Sohla El-Waylly

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This Bangladeshi-style chicken korma, named for my mother, Amu, is gently spiced and enriched with yogurt instead of cream or nuts, resulting in a light and bright sauce. This style of braising adds very little liquid, allowing the chicken to stew in its own juices. For full flavor, cook the korma until the fat breaks out of the sauce and pools on the surface. Keep it traditional and serve with paratha or rice, or pull the meat off the bones and pile between mayo-slathered white bread to make a chicken korma sandwich — and, of course, cut on a diagonal.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

These bars get their fudgy texture from ripe bananas and are lightly sweetened with honey. They are packed with nut butter, walnuts and oats, making them a satisfying breakfast treat. By combining the mashed bananas with eggs and letting them sit together for 15 minutes, the bananas become extra sweet. That’s because eggs contain a starch-digesting enzyme called amylase, which converts some of the banana starches to sugar. Best of all? The batter comes together quickly, in just one bowl.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Floral honey, aromatic cardamom and a whipped cream bursting with banana goodness bolster the flavors of this classic dessert. The addition of freeze-dried bananas to the cream layer intensifies the taste of the fruit in each bite. This pie is a bit of a project, so break up the process to make it easier: Make the caramel up to one month in advance; bake the crust up to three days ahead; and fill the crust 24 hours before serving. The topping is best when added just before slicing, as the caramel will begin to weep and melt rapidly.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

The sandwich you make with all the prized leftovers the day after Thanksgiving might be even better than the main event. Assembling this leftover Thanksgiving sandwich is easy, but the details matter. The white and dark turkey meat each get special love and attention: The breast is warmed in butter, while the dark meat is shredded, then warmed in gravy. This club ditches the usual third slice of bread for a slab of crisp, fried stuffing instead. When heating the stuffing, make sure your pan is good and hot so the stuffing fries up fast without falling apart in the skillet. A generous swipe of cranberry mayo brings the whole thing together.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This bright and brothy braise makes a big impact with only a handful of pantry staples thanks to a trick borrowed from Bangladeshi cooking, where chicken is gently simmered in blended onion and garlic. The allium purée caramelizes lightly, adds body to the sauce and offers a delicate aroma which grounds the perky lemon and cracked pepper seasoning. Round out the meal with a crusty baguette and simple leafy salad.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, like cabbage and brussels sprouts, can handle some char. Blackening makes them sweet and caramelized rather than bitter and burnt. The key is to cook the vegetables hot and fast, so the pieces develop color without becoming mushy and they’re crackly at the edges while still crisp-tender at the cores. Make sure your broccoli florets are thoroughly dried before cooking by taking them for a ride in a salad spinner. (Water will slow down the browning, resulting in florets that steam instead of char.) A topping of toasted nuts, sticky dates, bright lemon and bites of peppercorn adds complexity to this humble vegetable.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

These oysters taste like pizza, all thanks to a simple tomato butter loaded with garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper. In this recipe, adapted from my cookbook "Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook" (Knopf, 2023), you still go through the motions of shucking, but start by broiling the oysters, which makes them give up their tight grip and open right up. Then all you need is a butter knife to release them from their shells, so think of this as oyster shucking with training wheels on. Each opened oyster is crowned with the tomato butter before another quick trip under the broiler to get bubbly and browned. Serve with crusty bread to sop up all the briny, garlicky sauce.

Sohla El-Waylly · Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook

Braised in a flavourful broth, this Brothy Same-Day Slow-Roast Whole Chicken is a warming weekend dinner for the whole family.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

These crisp butter cookies incorporate blitzed toffee in place of some of the sugar and butter for a rich caramel flavor. To really amplify that almond-toffee essence, the cookies are topped with sliced almonds, and a nutty brown-butter icing is sandwiched in between. Be sure to roll the cookies very thin (about the thickness of two stacked pennies) so they stay crisp and light. The sturdy sandwiches have a long shelf life, making them ideal for shipping.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This simple butter pilaf is a delicious alternative to your basic stovetop rice, without much additional work. A pilaf consists of grains that are toasted in fat before cooking in a liquid. The step of cooking in fat is called parching, and it prevents the grains from clumping while adding flavor from both the toasting and the fat itself. Pilaf can be made with almost any grain, fat and liquid, and is supremely versatile. For extra flavor, swap out the water for broth or dashi. Level it up with aromatics, like chopped onion or garlic, sweated (gently cooked) in the fat before parching the rice. Add spices, like turmeric or paprika, to toast along with the grains of rice. Stir in quick-cooking meat, like diced chicken or peeled shrimp, and vegetables, such as peas or cauliflower, after adding the water to steam along with the rice. Toss in herbs, like a spring of thyme or a bay leaf, to perfume the grains.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

In professional kitchens, a good line cook can insert a cake tester into a steak, feel it on their lips and know the doneness from its warmth — but this expertise takes time to master. The poke test, in which you compare the firmness of a steak to that of your clenched fist, doesn’t work consistently across various cuts and types of meat. How marbled your steak is, whether it’s conventionally raised, grass-fed or grain-finished, all affect the meat’s final texture. For a perfectly cooked steak every time, your best bet is to use a thermometer. A little bit of tech, combined with frequent flipping, a cast-iron skillet and a final butter baste, will guarantee a steak with a deep mahogany crust on the outside and evenly cooked, ideal doneness on the inside. While the steak rests, toss boiled potatoes in the brown butter drippings for a satisfying and simple side.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This retro dish looks spectacular and stretches a few ounces of caviar or other fish roe so you can feed a crowd (plus, it goes great with icy martinis and chilled champagne). It's not literally a pie but rather a layered stack of all the best things to eat with caviar: minced hard-boiled egg held together with melted butter, diced peppery shallots, and cream cheese blended with sour cream and chives. With so much going on, you can opt for an inexpensive caviar, paddlefish roe, trout roe or even tobiko. For the cleanest look, set the components in a ring mold. However, you can also layer everything in a shallow bowl or freeform onto a plate. Have fun and serve it with anything crunchy, like potato chips, flavored tortilla chips, radishes and endive.

Sohla El-Waylly · Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook

Sohla El-Waylly's Charred Lemon Risotto recipe uses heavily charred lemons to add an extra depth of flavour to this simple, classic dish.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Even before getting cozy under a Cheddar blanket, these sweet potatoes are packed with flavor. They're tossed with butter, coated in spices, then placed in the oven without preheating. This allows them to warm up slowly, maximizing their sweetness and creamy texture. The tender sweet potato halves are then smothered in a thick, garlicky Cheddar sauce before broiling until bubbly and barely blackened. Serve as a side on your holiday table or as a main with a simple salad alongside.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Random leftovers or wilted vegetables in your fridge won’t go to waste when you use this easy frittata formula. First, whisk eggs with salt and allow them to sit while you prepare your mix-ins. This gives the salt time to uncoil some of those egg proteins so they cook up tender and creamy. Next, sauté or warm through any quick-cooking or cooked ingredients, like tender vegetables, cooked grains or shredded rotisserie chicken. Then stir in the beaten eggs and cook into large curds. Top everything with cheese and quickly broil to set the top and melt the cheese. Get creative with the ingredient combos: Try cooking the frittata in bacon fat, filling it with leftover French fries and topping with Cheddar. Stir the eggs into a mix of wilted herbs and spinach, and top with feta for a spanakopita feel. The possibilities are endless.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This gingerbread is maxed out on spice, packed with two types of fiery ginger and lots of prickly black pepper. Cozy from all the warm spices as well as from molasses, they’re perfect for munching on while tree-trimming. The center of the cookie is fudgy and dense, while the outside edges stay crisp — like the best brownie, but in gingerbread form. That chewy-crispy texture is thanks to the confectioners’ sugar in the dough and a light coating of ginger-spiced sugar. Be sure to use true molasses and not blackstrap molasses; blackstrap molasses has less sugar, more salt and acidity, and can change the way the dough browns, spreads and interacts with the leavening.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

In this vibrant holiday dessert, cocoa shortbread is pressed into an even layer, baked, then topped with swoops of peppermint meringue (optionally swirled with red food coloring). Back into a low oven it goes for about 2 hours, until the meringue becomes crisp and chewy. Once cooled, it's cut into rough, jagged pieces. If you don’t have a stand mixer, the shortbread and meringue can be made with a hand mixer or entirely by hand. The mixing times will be significantly longer, so follow the visual cues instead. (Watch Sohla make her Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread here.)

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

When the craving for a cinnamon bun strikes but you don’t want to go through all the proofing, forming and baking, this smoothie almost hits all those notes in a snap: buttermilk steps in for the tang of cream cheese icing, dates offer their caramelly sweetness, and nutty flax brings that freshly baked aura. Don’t skimp on the salt, which helps all the flavors pop.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This juicy, crispy, vaguely-tastes-like-Thanksgiving fried chicken makes an exciting stand-in for the usual turkey. The recipe takes every step to maximize moisture and flavor, so no dry poultry arrives at your table, holiday or otherwise: Start with bone-in, skin-on chicken legs, submerge the pieces in a brine for at least 24 hours, fry low and slow to allow all the fat and connective tissue to render and finally, shower over a boxed stuffing-inspired seasoning. As an optional touch, dredge the chicken pieces in Italian 00 flour instead of all-purpose — its ultra-fine texture makes the crust simultaneously extra crispy and less greasy.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

These tuna cakes grow crackly on the outside, but stay velvety on the inside thanks to creamy cannellini beans. They’re served alongside a crisp wedge salad with a briny ranch dressing that is studded with olives. It might seem to produce a lot of dressing, but it’s just enough for smothering the iceberg and dunking the tuna cakes. Best of all, this dish makes use of pantry staples, like canned tuna, beans and olives, so you can make it even when the fridge is looking bare.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

No Thanksgiving meal is complete without a green bean moment, and with this make-ahead, no-cook dish, you can certify that it’s a fresh and bright one. Smashed and salted green beans become crisp-tender after a chill in the fridge, ready to soak up all the tangy cranberry dressing. A combination of vinegar and lemon juice in the dressing brings layers of acidity that bounce on your tongue. Just before serving, the dressed beans are piled high between lettuce leaves and crowned with fried onions.

Sohla El-Waylly · Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook

Light and chocolatey, with a gooey centre, Sohla El-Waylly's Fallen Chocolate Soufflé Cake makes for an easy dinner party dessert.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Classic lime meltaways get their tender texture from the addition of cornstarch. Here, the cornstarch is swapped for your choice of freeze-dried fruit finely ground in a spice grinder or blender. This not only keeps the cookies delicate, but also adds a concentrated fruity punch. Any fruit will work, but choose a vibrant freeze-dried fruit, like cherries and blueberries, for a more brightly-colored cookie. Once formed into logs, the cookie dough will keep in the freezer for 3 months, helping you get ahead on your holiday baking. The freshly baked cookies are tossed in a combination of ground freeze-dried fruit and confectioners’ sugar for a pretty pastel finish.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Crisp and buttery puff pastry is filled and smothered with fragrant frangipane, just like an almond croissant, but in an extra-crunchy, sharable format. This fun treat is easy to pull off for a festive breakfast or brunch. Bake the puff pastry and make the almond filling in advance, then assemble and bake once more just before serving. All-butter frozen puff pastry will have the best texture and flavor, but takes longer to crisp through, so be sure to bake it until deeply browned.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Rocky road might be synonymous with ice cream in the United States, but, in Australia and Britain, it’s a fudgelike candy made by stirring any assortment of marshmallows, dried fruit and nuts into melted chocolate. (In Australia, gummy candies also feature.) This recipe relies on the subtle aroma of speculoos cookies, spice drops and pumpkin pie spice to evoke the holidays. You can also use it as a guide to utilize leftovers from gingerbread house decorating: Swap the cookies for broken gingerbread and the marshmallows and gumdrops for any chewy candy.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This perky gravy gets its kick from a generous dollop of hot mustard swirled in at the end. To keep the mustard flavor at the forefront, use a lighter-bodied boxed broth and neutral oil, rather than the gelatinous bone broth and rich butter found in most traditional gravy recipes. Deeply browned, almost blackened bits of shallot add a savory, aromatic backbone, while seasoning with plenty of salt lets the mustard pop.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

For all the impact of a complex, long simmered curry in a cinch, bring on the Japanese curry roux blocks! Unlike curry powder, these curry blocks only need to be simmered in water to add loads of flavor and body. Traditionally carrots, potatoes and onions are included, but this version smothers ginger-spiked chicken meatballs, creamy sweet potato and lots of greens in the sauce. This dish tastes even better the next day as all the flavors mellow and meld, so it’s perfect for meal prep.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

A punchy mix of tangy Dijon, sweet maple, sharp garlic and fresh dill is slathered onto salmon fillets here, bringing major flavor to this quick, weeknight dish. Tender greens get tucked around the fillets on a sheet pan splashed with wine, where they wilt and crisp while the salmon bakes. By the time you finish a glass of wine yourself, you’ll have dinner on the table.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Meaty hunks of seared paneer let this pilaf hold its own as a satisfying vegetarian meal. Frozen cauliflower and peas keep the prep work to a minimum while frizzled onions, toasted tomato paste and aromatic garam masala add layers of flavor to this one-pot meal. To ensure distinct, fluffy grains, thoroughly rinse the rice and let it soak briefly while you prep other ingredients. For the best flavor and texture, look for an aged and parboiled basmati rice but regular basmati will work, too.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

These bars have the nutty and jammy vibes of a classic Linzer torte, the Austrian dessert of almond or hazelnut shortbread layered with preserves. The buttery dough bakes up tender, but it can be difficult to roll out. Here, we’re using the same components in a simplified way: pressing in the crust, crumbling over the topping and baking in a brownie pan before cutting into bars. You can use any nut and preserve combination, but the traditional filling of raspberry jam or red currant jelly offers a nice hit of acidity to contrast the sweet cookie crust.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

For pizza in salad form, this recipe tosses a crisp and briny mix of romaine lettuce, pepperoncini, black olives and red onion in a fresh, grated tomato vinaigrette. Spicy pepperoni strips are sizzled until crisp; their zesty fat gets sopped up by toasty bread crumbs that are spiked with the classic New York slice flavors (oregano, garlic and red-pepper flakes). (You can make a big batch of these crumbs, store them in the fridge and use them to top pasta, eggs, roasted veggies and anything else you want to take to pizza town.) This salad is showered with the salty pepperoni crumbs, offset by mozzarella morsels running throughout.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Can’t decide which pie to bake this holiday? Take dessert in a different direction with this spiced pumpkin cake slathered in brown sugar caramel and showered with toasted pecans. This cake owes its pillowy texture to a lush, mayonnaise-like base made by slowly streaming oil into long-whipped, room-temperature eggs. The addition of corn syrup ensures the cake stays moist for days; there is no substitute for it. To keep the topping gooey, don’t stir it once off the heat. Excessive stirring will cause it to crystalize and set with a brittle texture.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Relative to salt brine pickles, which rely on lactic acid fermentation for their funk, these quick pickles are ready almost instantly thanks to the fast work of a hot vinegar brine. Dry toasting the spices before adding them to the brine amps up their peppery and citrusy aromas, while sprigs of fresh dill offer that classic pickle flavor. For the crispiest pickle, seek out squat Kirby cucumbers, whose thick skins allow the spears to stay snappy for weeks. Serve alongside sandwiches, barbecue, fried chicken or any meal that could use a refreshing, salty bite.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This easy chopped salad fits loads of texture and flavor onto a spoon by combining finely chopped raw broccoli with chewy dried cranberries, crunchy pecans, fluffy quinoa and chunks of sharp Cheddar cheese. The mixture is tossed in a punchy mustard vinaigrette that soaks into the florets, only getting better as it sits. Feel free to substitute the quinoa for any grain, like brown rice, farro or buckwheat groats, though the cook time may vary.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This recipe is adapted from “Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook” by Sohla El-Waylly and is originally titled Lisa Frank Cookies. It earns that name by being a big sucker punch of sugary nostalgia. A trio of extracts (pure vanilla, imitation vanilla and almond) is key to giving these cookies the aura of that prepackaged baked good you might’ve tucked into your lunchbox as a kid, but they’re better because you’re making them fresh. Best of all, they come together in a snap, stirred up in one bowl and baked on the same day. You can throw a rainbow rave for your mouth almost instantly.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Fish can be dry-brined relatively quickly compared to chicken and other proteins, and the benefits are just as magical: The dry-brining process extends shelf life, aids in crisping the skin, prevents overcooking and firms up the flesh. To do it, heavily salt your fish for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours (any longer and the fish will cure), then rinse and pat it dry. You can cook it right away, or store it in the coolest part of your fridge, wrapped in paper towels and placed in a zip-top bag, preferably on ice, for up to 3 days.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Make a meal out of this smothered squash by having it with rice and salted yogurt, or serve it as a side for roast chicken or a seared pork chop. The mild winter squash gets a punch from a spicy and tart onion gravy that comes together while the squash roasts in the oven. Be sure to season the gravy aggressively with salt so the vinegar, chile and spices pop.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Level up your dinner roll game with these retro, buttery pull-apart rolls. The key to butterflake rolls are their unique shape, so feel free to make this using your favorite enriched bread dough recipe. The dough is rolled out, slathered with salted butter then cut into strips that are stacked before cutting again. You’re left with a little deck of dough slabs all enrobed in butter. They fan open when baked so the fluffy layers are easily pulled apart, ready for sopping up gravy or even more butter. Customize the rolls by stirring grated garlic, finely chopped herbs or spices into the salted butter.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Pasta puttanesca packs a punch, loaded with flavorful pantry staples like capers, olives, garlic, anchovies and red-pepper flakes. This version adds sardines and swaps the canned tomatoes for plump cherry tomatoes, which both bring meaty bites to this simple dish. It’s best in the summer, when the tomatoes are especially ripe and juicy. Keep the pasta quite undercooked, so it can become tender while simmering in the burst tomato sauce. The sauce will look thin at first, but just keep vigorously stirring and it will get glossy and emulsified.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Double the potatoes, double the fun: Creamy Yukon Gold potatoes are studded with tender bites of skin-on red bliss potatoes in this texture lovers’ mash. The tanginess of sour cream coupled with the grassy bite of scallions keeps things light and fresh, making this an ideal side for richer dishes, like fried chicken and steak (and also welcome at any sweltering summer dinner).

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This is nowhere near a traditional Chinese stir-fry or Italian spaghetti dish. Instead, it’s a recipe my amu (the Bengali term for mother) made by combining staples from her pantry and fridge to reflect the flavors of our favorite takeout without the need for specific noodles or a wok. By using frozen mixed vegetables, there’s only minimal prep and knife work required. The chicken, aromatics and vegetables cook while the pasta boils, so it all comes together quickly. Serve it just out of the pot for a hot meal, or eat it cold the next day, straight out of the fridge.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

For an exceptionally tender bird that roasts in a fraction of the time of a whole one, consider spatchcocking and brining your chicken. All you need to spatchcock a chicken is a set of sturdy kitchen shears. By snipping along the sides of the backbone, you can remove it, open up your bird and press it flat. A flat chicken allows the legs to get more direct heat for better browning and quicker cooking. If you have time, season the chicken with salt and pepper and chill it in the fridge, uncovered, overnight, a step called dry brining. This gives the salt time to dissolve and be drawn into the meat, resulting in juicy, well-seasoned meat as well as crisp, rendered skin. Roasting on a bed of aromatics infuses the chicken with flavor. Use whatever you’ve got on hand, from sliced onions or lemons to herbs like rosemary or thyme. Setup is key to avoiding cross-contamination, so before handling your raw chicken, gather everything you will need.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Bread pudding meets oatmeal in this warming dish that’s ideal for feeding the whole family at once or for planning a week of breakfasts for yourself. It’s spiked with the same cozy combination of spices found in haldi doodh, the Indian turmeric-steeped milk that’s sometimes called golden milk, giving the oats a sunny hue. Coconut milk adds just enough richness, and grated apples gently sweeten the dish, which glitters with a final sprinkle of turbinado sugar that crackles under the broiler.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Smash it up with eggs and flour, and leftover stuffing transforms into a tender dumpling dough. A simple bone broth made from your turkey carcass creates a savory base, which you then load up with kale and sweet potatoes for a hearty, healthy post-Thanksgiving meal. If you prefer to roll your dumplings into visually perfect balls, leave out the ⅓ cup turkey stock for a sturdier dough, but if you don’t mind a rustic look, that additional moisture ensures a lighter dumpling.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

The best way to reheat leftover stuffing? Press it into a pan, cut it into cubes and fry it in oil until crisp. The exterior browns and caramelizes, while the inside remains tender and creamy, just like the best bread pudding. This trick works best with stuffing made from smaller pieces of bread, but even if you don’t end up with perfect cubes, they will still be delicious. Serve them warm, on top of a fresh, raw salad tossed in a tangy cranberry-mustard vinaigrette, with fried pepitas running throughout for even more crunch. If you use a homemade cranberry sauce for the dressing, you may want to sweeten it with a touch of honey.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

This Mexican American classic has roots at Disneyland. Charles Elmer Doolin, a cofounder of the Frito Company, created an edible cup out of Fritos and served it at his Disneyland restaurant, Casa de Fritos, in 1955. It was the size of a teacup, filled with ground beef, beans and sour cream, and called the Ta-Cup (a portmanteau of taco and cup). The creation was a hit, with recipes for taco salad made with various corn chips proliferating in the ’60s, becoming a staple in school cafeterias, and eventually growing into the jumbo version added to the Taco Bell menu in 1984. (The menu item was retired in 2020.) You can use any corn chip for this recipe, and there’s no need for it to be in cup form, but opt for Fritos, if you want that authentic taste.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

Thanks to a hefty dose of funky nutritional yeast and smoky heat from paprika and chipotle, this cashew-based dip has enough nacho-cheesy vibes to please all kinds of eaters. Unlike traditional queso, this recipe, adapted from my cookbook “Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook” (Knopf, 2023), stays smooth and creamy even at room temperature, ideal for snacking on all party long. Don’t be shy with the salt, which is critical to bringing out that cheesy flavor. Serve this with tortilla chips, steamed broccoli or French fries, or toss with boiled elbow macaroni for a vegan mac and cheese.

Sohla El-Waylly · NYT Cooking

These cookies take familiar ingredients into the realm of something truly special, celebrating the floral vanilla notes of real white chocolate and the buttery richness of macadamia nuts. Milk powder is sizzled in butter, turning into bonus brown-butter bits that make the cookies sandy and crisp on the outside and fudgy on the inside, all while amping up the macadamia’s nuttiness. If using the optional vanilla bean, the hit of vanilla is amplified by steeping the pod in butter and adding the seeds to the dough along with the extract. An overnight chilling before baking deepens all the flavors and improves the cookies’ final texture.