I know New Yorkers, it’s not a cookie, but Seinfeld was produced in L.A..

It is not, reader Bryan. Caramel has so many molecular whatsits in it that the sucrose molecules would need flashlights to find each other. First there’s all the fat from the butter or the cream. Next you have all the broken up pieces of sugars that the caramel-making process creates (the heat of caramelization literally destroys some of the sugar molecules, breaking them into pieces which recombine into all sorts of Franken-cules, most of which still have no names). Last you have some invert sugar, since the broken sugar pieces are acidic, and the slightly acid environment breaks some of the remaining sucrose into glucose and fructose.

Reader Marta asks, since I mentioned “crystalline candy” below, if there’s such a thing as “non-crystalline” candy. Indeed there is, Marta. In fact most candy is non-crystalline. “Amorphous” is another term for this sort of candy, since it lacks a crystal structure (amorphous is Greek for “without shape”). Ultra-dense syrups are what they are. Sometimes they go by the name of “non-grained” candies. The family includes virtually every hard candy you’ve ever seen: butterscotch drops, sour balls and the like, also peanut brittles and gumdrops.

Lots of mail overnight. I seemed to have popped the cap on a deep well of fondant hatred out there. I can sympathize with it to some extent, since fondant of the rolled type can be annoying when it’s laid on too thick. I’ll also say that commercially made fondant can taste a little…synthetic, and that’s no fun on a wedding cake. Unfortunately much of the fondant that’s used on cakes these days is pre-made, shipped to bakeries in 50-pound plastic-covered blocks that are fun to practice judo kicks on late at night in the middle of the bread shift. Not that I’ve ever done that.

I’m going with fondant because it’s traditional. Yes, I know there are a lot of bakeries our there that are updating the black and white these days, using coatings of melted chocolate, ganaches and/or thick applications of frosting. To me that’s taking a good idea too far. I’ve long maintained that good cake needs very little adornment…a thin application of a real buttercream or a delicate veneer of icing.

New York City. Exactly how and why they evolved is a mystery, though scores of bakeries around the four boroughs take credit for the innovation. There’s nothing documented that gives the honors to anyone in particular, however it is clear that they’ve been around in one form or another for at least the past hundred years.

The most popular myth about their origin holds that they were invented when a baker needed a way to use up leftover cake batter. That (possibly) solves the substrate portion of the question, but what about the fondant design on top? Nobody in New York really knows, however they do all agree it’s not a cookie, dammit. And who am I to disagree?

…plush versions start popping up in expensive toy shops. Mrs. Pastry’s keen eyes spotted these in a shop in Naples, Florida last week. I was, frankly, stunned. Guess it’s time we moved on to the next baking fad, no?

Here’s a cookie that’s not really a cookie but a flat cake, iced with vanilla fondant on one side and chocolate on the other. There are mediocre black and whites all over the place. I’ll do my best to make a good one!