Cooking with Betty Crackpot: Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was only a matter of time before I made this recipe as part of this series.  I've been making this very cookie recipe since I was a kid and to this day I still think it's the best.  This was the first recipe I ever experimented with, replacing one of the fats with peanut butter to get a wonderful peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, and the summer I turned 16 I made a huge batch of these to take to a camp I was working at for the summer to share with the staff for break time.  That was when my mom declared "you have these down to a science!"  I had the exact timing down pat - 17 minutes (we were at high altitude) to the perfect cookie.

A couple of notes, though.  First, I never bake anything with chocolate over 350F, and this recipe says to bake at 375F.  Also, the original recipe says this makes about 7 dozen cookies and I have never, ever gotten that many out of it!  When I made these the other night, I got about 3 dozen.  To get 7 dozen out of this you'd have to make very tiny cookies.  And this time I did use shortening, even though I don't believe in baking with it, but I had some on hand and it was already softened so I thought, what the hell.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Cooking with Betty Crocker, page 136

2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts
2 packages (6 oz each) chocolate chips (I used about 1 1/2 cups)

Heat oven.  Mix thoroughly fats, sugars, eggs and vanilla.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  (The original recipe says here "for a softer, rounder cookie, add 1/2 cup flour" - I have never needed to do this.)

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2" apart onto baking sheet.  Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until light brown.  Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

YUM!  So, so good, and again, very nostalgic for me.  These did not last long in this house, I can tell you that!

A Visit to Wissembourg/Weißenburg

Ancient Wall and Watchtower 

Church of St Pierre and Paul

Bakeries abound

Maison du Sel

Inside Daniel Rebert

Daniel Rebert's frozen treats

Off the beaten track

Asparagus season is almost here

The Alsace is just across the border from Germany, or what used to be the border before long standing enemies joined Euro hands and decided to let bygones be profitable.  Now when you travel from Germany to France, there are no customs houses, no pulling out of passports, no men in uniform sending a slightly nervous chill down your back.  Do I need to declare the trunk full of wine?  Will the guards glance at my girlfriend’s unnaturally low bosom and suspect bottles of brandy?  Did I buy enough French Francs? Does adultery count if I don’t smile?

Nowadays, a drive to Alsace is just a drive, through beautiful countryside and quaint villages with German sounding names, spoken by French speakers.  Wissembourg is pronounced Viz-em-bourg in France, while being spelled Weißenburg in German and pronounced Vice-in-burk.  Weißenburg, by the way, means White Castle, although I failed to see one.  But, then in my BMW with the top down, I tended to concentrate on the next curve and keeping maidens from leaping into my car.

Another thing you’ll notice as you gently glide through the twisting forest roads into France is that the line between quaint and shabby begins to blur.  Germany also has half timbered houses and small picturesque villages, but kept spotlessly clean, everything in perfect Teutonic order.  The French seem to value the romance of casually drinking coffee under a roof that’s about to collapse, and forgiving a loose window shutter or two with an air of Je ne sais quoi.  Smoke another Gauloises, find a new girlfriend, despise her, and order an espresso with a twist of lemon.

Please don’t let me digress like that.  Ah, yes, Wissembourg, a lovely, flower-strewn municipality that dates back over a thousand years.  A small river, the Lauter, weaves through town in charming canals, giving the feel of that long ago world, when water was the main commercial thoroughfare and source of power.  Wissembourg was once a walled city. Traces remain, but don’t dominate. Wander the narrow back streets and you’ll find the traces and dozens of half-timbered, 15^th Century buildings.

The architectural jewel of Wissembourg is St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (French: Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul).  Dating from the 7^th Century, it was in centuries past the site of a Benedictine abbey and now serves as the main Roman Catholic parish church of the town.  Most of the present church dates to the 13^th to 15^th Centuries.  During the exuberance of the French Revolution, the church was looted.  As a result, some of the windows are original and some not.  Some were even moved to a museum in Strasbourg.

Another interesting building is the Maison du Sel, the salt house, constructed in the mid-15^th Century.  It was first a hospital and then a salt storage and slaughterhouse.  No doubt all three uses somehow string together.  Now, the building, overlooking a canal, is split into tiny shops, including one belonging to an interesting ceramic artist who wouldn’t allow me to photograph a blessed thing.

Plenty of restaurants and cafés line the streets, along with fruit and flower shops.  There are also a couple of nice chocolate shops.  As drizzle turned to downpour,  we dashed into one for a quick pick-me-up of dark sweets and other delights.  What I didn’t realize is that the Pâtisserie-Chocolaterie Daniel Rebert serves unsweetened hot chocolate.  My taste buds were as surprised as a virgin bride and I had to stir in a pound of sugar to calm them down.  It was with some trepidation then that I bit into my first hunk of éclair. Fortunately, it was as expected, excellent.  I smiled.  My nose unflaired, my knuckles returned to their original pink.

The rain had stopped, the sun returned.  It was time to hit the trail.  Farewell then to the lovely, formerly walled city of Wissembourg.  A most charming place to enjoy the pleasures of small town Alsace.

Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cake

I mentioned this dessert in yesterday's post, saying that it was our finale to quite the slap-up Easter dinner. Here is a shot of said Easter dinner! The T-bones were courtesy my roommate, T.


Now, onto dessert. The April issue of Canadian Living was just chock full of recipes I bookmarked. The beef bulgogi was one of them, in fact. This chocolate cake was part of the Passover menu in that issue, and I knew upon seeing it that this was destined to be a product of my kitchen sooner than later.

The recipe is HERE.

The results were stupendous. So stupendous, in fact, there just aren't words. This was rich, fudgey, decadent, and just plain fabulicious. It was so fabulicious it's ridiculously ridiculous.

It was easy to make, too, so there is a huge gratification factor for not a lot effort, too. The only minor issue I had was that the topping used water in it instead of cream. I suspect this has something to do with Jewish kosher rules, but if you're not worried about that, I'd make this with cream instead of water. This is because water does not mix with fat well, and there is butter and chocolate in this topping, and they didn't combine well. The butter kind of separated and left buttery streaks through the top. Flavour-wise, the topping was smashing (I upped the instant espresso powder a bit), but when - WHEN not IF - I make this again, I'll make the topping with cream.

T and I were over the moon with this, and since there were just two of us last night, there are plenty of leftovers. Yay!

Cream Egg Brownies

Here is another Pinterest find that I couldn't resist. I do loves me a Cadbury Cream Egg around Easter time, though I prefer the mini eggs because they're less sweet. I thought this brownie idea was pretty fracking brilliant. And I had all the ingredients on hand, so that was cool, too. Thanks to my roommate T for having a huge bag of milk chocolate chips on hand!

The original recipe is HERE.

Here is my product:
I had one issue with the recipe and that was the filling: 1/4 cup of corn syrup wasn't enough moisture to absorb all the icing sugar, so I had to add some whipping cream to it to loosen it up.

I don't have any yellow food colouring at the moment, so I didn't bother tinting part of the filling.

These were a huge hit with my roommate, who claimed they were better than a cream egg. This recipe has been kid-tested and approved, too, by my young roommate, R, and her friend who was over playing when I made these.

Definite keeper of a recipe!

Martini Time!

Here is another Pinterest recipe, originally from HERE.

My roommate and I knew we had to get us some of this, and about a month ago, we started. We hadn't intended it to take a month, but stuff happens, schedules change, trips to Seattle happen, and before you know it, you have a jar full of sludge on your hands.

But the sludge started out like this:


And here is the sludge:


And may I present to you the Reese's Peanut Butter Martini:


OMG - this was fecking fantastic! Soooooooo good I can hardly tell you, and certainly worth the wait. We really savoured each sip because it was so delicious. We have 12oz of the "sludge" (which has been strained twice and is way less sludgy now) left so there will be plenty more of these in our future!

Shindig Rundown

Yesterday I had a small gathering at my place as a kind of going-away party, with the ulterior motive of using up as many of my leftover baking ingredients as possible before I move - all part of OPC (Operation Pantry Clear-out). It was lovely to just bake and bake for a couple of days. I realize I've been missing that in my life. However, the weather here was so hot, and continues to be, so it was a tad uncomfy to be in my kitchen for the amount of time I was. But it's OK.



Here is a shot of my spread:





So, on the white platter, top left, we have these rum & chocolate chip blondies, only without pecans because I'd already used them all up. Also on that plate are sour cherry & chocolate chip brownies. That recipe is basically my usual blondie recipe, only I replaced 1/2 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of sifted cocoa powder. They are amazing!



In the pottery bowl next to that platter (the pottery was made by my super-talented potter friend, S) are these cookies. They were great.



Bottom row, left, we have a rhubarb tart. I made the pâte brisée recipe from Earth to Table, which you can see here. Incidentally, that's the same pumpkin pie recipe I used for the pumpkin pie you see in the bottom row, right, in the photo. It's sooooooooo gooooooood! I love that pumpkin pie recipe! It was a big hit at the shindig yesterday. For the rhubarb tart, I used frozen rhubarb, that, as it thawed, shrunk into probably just less than 4 cups of rhubarb; very annoying. But it was perfect for a tart, and I decided to do a lattice top. The rhubarb tart was a hit, too. The filling also contained 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, and about 1 tbsp of cornstarch.



Finally, between the two fruit pies/tarts, we have a basic banana bread. Very basic. I got this recipe from my friend Anita, who made this regularly when we were in university together. It's been my go-to recipe ever since because it's super simple and super moist.



Anita's Banana Bread



2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

dash of salt

1/2 cup walnut pieces, optional



Beat the eggs with a whisk and add butter, brown sugar, and bananas until well-combined. Sift in the flour, soda, and salt until the batter comes together. Add nuts, if using. Pour into a greased or lined loaf pan and bake at 350F for about an hour.



Everyone went home with a baking doggy bag. I'm leaving soon after all - I didn't want to keep any of it.



Up next, my trip to the Maritimes, Wolfville, Nova Scotia and Charlottetown, PEI, to visit family, I just know there is going to be absolutely TONS to food blog about! I can't wait!

Chocolate Chip & Sour Cherry Cookies

I'm moving to the coast at the end of September, which has prompted me to start Operation Pantry Clear-out (OPC). I'm trying to use up as much as I can so I have less to move. Makes sense, right? Next Saturday, I'm throwing myself a little going away shindig and I thought it would be a great opportunity to bake like a madwoman in order to use up all kinds of stuff. Today I started, and this cookie recipe was the first thing on my list. Originally, this came from Tish Boyle's The Good Cookie, but I adapted it slightly since I don't have any white chocolate on hand (and why would I go and buy it, since OPC is in full swing) and I didn't use slivered almonds (again, not on hand so tough luck). My version is hugely delicious, however!



Chocolate Chip & Sour Cherry Cookies (adapted from Tish Boyle's The Good Cookie, page 59)



2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

3/4 cup dried sour cherries

1 cup chocolate chips



You know the drill (don't you?). 350F for 15 or so minutes. I got about 3 dozen.



Incidentally, as part of OPC, I also made the blondie recipe right below this post - and used up the rest of my rum! They are very rummy indeed!



EDIT: the cherries are Chukar cherries, and my friend Jodi - giver of great foodie gifts - got them from here.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies...With Booze!

The Good Cookie is a book I bought a few years ago and have not used enough. It's not that it doesn't have good recipes in it - it does - but I seem to always go back to my tried & true recipes and I seem to overlook it. But, in an attempt to reassess what cookbooks belong on my dedicated bookshelf and which ones I can do without - because I'm moving - I revisited the book to look for inspiration. And I found this recipe, which turned out to be just killer. The rum is essential, let me tell you! In fact, I doubled the amount to make these extra boozy! Yeah, I'm keeping this book. I gave the blondies, again, to family members because, again, what is a single gal trying to watch her waistline going to do with a big pan of blondies?

Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies, adapted from The Good Cookie, page 119, by Tish Boyle

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup amber rum
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9x13" baking dish with parchment paper, or grease & flour it very well.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

3. In a mixer, beat butter & brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla and rum. At low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the pecans & chocolate chips.

4. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until just golden brown and the centre is set. A toothpick should come out clean but not dry. DO NOT OVERBAKE THESE!

5. Cool completely, portion, and serve!

Magazine Monday #81: Peanut butter, chocolate chip, and bacon cookies

I have to admit, until today, I hadn't ventured into the whole chocolate-bacon flavour combination craze. But as is common with me, strange cravings come upon me suddenly, and I get to thinking about recipes I've come across that didn't appeal to me at first glance but all of a sudden seem like something I just have to have right now. This recipe was one of those times.

Thank God - and my mom! - for Food Network Magazine! In the most recent issue, they had a recipe for peanut butter, chocolate chip, and bacon cookies, and so I made them this afternoon when a craving inserted itself into my brain.

The recipe is here.

Usually not a fan of savoury items paired with chocolate, these cookies were awesome! In fact, I think they could have used more bacon than what the recipe called for. I didn't put the chilli powder in the dough because I thought that was going a bit too far and seemed a bit too weird, but the bacon paired with the peanut butter and chocolate was just great. The cinnamon was a perfect little hint of spice. My dad came over and I fed him some, and he thought they were the oddest combination of ingredients out there - and he couldn't taste the bacon. So next time, more bacon! Also, I had to add a few tbsp of milk to the dough as mine was too dry to form into balls.

Other than that, a totally keeper recipe!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sometimes I crave stuff, and since I've been icing my shoulder because I have some tendonitis in my right deltoid, I have been craving pumpkin. This might have to do with the fact that I am using frozen blocks of pumpkin I stashed away over a year ago to ice my shoulder with. I have also been craving chocolate, and I do love pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which I have made before. It's a great combination. But, I wanted muffins! So I searched around the net and found this recipe on In Erika's Kitchen. I made the recipe this afternoon.

I halved the spices (1 tsp each) because I didn't want such strong spices overwhelming the chocolate, and I used plain white sugar. These turned out really well and made quite cakey muffins. But the recipe was so large I got a bonus pumpkin chocolate chip loaf out of it as well. I baked this in my largest loaf pan, but I think because the batter was so delicate, it didn't have enough structure to support itself as it rose during baking and therefore it never rose in the middle. I topped it with some sugar crystals.

Still the flavour is there! A really great treat and it hit the spot. I'm going to freeze the loaf to take to a family member's place on the weekend.

Cadbury Mini Egg Ice Cream

In a fit of premenstrual pique last weekend, I purchased a 1kg bag of Cadbury mini eggs. It felt so evil, but they are so good! I just finished the bag off now, and let me tell you, it took considerable will power on my part to not inhale the whole bag within a day of purchase.

I didn't eat them all in their natural state, however. I had a brain wave during my PMS craziness: ice cream! Why not? I am out of store-bought ice cream and it's so frakking expensive here for the good stuff and the stuff I like that I'm not going to buy it. But it's cheap as hell to make, so make it I did! And the results were excellent!

Cadbury Mini Egg Ice Cream

2 cups whipping cream (35%)
1 cup whole milk (3%)
3/4 cup sugar
3 vanilla beans (I have a package I'm trying to use up because they're getting dry, so that's why I used this many)
1 cup chopped Cadbury mini eggs

This is my typical ice cream recipe (minus the mini eggs, of course). I just combine the cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla, really well in a large measuring cup, and pour it into my ice cream maker. Close to when the ice cream is ready to come out of the machine, I added the chopped mini eggs. Freeze till firm. And Bob's your uncle!

The shells turned the final product a bit of an odd colour, but that's OK. It tastes great!


I may need to buy another bag...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti

It shouldn't surprise you to find out that I was highly disorganized this Christmas and didn't actually have most of my home-baked gifts ready until Christmas afternoon. It's a long story, but I do have to thank the weather in part for helping me get it all done: the good old outdoor fridge was my ally and let my baking cool much more quickly than it would have had I kept it indoors. It was sunny but chilly, and the new deck's railing was the perfect size to keep the pans reliably steady.

I am in the habit of giving biscotti to C & R, my SIL's parents because they are big biscotti fans, and they have always told me how much they've enjoyed receiving it in the past. This year I made a double batch so that I could give some to my brother & SIL, too. Previously, I've made chocolate hazelnut biscotti and a lemon & sour cherry biscotti. This year, I chose to do peanut butter & chocolate biscotti.

It's always the same recipe, which I got from culinary school. It's fairly generic and therefore versatile.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti

85g butter
185g sugar
2 eggs
2tsp vanilla
300g flour
50g cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 or so cups of peanut butter chips
chopped toasted peanuts for sprinkling on top
about 1/4 cup or so dark chocolate chips or other dark chocolate, melted, for drizzling on the top

Cream butter & sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Add the dry ingredients.

Knead the dough lightly and pat into a "half moon" shape for even cooking, about 3/4" thick. (The "half moon" thing is in the original culinary school recipe; it's a little deceiving. What that means is rounded sides and a slightly rounded top.)

Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch, dry and cracked-looking. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Slice with a serrated knife, and then bake again until crisp and dried out - another 20 minutes or so.

Cool completely. Drizzle melted chocolate over the top and sprinkle with nuts.

Apparently, these were a huge hit!

Magazine Monday #66: Brown Sugar & Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze

So, I was invited to a friend's for dinner last week, and I offered to bring dessert. I have a ton of rhubarb in the freezer, but my friend's husband is not a fan. Plan B involved blueberries, but that was a no-no, too. Plan C kinda fell into my lap during a ransacking of my recipe binder. I just happened upon this recipe from the October 2007 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine, and I had all the ingredients on hand.

This is one frakking fantastic cake, people! It was a huge hit at dinner, and I had some left over to munch on when the urge arose. And arise it did. This makes one awesome midnight snack, I can tell you for sure.

The recipe is here.

I used dark brown sugar, not the golden kind. I actually prefer the darker sugar because it has more flavour and it's a little richer. I really think it makes a difference in the taste & texture of my baking.

When I made the glaze, at my friend's house, I added too much liquid, and it came out more as a sauce. I was totally OK with that and so was everyone else!

Definitely a keeper recipe that I think I'll go back to time & again!

Magazine Monday #65: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

When my brother & SIL were moving out of the place next door, I found a copy of Kootenay Woman Magazine, a freebie that comes in our mailboxes every so often. This recipe was on the back cover, and it caught my eye as I was putting it in the recycling bin. I made it the other day, making one significant substitution: I put espresso powder in place of the cinnamon. WIN! It was awesome. I kept about a dozen cookies for myself and took the rest into work, where they were much appreciated.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp espresso powder (original recipe says 1 tsp cinnamon)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

350F oven. Cream, combine, scoop, bake. Makes about 3 dozen cookies formed with a #70 cookie scoop.

Delish!

Wedding Feasts, Part 2

So, the day after the wedding there was a huge family gathering at Shan's parents' place. There were 78 people there altogether. Once again, the food was copious and fantabulicious. There were left over spot prawns, but there was also sockeye salmon, and IMO, the star of dinner, fresh oysters! All this seafood bounty was, again, courtesy of Shan's uncle who is a fisherman on Vancouver Island.

For a run-down of some non-food related incidents around the wedding, you can go here.

But let's get started!

Shan's mom, C, who is also a caterer, BBQed a bunch of roasts, and one of the aunties brought a huge crock pot full of homemade baked beans.

Here is the salmon. It has a brown sugar & soy glaze on it.

Also on offer were some of the leftover appies from the wedding dinner the night before. This was so awesome because the appies were excellent - and, bonus, there were still leftovers after this Sunday meal, so I got to take a whole bunch home & snack on them during the week! The big pretzel you see came from a bakery in Cranbrook and it was part of the midnight snack served during the dancing at the reception (which I wasn't there for; I left at 10pm).

There were tons of salads:

Here are the spot prawns:

And here was the star of the show! The oysters! One of Shan's cousins grilled them, seasoning them with butter, lemon juice, and a tad bit of tobasco sauce. They were huge! I cannot tell you how orgasmically fan-fracking-tastic these were. They were so fresh, so delicious...they were surreal! I was in heaven!
Sigh...Sigh...

Here is one of my plates...I had seconds...Can you blame me?

And, there was dessert. Another auntie brought a chocolate fountain with all kinds of goodies. It was a huge hit, and it was super amazing!
So, that about sums up the wedding eating. I'm pretty sure I gained back all the weight I've lost since January, but I totally think it was worth it!

Magazine Monday #64: Sour Cream Chocolate Crumb Cake

This recipe comes from the latest issue of Canadian Living Magazine. I made it the other day because I was in a serious PMS state and I needed cake NOW! I had the ingredients on hand, except the 3oz of dark chocolate, but I saw that there was a handy variation at the bottom of the recipe using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate, and since I had some chocolate chips on hand, I used those in addition to a small amount of Skor bits I had hanging around my freezer! This cake totally hit the spot!

Sour Cream Chocolate Crumb Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3oz bittersweet chocolate, melted (or 1/3 cup chocolate chunks or chips)

Topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, melted & warm
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup ground almonds

1. For the topping, in a bowl stir together sugars, cinnamon, salt; stir in butter. Stir in four and ground almonds, using hands to press the mixture together.

2. For the cake, in a large bowl beat butter & sugar until combined. Beat in egg & egg yolk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir into butter mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of sour cream. Stir in chocolate (or chips/chunks).

3. Spread in parchment-lined 8" square cake pan. Crumble topping evenly over batter. Bake at 350F until done. Cool & serve.

This was delicious, but two caveats I found for you: one is that I needed a 9" pan for this as 8" was not going to be big enough. Second, there was a lot of crumble topping - almost too much. But it was crunchy & tasty & I'd definitely make this recipe again!