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Cookies are the perfect treat, and each one is valuable to society. And yet, I’ve recently unwittingly stumbled upon an outstanding way to improve almost any cookie. To experience an otherworldly crunch phenomenon, simply wrap your drop cookies in phyllo dough.
Phyllo dough is a thinner-than-paper dough used in a variety of Middle Eastern and Balkan dishes like baklava and spanakopita, and you can usually find it in the freezer section at the grocery store. Although it doesn’t provide much in the way of flavor, the layers of dough are usually layered with thin swipes of fat before baking. The fat helps the wispy layers toast, and they crisp up into the most exquisitely flaky texture.
Usually the flimsy dough is filled to create an impressive dish, whether savory or sweet. Wrapping it around the humble cookie is a large shift in purpose. It never occurred to me to do such a radical thing until I encountered Chip City’s baklava cookie (which is not on their regular menu, but you can peep it on their Instagram). The cookie mimics the flavors and textures of a classic baklava, and you certainly can’t have that without the phyllo. Phyllo wrapping offers a clever way to add that signature flaky crisp—but you don’t have to make a baklava cookie to add this spectacular texture to your cookies. Any drop cookie dough will be absolutely spectacular when swaddled in a crispy phyllo wrapping.
Drop cookies are one of the more common doughs in Western cookie culture, and include popular varieties like chocolate chip, oatmeal, snickerdoodle, and peanut butter cookies. These types of dough all use a chemical leavener like baking soda or baking powder, and produce a thick dough that you scoop with a spoon and drop onto the baking sheet. (Shaped cookies, like cut-out cookies, would lose their shape in the wrapping, and delicate cookie dough, like egg white-leavened macarons, might sacrifice their structure and texture under the phyllo.)
Transforming your typical drop cookie into a buttery, crispy-shelled masterpiece takes a few extra steps, but the pay off is worth it. Here’s what to do.
Prepare the cookie dough as usual. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of my Toll House morsel bag because my back-up freezer supply was running low. Set the dough to the side and prepare the phyllo. Phyllo has no fat of its own and it crisps best if there is fat to fry up the layers when it cooks. If you don’t layer butter or oil in between the layers before baking, the resulting pastry will taste dusty or pasty—so place one full sheet of thawed phyllo on the counter and brush melted butter on half of it.
Fold the unbuttered side over, on top of the buttered side. Now you have alternating layers of phyllo dough, butter, and more phyllo dough. Brush some butter on the entire top side, so that you’ve added another layer of butter to your pattern.
Flip the rectangle over. The buttered side will eventually be on the outside, once we wrap the cookie.
Depending on the size of your cookie, you can leave the phyllo whole, or cut it in half. For a mega cookie like the ones Chip City makes, use about a ¼-cup of dough and the whole sheet of phyllo. I wanted to make smaller cookies, so I cut my sheet in half with a knife, as you can see in the picture.
Place a heaped tablespoon of cookie dough into the center of the phyllo sheet. Wrap it by folding the top flap, bottom, left, and right into a loose package. The dough will rise and expand and it cooks, and if you wrap it too, you’ll risk an eruption—making my first batch, I experience a couple of dough breaches. For my second, I folded the flaps more gently so the cookie dough had room to expand, and the results were lovely. (To be fair, the busted ones tasted fantastic too.)
Bake for a couple minutes longer than you normally would without the phyllo wrapping—about 12-15 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 20 for the giant guys. You’ll know they’re ready when the flaky dough starts browning along the top edges and is golden on the bottom. When in doubt, give it an extra minute. The dough inside will stay soft because it’s protected by the outer pastry, but you want to ensure it’s fully set.
Let the cookie parcels cool completely before diving in. They’re best eaten the day-of, since the flaky layers can soften, especially in a humid environment. My only regret is that I didn’t use salted butter in between the phyllo layers. Learn from my mistakes, and treat yourself.
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