a couple of recipes for you

ok, nothing fancy here - just wanted to share a few recipes with you. the first is a chocolate cake, like the one i use for everything (the stout cake), but for when you don't have beer on hand. it's much the same in consistency, and a little bit healthier! (note: a little bit. still...) it's a wonderful chocolate cake, keeps well, not too sweet. and, of course, moist despite not having any oil in it.

the second is one for snickerdoodle blondies. they turn out wonderfully chewy and are rife with cinnamon, like a dense, concentrated snickerdoodle - but i couldn't help thinking about all the butter in them as i ate one. so, i provide the recipe i used originally, but i bet you could use 1 1/2 sticks of butter and nobody would be the wiser (except your heart). the key here is to use good quality cinnamon - i tried vietnamese cinnamon for the first time and boy, was it good. more depth of flavor than the usual cinnamon, and intangibly sweeter without actually being sweeter. make these - i took a bowl of these babies to a friend's house as a pre-dinner snack (yes, of cookies) and the bowl was empty in no time.

lastly, i have a new chocolate chip cookie recipe for you. these turn out wonderfully - just thick enough, without thinned edges, with a mix of chocolate and wheat-y flavor. they stay nicely soft in the middles without the use of shortening (blegh. double blegh.). i have to say, though, that i am surprised. i have found a chocolate chip cookie that is actually better when baked up crisp - stick-it-in-your-coffee crisp, an amber golden brown. just before burnt. they are a beautiful marriage of chocolate and wheat and butter, and you will be a convert if you bake up just one pan of these in all of their crispy glory. i think the whole wheat flour really needs some time to develop and cook in the oven, so this time, forgo the soft chewy cookie for the one with superior flavor.

chocolate cake (for when no beer is on hand)

1c Dutch-process cocoa

2 1/3c flour

1 2/3c brown sugar

1 1/2t baking powder

1t espresso powder, optional

1 1/2t baking soda

1t salt

1 1/2c chocolate chips (8 oz....but honestly you can just use the whole bag), optional

3 eggs

1 1/2c whole milk

1T rum

1T cider vinegar (or white if that's what you have)

1 stick butter, melted

1. preheat oven to 350F. grease two 9" cake pans and line withparchment paper, or line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers (you'll have two batches).

2. in a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder (if using), baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and rum. stir egg mixture into the dry ingrdients, mixing until just combined (some dry streaks are fine).

4. stir in vinegar and melted butter until combined. spoon the batter into the prepared pans, filling the cups 3/4 full if making cupcakes. bake 23-25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. if you made cakes, then wait 10 minutes, and invert onto plate, then flip back over onto a rack to cool.

[makes 24 cupcakes or two 9" cakes]

snickerdoodle blondies

2 2/3c flour

2t baking powder

1 1/2t vietnamese cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1c butter, softened

2c brown sugar

2 eggs

1T rum

2T sugar

2t vietnamese cinnamon

1. preheat oven to 350F. butter a 9x13 pan and line with foil, then butter the foil lightly.

2. in a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. in a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer, then add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy and completely combined. beat in the eggs one at a time, until completely combined, scraping the bowl after each addition. beat in the rum until completely combined, then mix in the dry ingredients on low until completely combined - your batter will be quite stiff.

4. scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly with a spatula. in a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the batter. bake 25-35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean (the batter will rise, then fall). let cool to room temperature and cut into squares. small squares. the blondies will set up and become chewier as they cool.

[makes 24 2" square blondies]

whole wheat chocolate chip cookies

3c whole wheat flour

1 1/2t baking powder

1t baking soda

1 1/2t salt

2 sticks butter, softened

1c dark brown sugar, packed

1c sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2t rum

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarsely (i chopped up chocolate chips)

1. in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. in a large bowl, cream the butter, then add both sugars and beat until fluffy and completely combined. beat in the eggs one at a time, until completely combined, scraping down the bowl in between each egg. beat in the rum. add the dry ingrdients and mix in on low, until completely combined.

3. scoop the dough out of the bowl with your hands and check to see that all of the flour has been incorporated. smooth and shape into a large roundish ball and wrap securely in plastic wrap. refrigerate dough for at least 12 hours (to allow the flour to absorb enough moisture) and up to 2 days.

4. preheat the oven to 350F. form tablespoons of the dough into round balls and place on baking sheets lined with foil or parchment paper. bake cookies 16-25 minutes, until the edges are golden and the tops are cracked. for best flavor, bake cookies until they are on the crisp side, completely amber-golden-brown.

[makes 36-40 cookies]

i like these so much i can't countenance giving them away

it's the dead of the winter, and the gray skies have the happy consequence of making lemon taste like sunshine. there's nothing like eating something that you know is definitely out of season, you know? and i don't know about you, but i don't feel guilty at all.

what i do feel guilty about is that while i usually am happy to give away scads of baked goods, these hit the spot so well that i am thinking about keeping them all for myself. how big a pan of them did i make, you ask? oh, a paltry jelly roll pan's worth. and while i am actually using some of them in an experiment to see how they would fare frozen and thawed again (thus making it possible to eat them over a period of time...), there is no way that i really need to eat this many lemon bars. i just really, really want to.

the thing that is lovely about these lemon bars is that they have a thick enough shortbread crust that the bottom of it stays nicely crisp, while the middle gets imbued with moisture from the lemon custard. you get a nice gradient of soft to slightly soft to crisp, and it all tastes sharp, but not too sharp, because the mixture has a healthy dose of milk in it. the milk does double duty - it makes the custard creamier, and cuts the acidity of the lemons a bit, but not too much. also, these bars don't have too much crust or too much filling, and the result is a very lemon-y, custardy, crispy confection that tastes divine out of the fridge.

this is adapted from cook's illustrated - i accidentally put in twice as much milk, so then i compensated by adding a couple of eggs. i also subbed in flour for cornstarch - the recipe says it makes the crust more tender, but i'm not convinced by the idea of a tender shortbread. shortbread is crispy and tastes like caramelized butter, people! anyway, i have scaled it back down to a 9x13" pan, but this doubles well (though it takes about twice as long to bake - don't worry, the custard won't curdle or get hard). you could also make it as a tart, if you like, and serve it with...i dunno, meringue, whipped cream, things like that. btw, i don't dust lemon bars with powdered sugar because i hate inhaling sugar before eating something, but go ahead if you like.

lemon bars

crust

2c flour

2/3c sugar

1t salt

1 1/2 sticks butter

filling

5 eggs

1 1/3c sugar

3T flour

zest of 2 lemons

2/3c lemon juice from 3-4 lemons

2/3c whole milk

1/4t salt

1. to make the crust: lightly butter a 13x9" baking pan and line with parchment paper or foil (i used foil, it sticks better). lightly grease that layer, then apply one more layer crosswise over it. preheat the oven to 350F.

2. pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. add the butter in chunks and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse a few times until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal. you can also do this by hand - mix in the butter with your fingers or a pastry blender. sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press into the pan, 1/2" up the sides with a thickness of about 1/4". chill for 30 minutes in the fridge, then bake until golden brown, 20-30 minutes (by "golden brown," i mean the butter should have started browning the crust a little, but don't toast it to death since it will go back in the oven to acquire more color and caramel flavor).

3. while the crust is baking, make the filling: in a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour to blend. add the eggs and beat until mixed well. add the milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt, and whisk until completely incorporated.

4. take the crust out when it's done, and leave the oven door open; reduce heat to 325F. immediately, while the crust is still hot, pour the filling into it. return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is just completely set, 20-25 minutes (closer to 40 if you have doubled the recipe). let cool to room temp (at least 30 minutes, more if you've doubled the recipe), then cut into 2" squares with a knife, pizza cutter, or dough scraper.

[makes 20-25 bars]

note: i'm seeing how well these freeze and will edit this recipe when i have results!

edited 02-13: so, they freeze flawlessly. the single caveat is that these are really best for the first four days after you've baked them, as the crust retains some modicum of crispness. when they've sat for a week or been in the freezer, the crust absorbs moisture and the bars have a slightly "fudgier" mouthfeel, which i feel is not as desirable in lemon bars. but if you get cravings for lemon, freeze away! i know i will.

fall = apples + spices (and everything nice)

ok, ok, i know it's been a long time. i've been taking care of things that needed to be taken care of, and i'm finally getting some good cooking and baking time in, these days. i'm in the process of looking for a really good apple cake - because really, what's better in the fall than a nice, spicy apple cake? well, besides chicken pot pie. anyway, i've tried three or four so far, and have discovered the following preferences:

- no oil-based cakes. because honestly, they never taste quite that good, and though moist, the crumb is never quite tight enough. i cannot condone an oil-based cake. butter is a flavor, people, and don't you forget it!

- i am looking for a spiced apple cake, in particular - it's fall! i quite enjoy the flavor of apple on its own, but that's another kind of cake (one which would pair apples with slivers of candied lemon...mmm...). it should be spicy, but not so much that it overpowers the apple.

- no exotic ingredients, and nothing that is too expensive (ie, apple butter)

- i like the idea of this as a cake that has a bit of chew to it - so nothing too moist. my connotations to overly moist cake is cold and slimy, so i just don't like to go there.

- i'm not a huge fan of nuts in cakes. i think i would actually enjoy walnuts in an apple cake, but generally i leave them out for the other no-nuts people.

- not too sweet: i am not a huge fan of cakes that are too sweet. i don't like undersweetened cakes either, though.

- i am so over these apple cake recipes that specify "medium apples" or "large apples". what, pray tell me, is a "medium apple"? a "large apple"? can't we go with a cup measure of grated apples instead? honestly. precision is a cornerstone of baking!

of the cakes that i've tried, one fails the exotic ingredients test, one fails the sweetness test, and one fails the oil-based cake texture test. we are just going to forget oil-based cakes altogether...we are going to forget that they exist. because we like flavor, yes? i am including the cake that fails the exotic ingredients test - it's just that it has a lot of apple butter in it, which is lovely, but a little expensive for a cake. the third...well, let's just say that the third is in development!

double-apple spiced bundt cake

(adapted from dorie greenspan)

2c flour

2t baking powder

1/2 baking soda

1t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1/4t ground ginger

1/4t salt

1 1/4 sticks butter, room temp

1 1/2c brown sugar

2 eggs

1c apple butter

2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and grated

1c pecans or walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

1/2c raisins (or 1c raisins if you omit the nuts)

1. preheat oven to 350F. butter and flour a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan.

2. in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. in a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar for about five minutes (this develops the structure of the cake).

3. add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each one completely before adding the next. add the apple butter on low speed. the mixture may appear to be curdled, but don't worry, that's fine.

4. using a spatula, fold in the grated apple until completely blended in. stir in the dry ingredients and mix until the flour is just completely incorporated. fold in the raisins and nuts (if using).

5. scrape the batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top. bake for about 50-55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. cool the cake for five minutes, then invert onto a plate.

[serves 10-12; keeps in the fridge, wrapped, for a week.]

when a pie is not a pie

for the past several months, i've been taking friday evenings off - it's the end of the week, and i'm really feeling the sleep deprivation for that particular week. plus, i work the weekends, so essentially friday nights are my weekend. usually i find myself making dinner with mary, though at this point we're fairly notorious for not actually eating until 10pm or later. by the time mary gets out of work and to central, it's 7:30, and then we invariably go food shopping; we start cooking around 8:30 or 9...you get the point.

i've had a craving for pumpkin pie ever since fall really arrived - there's just something so festive and seasonal about it. we never really ate pie growing up - cheesecake was our MO - and so now i love all kinds of pies: pumpkin, pecan, chocolate, custard, cream. and of course the best kind of pie is leftover pie - leftover pie for breakfast the next day.

anyway, i didn't have the energy to make a regular pie crust by hand, so we did a cookie crust with my favorite gingersnaps. i often find that cookie crumb crusts are too insubstantial, and lack structure, falling apart at the mere proximity of a fork; instead, i made the pie in a tart pan, which had the unintended consequence of making this pie technically a tart. and in doing so, it unintentionally made it into a faux upscale sort of thing - a yuppie move if i ever saw one. it seems odd that a pie can become something totally different just by changing its shape a little bit - the difference was highlighted all the more by the strong associations i have between the nostalgia of pumpkin pie and its tradtional shape. it really begs the question of whether this pie is still a pie, even though it's in a slightly different shape. i would say that there are fundamental differences between pies and tarts - pies are often more robust and homey, whereas tarts are more delicate and finessed. pies are all about functionality as a flavor delivery system, whereas tarts are more about presentation and display. i guess a pie topped with meringue has quite a bit of drama to it, especially when it's slightly bruleed on its exterior with a butane torch, but there's nothing like a tart for an OCD person to obsess over the arrangement of pieces of fruit. my verdict is probably that even though this pie is shaped like a tart, its filling doesn't really change from one shape to the other, so really it's still a pie.

despite the yuppie factor, this pie/tart is pretty excellent. out of sheer laziness i made the recipe on the back of the can - usually i use a cream-and-egg-based recipe from saveur - and upped the spices and ginger in particular. this pie is a bit on the sweet side, so a glass of cold milk or unsweetened whipped cream would be great accompaniments.

gingered pumpkin tart

for the crust

3 boxes of anna's gingersnaps

1 to 1 1/4 sticks butter

1 egg white (optional)

for the filling

1 can pumpkin

scant 1c sugar

1 1/2t ground ginger

1/2t freshly ground nutmeg

1 1/2 to 2t cinnamon

2T crystallized ginger, minced fine

pinch kosher salt

2 eggs

1 12-oz can evaporated milk

1. preheat the oven to 350F. place the gingersnaps in the bowl of a food processor, coarsely breaking them up with your fingers as you take them out of the box. pulse until the cookies are completely ground up. (alternatively, put them in a large, heavy-duty ziploc bag and crush the cookies with a rolling pin or other heavy/solid implement - a wine bottle would be good, a drinking glass less so.) add the butter and pulse until the crumbs are saturated and slightly wet looking.

2. press the mixture into an 11-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the crust has browned a little bit. you may want to use pie weights to keep the crust in place, as it may slip down the tart pan a little bit. if it does, though, you can also just press the crust back into place when you take it out of the oven (which i did, and recommend doing, anyway). let the crust cool while you make the filling. if you want the crust to stay crispier when you bake the filling into it, you can beat the egg white until foamy and brush the foam onto the crust right after you take the crust out (but after you reform it if necessary), while it's still hot. the egg white will dry as the crust cools and seal it against the filling.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and sugar. add the spices, salt, and crystallized ginger and whisk to combine. whisk in the eggs one at a time, then slowly whisk in the evaporated milk. pour the filling into the crust and bake until the center is just set, about 45 minutes. you may have too much filling - just put the extra into a ramekin and bake alongside the tart. let the tart cool fully - you can eat it while it's hot if you're desperate for pie (just wait 15 minutes), but i think it's better when it has cooled and set.

[serves about 10]

AT LAST....my love has come along

The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to...
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known...

And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last

--

friends, this is a momentous occasion: the brownie hunt is over, thanks to katharine hepburn and her brownie recipe. i have fond memories of slightly-undercooked brownies, allowed to chill in the fridge before being consumed in a state of cold, slightly chewy fudginess. i certainly used to sneak more than my fair share...

in general, if it's homemade, it's better than the mix version. however, i held out in the case of brownies for years, as homemade brownie after homemade brownie didn't meet my standards: too cakey, too dry, not chocolatey enough... unfortunately, this belief was proved wrong when i tried two brownie mixes last fall, in a bid to revisit the glory days of cold, fudgy brownies. all of a sudden, i really could taste all of the chemicals and preservatives that go into these mixes, and they lacked both richness and depth of flavor. to add insult on top of injury, i failed to be attentive enough to the brownies and allowed them to overbake, bringing their texture closer to foam blocks than fudgy heaven.

since then, i've made brownies only once - thekitchn's one-bowl mascarpone brownies (incidentally, really you should never use more than one bowl when making brownies). they were adequately fudgy, but a touch too...well, they felt a little thick on the tongue, rather than settling into a buttery, chocolatey layer in your month. and this is where a homemade brownie, with an adequate recipe, will finally help you out - the butter allows a good brownie to nearly melt in your mouth. i have adapted katharine hepburn's original recipe slightly - i cut the sugar, used half cocoa and half flour, and doubled the recipe, based on user comments of the original brownies being too thin, too sweet, etc.

one of the dangers of homemade brownies is that you can cut into them too early, before they set. one must not give in to temptation, however; homemade brownies are invariably better when you allow them to cool. i did abide by this brownie maxim tonight, and was duly rewarded tenfold. these brownies are super-chocolatey because of the use of unsweetened chocolate, and the sugar required to balance that chocolate creates that delectable crunchy top on the brownies. the key, though, is that the body of the brownies remains wonderfully fudgy, with only the faintest hint of flour to help the brownies hold their shape. best to cut them into small squares in order to prevent yourself from eating the whole pan yourself.

homemade brownies

(adapted from katharine hepburn's brownies)

1c (2 sticks) butter

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, broken or chopped into smallish pieces

1 3/4c sugar

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4c flour

1/4c good quality cocoa (valrhona is good, hershey's not so much)

1. grease a 9" square pan (i used a 9" square pyrex) with butter. line with a wide strip of parchment paper, extending past the edge of the pan, to make it easier to take the brownies out, and butter the paper. preheat oven to 325F.

2. melt the butter and chocolate together in a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom. stir together with a rubber spatula as they melt.

2. whisk in the sugar until well incorporated. make sure the mixture isn't too hot (it can be hotter than lukewarm, but not too much more than that) and whisk in the eggs one at a time. whisk in the vanilla and salt.

3. stir in the flour with the spatula. sift the cocoa into the batter and stir that in as well. your batter should be thick, and slightly glossy.

4. pour into the prepared pan. bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top looks crusty and the batter doesn't jiggle when you shake the pan slightly. a toothpick inserted into the batter will come out with rather wet crumbs adhering to it, but it is indeed done. let cool for 1-2 hours, then slice - these will be easiest to slice if you refrigerate them overnight, then cut them the next day, but i understand if you need to satisfy a craving. cut these into small squares (1.25"-1.5") because they are quite rich.

[makes about 25 small brownies]

gettin' my mojo back

for the entirety of this summer, i have been trying to convince myself and my health that i am on vacation, and that life is normal again. for about a year - since june 2008 - i haven't had a real break, one where i puttered around the house doing nothing but maintaining the rituals of daily life, and thinking about cooking. and by the rituals of daily life, i mean really mundane things: doing laundry, making my bed, putting away clothes, vaccuming the carpet, cleaning the kitchen counters. every now and then, given the privations of grad school and employment, i need at least a week of doing nothing - waking up whenever, doing whatever.

i expected to get a break this summer, but apparently it wasn't meant to be. there were trips to lowell for work, a site visit for thesis, training sessions for my teaching job, teaching at the bac, then more work at lowell and an attempt to work on thesis...you get the point. and although these commitments don't come close to those that i maintain during the school year, they were enough to deprive me of any chance to really get back up to speed and feel like i was motivated to do anything. and i do mean anything - it has taken two and a half months, but i am finally motivated to cook regularly again. i haven't done very much thesis work in the past two days, even though our first review is in a few weeks, but i have woken up late and cooked a lot, and i feel vastly better right now than i have since that happy time of rejuvenation in june 2008.

and so i have a few recipes here as a reward for reading through this angst-ridden post. i made dinner for roommates tonight: creamed leeks and tomatoes, chicken in milk, and hide bread. we had the brownies for dessert, and then i have a new cookie recipe for you.

the leeks and tomatoes are pretty standard technique, so i won't include those here - basically, olive oil, saute the leeks, add the tomatoes and a bit of whatever cream or half and half you have on hand. the chicken in milk is a jamie oliver recipe i found on thekitchn, and it is quite good and fairly easy - wonderfully aromatic, a bit different from a traditional roast chicken. it is a bit cool tonight, so i thought it would be a good night for roast chicken. this is the second time i've made this particular chicken, and it was better this time around - i think last time we couldn't get sage at the supermarket, but this time i put in the whole package, with more garlic. the chicken is steamed and roasted in milk, with lemon zest, sage, and garlic - i think i would add even more lemon zest, because this time around, the sage and milky-cream flavor dominated, with notes of lemon and cinnamon. i think we got the cinnamon right, but it could use 1-2 more lemons. fyi, the lemon zest causes the milk to curdle into a thickish sauce. it tastes better than it sounds... also, once we stripped all of the meat from the bones, i dumped them into a pot of broth that i have been periodically mixing and strengthening with broths and bones from additional chickens. as most of the chicken i have been cooking this summer is asian, it's flavored with ginger and garlic, and now lemongrass, sage, and cinnamon...i have to say, it smells pretty good now and should be pretty chicken-y.

anyway, the star of the night is the hide bread - in addition to a desire for roast chicken, i chose this particular recipe because it involves plentiful sauce that would soak into the bread. these scone-slash-rolls are named for a person, not because they are in any way close to jerky in texture. they are from a recipe from the big sur bakery, via 101cookbooks, and are essentially very seedy scones that actually taste good. typically, perhaps because i grew up on super-seedy bread, i hate seeded breads, but this one is quite good. and it's quite good for you, i imagine - it's very seedy and fiber-y: oat bran, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, amaranth. it is closer to scones than rolls in technique, as you mix together all the dry ingredients, then stir in the wet until just combined. i made a half-recipe, because some of the comments on 101cookbooks noted that theirs came out like hockey pucks, but we really enjoyed them. they are a bit hard on the outside, and you are supposed to split them and toast them, then slather them with butter. however, if you have good teeth, these would make a wonderful breakfast with a bit of butter and sugar, or jam. if you don't, well, they soften quite nicely in a sauce, providing a healthy but delicious option for carbs and starches at dinnertime.

and finally, i have a fabulous new cookie recipe for you. it is easiest made in a food processor, but you could probably make do without one. these cookies made me appreciate what a food processor can do for you, because it literally takes five minutes to put them together. i have been wanting to try these earl grey tea cookies for quite some time, since i saw them on thekitchn in september 2008. they're basically a shortbread cookie with tea in them; i used tea from tea bags as recommended, with fabulous results. these cookies are perfectly crisp, and imbued with great tea flavor. i made two batches - one with earl grey, and one with jasmine. as expected, both taste better the day after they were baked. the jasmine cookies taste more jasmine-y, while the earl grey cookies have mellowed out a bit.

which reminds me - i have one last cookie recipe for you as well - brown-butter shortbread cookies. it seems like i've been making quite a lot of shortbread-type cookies these days, and for good reason - they are always crispy, stay crispy for longer, and don't go stale nearly as fast as chocolate chip cookies. i've made these brown-butter cookies a couple times now - they were good the first time, but even better the second. i had made the dough, then as has happened frequently this summer, i didn't have the energy left to actually make the cookies. i let the dough languish in the fridge for a little over a week before finally baking them, and disbursing them to roommates and family. they went over pretty well, in part due, i think, to a a longer stay in the fridge for the flavors to develop, and also because i let the butter brown for longer than i usually do. i was convinced that i had accidentally burned it, in a fortuitous instance of forgetfulness, but forged ahead anyway.

and without further ado, here are the recipes:

chicken in milk

(adapted from jamie oliver)

1 roasting chicken, about 5 lbs or so

salt and pepper

3T butter

2T olive oil

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 pkg of fresh sage, leaves picked from the stems and torn coarsely

zest of 3-4 lemons

15 cloves of garlic, smashed and skinned (smash them with the flat of a chef's knife to skin them)

2 1/2c milk

1. preheat oven to 375F. melt the butter and olive oil in a dutch oven and when it's hot, sear the chicken all over, at least a few minutes each side until you get it nice and browned. use a pair of tongs (or a couple of pairs of tongs) to move the chicken to a plate, then pour off the fat in a ramekin. (the original recipe instructs you to discard the fat, but i think you could easily cook other things with it, so i saved mine.)

2. return the chicken to the dutch oven, breast side up, and scatter the sage, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, and cloves of garlic around it. add the milk, then put the lid on and slide it in the oven. cook for an hour with the lid on, then a half hour with it off (it was getting a bit late for dinner, so instead i did 45 minutes with the lid on, 25 minutes with it off, and it was properly cooked temperature-wise). every now and then, take the lid off and spoon the liquids over the chicken.

3. remove chicken from the oven, and serve immediately. we ate it right out of the dutch oven (ie, carving by each person as they served themselves), but if you are making this for a nice dinner party, or a party where you care more about etiquette, then you could use a nice serving bowl and carve the chicken into it, then spoon all the sauce around it. i wouldn't recommend serving the sauce in a gravy boat or anything, though.

[serves 4-6]

note: i'm not quite sure how many this recipe will serve. the original recipe serves 4, though i have used a larger chicken, and we have about 2 cups of shredded chicken in leftovers, so it could quite possibly serve 6 people if you really carve the chicken well, or if you are not as hungry as we were!

hide bread (super-seedy scones)

(adapted from big sur bakery)

5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra flour for dusting

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted

2 cups oat bran

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (i used pumpkin seeds, as i don't like sunflower seeds)

1/2 cup amaranth, quinoa, millet, or poppy seeds (i used amaranth because i have never had it before, but you can use any combo of these...i think think amaranth and poppy seeds would be good - the amaranth was still quite crunchy after baking)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons beer

2 1/2 cups buttermilk, half-and-half, milk, or water (i used half and half...i would not use water in these)

1. preheat oven to 375F. line a baking sheet with parchment, or use a silpat (really, i just used the silpat because i had it on hand, and the batter is very sticky so i wanted to make sure the scones would come off the pan).

2. mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then add the wet. stir with a wooden spoon until a thick, sticky dough/batter forms. plop handfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches in between; your handfuls will be about 3.5-4" in diameter, 1.5" thick. if you don't do too much shaping, then the cragginess of the dough will form a crunchier top when baked. don't make them too small - stick to the recommended yield - or you will get hockey pucks that are inedible. these are somewhat denser than the typical scone, but not too heavy.

4. bake for 45 minutes, or until they are golden on top. if your tops are very craggy and not smooth, then they may not look like they are completely golden on top, but make sure you do not overbake. you can eat these either on their own, or as recommended by the original recipe - split, toasted, and slathered with butter. store in an airtight container.

[makes 14 scones, though this recipe is easily halved to make 7]

tea-flavored shortbread cookies

1c flour

1/4c sugar

1/4c confectioners' sugar

5-6 teabags' worth Earl Grey (or other) tea leaves

1/4t salt (i was a bit more generous with the salt, which provides a nice counterpoint to the sweet in this cookie)

1t water

1 stick (1/2c) butter

1. preheat oven to 375F. if you are using a food processor, pulse together all of the dry ingredients until the tea leaves are pulverized.

2. add vanilla, water, and butter, and pulse together until a dough forms. the dough will be on the wet side of a shortbread dough. dump the dough out onto a piece of wax or parchment paper, and form it into a log about 2-2.5" in diameter. wrap the wax paper around it, and chill for 1 hour or overnight.

3. when you're ready to bake it, slice the log into 1/3" thick pieces (i got exactly 24 cookies). place on baking sheets, about 15 (3 cookies x 5 cookies) at the most, since the cookies do spread quite a bit. if you chill them longer, they will retain their edges better and not spread quite as much. bake 10-13 minutes, until the edges are just brown. (i baked some until the edges were just brown, and some a bit longer, and the recipe was spot on - bake until the edges are just brown - they will still be crisp.)

4. let cookies cool on the sheets for five minutes so they can firm up, then transfer to a plate to cool completely. store in an airtight container up to about 2 weeks.

[makes 24 cookies]

brown butter shortbread cookies

(adapted from Gourmet via smitten kitchen)

3/4c (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1/2c dark brown sugar, packed

1 1/3c flour

1/4t kosher salt

1. cut the butter into a few pieces and cook in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. stir frequently, scraping the bottom of the pan, and cook the butter until it smells kind of nutty, and the particles that have settled on the bottom turn a medium brown. the particles are the milk solids (you would discard these to make ghee, or clarified butter) and basically they are caramelizing; this is browned butter. you don't want the particles to get too dark - that means that they're burned - but neither do you want them to be too light, because the cookies will be less flavorful. the particles should be about the color of hazelnut shells. anyway, once the butter is browned, remove it from the heat and scrape into a small bowl. let cool to room temp, then stick it in the fridge to chill it back into a solid. it should be just firm, and good to go in about an hour.

2. beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (do actually use the electric mixer for these cookies). mix in flour and salt at low speed until just combined.

3. transfer dough to a sheet of wax paper or parchment and form into a 12-inch log, 1.5-2" in diameter. chill, wrapped in wax paper, overnight (alright, if you must have these sooner, chill until firm, 1-2 hours, but these are much better if you let the dough's flavors meld) or a few days.

4. preheat oven to 350F. slice the dough into 1/4" thick slices, then place on a baking sheet (lined with foil if you want, or a silpat) about 1.5" apart - these cookies spread less than the tea cookies did, probably because they were chilled for longer. bake until the surface looks dry and edges are slightly darkened, 10-15 minutes. cool on the pan for 5 minutes so the cookies set up, then transfer to a plate. they will be a bit crumbly in a sandy way, but they will be delicious so it's ok. store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

[makes 20-30 cookies]

cannibal cookies

have you ever wondered what it would be like if you made a cookie with cookies in it? well, it's kind of like the show-within-a-show trick - but naturally, much better. these best-of-both-worlds concoctions don't always work out - instead of increasing your utility, the combo disappoints.

but these cookies definitely do not disappoint. they're certainly more like chocolate chip cookies than oreos, but they add a lovely bit of crunchiness to a traditional soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies. the crunchiness isn't quite that of the sugar-butter crispiness of a chocolate chip cookies, nor is is soft like a chocolate chip; it's somewhere in between. and let me say that i think the baking temperature is actually significant in the case of these cookies. 325 is almost like baking your cookies sous-vide - they're just a bit crunchy at the edges, but totally soft and chewy everywhere else. these cookies are softer than other chocolate chip cookies i've made, and despite the inclusion of melted butter, these cookies didn't spread like crazy when baked immediately after making the dough. in fact, the cookies stay nice and pleasurably thick; i've never liked the thin, crispy genre of chocolate chip cookie.

the bottom line is that these are probably the easiest chocolate chip cookies to make. you can deviate from my typical recommendation to chill the dough before baking, and you don't have to wait for the butter to soften since you're just going to melt it, anyway.

chocolate chip oreo cookies

2c flour

1/2t baking soda

1/2t salt

3/4c butter, melted

1c brown sugar, packed

1/2c sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2c chocolate chips (1 standard pkg)

20 oreos, crushed

1. preheat the oven to 325F. line your cookie sheets with alumninum foil or parchment paper.

2. in a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt (or, skip this and when you add the dry ingredients, mix in the baking soda and salt, then the flour).

3. in a medium bowl, beat together the melted butter and both sugars (i do recommend using an electric mixer for these cookies). make sure the mixture isn't too hot and then beat in the egg and egg yolk, until completely blended (it'll become a little less glossy). mix in the dry ingredients until just blended.

4. with a spatula, mix in the chocolate chips, then the oreo bits (you can break the bits up directly into the batter so you don't have to pre-crush).

5. drop the dough onto the cookie sheets by tablespoonfuls; roll them in your hands a few times if you want them to be more uniform in size. these cookies work best when given space, so don't crowd them on your baking sheet; use the traditional 12 cookies per standard cookie sheet.

6. bake for 14-16 minutes, until edges are just golden and the tops of the cookies look dry (they really are done at this point - i made these twice, and they stayed softer and chewier when i just whisked 'em out at the 15 minute mark). cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a plate. store in an airtight container for a week or so.

[makes 40 cookies]

gingerbread

this gingerbread is nothing like a gingerbread cookie: it's moist, dense, slightly sticky, and intensely gingery - everything you wish when you eat gingerbread, and more. this is the sort of thing that would be fabulous on a cold night, topped with whipped cream. it's much better the next day, and keeps well in the freezer

gingerbread

(adapted from claudia fleming)

1c guinness (or other deep, dark stout)

1c dark molasses (not blackstrap)

1/2t baking soda

2c flour

1 1/2t baking powder

2T ground ginger

1t cinnamon

1/4t ground cloves

1/4t freshly grated nutmeg

3 eggs

1c dark brown sugar, packed

1c sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1. preheat oven to 350F. generously (really, quite generously, otherwise your cake will stick to the pan) butter a bundt pan, then dust it with flour; knock out the excess.

2. bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

3. sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. whisk together eggs and both sugars. whisk oil into egg-sugar mixture, then the molasses-beer mixture. add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until just combined.

4. pour the batter into the prepared pan. rap pan on the counter to eliminate air bubbles. bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack immediately and cool completely.

[serves 10-12]

those cookies again

my feet are killing me because i just ran to school (ok, walked really fast; i don't run) to get my computer - i'm having dinner at josh's and i'm shamelessly using it as an excuse to have him help me extract my hard drive from my dead laptop so i can get the data off it.

luckily i think i have time to dash off this quick recipe, which i've been meaning to post for quite some time. so without further ado, the buckwheat-cocoa nib cookies. these are best made the day before you're going to eat them, as the flavors develop in a lovely partnership. and coming up: hainanese chicken, caramel sauce, and caramels!

buckwheat-cocoa nib cookies
(adapted from alice medrich)

1 ¼ cups flour
¾ cup buckwheat flour
2 sticks butter, at room temp
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa nibs

1. in a medium bowl, whisk together the flours.

2. beat the butter with a wooden spoon until it's soft, then add the sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. add the cocoa nibs and mix to incorporate. add the flour, and mix just until incorporated. the mixture will look more like dough as you mix it - the butter needs a little time to moisten the dough. when the dough is completely mixed together it'll pull away slightly from the side of the bowl.

3. on a sheet of plastic wrap, form the dough into 1-2 logs that are about 2" in diameter - this can be easier if you use the plastic wrap to help you squish the dough together. you'll probably have to press the dough together pretty firmly to get it to stick together. wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and chill overnight.

4. remove the dough from the fridge and slice it into 1/4" thick slices - if it shatters, you should let it sit at room temp for 30 minutes to an hour so the dough softens up a little. make sure you use a sharp knife. alternatively, you can probably try rolling it out and cutting it out with cookie cutters, but just make sure you don't roll it out too much or your cookies will be tough. if your dough gets too soft, just pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so. also, i generally recommend rolling cookie or pastry dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap - much less messy and easier to get onto the baking sheet.

5. preheat the oven to 350F. bake the cookies for about 11-15 minutes in the middle of the oven, on baking sheets lined with a silpat, parchment paper, or foil. space the cookies about 1" to 1.5" apart - 15 cookies per sheet.

6. cool the cookies completely before storing them, so they stay crisp - they do retain their crispness quite well over time. they stay good in an airtight container for about a month, more if you freeze them.

[makes about 60 2" cookies]

tovolo, my love

just some quick reportage on some recent and ongoing experiments - last-day-at-the-office cupcakes and my newly acquired popsicle molds (see awesome image to the left).

so my departing gift to the office wasn't really an experiment - after all, this is the third time i've made them - but i've continued to finetune the recipe, or at least the logistics of making them.  i had been planning to make them for quite some time because i knew people would like them, but had been rather leery of doing so because of the problem of transport.  i mean, i can make lots of cupcakes no problem, but how do you transport them after that?  because the container has to be portable, not too big because there's not much space in the kitchen, closed sufficiently so the cupcakes don't dry out, etc.  and it's a bonus if the container fits into the fridge too, so there's no need to build a box after storing them somewhere else overnight.

i'm happy to say that i've got the production time down to about 3 1/2 hours, from 6 hours the last time i made these.  unfortunately, some of the increased efficiency is due to the fact that i almost destroyed the ganache - i heated the cream much too fast, and as a result the chocolate almost seized.  it didn't quite seize, but it solidified to spreadable consistency really fast (about 5 minutes instead of 45) - too fast!  also, the texture tasted fine, but looked a little funky.  and i was hoping people wouldn't notice that on the cupcakes that were refrigerated, the ganache had actually broken (separated) a little bit.  how embarrassing!  the last time that i made these, the ganache was beautiful as ganache is.  

fortunately, these cupcakes are a surefire showstopper, so my technique issues didn't detract from flavor.  i like the cake recipe i use for these in particular, partly because they have a nice deep chocolatey taste from the beer and cocoa powder, and partly because they develop a bit of sticky crustiness from the high sugar content.  this time, i didn't have any bailey's and didn't feel like buying any just for this one thing, but it turned out that unflavored whipped cream is just as good as the real deal.

and, logistics.  i ended up refrigerating the ones that had to be refrigerated - namely, the ones with the whipped cream filling.  i left some plain and some filled with marmalade, to accommodate differing cupcake preferences.  so in the morning, i made stacking trays out of some cardboard boxes i had from pots i bought for the summer - just cut them in half horizontally, tape as needed, and stack.  i taped them all together to stabilize the whole deal, and carted them off to work.  actually, it was easy to build the box - a lot easier than i expected it would be - but harder to carry the box.  i didn't have the foresight to build something that would fit into the bag i had from whole foods - one of the recycled plastic ones that's kind of stiff.  the bag didn't really have enough give for me to hold the bag by its straps, so i ended up putting the box into the bag sideways and holding the bag in my arms the whole way to work.  slightly inconvenient, but what can you do.

so that was then, and this is now; or rather, the popsicles are now.  i went to pick up the knife i had sharpened at kitchen arts (it cuts like a dream - thanks, kitchen arts!) and these popsicle molds caught my eye.  i've been thinking about popsicle molds in the back of my mind for a while, and these were pretty inexpensive - $10 for a set of 6 - so i went ahead and indulged myself.  i currently have a test batch of peach iced tea-flavored pops in the freezer, to see how much i can fill the molds and how they freeze and unmold.  they seem pretty great - i also have ice cream sandwich molds by this brand that work well, but popsicles are much easier to make than ice cream sandwiches, so i think the molds will see some good use.  i think the future of the molds include yogurt pops and some sort of attempt at fudgsicles, at the very least.