The trouble with writing a food blog...

If I offered you a large chocolate chip cookie last week, you might assume that was a generous thing to do; share. Typically I am happy to do it and I'd like to think it's driven by generosity. But Thursday, well Thursday might have been a little different. As much as I'd like to think my cookie-sharing is prompted by my desire to share cookies with others, I think in this case I think it was a survival tactic. By offering these cookies to others I was actually begging people to save me from eating them all myself. Maybe I'm not as generous as I once thought, but really, what do you care; I'm still giving you cookies. Even if it was really for selfish reasons.

You see, the trouble (and sometimes benefit) with writing a food blog is that when I set up a shot, the food sometimes looks so good that I end up eating it even if I originally intended to just photograph it and put it away. Such was the case at around 11am Thursday morning when I made chocolate chip cookies. Not just any cookies but Leite's Conssumate Cookies. They are HUGE (I'm talking City-Bakery size huge) by nature because that's the idea behind the 3 rings of a chocolate chip cookie; Crispy around the edges, soft in the middle and chewy in between. So yes, it was necessary to make them that large. Anyway I had already decided I would save one for myself and one for my Dad (the only other chocolate chip cookie eater in my family) and give the rest to my friends that evening. I would photograph my own cookie so that I could break it apart, take a bite, dunk it in milk or whatever and then wrap it up to eat as a snack later in the afternoon. I should really know better by now. By the time I poured a glass of milk and broke the cookie in half, there was no going back. I don't know what came over me but something even possessed me to dunk it in the milk - which I've never done before in my life. I had really just poured it for a prop to set a scene for the photograph but you know what? Now I totally understand why people dunk cookies in milk. It's delicious! These cookies might have even turned me into a milk drinker yet!

Now, I know that every time I make a new chocolate chip cookie, I declare it my favorite (well, except for the little zucchini mishap). For one reason or another the new one is always better than the previous favorite. I often read that others do the same and I think it's not so much that we've replaced our old favorites; but rather this one suits us better for right now. In this moment in time this cookie or cake or whatever is the best one for us.


That doesn't mean we won't return to our previous favorites sometime. After all, a chocolate chip cookie with shredded coconut in it is different than a City-Bakery sized cookie made with chocolate disks. But for right now, in this moment, this is the best chocolate chip cookie. I will warn you though, these cookies are dangerous. I had every intention of keeping only one for myself, but as I packed them up I realized I just couldn't part with them all and stashed away one more for myself. That extra cookie never made it to the light of Friday and was proof that I can't be trusted with these cookies.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

The key to these cookies lies in a few areas. The first is chilling the dough for at least 24 hours. This helps the flours absorb the eggs and lets the flavors develop. The second is the size. As I mentioned above this is the proper size to achieve the 3 texture rings in a cookie. However I think next time I may see what happens if I make them smaller - mostly because no one needs to eat a meal size cookie. The next is the bread flour and the last is the good quality chocolate disks as opposed to chocolate chips. Valrhona chocolate fèves (disks) can be found sold by the half pound in Whole Foods or in larger quantities online. I used the 70% cocoa but a minimum of 60% is fine as well. Right now I'm on the lookout for a locally-made small batch (preferably fair trade) company to use instead. Oh and I just want to point out the sprinkling of course salt (I used sea salt) over the cookies before baking them is important. It helps balance the sweetness and round out a more complex flavor.

Adapted from David Leite via Smitten Kitchen via The New York Times

Makes 18 5-inch cookies.

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content

Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and try to incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. [Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.]

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

Not my best idea.

If you had been in my kitchen last week, when I was grating up a zucchini, you probably would have said "Hey, putting zucchini in your chocolate chip cookies is not one of the best ideas you've ever had", and you know what? You would have been right. However, I had a lot of zucchini to use up when I stumbled across this recipe from Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (not one of the best books I've read either). The idea seemed interesting and I did want to get rid of that zucchini. She swears it's completely undetectable and even kid tested. I don't know what kids she's been feeding these to because, I have a high tolerance for odd, healthy things in my baked goods and I certainly taste the zucchini. That being said, I don't really mind it. It tastes like chocolate chip zucchini bread in the form of cookies. In fact, even the texture is fairly similar; A little too soft and cake-y for my taste (although some people like soft cake-y cookies so that's not necessarily bad). 

Would I make them again? Probably not. I don't actually like zucchini bread all that much. If zucchini bread is your favorite summer cake - these cookies were made for you. If you prefer to keep your vegetables out of your dessert, try making my favorite chocolate chip cookies and click here for an easy way to use up that zucchini.

Lucky for me, I have the best friends in the world (aka. hungry boys who will eat anything that fits the criteria 'free' and 'homemade' and most things that don't). Either they really did like them, or they are just good at being supportive because they ate every last one.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Makes about two dozen

1 egg, beaten

1⁄2 cup butter, softened

1⁄2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 tbsp. vanilla extract 

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1⁄2 tsp baking soda 

1⁄4 tsp salt 

1⁄4 tsp cinnamon

1⁄4 tsp nutmeg

1 cup finely shredded zucchini 

12 oz chocolate chips Stir these into other ingredients, mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes.

Dobrý den, od Praha!

I wanted to write this post on Saturday. I ran out of time.
I wanted to write this post from the airport in Budapest. I had lots of time but no computer.
Instead I sat down with an espresso and watched the Italian army walk this way and that, many of them watching me watching them. I spent the better part of two hours parked in that seat with another espresso and a mediocre croissant.

Sitting there, I thought, not for the first time, I could live in Europe even if for the espresso alone. Not to mention Budapest has such a pleasant airport - no crowds and no lines. My plane even took off on time and anyone who has travelled with me will tell you that every plane I get on is delayed. I'm not kidding. Every. Single. One. Somewhere along the line I must have angered the flying Gods who are now exectuting their revenge. Although maybe somehow unbenowst to me I have also righted things again because at 14:15 I boarded a bus to shuttle me and the other 47 passengers out on the tarmac where we boarded an exceptionally modern looking propeller plane. The kind some might call a puddle jumper, with a low enough ceiling to make my less-than-imposing 5'1" stature seem all but gargantuan. (It's situations like sitting on a tiny plane that I must remember to be grateful for because certainly I will be cursing my height the next time I am thrown about on the subway and unable to reach the handle to hang on).

By 14:25 all 48 of us had boarded the plane, stowed out carry-ons and tucked into our seats without a hitch. By 14:30 (designated departure time) the large, slightly intimidating fins of the propellor roared into action, the wheels lifted off the ground; and we were off without so much as a peep from the cockpit about mechanical issues, runway, congestion/construction, bad weather in our current location or intended destination or even an unidentified "funny noise" coming from the engine. (Yes, that actually happened to me 15 minutes into a flight to Paris, almost 10 years ago, causing us to turn around and remain grounded for over 6 hours).

I spent the next hour looking down on the irregular patchwork of the countryside with its meandering roads, rolling hills, and patches of farmland mixed with lush green forests. It was nothing like the even, square, quilted tiles of America's Midwest. In fact, much more interesting with small towns and cities clumped here and there.

Now I am writing this post from an internet room somewhere near center city. I honestly haven't the slightest clue where I am. I took the bus, the subway and the tram to the Charles Bridge, took some obligigatory pictures and bought some chocolates from a woman who spoke a tiny bit of english and then offered to take my picture in front of the chocolates. I obliged and took her picture as well, (both were blurry). I did not catch her name but she gave me a sample of a salted milk chocolate which was delicious and much better than the lindt version I buy at home.

I only have another hour before I need to catch a tram, the metro and a bus back to the airport for my flight to Yerevan so I will leave you with some pictures of Prague and head off to find a cafe for dinner. I seem to be in a touristy area so authentic food might be difficult to find. I'm on a quest for dumpings - that is if I can stand to eat hot food in this heat (36C/98F)!

Next stop Yerevan!

In case you are wondering the triangle is nougat of some kind, the long one is a Vienna truffle and the round ball is marzipan rolled in coconut (I LOVE marzipan). I'm saving them for after dinner though so I don't know how they taste yet.

Better than Nutella

Nutella is one of those foods that I just won't buy. Not since my freshman year in college anyway. Back then I bought it twice or three times when I first moved into the dorms. I ate it on everything from toast to fruit and it was especially good right off a spoon directly from the jar. Of course each jar disappeared all too quickly (a week or less a piece), and I decided Nutella was a food better left in Supermarket. 

The next three years went by without so much as a thought of, or even craving for Nutella until one misty morning in early 2009. I was in India, in the city of Varanasi (formerly known as Benaras). I sat down to breakfast and on the table was a jar of Nutella and a basket of bread. I remembered it's smooth, creamy texture and immediately toasted a slice of bread, spread a thick layer of the dreamy, chocolatey, goodness and took a bite. It was just as I'd remembered it. Better, actually, because by then I had been in India for over two weeks and I was definitely missing familiar foods. I ate a few more slices, closed the jar and went about the next year as I had the past three. 

Then one day this past February, I made my own Nutella. I figured if I made it myself, I can control what goes into it. I can make the main ingredient nuts instead of sugar, I can leave out the preservatives and I can certainly leave out the hydrogenated oils. My first attempt came out alright. I used a tiny food processor and the texture wasn't spectacular. I used honey for the sweetener and it lent a taste that I said I didn't mind, but later decided wasn't my favorite. Last but not least every recipe I looked at had added oil so I added a bit as well - just to try to smooth it out. The result was good and I was completely thrilled with it at the time, but I didn't find myself making it again. In fact, I pretty much forgot about Nutella altogether, until I spied an especially delicious looking chocolate croissant in the bakery the other day. It reminded me of when I used to eat croissants slathered with the stuff in high school. 


I decided to try again. 
Only this time, it would be different. 
This time, it would be better.
This time, it would be so good, I wouldn't even call it Nutella.
This time, it would be better than Nutella.

I used an 11-cup food processor, powdered sugar and no added oil. After all, the nuts have plenty of oil in them already and that really should be sufficient. It turns out I was right. Just 4 ingredients made the best chocolate-hazelnut spread I've ever tasted with less fat, calories and sugar than Nutella.

Better than Nutella

It's important to use a food processor with a capacity of 11-cups or larger otherwise the nuts will not smooth out properly. Makes about 1 1/2 cups

2 cups hazelnuts

1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking to ensure an even color.

Since the skin is bitter, you’ll want to discard them. Wrap the cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel, and rub until most of the skins have come off. Don’t worry if you can’t get off all the skins.

Process nuts in a food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally, until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. First, you will get coarsely chopped nuts, then a fine meal. After a little while, the nuts will form a ball around the blade, and it will seem like you only have a solid mass. Keep processing. The heat and friction will extract the natural oils, and you will get hazelnut butter.

When the nuts are liquified, add the cocoa and vanilla.
Next add the powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time until the mixture reaches your desired texture and sweetness. Make sure you scrape down the sides in between

Note: First two paragraphs of the instructions are from Jessica at Su Good Sweets.

That's right, there's cereal in my cookies.

When you're moving cities it's important to eat all the things you are going to miss when you're gone. 

Wings from the Dugout... 

Ice Cream and Chicken from the Big Dipper...

It's important to go with friends... 

It's important to use up all the stray baking ingredients hiding in your kitchen...

It's important to do so by making absolutely delicious compost cookies... 

I'm a little late jumping on the compost cookie bandwagon but better late than never, right? I threw in chocolate, white chocolate, dried fruit, and cereal. That's right, there's cereal in my cookies. I also threw in cornmeal in place of some of the flour just because I could. Basically, if a cowboy cookie and a Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie had a child, it would turn out like this. I called them compostin' cowboy cookies because of their mixed breed but really, all that matters is how they taste.

I actually wasn't expecting such a delicious result, because I usually like my cookies simpler, but I was pleasantly surprised. The crispy brown rice cereal gives an unexpected chewy crunch and you really can't go wrong with both dark and white chocolate. The raisins and dried cherries are good but you could easily replace them with nuts if dried fruit isn't your thing. 

Compostin' Cowboy Cookies 

Typically compost cookies have potato chips in them but I don't think potato chips really have much place in this world outside bars, BBQs and football games - plus I didn't have any at home. Pretzels on the other hand would definitely go over well because salty and sweet might just be the best combination out there. Feel free to throw in whatever you have on hand, salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, whatever. I listed a few variations at the bottom. 

Makes about 27 large cookies 

225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

250g turbinado sugar 

180g sucanat 

1 tbsp honey 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 eggs 

300g whole wheat pastry flour 

115g stone ground cornmeal 

2 tsp kosher salt 

1 tsk baking soda 

2 tsp baking powder 

200g dark chocolate chips 

200g white chocolate chips 

150g crispy brown rice cereal 

200g mixed raisins and dried cherries 

Stand mixer or electric hand mixer is must for these cookies. 

Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and syrup for three minutes until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and beat for ten minutes. It will be very thick, and fluffy. 

Mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a separate bowl, and add this to the cookie batter. 

Stir as little as possible to combine them. 

Add your mix-ins and stir just to combine. 

Shape large balls -I used my 3 tablespoon cookie scoop - and place on greased baking sheets, leaving a lot of room in between. I fit five cookies per sheet. 

Bake immediately or refrigerate until ready to use. 

Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes. 

Important note: Let them cool completely on the sheet or they will fall apart. 

Other Variations: 

-Replace the cornmeal with additional whole wheat pastry flour 

-Replace the cornmeal with rye flour 

-Replace the sucanat with dark or light brown sugar (cookies will be sweeter with dark) 

-Replace the sucanat with dark or light muscovado sugar (cookies will be sweeter with dark) 

-Replace the turbinado sugar with white sugar or another refined or unrefined sugar 

-Replace the chocolate, white chocolate, cereal and dried fruit with 500-600g of whatever mix-ins you have on hand. Traditional Momofuku Compost cookies have some combination of potato chips, pretzels, and chocolate. Pecans, walnuts and/or mac nuts would be good. 

-Add 100-200g of shredded unsweetened coconut 

-More mix-in suggestions: Peanut butter chips, heath bar bits, m&m's, peanut m&m's, butterscotch chips, mini Rolos, mini peanut butter cups

Gluten-Free Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think I need to take a computer course. Isn’t that ridiculous? Isn’t my generation supposed to be naturally computer savvy?

Unfortunately I seem to have missed out on the “computer genius” gene and I’ve been struggling with uploading pictures off my camera (among other things). The program just shuts down every time I plug in the camera. I feel like I spend at least 75% of my day troubleshooting cursing at my computer and it makes me want to unplug it, toss it out the window, and move to the country. 

Am I crazy or are there other people out there who feel like technology is sometimes frequently more trouble than it's worth? I feel really old and crabby saying that but it's true, I hate computers.

I'm very frustrated because I had this great post planned for you guys; with some pictures from my race on Saturday (my boat placed second), a few scenes from opening day at the farmer’s market (I bought 5lbs of honey), and these delicious cookies I made for my rowers. I've been putting off posting about these things since Saturday because I can't seem to get the pictures off my camera. At this point I didn't want to wait any longer to share these cookies with you, so I've decided to post without pictures and update when I'm finally able to load them.
Edit: I was able to get pictures of the cookies off my camera but now I'm having trouble again so no market pictures.

Gluten-Free Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Elana's Pantry. Yields about 24 Cookies.

I'm not allergic to gluten, nor are any of the guys who I made these cookies for but I’ve been wanting to try baking almond meal for a while. Unfortunately, the only company available in Binghamton is Bob’s Red Mill and I’ve read only bad reviews about it (dry, crumbly etc) – plus it’s about  $10 a pound. The Trader Joe’s* brand, however, is significantly cheaper and has a much better texture. It is a meal and not a flour so its not very finely ground but it adds great texture to cookies or a sturdier cake – just don’t try to make angel food cake with it.

These have a softer chewier texture, more like an oatmeal cookie. I received nothing but positive feedback on them but I want to cut down on the fat content - 10g per cookie is a bit high for me but that's due to the almonds. Since I'm not concerned with keeping them gluten-free, I'm going to try replacing a small portion of the almond meal with whole wheat flour. If you want to maintain the gluten-free properties but still want to cut down on fat, I suspect oat flour would do the trick nicely. However, If you want to replace more than 1 cup of the almond meal, you'll also need to increase the oil to replace the fat lost from the almonds.

These cookies are only slightly sweet so if you prefer yours sweeter I would suggest using maple syrup instead of honey or even half syrup, half honey. The syrup will add a slightly different almost caramelized flavor.

2 ½ cups almond meal**

1/2 teaspoon baking soda


1/2 teaspoon salt


1/2 cup honey (see headnotes)

1/2 cup light olive oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract


1/2 cup extra dark chocolate chips***

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine all ingredients, except the chocolate chips, in a medium bowl. Mix well. Mix in chocolate chips and refrigerate for 20 minutes. On parchment-lined baking sheet, drop round (generous) tablespoonfuls of dough, spacing 2 inches apart. If dough seems dry and rigid, flatten a bit. If you like ultra chewy cookies, flatten dough into discs before baking.

Bake for 7-9 minutes, until lightly golden (If you like crisper cookies, bake 9-10 minutes.). It's important to let them cool on baking sheet for a full 10-20 minutes to set, otherwise they will just fall apart.

Notes

*The last time I was on Long Island I got a little carried away at Trader Joe's since we don't have one in Binghamton - I think I bought something like 9 pounds of almond meal. Oops.

**Be sure to store an opened bag of almond meal in the fridge or even the freezer so that it does not go rancid from the fat.

***I've been hearing a lot of good reviews on Guittard chocolate so I bought a bag of their extra dark chocolate chips. The result? They were good, but i prefer the larger size and flatter shape of my usual Ghirardelli 60% Dark chips.