Do not, I mean it, do not turn up your nose at this combination! Do you like chocolate? Do you like peanuts? Do you like bacon? Do you like salted caramel? Well then, you’ll like this. Caramel isn’t in this bark, but I’m talking about the taste combination of caramel and salt. The bacon provides the salty taste. You can see a bit of the bacon on the left piece in the photo – the kind of rusty brown color sticking up a bit in the middle. The bacon gives the bark a chewy crunch. The bacon isn’t really crispy, but it’s chewy. That’s when you get the salty taste.

Phillis Carey made this bark at the cooking class about bacon. She happened to use milk chocolate, but if I make it I’ll use some dark chocolate too. Making it is super easy. Really. First you cook up some chopped bacon (using thin bacon like Farmer John’s, and not maple flavored). You can microwave the chocolate (Trader Joe’s bar chocolate is great), then you add the peanuts and bacon, pour it out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate. See, I said it’s easy. Very do-able. And a great taste.

This note added later: my friend Cherrie, who went to the class with me, made the bacon bark, but with dark chocolate and macadamia nuts. And the bacon, of course. It was outstanding. For me, better than the milk chocolate. The photo of the dark chocolate/macadamia ones are on the right.
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A year ago: Grilled Flatbread with Lamb & Feta, and Mini-Muffins with Apple, Sage and Goat Cheese
Two years ago: Syrian Pita Bread Salad (a green salad with pita chips)

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In the last week I’d read on two independently-written blogs about Cinnamon Toast. And like many people, I think I did the same “oh yea, sure, you sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on buttered toast . . . what’s the big deal.” Well, let me tell you right off the top. This is NOT your typical cinnamon toast.

Can I just tell you right now – you gotta make this stuff. It’s absolutely delicious. Easy. Fun. Different, and oh, so gosh darned good! This would also be a great project for you and your children. It took about 20 minutes, I’d guess, to make these, then 25 minutes to bake. But then, you’ve got to seal them up and let them sit for 24 hours (that’s really hard). In that 24 hours they go from being crispy cinnamon toast to something more like shortbread with cinnamon and sugar. A cookie. Naturally, I tasted them when they cooled, but the butter is still almost a liquid at that point. Hence you want it to sit so the bread soaks it up. At least I guess that’s the chemistry.

If you go over to Orangette to read the story, you’ll learn that this is a recipe that Molly found in her grandmother’s recipe box, her dear, beloved grandmother who died recently. But Molly got her recipe box when the family divvied up her grandmother’s things. I just love stories like this, but then Molly is a good story-teller of the first order! She’s written a book about recipes and her life called A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. A wonderful read, I’ll tell you first hand. She and her husband Brandon Pettit now own a (mostly pizza) restaurant called Delancey in Seattle. A big dream for two people who had zero restaurant experience. Her blogging probably didn’t hurt any in the popularity department. Wish I lived in Seattle so I could go try it! And run into Molly, perchance.

So here’s what’s involved with making this simple treat/cookie. You mix up some cinnamon and sugar, you melt some unsalted butter, brush trimmed sandwich sized white bread triangles with the melted butter, sprinkle it with the cinnamon-sugar, place on a parchment-covered baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. That’s it. Told ya it was easy!

The other recipe (that I didn’t make) is over at Pioneer Woman. Hers is different – soft butter spread on bread then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and broiled. More a breakfast food or maybe a fun snack.

So, please go out and buy some of that we-won’t-tell-white sandwich bread and give yourself a real treat! Trust me!
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A year ago: Mushroom Risotto (made in a pressure cooker)
Two years ago: Brownie-Bottom Pudding Pie
Three years ago: Mexican Chopped Salad (a favorite)

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The cookies I made last week, the Almond Cloud ones, were all given away. I wasn’t crazy about them (too sweet – they were too candy-like for my taste), although several other people I shared them with thought they were fabulous. Oh well. So, our cookie larder was bare. Dave does eat a chocolate chip cookie now and then when his blood sugar goes low, and I’m sorry to admit, but chocolate chip cookies are my all-time favorite. Mostly I make another recipe for them, called One-Bowl CC Cookies.

But sometimes I just want to try something different. This was from an older Gourmet issue. From the “You Asked for It” column. A regular reader who was about to move  out of the country was losing sleep over the thought of not being able to have her regular “fix” of CC cookies from the Silver Moon Bakery. This recipe is not online anywhere, except mention of the real-thing cookie you can buy from the bakery in New York City, whence this recipe comes.

What’s unique about them? They are: (1) more shortbread or cake-like in texture (because they contain a bit more butter than most cc cookies do); (2) smaller mounds of cookie, rather than flatter ones; (3) higher little mounds because the dough is chilled before making the dough balls to put on baking sheets.

Now, I did make a couple of changes to the Gourmet recipe. I added egg yolks (it’s what I had in the refrigerator) and since I’m a nut freak, I added chopped walnuts. Otherwise, the recipe is nearly identical. And what a great cookie this is. I made the cookies smaller than the recipe indicated (it said it made 30 2-inch cookies. I got 56 1 1/2 inchers out of the batch. I baked them at a lower temp (350 on convection instead of 375) for a bit shorter time (about 12 minutes). I also added bittersweet chocolate (the 365 brand from Whole Foods are little tiny squares of chocolate rather than the usual teardrop type) instead of semisweet. But you can use whatever you have on hand. Use a whole egg if you don’t have yolks on hand like I did.

We just LOVE them! Dave and I both. I took a few to one of my book club meetings the other morning (I’d just baked them, so they were almost still warm). Everyone thought they were very good. I really liked the texture – the more cakey, but firm cookie in the middle, plus the crispy edges are just what I like.
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One year ago: Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Aioli Sauce
Two years ago: Shrimp, Bacon & Vegetable Chowder

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For a long time I’ve had a recipe I clipped out of the King Arthur Flour catalog (if you’re a baker and don’t receive the catalog already, you should). The close-up picture of these cookies (in the catalog) was so unusual, with the finger-dents in each cookie (not in my photo because I had a hard time getting finger-dents.

As usual, I should have done some reading online before I started baking. But hopefully I made a purse out of sow’s ears once I doctored up the recipe. The advice from other bakers was that you need to use King Arthur Flour’s 10-ounce tin of almond paste. That it makes a world of difference. I had what’s available at my local grocery store (Odense, imported from Denmark).

I already had a measurement problem because the Odense brand almond paste comes in a 7-ounce tube. But my recipe software will scale recipes, so it was not difficult to make the adjustment. I blithely went along to make this simple cookie – almond paste, sugar, egg whites and flavorings (note, there’s no fat in this recipe at all). Seemed really easy to me. Well, I thought the batter was rather loose when I made it, but hey, I didn’t know what it was supposed to look and feel like. I did decide to do just one tray full (12) first. And this is what I got (photo below left). Flat, and nicely tasting, I guess. No finger-dents visible because the cookie had spread out quite thinly. And it was a bit too sweet for my taste, but good tasting. THEN I went online and started reading and discovered other bakers’ problems using store-bought almond paste.

What to do? I knew I needed to add something to thicken-up the dough. I debated about adding fine polenta meal, but because the almond paste has a grainy texture all on its own, I wasn’t sure the polenta would add enough stability. So, I added some cocoa powder and just a little bit of flour to the bowl. It gave the dough just a bit more heft and form. That’s powdered sugar on the top of the cookies, not flour. Then I continued with the recipe as it was. No other changes.

What these are, are very sweet chocolate almond cookies. They have the texture of macaroons, but no coconut. Some people may like these – because of their zero fat, but for me, they’re just too, too sweet. And I’m not overly crazy about a cookie that’s chewy, either.  They are light as a feather (from the egg whites) but crispy/chewy (because of no egg yolks). Almond flavoring is a great addition to almost any baked good in my book, so I liked that part right off the bat. Actually I couldn’t taste the orange oil I added – probably because the chocolate overpowered it – so you could easily add vanilla, I think. In the end I didn’t get any finger-dents either, even in the doctored-up recipe – so they still don’t look like the KAF version. But they’re good. So, I’ve tinkered with it a bit more and reduced the sugar in the recipe below. I have also added a couple more tablespoons of flour to the dough, which should make it a bit more sturdy. If you want to try to make the original ones, just use the first link in the first sentence at top to get to KAF’s recipe.
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A year ago:  Creole Jambalaya
Two years ago: Roasted Carrots and Parsnips

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I’m a fan of Heidi Swanson’s blog, 101 cookbooks. In fact her blog was one of the first ones I began reading about 4-5 years ago. She stresses healthy cooking, forsaking meat for vegetarian fare, and rarely does she include desserts. Especially ones without some kind of whole grain inclusion or healthy ingredient. So, I was surprised when she posted this gluten-free (no flour) meringue-like cookie that not only contain pure sugar (albeit powdered) but chocolate. I suppose the saving grace here is that the cookies contain almost no fat (no butter, no egg yolks, no solid chocolate either). And as is often the case, when I read the write-up about the cookies, she had me hooked. I still have cookies in the freezer from the last two small batches I’ve made. Both the Triple Ginger cookies and the (chocolate) Midnight Crackles aren’t edible from a frozen state – they nearly break my teeth. Yes, yes, I know, why can’t I defrost them? Because then I’d eat too many. And when I’m craving just one cookie, I want it right now, and that means eating from a frozen state. So, the other cookies are still in the freezer and I’m left “wanting.” What to do except try these.

The ingredients are certainly different from a traditional cookie containing flour – this has chopped, toasted walnuts, powdered sugar, dry cocoa, a pinch of salt and egg whites (not whipped, mind you) and vanilla. That’s it. Took no time at all to stir these up. Heidi cautioned that these cookies spread out. And that every batch could come out a bit differently. Mine didn’t exactly look like hers (hers were flatter). Mine didn’t spread as much as hers either. Heidi says to bake these for 12-15 minutes. She mentioned that it may take a batch or two – using your oven, pans, etc. – before you find your groove. The first 2 pans I baked for 12 minutes. Too soft in the middle even after cooling for 15 minutes. Second batch I baked 3 minutes longer, and they were just perfect! And I got 36 cookies from mine (hers made 18 – much larger cookies, obviously), using a cookie scoop that was about 2 tablespoons. So perhaps her scoop was about 3-4 tablespoons each.

So, how are they? SO chocolate-y. Light as a feather. But the interior is kind of like slightly soft fudge – or not quite as loose as a lava cake ooze. I think Heidi mentioned they were something between a meringue and fudge. Yup. And they ARE sweet. Actually sweeter than I prefer a cookie to be. But the crunchy texture (from the toasted walnuts) helps balance the sugar. I wouldn’t begin to know how to make them less sweet without altering the chemistry of dry to wet ingredients. Do drink a glass of ice-cold milk with it. Or a nice cup of hot Earl Gray tea on a cold afternoon as I did, writing up this post.
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A year ago: Valentine Dinner Planning
Two years ago: Adobe Stew (my version of a local restaurant, the Gypsy Den’s, spicy vegetable soup)

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Wanting to take something to friends who had invited us over for dinner, I grabbed the December issue of Bon Appetit and decided to make these cookies that contain ground ginger, fresh ginger and crystallized ginger. They’re easy to make, requiring only that you make small balls and roll them in granulated sugar before baking. When they bake they get that wonderful crackly edge, yet the interior remains soft. Even when they’ve cooled, they’re still soft in the center. Yummy. Obviously, you need to like ginger. These are good. And since they were in a holiday issue, I’d say they’d be perfection for Christmas. Our friends insisted that I not bring something to help with dinner, so these made a very nice little gift.

Read the rest of this entry »

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A craving hit me – chocolate. (A sign that I’m feeling better, I think, since I haven’t had any such cravings in weeks.) I could have made chocolate chip cookies (our favorites as well as half of the western world) but decided to dip into the to-try file and see what I could find. This recipe, from Dorie Greenspan, from her book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, that appeared in Bon Appétit in November of 2006 just sounded right. These cookies are on the dry side. Or then, maybe I baked them a tad longer than I should. I don’t know. They’re awfully good, though. Note the spices – cinnamon and cloves – which added a grace note to the taste – unless you know those spices are there – you’d have a hard time identifying them. And yet I could taste the cloves. As I say, there’s not enough of either to distinguish, really, but because I knew they were there, yes, I could taste it. You or your guests probably couldn’t identify the flavor.

I used to make a crackle-topped chocolate cookie years ago, that was totally different – it was a much softer and moister cookie. They were rolled in powdered sugar, so when the tops cracked, you could really SEE the fissures in the cookie tops. But I can’t find that recipe, so don’t know how they differ from these. The calorie and fat aren’t all that bad with these, even though there’s 10 ounces of chocolate in the batch. I didn’t get 50 cookies – more like 40 at the most.

These are good. Really chocolaty. Crumbly. But good kind of crumbly. A bit hard to form – that was the toughest aspect of making these – the dough balls were a bit hard to make – smash them too much and they fall apart before they’ve even entered the oven! The dough does need to be chilled – or at least it did for me. But they’re altogether tasty. And ideal with a small glass of milk.
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A year ago: Radicchio Salad
Two years ago: Chinese Meatloaf

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If you’re a chocoholic, these little numbers will satisfy your craving. In actuality, they’re not as chocolate laden as some chocolate cookies could be, but these are just so tender and delicious. I’d had the recipe in my file for over a year, having read about it on somebody’s blog last Fall. Then in recent weeks a couple of other bloggers wrote about it, so I dug into my file and pulled out my copy. It’s from Dorie Greenspan’s book, Paris Sweets (not a cookbook I own). These cookies are EASY! They’re a slice and bake type. They start out at 1/2 inch thickness when you slice them, and they spread out some. They make the slight indentation naturally. Makes them look like I created it, but I didn’t. Your house will have the most lovely chocolate aroma. You can also freeze the rolled logs and slice some off when you need cookies. How easy is that? Here are the steps:

The dough (not mixed all that hard because the dough is fragile) looks and feels dry at this point, but it actually comes together well. I just poured the mixture out onto my cutting board to begin shaping them. The 5 ounces of chocolate you mix in need to be in small bits or shavings in order to make slicing easier. You divide this in half to make two rolls, each making about 12-14 slices.

There are the rolls wrapped in foil. Ready for the refrigerator (or freezer). You want to chill the dough at least an hour, or overnight.

There they are sliced and placed on the Silpat mat ready to bake. When you slice them, using a very thin, sharp knife, they may get a bit out of round, but the dough is relatively easy to push back into shape. I wasn’t super meticulous about this and the cookies came out just fine.

And here you can see them just out of the oven. They’re very fragile at this point, so you let them cool on the pan before removing them. Once cooled I put them in a Ziploc plastic bag and stuck them in the freezer. But then I’m happy to eat frozen cookies. But, did I tell you how heavenly the house smelled?
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A year ago: Apricot-Thyme Cookies (a slice and bake type also, not as sweet as some; different)
Two years ago: Cheese Fondue (my forever go-to recipe, one which was a regular on my Christmas Eve menu for years and years when our children were growing up . . . we’d sit in front of the fireplace, around the coffee table . . . I hope our children have fond memories of that)

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With an empty cookie pantry (that’s the freezer in my house), I thought about the olive oil Madeleines I made earlier this year at a bakery cooking class. And with my recent success altering a recipe for cupcakes (making the pumpkin gingerbread muffins more tender) I decided I’d try making Olive Oil ORANGE Madeleines. With orange juice handy I reduced down a cup of orange juice to nothing much more than a tablespoon or two. Then I added milk to equal the amount of liquid called for in the recipe.

I do think these cookies have too much oil, so when I make them next time I’m going to try removing about 2 T. of olive oil and see how they taste. When you pick up a cookie, you end up with a tiny film of olive oil on your fingers. But the flavor is nice. And next time I’ll use LIGHT olive oil to reduce some of the olive-y flavor. The olive oil isn’t objectionable, by any means, but I’d like to try it that way. And because you can see the little brown spots on the bottom of the cookies, I think I’d reduce the oven temp by about 25 degrees too.

The cookies are good. The orange is just a hint – I expected it to be more prominent, but maybe that’s a good thing! I’ve made notes in the recipe about what I’d try next time.
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Two years ago: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

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You’ve heard of Thomas Keller by now. Yes, surely you have. If you’re into food, then Thomas Keller is a beacon in today’s foodie world. Renowned for his restaurants (The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc), Keller just looks at food differently, and always has some different take on things. Including cookies.

He has made quite a name for himself in the baked good department, with the Bouchon Bakery. Dave and I stopped there a couple years ago and sat out on the patio, in relative freezing cold weather, to enjoy some piping hot coffee, an almond croissant (probably the very best one I’ve ever eaten in my life!), and macarons. Oh my. All to die for. And most likely these cookies were there too, but my homing instinct was on croissants and macarons that day.

I read about this CC cookie over at Food Gal’s blog. What’s different about them is that you start with cold, cold butter, cut up in little pieces. Then you add all the other stuff, with the freshly chopped up chocolate (heavy-duty, good quality chocolate bars) at the end. One of the secrets to this is to sift the chocolate chunks in a sieve (to eliminate all the fine chocolate dust from coloring the cookies). It also has dark brown sugar in it. And one other helpful hint was to spray the cookies with water before baking – if you want softer cookies. I made some of both. The recipe indicates 33 cookies (large ones). I used a standard cookie scoop and got 44. Just so you know. . .

Good? Yes! Different textured cookies. I can’t exactly describe it, but they are softer in the middle than any traditional chocolate chip cookie. Other than the cookie dough I sampled, I’ve had a total of two cookies so far. Yummy. I’ll make these again. They may not be as spectacular as my favorite ones, the One Bowl CC Cookies, but they’re pretty darned good.
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A year ago: Tea

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