After-Work Gourmet by Lisa Messinger

What's almost as easy as taking an autumn walk in the forest and collecting pieces of tree bark and crispy fall leaves is making your own chocolate bark and leaf-shaped cookies. Not only are these surprisingly simple-to-prepare treats, but they also make unique seasonal hostess gifts, party favors and impressive desserts.

Just from appearances, candy bark is a scene-stealer and often sold at the finest confectionary shops. However recipes like cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein's and Mark Scarborough's featured on FineCooking.com (home of recipes from Fine Cooking magazine) prove what a snap the process is. Chocolate is melted momentarily in the microwave and white chocolate is drizzled atop dark for a striking effect. Chopped pistachios, ginger and apricots crown the chocolate, which is refrigerated for 10 minutes before being broken into colorful pieces and served.

Leaf-shaped cookies are also an autumn breeze. Who better than Martha Stewart, a New England icon, to lead the way regarding Fall Leaf Cookies — and that's just what she named one of her standout recipes. Being the whiz at crafts that millions of appreciative home cooks have come to know, Stewart, of course, traces a real leaf first as her easy pattern for a stencil. A simple chocolate tuile batter is used as the base of the cookie leaf, and a similar white chocolate tuile batter is piped on top as the foliage's "veins" for half the batch and then vice versa.

The results are much more sophisticated than the breezy prep work. However, if you really want to take it easy, yet still spread the love this autumn, plenty of store-bought and mail-order choices abound. Acclaimed upstate New York tea purveyor Harney & Sons (www.harney.com) also sells gourmet seasonal treats, such as the swirled, colorful pumpkin and maple barks featured in their Flavors of the Fall Season tea/bark/cookie pack, which they note is inspired by autumn in the Berkshires.

Look up "leaf cookies" at www.Shopzilla.com, the shopping bargain search engine, and you'll see items like a six-piece leaf pie and cookie cutter set or a fall maple-leaf cookie cutter in an autumn-themed gift box.

CHOCOLATE BARK WITH GINGER AND PISTACHIOS

6 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate (70 to 72 percent cacao), chopped (1 cup)

2 ounces white chocolate, chopped (1/3 cup; optional)

3 tablespoons chopped salted pistachios

3 tablespoons chopped dried apricots

2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger

Yields 4 servings.

In a small bowl, melt the dark chocolate in the microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir until smooth.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or waxed paper. Spread the melted dark chocolate into an approximately 8-by-5-inch rectangle.

If using the white chocolate, melt it in the same manner as the dark chocolate and drizzle it in a zigzag pattern across the dark chocolate.

Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios, apricots and ginger and press gently to set them into the chocolate.

Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Break into pieces and serve. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

— Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough featured at www.FineCooking.com

FALL LEAF COOKIES

Chocolate tuile batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup confectioners' sugar

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

White tuile batter:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup confectioners' sugar

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

Yields about 100 cookies.

To prepare chocolate tuile batter: Sift flour with cocoa, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and confectioners' sugar on medium until well combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg whites, one at a time, beating for 4 minutes after each addition. Add the flour/cocoa mixture, and mix until just combined.

Reserve 1/2 cup batter; place in a pastry bag fitted with a No. 2 tip, and set aside for piping white tuile cookies.

To prepare white tuile batter: Sift flour into a mixing bowl and set aside.

With rest of white tuile ingredients, follow same instructions as aforementioned for chocolate tuile batter, including reserving 1/2 cup batter; place in a pastry bag fitted with a No. 2 tip, and set aside for piping chocolate tuile cookies.

To prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 400 F.

Trace a leaf onto a large, flexible plastic lid, such as one from a coffee can. Using scissors, cut lip from lid. With a utility knife, carefully cut out the leaf shape to make a stencil.

Place nonstick baking mat on top of a baking sheet, and place stencil on mat. Using a small offset spatula, spread a thin layer of chocolate batter over stencil; carefully lift up stencil. Repeat, making more leaves, spacing evenly on baking mat. Pipe white veins onto chocolate leaves. Bake 4 minutes.

Using spatula, drape leaves over rolling pin to cool. Repeat process to make 50 cookies, reserving 1/2 cup chocolate batter.

Repeat with white batter, using reserved chocolate batter for piping.

— www.MarthaStewart.com

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "Cooks' Books" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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