Just in case anyone was ever wondering... there truly is a difference between items baked in a pyrex versus items baked in ceramic bakeware... I had a delightful red ceramic baking dish from Crate and Barrel many moons ago that sadly broke one day in my Miami apartment...I still can't remember if it broke with or without food. In either case, it was tragic.
Tonight, I was having a sweet hankering and so tried to bake cobbler. The results were just nowhere near the same in a pyrex... So to add to my list of items to buy some day, is more bakeware...
We now have then an electric handmixer, juicer, raspberry ice kitchenaid mixer (www.williams-sonoma.com/products/kitchenaid-artisan-susan-g-komen-stand-mixer-raspberry-ice/?pkey=cmothers-day-gifts&cm_src=hplink), and baking dish... I wonder if I can marry myself and have a registry for the wedding...maybe develop multiple personalities beforehand and then have a celebration for their integration...
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie and Double Chocolate Chip Cookie
Another chocolate chip cookie recipe...From Jacques Tores' A Year In Chocolate... His recipe doesn't call for overnight-ting the cookies dough, but by all chef accounts, it's best to make dough 24h before baking them so it gives time for vanilla and other flavors to seep in. The cookbook says to bake cookies at 325F for 15 minutes...in my oven, it was closer to 25-30 minutes...
These make giant chocolate chip cookies--the type you get at Starbucks etc... I slightly tweaked the recipe and my oven seems to have different cooking times...
Here's what I did in simplified format... check out the cookbook if you want more text and prose
Obviously, preheat your oven before baking so if you make the cookies the day of, you could start preheating before making the dough...I've just stopped baking cookies the day I make the dough
Bowl 1 or in a ziploc bag, mix the following:
4 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 baking soda
Bowl 2:
Step 1:
Beat butter and sugar together (book says 5 minutes assuming it's an electric mixer....I don't know own an electric mixer and make do...no one seems to complain)
3 sticks unsalted room-temperature butter
1.25 cups + 2.5 tablespoons sugar
2 cups brown sugar (FYI recipe said 2.25)
Step 2:
Add 3 large eggs (FYI recipe said they should be at room temperature, and already slightly beaten, which is consistent with most professional chefs' advice about needing eggs to be already beaten before adding it in, or else the sugar "cooks" the eggs...that said, I didn't have the motivation to do this step and use up another container so I tend to push the sugar butter to one side of the bowl, put in the eggs to the other half of the bowl, slightly beat them on the side, and then mix them into the sugar butter mix...all about the one bowl)
Step 3:
Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla to the sugar butter egg mix
Step 4
Add in flour mixture a bit at a time...
Step 5:
Once flour is incorporated, fold in chocolate:
A note about chocolate: Torres recipe says to use 1 2/3 pounds bittersweet chocolate chopped into bite sized pieces... I didn't have it on hand so instead, chopped up 7 Bakers chocolate semisweet squares and 1/2 a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips (chopped both)... No one complained about the lack of chocolate...
Step 6:
Place 3 inch cookie dough spheres 1 in from each other...
Another side note: I used a ruler. Three inches looks abnormally huge... They actually do spread and turn into those giant chocolate chip cookies at bakeries...crispy on the outside edges and soft in the middle
Last side note:
Interesting substitutions he suggests:
For more cakelike texture: replace 1 egg with 2 egg yolks
For chocolate chocolate chip cookies: replace 1c flour with dutch-processed cocoa pwder
For very moist cookies, replace 5.5 T of browns ugar and .5 granulated sugar with equal amount of light corn syrup
These make giant chocolate chip cookies--the type you get at Starbucks etc... I slightly tweaked the recipe and my oven seems to have different cooking times...
Here's what I did in simplified format... check out the cookbook if you want more text and prose
Obviously, preheat your oven before baking so if you make the cookies the day of, you could start preheating before making the dough...I've just stopped baking cookies the day I make the dough
Bowl 1 or in a ziploc bag, mix the following:
4 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 baking soda
Bowl 2:
Step 1:
Beat butter and sugar together (book says 5 minutes assuming it's an electric mixer....I don't know own an electric mixer and make do...no one seems to complain)
3 sticks unsalted room-temperature butter
1.25 cups + 2.5 tablespoons sugar
2 cups brown sugar (FYI recipe said 2.25)
Step 2:
Add 3 large eggs (FYI recipe said they should be at room temperature, and already slightly beaten, which is consistent with most professional chefs' advice about needing eggs to be already beaten before adding it in, or else the sugar "cooks" the eggs...that said, I didn't have the motivation to do this step and use up another container so I tend to push the sugar butter to one side of the bowl, put in the eggs to the other half of the bowl, slightly beat them on the side, and then mix them into the sugar butter mix...all about the one bowl)
Step 3:
Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla to the sugar butter egg mix
Step 4
Add in flour mixture a bit at a time...
Step 5:
Once flour is incorporated, fold in chocolate:
A note about chocolate: Torres recipe says to use 1 2/3 pounds bittersweet chocolate chopped into bite sized pieces... I didn't have it on hand so instead, chopped up 7 Bakers chocolate semisweet squares and 1/2 a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips (chopped both)... No one complained about the lack of chocolate...
Step 6:
Place 3 inch cookie dough spheres 1 in from each other...
Another side note: I used a ruler. Three inches looks abnormally huge... They actually do spread and turn into those giant chocolate chip cookies at bakeries...crispy on the outside edges and soft in the middle
Last side note:
Interesting substitutions he suggests:
For more cakelike texture: replace 1 egg with 2 egg yolks
For chocolate chocolate chip cookies: replace 1c flour with dutch-processed cocoa pwder
For very moist cookies, replace 5.5 T of browns ugar and .5 granulated sugar with equal amount of light corn syrup
Monday, April 04, 2011
Blood Orange and Thyme Chocolate Chip Cookies
This looks amaaaazing
Blood Orange and Thyme Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons blood orange zest
1 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
This delicious recipe makes about 36 cookies... Heat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. With the mixer running, add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the orange zest, thyme and vanilla. Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Continue mixing until evenly combined to form a dough. Gently fold the chocolate chips into the dough using a wooden spoon or spatula. Using a tablespoon, drop the dough onto a greased baking sheet, spacing the cookies approximately 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are set and the edges are golden-brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Blood Orange and Thyme Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons blood orange zest
1 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
This delicious recipe makes about 36 cookies... Heat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. With the mixer running, add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the orange zest, thyme and vanilla. Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Continue mixing until evenly combined to form a dough. Gently fold the chocolate chips into the dough using a wooden spoon or spatula. Using a tablespoon, drop the dough onto a greased baking sheet, spacing the cookies approximately 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are set and the edges are golden-brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Rosemary lager mac and cheese
Life is good.
melt butter...whisk in flour...whisk in soy milk...whisk in TJ's shredded mozarella cheese...whisk in TJ's rosemary asiago cheese...whisk in lager...
Mix with cooked oricchiette, broccoli and carrots already parboiled in thyme... place in greased pyrex container, top with crumbled cornmeal (see Thanksgiving recipe for jalapeno cornbread), bake in 350 degree oven...
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