Herbs & Spices
Vanilla Sugar Dough
This classic sugar cookie and tart shell dough is also known as pâte sucrée. Like the Chocolate Sugar Dough, it is very versatile and works as tart shells or sugar cookies, or whenever you need a sweet, sturdy crust to hold delicacies like strawberries and cream or chocolate mousse. You can also mix all the ingredients in a food processor—just pulse until the ingredients come together.
Yin Yang Cookies
These playful black-and-white cookies have the simple appeal of chocolate and vanilla as well as the universally appealing symbol of Buddhist duality, yin and yang. By giving these cookies as a gift, you get the return gift of delighting the recipient. For the shortening, look for an all-natural transfat-free brand, available in many health food stores. Use Dark Chocolate Plastique (page 134) to make the chocolate side of the yin yang decoration.