Pretty maids all in a row

Don't judge a book by its cover.  This is a lesson I learned the day I got my beloved gun-metal gray Kitchen Aid stand-mixer.

Everyone who has ever gotten a kitchen implement, gadget, tool, notion, or widget knows that most of them come with a booklet that, along with some basic assembly and care instructions, comes with a few recipes. I usually try one or two of these since A) I am anxious to use the thing in question, and 2) I figure someone or other has tested this recipe a few times to be sure the device will successfully deliver the goods even if some half-wit uses it.

It was with this philosophy in mind that I flipped through the really quite elaborate booklet that came with said mixer and came across what looked to be your bog-standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  Since it had ingredients I, like most home bakers, have on hand, and figuring in my honest affection for a nice Toll-House style cookie (minus the nuts, please), I put the eggs in some hot tap water, put the cold butter in the microwave for 2 mintues on 10% power*, and commenced to measuring.

Ohmygodyouguys... these cookies were so freaking good. I am an inveterate dough and batter eater, and when I tasted the raw stuff from this recipe, I honestly wondered how they could taste any better.  Then I baked them.  Ohmygodyouguys.

At around the 9 minute mark, they come out of the oven just a little underdone in the middle for that soft-batch kind of feeling, and near 12 minutes they have just the right amount of crispness so you don't need a glass of milk to soak them in to prevent you from breaking a tooth. 

Now, I'm not a guy to skimp on ingredients: I use very good vanilla and the best chocolate (within reason) that I can get my hands on, but I've literally made these with store-brand extract and good old Nestle's Semi-Sweet Morsels, and they are still amazing. Forget the New York Times, Neiman-Marcus, and Thomas Keller's recipes: my Best In Show award goes to the Kitchen Aid test kitchen.

*This is a wonderful method for getting butter to just under room temperature without melting it.

BEST EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

It might seem funny to make such a big deal out of plain old chocolate chip cookies, but these are worth it. And besides, I want to have access to this recipe from the nearest internet outlet. You know... in case of emergencies.

If I were a better food scientist I'd know why this apparently run-of-the-mill combination of your typical cookie ingredients yields such perfect cookies time and again. Of course, I think the quality of the ingredients makes a big difference... garbage in/garbage out as my programmer friends would say. So, once you've tried them with your standard supermarket offerings, wow your friends with a batch made with some nice Irish butter, Madagascar vanilla, and Guittard chocolate. It couldn't hurt, am I right?

Whatever the shopping list, resist the urge to eat all of the batter before baking, or at least save some for your significant other like I find I have to. Let the batter sit for a while (even ovenight) wrapped or well covered in the fridge for an even better taste.  Or form and freeze the cookies for up to 3 weeks before baking -- freeze them on a sheet tray (they can be close, but not touching), and transfer them to a freezer bag or another air-tight container once they are reasonably solid.  There's no need to adjust the oven temperature or baking time. Just keep an eye on them from minutes 10-12 and take them out when they look almost like you want them to -- remember they keep baking for a bit even after coming out of the oven.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (two sticks) salted butter, softened (unsalted is OK, too, but I like salted better for this)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1½ tsp good vanilla extract

• 12 oz (one standard-sized bag) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 375ºF if baking the cookies right away.  In a meduim bowl, whisk the flour, soda, and salt together, and set aside.

Place sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. With a hand or stand mixer, mix on low for 30 seconds or so to combine and loosen them up. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix on medium high speed for another 30 seconds. You want to cream the ingredients until they are nicely combined and the batter is looking pale, a little fluffy and otherwise uniformly mixed. 

Add the dry ingredients to the batter in 2 or 3 batches, waiting for most of the flour to disappear before adding the next bit. Scrape down bowl, and mix in the chocolate chips until just distributed. Let batter rest if possible; overnight is best, but baking right away is OK, too.

With a 1 or 2 Tablespoon ice cream or cookie scoop, or with a tea spoon, drop rounded mounds of dough onto a prepared sheet pan (lined with a silcon mat or parchement, or lightly greased with butter or shortening), placed about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the sides begin to brown and the tops give a little but bounce back when touched with your finger.  The cookies will puff up a bit, but will flatten out when out of the oven. Cool on the baking sheet set on a cooling rack for 5-7 minutes, then remove from the sheet and cool the cookies completely on the wire rack.

Makes around 2-3 dozen cookies; store at room temperature for up to 4 days.

--

Listen while you work!

Everybody's Waitin' for the Man with the Bag

Kay Starr

How about another jazzy diva tune today from the same sampler album as yesterday's. This time we're visiting the late Big Band era with the incomparable Kay Starr, with what is to me the definitive version of "Man with the Bag." Sorry Vonda Shepard!  You're good and all, but Kay Star is the original.

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Delicious... sez me.

It's Cookie Day Seven: do you know where your insulin level is?  I thought I'd give us a little break from the sweets of the season to re-introduce you to a favorite... cookie of mine which has absolutely no sugar whatsoever. Imagine!

We first had these delectable little morsels a while back when Rick and Leigh had us to their house for a lovely dinner on foggy night here in San Francisco. They had a fire in their fireplace, the stove and kitchen were warm and smelling incredible, and we started in the living room with a nice red wine and these. I have since made them for many an affair, both at our house and elsewhere, and they never fail to disappoint.  Leigh consented to share the recipe, which she had gotten from (guess where?) Gourmet Magazine. Gee... whatever happened to that?

Have you had those sesame seeds in your spice rack for too long? Here is the perfect way to use them up... just be sure to add them to your shopping list, as your friends will be demanding these on a regular basis once they've had them. And no, I'm not exaggerating.

SESAME-ROQUEFORT BISCUITS COOKIES

I realize you might think it's a stretch calling these cookies, but look: they are small and round (like the Brown Butter Chestnuts). They are made with a slice-and-bake dough (like World Peace Cookies). Flour and fat are the main ingredients (like Kyle's Famous Christmas Cut-Outs). You can freeze and bake them later (like Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies). And besides, who says a cookie can't be savory? (Not me!)

With the nutty taste of oven-toasted sesame seeds and and the twang of Roquefort, these bis... er, I mean cookies are the ideal accompaniment to a glass of wine. Because of their light texture, they are great with sparklings and whites. Because of the strong taste of Roquefort, they are great with reds of nearly every description. And because they aren't sweet in the slightest, they are a welcome addition to the appetizer plate, if not the dessert table.

Like that of World Peace Cookies and the Brown Butter Chestnuts, this dough is very crumbly, but do not despair: pressing the pieces together will ensure they bake up more or less intact.  Though there is no liquid in the dough beyond what is already in the cheese and the butter, if you find your dough is simply too dry to come together into anything resembling a cohesive ball, adding teaspoon or so of milk (full fat if you have it) will likely help that process along and will not really effect the end product adversely. Add too much liquid, though, and you risk making the biscuits tough and (ironically) dry, so err on the side of caution if you feel you must add it at all.

Sesame-Roquefort Cookies can keep fresh for about 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container, though because you can freeze the tightly wrapped log of dough at least two weeks before serving, it's a much better idea to bake them off the same day you eat them for maximum freshness. And I know I keep saying this about all these recipes, but making them last more than one evening with friends will be the real concern. Do yourself a favor and mix two batches in quick succession and stow a log away to bake later... when you're alone and can nosh your way through the whole supply alone!

• 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour (recipe follows)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 lb. chilled Roquefort cheese such as Le Vieux Berger, Société, or Le Papillon, crumbled ( about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup  or more sesame seeds ( about 2 + oz.)
• 1 tsp. or more whole milk (optional)

Pulse flour and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle cheese (and milk, if using) into mixture and pulse a few times to incorporate.

Transfer mixture to a work surface (it will be crumbly) and knead briefly to distribute ingredients (do not overwork), then press together to form a dough and roll into a 7-inch log (about 2 inches in diameter).

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.  Wrap in a second layer of plastic wrap or in a freezer bag, and freeze if you wish for later baking.

Put oven rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment.

Put sesame seeds on a plate. Cut dough into scant ¼-inch-thick slices with a thin sharp knife, then gently press both sides of each cookie in sesame seeds to coat and arrange ½ inch apart on baking sheet. Turn dough log a quarter turn between slices to help avoid flattening out one side.

Bake until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool biscuits on baking sheet on a rack 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer with a spatula to rack to cool completely.

 Makes about 2 dozen... cookies.

Flour Power

SELF-RISING FLOUR

Whether you buy or make this stuff, don't leave it sitting around longer than 4-6 months, as baking powder starts to lose some of it's kick in time.

• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 1/2  tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Sift all items together well, and use in place of store-bought self rising flour.

---

The New Year

Since I think many of you will be having these with your midnight champers toast in about a week's time... how about we have a nice, sophisticated, hip and youthful tune to bake to: "The New Year" from the album Transatlanticism by indie darlings Death Cab for Cutie.

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Sprinkles, sprinkles, little stars.

Did you know the word "Dreamsicle" is not copyrighted?  I know! I was pretty surprised, too.  Apparently, Popsicle® (which ironically enough IS a copyrighted word) calls those orange-and-vanilla "iced lolly" things Creamsicles®.  Huh. Has it always been that way, or am I mis-remembering?

 

Good Things (Best of Martha Stewart Living)

Martha Stewart Living Magazine

I have made these for the last few years, and they are just alright.  They taste fine and they are nicely stiff so they can stand up to decorating. They don't puff much while baking either, so the branches on my lovely and somewhat intricate Christmas Tree cutters can still be easily discerned.  In another part of the book, they mention the idea of brushing the baked cookie with a little beaten egg white, and then sanding the cookie with colored sugar. I had some lovely iridescent sugars I'd picked up somewhere along the way, and when decorated this way (with a few accents in Royal Icing), the effect was very charming and oh so easy.  Kind of like me.

Stuck on you

After baking, you could still taste and smell a nice twinge of orange, but the heat of the oven had definitely diminished things a bit, as I thought it might. I haven't had a chance to re-make these again, but the taste was so great, I'm sure I will, and I intend to use the proportions of flavorings you will read in the recipe below.

Made with 2 teaspoons vanilla, these basic sugar cookies are a wonderful and simple way to make nice cookies for decorating. Replace the vanilla with lemon juice and zest and you have a tart confection that seems very springlike and fresh. Use a combination of vanilla, and orange juice and zest... and you've got something magically adult and child-like all at the same time. The smooth creaminess of vanilla marries so well with the bright sweetness of good juice you'll wonder why you never thought of it before.

 

Even now I'm thinking of further variations: I think taking whatever juice you have and boiling it down into something more concentrated form might be just great.  Just be sure to cool the liquid completely before adding it to the batter if you try this.  And speaking of further variations, I think this recipe would also be phenomenal with the juice and zest of my beloved Meyer Lemons....

 

Feel free to add extra zest, as it is only going to add more essential oil, and therefore flavor, to the final product, and the flecks of color in any exposed dough after decorating will be very pretty. If the dough tastes just a little too strongly of vanilla and orange to you, after a chill, a roll, and a bake, they should turn out juuuust right. Remember also that the sugar topping you'll put on will also obscure the citrus somewhat.  Oh, and be sure you do yourself the favor of zesting your citrus BEFORE you juice them. The other way around is pretty tough.

 

Good Things mentions that this dough is excellent for very large cookies, so don't be afraid to use your big cutters if you like. If you have concerns about using raw egg white in the decorating process, you can substitute powdered egg white (meringue powder) lightly whipped with some water, according to package directions or until a slightly viscous consistency.

 

For the cookies:

• 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. freshly grated zest of sweet oranges, tangerines or mandarins (about 2 large or 4-5 small)
• 1 tsp. fresh squeezed juice from sweet oranges, tangerines or mandarins

 

For decorating after baking:

• Sparkling or sanding sugar in various colors
• 1 egg white
• Royal Icing (recipe follows)

 

Special equipment:

• a zester
• a small pastry brush

 

MAKE THE DOUGH:

In a large bowl, sift together the 4 cups flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

 

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until just incorporated. Stir in vanilla, orange juice, and zest.

 

Add dry ingredients gradually, and mix until thoroughly combined. Wrap dough well in plastic; chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

 

BAKE THE COOKIES:

Preheat oven to 325°F, and prepare your refrigerator to hold sheets of unbaked cookies.

 

On a lightly floured surface, roll a good handful of the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with cutters dipped in flour.

 

Transfer to ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheets; refrigerate until firm (about 15 minutes) and keep chilled while you roll out the more of the dough.

 

Remove filled sheet from refrigerator, and bake cookies just until edges just start to brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

 

The baked cookies may be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  

 

Makes about 4 dozen small cookies, or about 16 large ones.

 

DECORATE THE COOKIES:

With a fork or a small whisk, whip the egg white in a small bowl to break up the lumps and proteins. It should feel liquid, but not too frothy or lumpy. Have your sugars ready over a dish that can catch the excess.

 

Brush a thin coat of beaten egg white onto all or part of a cookie. From the sugar container or with a spoon, sprinkle the sugar onto the egg white, and shake off any excess. Set aside to try and move on to the next cookie. Work with one color at a time if you wish to collect and re-use the excess sugar.

 

Allow cookies to dry, about an hour, or overnight lightly covered with a tea towel, wax paper, or paper towels. 

 

If you wish, you can then pipe on highlights or accents in Royal Icing (below).

I have tried many variations on Royal Icing, but the one from the side of the Ateco container of Meringue Powder is my favorite. It makes a very easy to pipe accent icing, great for adding a little "star" to hold a dragee or decor at the top of a Christmas tree shape.  I confess I have never tried a thinned out version for flooding techniques, but I'm sure it'd be fantastic for that... and much easier to use than fresh raw egg whites.

 

• 1/4 cup meringue powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (use the extra half cup if you want a stiffer icing)

 

In a large bowl, whip together the meringue powder and water until you get soft peaks.  

 

Gently sift in the confectioner's sugar, starting with just four cups.  Beat to desired consistency, and sift in extra 1/2 cup of sugar if necessary.

 

Transfer to a piping bag fitted with your choice of tip or a gallon-size plastic baggie with a small bit of one corner snipped off.

 

Decorate cookies as desired; place decorative sugars or other decors right away wile icing is still wet.

 

Allow icing to dry, at least 2 hours at room temperature or overnight. Transfer to an airtight container and store for up to two weeks.

No Christmas for Me

Listen While You Work!

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Roasted, sans open fire

I confess I have a sickness: I am an inveterate recipe collector. Yes yes... I've got cookbooks. Lot's of them... and more every day thanks to thoughtful friends and family who give them as gifts (and may secretly have marked out a page or two they'd like for me to try... soon). But I'm not talking so much about cookbooks. Or cooking magazines either -- though just try to pry away my beloved collection of Cook's Illustrated issues.

The same thing over and over and over and...

Her point seemed to be that, even though she... intensely dislikes... the act of making them, the cookies themselves are worth it. And it is true: the taste of browned butter is almost legendarily good, and mixed with good vanilla, sugar and flour, they combine into something that is quite literally greater than the sum of its parts. They are perfectly rich, a little crumbly, and seem to melt on your tongue, sublimating directly into the pleasure centers of your brain. And that's even before you add the filling!

"Press a piece of dough into bowl of teaspoon, flattening top, then slide out and place, flat side down, on an ungreased baking sheet. (Dough will feel crumbly, but will become cohesive when pressed.)"

Just like Grandma used to make.

Last year when I made these, to sandwich them together, I used some peach preserves another friend had brought me back from a trip to Memphis. I cooked the mixture down a bit, according to Barbour's advice, and it worked wonderfully and tasted even better. But then... Christopher bought me a jar of something very very good: Chestnut paste.  A restaurant here in our neighborhood serves a dessert crepe filled with this amazing ambrosia, and so I knew I had to save it for a special purpose. When I was assessing cookie ideas for this Christmas, I had it: I'd use it for the Spoon Cookies!

These are the cookies your mother warned you about. They are deceptively simple and yet just complicated enough that you will feel a real sense of accomplishment when they are finally done. Browning butter can be tricky... reading up on it, following the directions here closely, and/or watching a video on-line about what to look for might be helpful. Even giving yourself a trial run is a great idea. And have some extra butter on hand, just in case.

 

Chestnut paste (I used Bonne Maman) can be found in specialty stores with all the fancy-schmancy jams, preserves, and jellies. I used most of my 13 oz. jar when I made my single batch, and I put about 2 tsp of paste on each cookie.  If you want to use fruit preserves, you'll want to have about 1/3 cup; heat it in small saucepan until it turns runny, then run it through a sieve into a small bowl, really pressing on any solids. Let it cool completely and re-thicken before putting it on the cookies.  The author prefers half cherry and half strawberry preserves, but I'm honestly having a hard time thinking of some jam, paste or thick sauce that wouldn't taste great with these. Marmite, maybe?  I'd avoid Marmite.

 

It pays to make these cookies days ahead of time. They are good the first day, great the third day, and late than that they become, in the words of Celia Barbour "transcendent."  They keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Just try to make them last that long...

 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt, slightly rounded

• 2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into big pieces
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup chestnut paste     

 

•  Special equipment: A 2 tsp to 2 Tbsp sturdy cookie scoop, or a deep-bowled teaspoon*, and a heat-proof spatula.

Make dough:

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Fill your kitchen sink or a shallow basin with about 2 inches of cold water, and a few ice cubes to keep it chilled while you work, as the whole process will likely take about 10-12 mintues.

 

Melt butter in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and cook, stirring occasionally with your heat-proof spatula. 

 

The butter will initially produce some foam, which will then dissipate. After this point, you want to stay with the pan and not walk away even for a moment.

 

You will know the butter is about to "brown" when a much thicker foam appears and covers the surface. Keep stirring!  If you are able to, stir the foam away and see watch the milk solids in the butter turn a caramel brown.  If you cannot stir the foam aside, use your spatula to ocassionally stir some of the solids from the bottom of the pan to the top and into the foam.

 

As soon as you see those tell-tale golden brown flecks and smell a nut-like fragrance, take the pan off the heat and place it in the cold water. Continue to stir to stop the cooking and prevent the butter from burning. And believe me... you will know if it does.  Keep stirring until the butter starts to look opaque and the foam has subsided, about 4 minutes.

 

Remove pan from sink and stir in sugar and vanilla.

 

Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until a dough forms. Shape into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and let stand at cool room temperature 1 to 2 hours (to allow flavors to develop). The dough can be made 12 hours before baking and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature to soften slightly before forming cookies, about 30 minutes.

 

Form and bake cookies:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

 

Scoop or press dough into bowl of cookie scoop or teaspoon, flattening the top.  The dough will be quite stiff. Slide the dough out and place, flat side down, on an ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet. The dough will feel crumbly, but will come together when pressed.  Continue forming cookies and arranging on sheet about 1 inch apart. Be sure you have an even number of cookies for assembly later.

 

Bake cookies until just pale golden, 8 to 15 minutes. They will puff a bit, but will feel mostly solid when touched. Cool the sheet on a rack for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature if not assembling right away.

 

Assemble cookies:

Spread the flat side of one cookie with a thin layer of chestnut paste. Sandwich with flat side of another cookie. Continue with remaining cookies and paste, then let stand until set, about 45 minutes. Transfer cookies to an airtight container and, if at all humanly possible, wait 2 days before eating, especially if you've assembled them directly after baking and cooling. 

*A round measuring spoon also works, despite what the author of the original recipe says.

The Christmas Song

Michael Bublé

Listen while you work!

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What's Black and Tan and MMMM all over?

And speaking of our dear departed Gourmet Magazine (as I was just yesterday), did you know I am only two degrees removed from Ruth Reichl?  Well, OK... maybe 3 or 4.

I'll have what she's having.

I think you can guess what happened next: after editors picked her recipe as a finalist, the public voted on Epicurious... and lo and behold!  Jeanne was the winner!  She then was invited to attend Gourmet Institute, a weekend-long conference in New York City featuring many luminaries of the culinary world -- as Gourmet's guest!  I'd say she was lucky, but her talent and support among other food bloggers are really what got her there.

On the Christmas cookie front, you see chocolate cookies, you see iced cookies, but it's a little rare to see chocolate iced cookies, innit?  Peanut butter is also not the most common flavor at your average holiday cookie swap, which makes these gems a hot commodity.

 

Don't be afraid to double the dough recipe as, unless you really pile it on, you'll have plenty of icing to go around from this one recipe -- or use the excess on some wayward undressed cupcakes! Also, I have never been so great at the "dropping of rounded spoonfuls" you see in so many cookie recipes, so I'd definitely suggest a cookie scoop; a teaspoon or slightly bigger size should give you a nice sized cookie that is easy to ice and not too much to eat.

 

Lastly, I'd recommend using a no-sugar (aka "natural") peanut butter for the icing to avoid it getting too sweet. If you do a good enough job really whipping together the ingredients, you shouldn't have to worry about the icing separating because the peanut butter doesn't have any artificial emulsifiers. Besides... they likely won't last long enough to see that happen!

 

Over on Gourmet's still-extant on-line presence, Epicurious.com, Jeanne said of these cookies: "My variation is in the frosting. I'm not super crazy about the traditional approach. So thinking that this cookie is really a petite cake in disguise I developed a chocolate (Black) and peanut butter (Tan) buttercream frosting. Dee-licious!" Obviously, I agree.

 

Black and Tan cookies seem to me to be the perfect cookie if you want to go to a little bit of trouble (but not a lot) and come out with a lovely, rustic-looking cookie that will immediately have everyone saying "Ooh... those look interesting!"  And if they think the look is good... wait until they taste them.

 

For the cookies:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

For the peanut butter frosting:

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup half and half

For the chocolate frosting:

• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (I like Droste or Valrhona. -K) 
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup half and half

• Special equipment: a small offset spatula

 

Make cookies:
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter (or line with parchment paper -K) 2 large baking sheets.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing just until smooth.

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter 1 inch apart onto baking sheets. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed, edges are pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Make peanut butter frosting:
Mix peanut butter and butter together with a hand mixer. Gradually blend in the sugar and half and half. Blend until fluffy and light. Can be prepared a day or two in advance, tightly wrapped, and refrigerated. Allow to come to room temperature before using.

Make chocolate frosting:
Mix cocoa and butter together with a hand mixer. Gradually blend in the sugar and half and half. Blend until fluffy and light. Can be prepared a day or two in advance, tightly wrapped, and refrigerated. Allow to come to room temperature before using.  

Frost cookies:
With offset spatula, spread peanut butter frosting over half of flat side of each cookie. Starting with cookies you iced first, spread chocolate frosting over other half.

 

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Fairytale of New York

Pilate

Listen while you work!

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Sweet, Secret Peace

Bakers are notoriously nice people. Read any blog post by PJ Hamel and the lovely New Englanders over on the King Arthur Flour "Baker's Banter" blog and you'll see what I mean.  Even the complaints are fairly worded and as even-tempered as the lightly beaten egg getting mixed into a nice ham-and-cheese gougère.

In the high-stakes world of professional bakers, though, you'd expect that the dog-eat-dog pressures of being a business owner might trump the natural niceness that seems to come standard with every shiny new set of measuring spoons. I guess those annoying Cake Boss people would be a good example of that.  But then again... there are the unflappable hipsters of Charm City Cakes, so...

All this is by way of saying that, in a community where niceness is nice, Dorie Greenspan has to be right up there in the race for Miss Congenial Baker.  I've heard dozens of interviews with her, and she seems unfailingly kind, upbeat, and encouraging.  She's someone I'd not only like to learn from, but whom I'd love to have over for tea... and cookies of course.

What better person, then, to introduce these now-legendary cookies to a planet in peril?  In her book Paris Sweets, they were called Korova Cookies (named by one of her French baking mentors), but in her fabulous tome Baking: From My Home to Yours, she gave them an auspicious name: World Peace Cookies. Quite a claim for a mere sweet treat.

But this is no mere cookie. To say that this recipe is admired is more of an understatement than saying that Suzanne Summers has obviously had "a little work done."  Do a Google search for "Dorie Greenspan World Peace Cookies" and you get nearly endless pages of results leading to this excellent recipe. In fact, one of those results is on this very blog!  Yes... this recipe bears repeating; these cookies are THAT good. Even Dorie herself repeated them in two books!  That's good enough reason for me to repeat them here.

Cookies, especially at Christmas, are often whimsical confections made for children and the young at heart of all ages, but these cookies are made for the adult palate. Dark, lush, lavish, and salty -- they are a complicated taste with a simple message: the world needs more chocolate.  Thank you, Diva Dorie, for spreading the good news!

WORLD PEACE COOKIES

Do you like chocolate cookies?  Try a nice batch of chocolate-chocolate chip. What if you love chocolate cookies? How does a double-Dutched chocolate meltaway sound?  Are you obsessively plagued with thoughts of rich chocolaty goodness that transcends not just taste and smell but mind, body, and time itself?  Then maybe you're ready for World Peace Cookies.

A percentage of Cacao to end all wars.

I have made these cookies on many occassions, altering the ingredients only slightly each time. What I can tell you is that Dutch-process cocoa powder works wonderfully well, and I think turns out a superior cookie in this recipe. I did use the hard-to-find Black Cocoa (the stuff that makes Oreos and Dark Chocolate Cake mixes so black) in my most recent batch and... I think I'd not use it again, as it introduced an element that obscured the true deepness of the chocolate you do use.

I can also tell you that adding a bit more Fleur de Sel than she calls for here is quite wonderful, as one of the finest aspects of these cookies is the surprising salty tang you get from each and every bite. And also, while you can use a combination of chocolates, be sure you use one with as much percentage of cacao as you can find (unsweetened works well, too!), and never any less bitter than semi-sweet. Anyone attempting to put milk chocolate of any pedigree into these cookies can only be said to deserve what they get.  And what they deserve is not to be described in polite company!

World Peace Cookie dough can be made ahead, formed into logs, tightly wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 2 months.  No adjustment to the oven temperature is necessary (see Dorie's notes below), but if frozen quite solid, they are harder to cut, especially if you've made them biggish. Try heating up a good strong knife in hot water, drying if off before you cut, or let the log defrost overnight in the fridge for easier cutting.

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 stick plus 3 Tbsp (11 Tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup (packed) light brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ tsp fleur de sel or ¼ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous ¾ cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

World Peace Cookie Dough

Preparing the dough:

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1½ inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Getting ready to bake:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are ½ inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them — don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

Makes about 36 cookies.

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I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Stuhr Remix)

Kay Starr

Since we heard from the illustrious Kay Starr yesterday... let's hear her again!  This time, remixed by an expert DJ. I'm really into DJ-remixed Christmas music these days, and there seems to be no shortage of collections out there.

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There is nothing quite like a hot, soothing bowl of homemade chicken soup, especially when your sick or when the weather starts getting cold. I am sure many of us have fond memories of Mom or Grandma fixing up a hot bowl of chicken soup when we were younger. Remember how comforting it was and how good it made you feel? I sure do and I look forward to making chicken soup at least once a month during the cold days of winter. I am going to share with you one of the most delicious recipes for chicken soup, passed down to me from my Grandmother. It is quite easy to make and I promise you will enjoy this again and again…

I rarely follow exact measurements while cooking, so the ingredients below are approximated. Please forgive me in advance..

INGREDIENTS

2 Large Chicken Breasts on the Bone, Skin on

3 Large Celery Stalks Sliced (Reserve Leaves)

3 Large Carrots Sliced

1 Medium Onion Chopped

3 Cloves of Garlic Crushed

2 Medium Russet Potatoes Cubed

1 Cup of Small Pasta for Soup (Orzo, Ditalini)

Water

Chicken Stock

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Grated Italian Cheese (Optional)

Bouquet garni of Thyme, Sage and Rosemary (Instructions Below)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1 - Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts skin side down and brown.

Step 2 - Add water and chicken stock to the pot. Add a 50/50 mixture of water and chicken stock. The chicken stock gives the soup a boost in flavor. Add enough liquid so that the chicken is completely submerged, plus a little more.

Step 3 - Add celery leaves, garlic and Bouquet Garni (instructions follow). Bring liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer. Cook chicken on a low simmer until you can easily pull the chicken off the bone. One chicken is done, remove it from the pot and place it on a large plate. Remove the garlic and bouquet from pot and discard.

Bouquet Garni Instructions/Description

A bouquet Garni is just a fancy French name for a bundle of herbs that can be added to stocks, soups and stews. When translated to English it means: “garnished bouquet”. It is very easy to make. You can either tie the bundle together using strings or you can wrap it in cheesecloth. I like to use the cheesecloth as it keeps the herbs contained so that they do not fall off and become part of the soup. If you don’t mind the herbs in the final soup, you can wrap it with string. This bundle of herbs will impart a deliciously rich flavor to the broth.

Step 4 - Add the onion, potatoes, celery and carrots to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Step 5 - Add your pasta and cook along with vegetables until pasta is al dente.

Step 6 - While the pasta is cooking, pull chicken from the bone and shred into bite size pieces. Add the chicken to the pot and stir.

Step 7 - Serve. Top with grated cheese if desired. Enjoy!

Visit Chefability.com for more great cooking recipes.

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On a roll

Welcome to the first in a twelve-part series that will assure you a special place in the hearts of all you bake for, and possibly a spot on the Weight Watchers "hit list" for 2010... Twelve Days of Cookies!  Yesterday, I explained how my life-long obsession with Christmas has led me to collect not only a stack of Christmas tea-towels about yea high and ornaments enough to cover two to 3.5 standard issue Christmas Trees, but also 77-plus hours of Christmas music and enough clipped cookie and holiday sweets recipes to send Richard Simmons into anaphylactic shock in just 77-plus seconds.  So, for the next two weeks, my mania is your mania! Dust off your measuring spoons, turn up the speakers, and let's do Christmas.

Today's offering are the cookies that my Christmas just simply wouldn't be complete without: Christmas Cut-Out Cookies with an easy-to-spread frosting. I have posted them here before, but they are most certainly worth a repeat, as they are truly the best. Colored sugar, sprinkles, nonpariels, dragees, and other decors are optional, as these cookies will taste the same without them... but why not add another texture, another dimension, another level to your cookie decorating. These cookies are worth it.

KYLE'S FAMOUS CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

Despite the name here, I got these recipes, both cookie and icing alike, from the West Virginia food writer Thelma Pifer Gibson. Long a columnist for the Preston County News back in my home state, Gibson put out one of those classic spiral-bound "ladies of the church"-type cookbooks in 1989 called Thelma's Counry Clatter Cookbook, named after her column of the same name. Many moons ago, when I was still living and working in West Virgina, I went to the annual Preston County Buckwheat Festival (my one and only visit there), and picked up this gem.

In the quest for the perfect Christmas Cut-Out cookie (yes... I there is such a quest, and I was on it), I tried many recipes, and this one is, oven-mitts down, the best of the bunch. Consider doubling the recipe (mixing in two separate batches, unless you have an industrial-sized mixer). Believe me... even if you don't bake it all at once, you'll want it later.  The extra dough can be kept frozen for a month or more! 

Gibson doesn't include a recipe for icing for these cookies, suggesting instead that you decorate them with colored sugar or sprinkles before baking. That's all well and good, but because the cookies are fairly neutral in taste, I think they benefit from a nice buttery topcoat.  So, I took the icing from another cookie in the same cookbook and adapted it to my needs.

Roll the dough thicker (up to a 1/2 inch) or thinner (no more than a 1/4 inch) for a chewier or crunchier cookie. Don't use very detailed cookie cutters, as the cookies puff a bit especially if rolled thicker, and the icing I suggest can obscure a lot of fancy edging. Best to save the detail work for straight-up butter or gingerbread cookies (stay tuned).

The dough is so forgiving, you could give it to a baboon to roll out and it would still be great. The cookies keep un-iced for weeks in an air-tight container (refrigerate or freeze for maximum shelf-life), and even after you've decorated them, they get better and better and better tasting as the days of Christmas roll sweetly by.

• 1 cup vegetable shortening (don't use butter flavor; it doesn't add anything)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 4 Tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tsp good vanilla exctract

Place shortening, sugars and eggs in a large bowl and beat until creamy.

Add water, salt soda, flour, and vanilla and mix well.

Chill the dough for at least 1 hour or let it set overnight, wrapped or covered well in plastic. (The dough may be frozen for up to a month; thaw in the fridge overnight before rolling out.)

Pre-heat oven to 350º F. Pull off a good handful of dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes each, less if you roll them thinly. Chill sections dough in fridge when you are not rolling them out.

Bake cookies until they are just browning around the edges and on any small protrudences on your cut-out shape, about 7-10 minutes.  They will still be pale, and may be soft, but should have some solidity.  Let them cool completely on the cookie sheet, then on a cooling rack. Cookies may be stored in an airtight container, un-iced, at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for a week or more, or frozen for up to a month.

Makes 7 - 8 dozen cookies.

ICING FOR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Shaping up nicely

This is not a pretty, dries-flat and cement-hard royal icing... this is a good, solid, not overly sweet icing that holds on nicely to sprinkles and colored sugar, especially if you put them on right after you slather the icing on. It will likely obscure any fine detail on your cookies, so don't hope to pipe it on for a dressy look. Your cookies will be beautifully rustic and no one will be too intimidated to eat them -- which is the point!

This icing is a sort of variation on the classic un-cooked classic buttercream cake frosting, or the "country buttercream."  It turns out very white, which looks great on the cookies.  If you use food coloring, be sure to keep the amount of milk you add to the mixture on the low side, especially if you are using the standard liquid kind. I recommend the gel-type food coloring, since it tends not to thin the icing out too much.

I have increased Ms. Gibson's amounts here for you by 2.5 times like I always do, which will give you plenty of icing to play with.  You'll want it!

• 5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 5-6 tablespoons milk (whole milk is best)
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• food coloring (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a big bowl and beat until fluffy. Mixture may appear to be too thick at first, but try really beating it a few extra minutes before adding more milk, which can impede the drying process and make your cookies stick together when stacked.

Separate into smaller dishes and add food coloring. Use to decorate cool Christmas cookies. The icing will dry nicely in an a couple of hours, or overnight. Dried, decorated cookies stay fresh tasting and delicious for at least a week or two in an airtight container, preferably at cool room temperature. Do not freeze decorated cookies.

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Listen while you work!

Nothin' for Christmas

Eartha Kitt with Heri Rene's Orchestra & Chorus

Today's song is a kiddie classic, made mature by Eartha Kitt, pop jazz siren, and the original "material girl." 

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Oh Christmas Tree... you always have the best party outfits.

There is nothing quite like Christmas to make my eyes literally light up. Even after 40-odd years of it, and despite a healthy buildup of cynicism, I still never tire of Christmas and all it's attendant trappings, both sacred and secular. As a child, one of my favorite parts of Christmas was getting out the barrels full of decorations for the tree... seeing these precious objects (even if they were only made out of pipe cleaners, Popsicle sticks and felt) only at one time of the year easily transformed the mundane to the magical.   I still feel that same way opening up my own myriad boxes of Christmas paraphernalia, and I like nothing more than to have someone say to me "Look at that one! Where did you get that?"  I always have an answer.

For years, my parents... and later my roommates... had to put up with my Christmas obsession, so for yet another reason, I count myself lucky to have met and fallen in love with Christopher, a guy just about as excited about Christmas as I've ever been... if not more so!  Because of this, every December we throw our favorite friends -- both new and vintage -- an annual Christmas party the likes of which are seldom seen. We get the biggest tree our budget will allow (yes... a REAL tree!), set up the bar with good things to drink, gather the musical for a session of carol singing, and then there is the food....

Ah the food at our Christmas party! I've written about some of our standards before: the Tomato-Pistachio Spread and the Chevre with Rosemary and Garlic Olive Oil, the Puff Pastry Rolls and the Chocolate Popcorn, the Baked Brie and the Hot Artichoke Dip... especially that Hot Artichoke Dip, man... but what I think of first and plan the most time for making is, of course, the cookies.

Om nom nom.

Cookies have were my first foray into baking back when I was a wee thing, and what is Christmas without cookies!  Each year Christopher admonishes me for going just a little too far with the cookie selection -- we always have extras -- and each year I push back and try just one more new recipe. Just one more new drop or bar. One new cut-out or gluten-free offering. Slowly but surely, I have gathered a group of cookie recipes that I simply can't live without. Some have appeared here in the past, but far too many have gotten left out, so over the next twelve days, I'm joining the rising tide of "The Twelve Days Of..." and sharing my top twelve Christmas Cookie recipes with the world. And by the world, I mean the Internet. 

But because my second (or maybe my most) favorite thing about Christmas is the music, I can't pass up this opportunity to also share a few of my favorites from the ever-growing library of Christmas music that Christopher and I have managed to collect. We're up to 766 songs as I write this... that's one day, 15 hours, and 53 minutes of holiday goodness for those of you playing along at home. We have 8 different versions of "The First Noel," 13 versions of "O Holy Night," and 14 of "The Christmas Song" (aka Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). We even have two different versions of The Pogues' classic "Fairytale of New York."  So yeah... we are hard core in case you were wondering.

Sleigh Ride

A couple of years ago, I posted a "Twelve Songs of Christmas" series, so I feel like this is too good an opportunity to pass up. For the next twelve days, I'll be posting a recipe AND a song each day.  This is mostly my effort to get onto the internet more and more of my favorite recipes in one easy-to-find place, but hopefully you'll find some joy in it, too. After all... if you don't like to bake, you might like to eat! And if you don't like Christmas music...

...hm.  Well, I guess I can't help you there.

Off we go!

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seitan

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