Top Secret Sugar Cookies

In the world of cookies, looks count. These buttery sugar cookies topped with a Jackson Pollock drizzle of chocolate are like the sparkly pixie dream girl of baked goods. Brought to a party, they dazzle.

I kicked off our baking lessons with “Top Secrets” for obvious reasons. They live on the highest rung of cookie stardom for me. Their salty crunch, buttery flavor, and crisp good looks elevate them beyond a mere shortbread. Besides, I needed to quickly establish Grandma’s expertise and these are so easy. 

I learned how to make them on an early food-writing gig, ghostwriting for the chef-owners of one of the hottest restaurants in town, City Restaurant on La Brea Avenue. Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger rode the first wave of foodie madness to create an empire in 1980s Los Angeles. At their peak, they had two stylish restaurants, one food show, (The Too Hot Tamales and, along with Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, were the earliest Food Network stars). They also had a local public radio gig, a consultancy to Whole Foods Market and several book contracts. I was the writer who turned their addled thoughts into sequential words on a page. In a town driven by the love of fame and filthy lucre, they had the appetite for it all. They also were brilliant cooks.

Les livres.

Jump ahead 35 years and it’s a given that restaurant culture can be brutal. Back then, just as chefs were finally stepping out of the kitchen into the limelight, what went on in the kitchen was a secret that most of the public didn’t really care about. Even in a women-owned restaurant like City, celebrity chefs could turn into monsters in the tight confines of the kitchen, creating so much drama that one Tamale was no longer allowed in the kitchen. It was too upsetting for the grown men who were churning out the food.

Meanwhile the cute young chefs would buzz around town in their trademark pink chef’s jackets, on their matching Vespas—dashing off to the farmers market to buy organic or to East LA to eat real tacos, and returning to the restaurant for photo ops. By the time I travelled with them on a tasting expedition to Mexico, where my job was to carry the cash and appear to be in an entourage, I felt like I was turning into a well-fed zombie. Eventually, their contempt, even for the moneyed guests who begged for a table, was enough to ruin my appetite. And I was eating for free!

After ten years, City flamed out. I still feel nostalgic when I drive by the latest salad concept or Starbucks that inhabits that formerly magical place on the corner of Second and La Brea. By Los Angeles restaurant standards though, it had a long run. The restaurants that really last a long time in LA—like Frères Taix, or Musso and Frank’s (currently seen in The Kominsky Method)—specialize in letting people in and feeding them, sans the pixie dust.

Passing along the secrets!

But getting back to the cookie... It’s hard to believe that something so perfect came out of such a twisted environment. At the restaurant, the cookie was displayed in the refrigerated case at the entrance, so guests could start imagining dessert before sitting down. Pastry chef Ruth Milliken, Mary Sue’s Midwestern mother, taught them to the kitchen staff. I believe they’re still being sold in Las Vegas at the Border Grill, 35 years later. Le monde continue à tourner!

Piper was always crazy for cookies!

This boring piece of history probably doesn’t mean much to Piper right now. But if she reads this in middle school—not Zoom school, but real school—I hope she learns a lesson from her granny’s time as a ghost. No matter the perks, it is no job for a smart cookie like her.

Regarding the recipe, if you’ve scanned the ingredient list, you probably guessed that the not-so-secret ingredient is crunched-up potato chips. I knew that having a big bag of chips in the house would make Piper smile. Plus, she got to bash them with a rolling pin, or her own powerful little fists. In terms of her education, she also melted chocolate on the stovetop for the first time—a technique that would become second nature as we plowed our way through weeks of chocolate cakes, chocolate cookies, chocolate madeleines, and chocolate mousse bars. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

RECIPE

TOP SECRET SUGAR COOKIES

2 sticks butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup crushed potato chips, preferably plain Lays

2 cups flour

Sugar for dipping

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick pads.

In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in salt and vanilla. Add pecans and crushed chips and mix well. Add flour and slowly stir just until combined.

Break off chunks of dough, about the size of a walnut, and roll between your hands into a ball. Place dough balls on cookie sheets. Leaving plenty of room for them to spread. 

Then coat the bottom of a heavy highball glass with soft butter. Place extra sugar on a small flat plate and dip buttered glass bottom in sugar to coat. Press each cookie on the sheet with the glass bottom to flatten. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes—until the edges are golden brown. Cool on racks set over paper towels.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a bowl nestled over simmering water, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly. Then dip the tines of a fork in chocolate and drizzle over the cookies to make a random pattern. (Paper towels under the racks will catch messy drips.) Refrigerate to set the chocolate. Eat!!