Dominique Ansel Bakery, Las Vegas - Part 2 (Thanksgiving Bourbon Pecan Pie)

Dominique Ansel Bakery, Las Vegas - Part 2, Thanksgiving Bourbon Pecan Pie, picked up November 20, 2022

Look at that pie - is it a thing of beauty or what? Even if I knew how to successfully make a good pie (I don't), I couldn't have made this. I follow Dominique Ansel on Instagram and every November, he has pie night in the run up to Thanksgiving. The pies always look amazing so I was glad I had the opportunity to finally try one this (past) year. 

He offered three flavors at his Las Vegas bakery: pumpkin, salted caramel apple and bourbon pecan pie. I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie so I had to choose between the other two. Or thought I had to choose. I was leaning towards the apple as apple pie is my favorite but I was getting this not for Thanksgiving but for my niece's birthday and I left the choice up to her. She chose the pecan pie. I briefly thought about getting both the pecan and apple but the price per pie was a bit steep, even with my YOLO mentality and, more importantly, between me, my mom, my sister, my niece and her boyfriend, I didn't think we could finish 2 pies while they were still fresh. So just the pecan pie it was.

Just one bite was enough to convince me this was not a bad choice. At all. It was feckin' delicious. You can't really taste the bourbon for anyone who's not alcohol-inclined (me, I don't drink). The caramelized pecans on top weren't just for looks but also contributed to the crisp-sweet and crunchy texture of excellent pecans.

Sometimes I'm leery of pecan pies because some of them have a gelatinous filling and only have pecans on top. Not so with this one as you can see from the pictures. Crust and caramelized pecans is what you get and it was amazing. Yes, it was worth the lofty price. The crust was more of a pate brisee than the flaky crust of a more traditional pie, almost like a shortbread. That, too, was delicious. Overall, so much better than birthday cake and I'm glad my niece chose this one. 

If you ever have a chance to get a Dominique Ansel pie, I advise pre-ordering and doing it early as they do sell out. Trust me, you don't want to miss out.

Dominique Ansel Bakery, Las Vegas - Part 1

Dominique Ansel Bakery, Las Vegas - visited October 23, 2022

I've been meaning to do this write up for awhile but time kept getting away from me. By now I've amassed so many pictures from Dominique Ansel's new bakery at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas that I can't do justice to all of it in one blog post. Hence, this is the beginning of a multi-part series because let's face it, I'm a huge fan girl of the man and his baking talent so I'm happy to rhapsodize multiple times about everything I've eaten and seen.

I'll start off by saying yes, his stuff is pretty fancy and, to some, rather expensive. I believe in spending for good food, especially great desserts, so that doesn't bother me as thankfully, I can afford this level of high end desserts and I don't spend my money on much else, besides travel. And YOLO....

I had moved to Las Vegas in the middle of 2022 (summer, triple-digit temps for weeks on end, I don't recommend it as an intro to Vegas) just as I was recovering from Covid. Not an auspicious beginning. But my outlook brightened in the fall, not just because of cooler weather, but also my favorite baker opened his new bakery less than a 30-minute drive from where I lived. Woot!

I didn't go quite on opening day as I figured that way lay madness and long lines but I was there only a few days later. The lines weren't quite as long but the small corner carved out of Caesar's Palace casino was pretty hopping. The bakery also had retail shelves where you could buy his cookbook as well as assorted DAB paraphernalia and more of his packaged treats. But for the initial visit, I focused on what was in the display cases.

My taste buds aren't as fancy as I would like and some of the more exotic flavors aren't my thing at all. But still, I enjoyed looking at all the fancy and appreciating the creativity and meticulous care that went into creating the mini-masterpieces. For Las Vegas, he created a special set of 7 desserts that are only available at the Dominique Ansel Bakery, Las Vegas. And they are mind-bogglingly beautiful. The pictures don't do them justice, both individually and as part of the set that makes up the display cases. If you ever get a chance to visit this bakery in Vegas, your eyes will get, well, an eyeful, of gorgeous patisseries.

If all that fancy is not your thing and you have more plebian taste buds, nothing wrong with that and there are options for you (and me) as well in the form of macarons (not for me), pain au chocolate and croissants (me, me) and cookies (also me).

I knew from my prior visit to the NY location of Dominique Ansel bakery that my favorite is the DKA - Dominique Kouign Amann. I was so happy to be able to get it again. I've had good kouign amanns elsewhere but the DKA is still by far my favorite version of it.   

I didn't buy the 4-pack, although don't think I didn't consider it. But they're best eaten the day they're purchased and even I can't eat more than 1 a day. So I bought a single and took it home to eat later. It was as good as I remembered from New York, with that crunchy-sweet caramelized outside and flaky layers. DKAs have spoiled me for croissants. Whenever I have a choice, I go for the DKA every time.

Now, of course, he's more famous for his cronuts and each bakery gets a new flavor every month. I didn't try the opening month's flavor and I've forgotten exactly what it was except it was some kind of jam. I'm not a fan of jam or any-berry-not-in-their-original-state so I didn't get it. Also because I had a single-minded focus on the DKA. But still, the cronut was pretty to look at. 

I did get my mom and my sister the Goldfish since it was flavored with calamansi (a popular Filipino flavor) as well as mango, my sister's favorite. I didn't try it but they said it was good. After they were finished, the poor goldfish look well and truly speared so I didn't take a picture of what it looked like once they were done; there wasn't much left, haha.

My sister before she killed the poor fish

Chocolate Cutout Cookies (Stamped Cookies #30) by Attainable Sustainable

Chocolate Cutout Cookies (Stamped Cookies #30) - made dough March 4, 2023 from Attainable Sustainable

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Embossing dust

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar until combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture on low speed until just combined. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out dough between two large pieces of parchment paper to 1/4" thickness. Chill another 30 minutes.
4. Lightly brush embossed rolling pin with embossing dust, shaking off any excess. Remove top portion of parchment paper and roll over dough with embossed rolling pin. Cut out into desired shapes. If dough is too soft, return to refrigerator to chill another 30-60 minutes. Refrigerate or freeze cut out cookies for at least an hour.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space cut cookies. Bake 7-9 minutes or until edges are set. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

You can tell from the pictures that I had mixed success with this recipe. The impressions didn't hold nearly as well as the brownie stamped cookies, especially after being baked. Even worse, you can see some "burned" spots in the design. No, I didn't burn the cookies. That's from the embossing dust where I used equal parts cocoa powder and flour to dust the embossed rolling pin and cookie stamps I used to stamp out this dough.

The darker bits was the cocoa powder turning darker during baking. When I'm embossing or stamping chocolate cookie dough, I don't like to just use flour or powdered sugar because it sometimes leaves a whitish residue that doesn't bake out. But as you can see, the cocoa powder in this particular base didn't fare much better.

Which is a shame as these actually tasted pretty good. They're not as pretty as they taste but the flavor was good, the texture was soft with just the slightest crispness on the outside shell. I might have to try this again and skip the cocoa powder in the embossing dust and just sparingly use the flour or powdered sugar to prevent sticking. 

Crumbl copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cookies and Cups

Crumbl Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough March 11, 2023 from Cookies and Cups

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt and cornstarch; mix for 1 minutes, scraping sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured.
4. On low speed, add flour in 3 additions, mixing until just combined after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Portion out rounded 1/3 cup cookie dough (4.2 ounces) and roll into a ball. Break dough ball in half, pressing the smooth sides together so that the jagged edges are on top. Evenly space on prepared sheets, 3 inches apart.
6. Bake for 10-11 minutes, until edges are set and tops are slightly golden and no longer look raw. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and press additional chips on top of baked cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Since I enjoyed trying the real Crumbl cookie and a copycat version at the same time like I did with the Kentucky Butter Cake, I thought I'd try it again with the Crumbl milk chocolate cookie and a copycat version. Unlike the KBC, which appears sporadically, Crumbl offers the milk chocolate cookie nearly every week so it was easier to do a comparison since I could get the OG Crumbl milk chocolate any time.

I didn't make this exactly as the OG cookie was meant to be since I didn't use Guittard milk chocolate chips but instead chopped up Trader Joe's Pound Plus milk chocolate bar. I was also more generous with the milk chocolate chunks than Crumbl tends to be with their chips.

The final verdict is I liked both. The copycat wasn't quite like the Crumbl OG cookie, differences in milk chocolate aside. I liked the texture of the cookie part of Crumbl's cookie a tad better but I thought the copycat version had better flavor. Where Crumbl's cookie seems more sweet, this copycat version had more of the brown sugar caramel flavor. That was likely helped by the fact that I chilled these overnight to let the flavors meld and develop more.

Crumbl OG Milk Chocolate

Crumbl OG Milk Chocolate

Crumbl OG (left) and copycat (right)

Regardless, unless you're dead set on an exact Crumbl copycat, this was a great cookie on its own. You would still get a great cookie if you made this instead of buying Crumbl's cookie. 

Inside the copycat

Chocolate Nutella Cookies from Modern Honey

Chocolate Nutella Cookies - made dough February 20, 2023 from Modern Honey

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chocolate Nutella spread

2 large eggs

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks

additional Nutella for dolloping into the dough

sea salt for sprinkling

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined and creamy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured.
2. Add Nutella and beat for 1 minute longer. Add eggs and beat to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.
4. Dollop additional Nutella over the top of the dough before scooping. Portion dough into golf-ball-sized dough balls, leaving swirls of Nutella in each portion, cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space dough balls on prepared sheets. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt if desired. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Do not overbake. Let cookies rest on baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate and Nutella lovers, oh em gee, this is the cookie for you. I loved this cookie. I had to eat the taste test cookie in several sittings because it's rich but my love remains unfazed. The edges are crisp and the texture is just baked Nutella fudge but better. I amped up the richness by dolloping Nutella over the top of the dough before I scooped it. I left the swirls of Nutella in each cookie dough ball and dolloped more Nutella once the top layer of the dough had been scooped. I also suggest using chopped chunks of chocolate rather than chocolate chips as they'll have a softer bite once the cookie is baked and cooled to room temperature. Delicious.