67 Comments

I made the cookies and love them!!

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Hi David - These cookies were just what the doctor ordered. I am nursing my 14 yr golden retriever thru her final weeks (Lymphoma) and the simplicity and ease of this recipe took my mind off of things for a bit and for that I thank you. She is my best friend as dogs often become, and a warm cookie helped my shattering heart. For that I thank you.

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Made a batch on the weekend. They’re gggrrreatttt!!

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I made these twice. Once with vanilla and the second time with cardamom extract. They were both good but we liked the cardamom best. Thanks for the recipe!

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My son and I both made these cookies. Mine were terrific. Everyone enjoyed. But there were discrepancy between the volume and weight measurements, so his weren’t as good. I used vol for corn syrup as the weight wasn’t close to 1/3c??? I always use wt for the flour. Wondering if you checked your wt/vol of corn syrup?? (PS I did buy the cookbook.)

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I find that 1/3 cup of corn syrup does equal 100g, which is also what Michele uses in her book. Am thinking of only doing recipes on one system in the future due to discrepancies and it's easier to write in one system, but need to decide which!

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I find Weighing is always easier!

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Dec 25, 2023Liked by David Lebovitz

Wow! These are so good! So simple to make, and they were a huge hit with my family. First thing to disappear. I’ll be making these often!

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I don't know exactly where on Substack to mention this, but in light of the news that the founders say they'll neither ban Nazis or even demonetize Nazis, I'm unsubscribing from all of my paid and unpaid 'stacks as of today. I'm going to REALLY miss them all, but the disgusting decision by Substack's founders makes it impossible for me to do otherwise.

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These are so very good! Thanks for sharing. I loved your chat with Nichole also, both of you so charming. I like to support wonderful local bakeries, but despite being in Oakland I may well not get to Kantine, hermit that I am. So I will just "have" to buy her book!

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David, we love everything that you share but can not continue to support this newsletter while it's hosted on a platform that financially supports fascism and Nazi propaganda. Please move to a new platform that stands up against this evil.

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Dec 22, 2023Liked by David Lebovitz

Thanks - the brown rice syrup worked fine. The cookies are definitely delish! Maybe the color is a bit darker, but they are crunchy and not too sweet - second only to the pain d'amande.

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Dec 21, 2023Liked by David Lebovitz

Wow, those are really good. I had some raw macademians on hand so while not exactly authentic, I chopped some up for one batch and those were good too.

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Making these with Brown rice syrup only because I don't want a corn syrup in the pantry. But I did not see a time for baking. 10? 12? minutes - just wondering if I missed something. Getting ready to bake.

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It's 16-18 minutes. You may need to refresh your page in the browser.

How did the rice syrup work?

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Looking at the variety of butter you have no wonder I had trouble several years ago when staying in Vaugirard, choosing which one to buy. Interestingly I asked a young girl standing nearby who happened to be Italian, so she called her sister over who not only spoke French but great English and she helped me out.

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Yes, each butter has it's purpose and place in France. We like salted butter with grains of fleur de sel in it for breakfast, and I bake primarily with unsalted butter, although sometimes use salted butter. I picked up a packet of seaweed butter in Brittany to go with oysters and bread, and there are other butters out there - waiting to be used!

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I don't bake a ton but I was shocked when using my scale, I only needed 2 cups of flour to get to 300g. I'm sure experienced bakers know all about this sort of thing. My cookies did come out a smidge flatter though and I wonder if maybe I should have added a skootch more flour. lol. What a process. I find baking much less forgiving than cooking. Alas, when it works though! These are delicious regardless of my flour dilemma! thank you.

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Dec 21, 2023·edited Dec 21, 2023Author

Yes, that's why many of us wish that everyone would get on the same page in terms of cups/tablespoons vs. metrics. Flour varies in weight, and by country too!

Maybe moving forward in 2024, we'll decide...

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Dec 20, 2023·edited Dec 20, 2023Liked by David Lebovitz

Read your newsletter this morning, and this afternoon took a break from work to go buy light corn syrup—the only ingredient I did not have in my kitchen already. Baked these up and they are utterly divine, so simple and so delicious. ‘Moreish,’ as my Irish husband, would say, which literally means you want more of it 😆.

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I wish you would give an approximate time the cookies bake-5 min or 25 min would help me from checking on them every 2 min to look for "browned tops"

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It’s 16-18 minutes. You may need to refresh the page on your browser to see it

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