and pushed the bowl and the machine to its limits, and even at Christmastime, when it's in use almost daily.

They call it KitchenAid, but I call it KitchenWarrior. And KitchenFriend.

Savory cookies: Sweet!

We're well into the yuletide season and heading straight to New Year's Eve/Day. You're probably tired, at this point, of making merry, of baking, and of things like cookies. Not the baking elves here at Eat First. And here's a news flash: Not all cookies are sweet, made with flour, sugar and butter.

Some "cookies" are savory, and made with flour, CHEDDAR and butter. Preferably New York State sharp or extra-sharp cheddar, but any cheddar will do.

Cheddar Shortbreads are yummy little bites that go well with an ice-cold Yuengling or a flute of Prosecco (that's how we enjoyed them Christmas night). They're a gourmet treat, for sure, but the taste will remind you of Cheez-Its. The shortbread cookies were introduced to me what seems like a lifetime ago by Naomi Annandale, a former co-worker at The Post-Standard, who made them as part of a holiday gift basket. The recipe is from pastry chef, teacher and cookbook author Nick Malgieri, though I'm not sure which of his books it is in. All I have to go on is a photocopied page (Page 123 in a chapter titled "savory pastries''). Savory, indeed.

I make the shortbreads twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but they never taste quite as delicious as that first batch, consumed in one sitting, that Naomi made so many years ago. Here is the recipe. Maybe they will become a holiday tradition for you, too. Cheddar Shortbreads Adapted from a recipe by Nick Malgieri 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 ounces sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese (white or orange), coarsely grated

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika

Pinch or two of cayenne pepper (optional)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (see note) Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking liners. Cut butter into small pieces and place in a food processor bowl. Grate the cheese coarsely and add to the processor. Pulse until well mixed but do not overmix and soften the butter too much.
Processed butter and cheddar.

Processed butter, cheddar, spices and flour. 

Combine flour, salt, mustard, paprika and cayenne (if using). Add to the processor and pulse until the butter and cheese have absorbed all the flour. Remove the dough from the processor bowl to a lightly flour work surface and press it together. Roll dough into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate at least four hours or overnight.

 

A double batch of Cheddar Shortbreads, rolled, wrapped and ready to go.

Heat oven to 350 degrees 30 minutes before baking. Cut dough into 1/4-inch slices and arrange them one inch apart on prepared pans.

 

Bake for about 15 minutes, until pale golden. Remove and cool on a rack. Store shortbreads in a tin, between layers of wax paper.

Serve shortbreads with drinks. Watch them disappear! Makes about 36 cookies.

Notes: The recipe can be made with other firm cheeses, such as Gruyere or Gouda. I made the recipe using one-quarter whole-wheat flour at Thanksgiving, and the shortbreads came out too crumbly. Just FYI.

 

Bake and give: Christmas cookies

A cut-out Christmas tree decorated with sugar, ready to go in the oven.

When I was a little girl, my mother baked what seemed like hundreds of thousands of cookies each Christmas.

She kept an inventory of them on a recipe card stuck to the fridge with a magnet, each one listed and checked off, followed by a note indicating recipe yield, all in her perfectly neat penmanship.

And you wonder why I'm "anal?''

There were Snickerdoodles, Thumbprints (filled with jelly and rimmed with chopped walnuts), Pecan Sandies, Chocolate Snowballs, thin and crispy Cut-Out Cookies, decorated with sugars and sprinkles (no icings), Gingerbread People and every kid's favorite, Peanut Butter Blossoms, each crowned with a Hershey's Kiss.

I'm sure there were others I'm not remembering. I have vague recollection of small, blond cookies studded with the sticky red and green cherries used in fruitcakes. Our family of nine enjoyed ice cream and cookies for dessert during the holiday season, and there was no better assignment each night than to descend the stairs to basement carrying a pretty Christmas plate, open each tin and pile the plate with cookies.

It's in that spirit and with that delightful variety of cookies in mind that I set about my baking each season. For me, one of the joys of Christmas is baking cookies, packing them carefully in cellophane bags or tins and giving them as gifts.

I usually bake four to six different kinds of cookies, and these are the guidelines.

1. Butter-based cut-out cookies are absolutely, positively mandatory. It wouldn't be Christmas without cut-out trees, ornaments, angels, stars, moons and more, decorated with sugars.

 

Cut-Out cookies -- angels, stars and trees -- cool on a rack.

2. There must be some kind of cookie with chocolate. Usually I make Chocolate and Vanilla Checkerboard Cookies but this year made Chocolate and Vanilla Rounds.

 White and Chocolate Rounds, from "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book.''

3. There must be something crispy and gingery, either gingersnaps or Gingerbread Cut-Outs.

 A naked gingerbread moose...

 ... and a gingerbread moose on its way to the oven, topped with sugar and crystallized ginger.

4. There must be biscotti (twice-baked Italian cookies) for dunking in coffee.

 

I've tried a lot of different recipes for biscotti, but always go back to a recipe for Almond-Anise Biscotti from Epicurious.com.

5. There must be something new and different. This year it's Lemon-Poppy Seed Cookies, from "Martha Stewart's Cookies.''

 

Lemon-Poppy Seed Cookies get a sprinkling of poppy seeds. 

My boyfriend, Robert, sometimes complains in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas that despite the hundreds of cookies being baked at our house, there are no cookies around for him to eat.

 

That's not entirely true. He comes home to a plate of over-browned and reject cookies each evening during marathon baking sessions.

Most of the cookies I choose to bake are freezer-friendly, and stashed safely in the freezer of our neighbors who spend the winter in Florida, until it's time to package them for gift-giving. If you pick the right recipes, a freezer can be a baker's best friend.

 

It's five days until Christmas now, almost time to head over to Joel and Shirley's with a laundry basket, retrieve the cookies and pack them in tins and bags for delivery Dec. 23.

The cutters are rinsed, dried and put away for another season.

Or at least until Valentine's Day, when the hearts and flowers come out to play in dough.

Cookie exchange 2009: Postscript

We came, we ate, we chatted, we swapped cookies.

The pile on this year's cookie exchange plate included vanilla bean sugar cookies with chocolate filling, slice and bake butter cookies, toasted sesame seed sugar cookies, cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies, chocolate chunk cookies (with bittersweet and white chocolate) and chewy-crunchy ginger cookies, always one of my favorites.

As if the lure of a cache of three dozen cookies wasn't enough, Barbara poured pear Bellinis, brewed coffee and made a fabulous brunch of quiche Loraine, arugula salad with poached pears, bleu cheese and vinaigrette, homemade sweet rolls and "stretch'' bread from Patisserie, a bakery behind the Sherwood Inn, in Skaneateles. As you begin your holiday baking, here are a couple recipes to consider. Gloria's Cranberry, White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies With Orange Glaze Frosting Adapted from a recipe in The Post-Standard Food section, 2008 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups quick-cooking oats 1 cup butter, softened 1½ cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup raisins 1 cup dried cranberries 1 cup finely chopped walnuts 2 cups white chocolate chips Orange Glaze Frosting (see note): 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar 2 teaspoons orange juice Beat together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well. Scrape bowl to incorporate. Add flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda; mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Roll dough into small balls and place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet, pressing dough balls down to flatten slightly. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are golden. Drizzle glaze on cookies. Makes about 36 cookies. Orange Glaze Frosting: Mix the confectioners’ sugar with the orange juice. If mixture is too thick, add a little more orange juice to make a drizzling consistency. Note: Gloria says the glaze recipe can be cut in half. Maureen's Toasted Sesame Seed Sugar Cookies (Recipe from McCormick spices) 2 and three-quarter cups flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1 and a half cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 jars (1.62 ounces each) toasted sesame seeds (about 1 cup, divided) 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted Mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add sugar; beat until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture and one-quarter cup of the sesame seeds on low speed. Refrigerate dough two hours, or until firm. Shape into one-inch balls. Roll in remaining 3/4 cup sesame seeds. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven 6 to 8 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is set. Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Cookie exchange 2009: Setting the stage

Bake three dozen cookies, drive to Skaneateles with a little snow in the air and come home with three dozen cookies -- six each of six different varieties.

Add a homemade brunch, a festive adult beverage (please?), coffee, great conversation and good laughs, the ogling Mrs. Oodles' vintage holiday decor and, of course, a cookie sampling par excellence and you've got one of the best holiday traditions of them all: the cookie exchange.


Last year's cookies include lemon poppyseed cookies, white chocolate chip cranberry cookies, minty chocolate cookies made with Andes candies, chocolate mint brownies and more.

I don't know who cooked up this delicious and merry activity, but she (he? doesn't seem likely) deserves an entry in Webster's dictionary -- or an extended blurb in "The Food Lover's Companion.''

A group of "girls" from the newspaper (now most of us formerly associated with the newspaper) have been doing a cookie exchange each December for 15 years or more. So many holiday seasons now, I've lost count.

Maybe Lillian knows exactly how many. I'll ask her tomorrow.

We take turns hosting, usually for lunch or brunch. And cookies.

Frosted cookies, rolled cookies, refrigerator cookies, pinwheel cookies, Italian cookies, Swedish cookies and good old-fashioned favorites, like gingersnaps. We don't confer on what we'll be making. We just show up with 36 cookies and come home with 36 cookies. Six kinds of cookies, each as unique as the person who made them.

A treasured resource for cookie inspiration, "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book.''

After a cookie disaster last year that turned into a waste of flour, sugar, eggs, a half pound of butter and a cup of toasted hazelnuts, I've opted this year to stick with a basic, slice-and-bake butter cookie, gussied up with decorative sugars, pecan halves and slivered almonds.

The recipe calls for Kerrygold Irish butter, which I am now completely in love with. It is light gold in color, as its name suggests, and wickedly rich and creamy. European butters are higher in fat, wouldn't you know, but I'm not going to worry about that right now.

Fiddle-dee-dee.  I'm just happy with the way the cookies turned out -- and how they taste.

I love slice-and-bake cookies because they can be made in stages, stashed in the fridge (or freezer, if you like) and baked when you're ready. I made two batches of the recipe below, one using the vanilla extract called, for the other using almond and anise extracts.

The almond version of the Kerrygold cookie recipe.

Before baking, the cookie rolls are brushed with egg white, rolled in coarse sugar and returned to the fridge briefly before slicing and baking. The almond version of the cookies are garnished with slivered almonds. The original version are garnished with pecan halves.

I used a blend of coarse colored sugars (red, white and green) but any large-grained sugar, sometimes called sanding sugar, will do.


Three dozen cookies, six for each cookie-rama attendee, bagged and ready to go.

Enjoy this recipe, and come back for more. I'll be posting more about cookies in the weeks and days leading up to Christmas, and will follow up next week with photos, memories and recipes from the exchange.

Happy baking!

Elinor Klivans’ Slice and Bake Butter Cookies

(Pastry chef and cookbook author Elinor Klivans developed this recipe using Kerrygold Irish Butter for Kerrygold and the Irish Dairy Board. I clipped the recipe from an advertising supplement in Gourmet magazine several years ago.)

You will need:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 package (8 ounces or 1 cup) salted Kerrygold Irish butter, at room temperature)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond extract)

1 large egg white

1/3 cup coarse (sanding) sugar crystals for rolling the cookie log (colored or not)

Pecan halves, walnut halves or slivered almonds

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl and set aside. In large bowl beat butter and sugar until lightened in color and fluffy, using an electric mixer on medium speed, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour mixture, mixing on low speed just until flour is incorporated and soft, smooth dough forms.

Divide dough into 2 pieces; form each into a log about 7½ inches long and 1½ inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about 1 hour until cold and firm, or overnight. Or freeze, wrapped securely, for up to 1 month. (Defrost in the refrigerator before slicing and baking.)

Position rack in middle of oven. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In small bowl, use fork to beat egg white until foamy, about 30 seconds. Use pastry brush to brush each log with egg white. Sprinkle the 1/3 cup sugar on strip of wax paper then roll each log back and forth in sugar to coat lightly. Return the logs to the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes.

Use a large sharp knife to cut each log into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Press nut half into each cookie before baking, if desired.

Bake one sheet at a time until cookie edges and bottoms are light brown, about 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 3 days. Makes 60 cookies.

Fly By Night Cookie Company (UPDATED)

Note: This post was originally published in September, 2009. Almost a decade later, it is still relevant and accurate. And the Fly By Night Cookie Co. is still magical.

 

Fair Haven, about 45 miles northwest of Syracuse, considers itself the best-kept secret on Lake Ontario. The peaceful village overlooking Little Sodus Bay has much to recommend: camping, boating, fishing, a sprawling state park and a Main Street that's the picture of small-town Americana, with flags flapping in the breeze.

 

Walk a couple blocks down Fancher Avenue, off Main Street, in the summertime and you'll notice the smell of fresh-cut grass -- and the aroma of baking cookies.

 

 

Follow your nose to a charming house with intricate carved pillars and twinkling lights on the porch. The place is home to Bonnie Bridson and her Fly By Night Cookie Company.

 

 

On the porch, you'll find self-serve coffee and tea and tables at which to sit and nibble your selections.

 

Through the front door, you'll find more than 60 varieties of cookies in hand-labeled jars -- chocolate chip, macaroons, molasses, peanut butter, gingersnaps and more. There are plain cookies, frosted cookies, rolled cookies, bar cookies, cut-out cookies and exotics, such as elderberry filled cookies.

 

There's even a cookie designed to cure PMS, with a double dose of chocolate, chocolate chips and mint extract, plus chocolate mint icing. At the least, it will cure your cravings for sugar and chocolate.

 

 

 

 

 

If the bakers are too busy in the kitchen to assist with your purchase, a sign explains Bridson's honor system: Put on a plastic glove, make your selection(s), read the posted prices and leave your money (90 cents per cookie) in a jar. Summer 2019 update: Cookies are $1.25 each.

 

 

No one steals from the cookie jars or the cash jar.

 

"I don't seem to have the theft karma going on,'' Bridson told WRVO-FM reporter Jasmyn Belcher in an interview that aired last month.

 

If the cars with Pennsylvania and Florida license plates out front are any indication, Bridson seems to have the word-of-mouth karma going on. If dozens and hundreds of cookies aren't enough, she also makes and sells pies, cakes, pastries and breads.

 

The charm of the place extends to the miniatures that share space with jars full of cookies and to Bridson's leafy back yard, where a small shed holds a book nook.

 

Leave a dollar or two, and take home a new title or two. Or, bring some of your well-worn volumes and make a trade and donation.

 

 

Funds raised benefit the preservation of the West Barrier Bar, one of the last remaining stretches of undeveloped beach on the south side of Lake Ontario.

 

After visiting Fly By Night, I find myself daydreaming about moving to Fair Haven. Maybe Bonnie Bridson would adopt a former food editor who loves to bake!

 

The Fly By Night Cookie Company is at 14508 Fancher Ave. in Fair Haven. Hours vary according to season. For information, call  315-947-5588.