The Best Cookies (p.s. they're vegan)

This post needs no narration -- just photos, recipe, and a strong recommendation that you bake these cookies pronto. And a thanks to the co-worker who shared the cookies, then sent the recipe!

These really are the best cookies I've made in a long time, not just the best vegan cookies. If you're not drawn to vegan stuff, just ignore that part and grab a mixing bowl.


Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Use vegan versions of these ingredients if you like. If you're not vegan, just use normal stuff. I'm not really sure what vegan flour, vanilla, or sugar are, anyway.

• 2 C unbleached flour
  
• 2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 1/5 to 2 C Chocolate chips
• 1 C sugar (my co-worker used 1/2 sugar, 1/2 agave)
  
• 1/2 C canola or vegetable oil
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 C water (I needed more -- try 1/4 C first, then another T or 2 as needed)

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. Pre-heat your oven to 350. This recipe requires just a whisk and spoon for mixing, two bowls, and the baking sheet -- no heavy mixer necessary.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients except sugar (I accidentally included the sugar in this step, and everything turned out fine). Add chips. Make a well in the center and set aside. In another bowl, mix sugar and oil well, then add vanilla and water. Mix well. Add to dry ingredients. Mix well, but be careful not to overwork it (this is why I would not use your fancy Kitchenaid mixer for this recipe).

Drop by bablespoons onto cookie sheets. I use Exopat baking sheets, as seen in the photos below -- nothing sticks, ever! They're worth the investment.


Bake for 4 minutes, rotate sheets and bake another 4-6 minutes. As with most chocolate chip cookies, you'll want to remove them when they seem just barely underdone, since they'll harden a bit as they cool. Allow them to cool for a couple moments before transferring to a wire rack; this is another reason silicone baking sheets are helpful -- you can remove the full Exopat sheet from the metal baking pan, letting the first batch of cookies cool faster and starting your next batch on a second Exopat.

Friday Night Date with Caramel Cake

I couldn't decide what to make for dinner on Friday, and no restaurants called our name. So I forgot my usual preoccupations with nutrition and "real food," and went for this Best-Ever Caramel Cake from Food & Wine magazine.

The multi-step process (plus time for photos) was a lengthy ordeal that left me thoroughly sick of caramel, so the cake sat untouched in the fridge until Saturday night. Probably for the best: according to the magazine, this caramel cake is better the second day.

Since neither Brian or I have ever had a caramel cake, we can't confirm whether this is actually the best-ever. But the super-sweet caramel icing spread thin enough to not overwhelm the vanilla cake, which was rich and dense (not at all "fluffy" as described in the recipe). If I was throwing a birthday party for a caramel-lover, this would be my cake of choice.

Take Your Baking To Work Days: Part II

As a Morning Person, I usually hop out of bed to greet the sunshine, then prance around the house singing happy morning songs. I am not a fan of sleeping in. This does not mean I'm excited to go to work.

So, after my prancing and singing last Monday, I stalled going into the office by baking banana bread. I used the recipe from Better Homes & Gardens, below -- I think the first thing I ever baked, and probably the thing I've baked most.

Take Your Baking To Work Days: Part I

In an effort to make more food at home and spend less money, I've baked a lot of biscotti this month. It saves me frequent visits to our building's coffee shop for snacks -- the only thing I really miss is the little walk to ReBoot and Sofia's enthusiastic social commentary. ;)

I have yet to find a great recipe, so please send me one if you have a favorite! I've tried it with and without butter (I guess no butter is more traditional?), and with almonds, chocolate, walnuts, whole wheat ... In each attempt, either the texture is off or the flavor lacks the right balance of sweetness. Fortunately, even least perfect attempts were still edible. I'll post again if when (if?) I find the right recipe.

Sunny morning muffins

Solstice has my favorite coffee on The Ave, along with awesome blueberry bran muffins. While this Classic Bran Muffin recipe don't quite compare, they're light, with good texture and a nice amount of sweetness to accompany your coffee or tea. And these are available free in my kitchen, no jaded barista needed. My tea of choice this morning: Fortnum & Mason's Piccadilly Blend.

I used chopped dates instead of raisins. You could probably throw in nuts or any other dried fruit. Adding cinnamon or ginger could be great, too, but don't underestimate the fabulousness of basic bran -- there's a reason seniors of America are crazy for it. :)

Sunny morning muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 375. Butter or line muffin tin. Mix wheat bran with buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.

Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into bran mixture, until just blended, then fold in dates.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, till just beginning to brown around top edges. Enjoy!

"This may taste awful ..."

So I made the pear tart mentioned yesterday (originally Melissa's post) for a potluck last night. Something went wrong -- maybe the dough, or the pears, but the filling was soupy and the bottom crust was mush. As Brian and I walked out the door, my vision of gracefully placing a perfect tart on our hostesses' buffet was replaced with a wish to call it a night and sit around the house moping.

Add to this the discovery of a beautiful Whole Foods tart at the party. How can I compete with that?

The discouraging dessert ordeal reminded me of my favorite passage from My Life In France (borrowed from Melissa):

"I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-deprecations such as "Oh, I really don't know how to cook ...," or "Poor little me ...," or "This may taste awful ...," it is dreadful to have to reassure her that everything is delicious and fine, whether it is or not. Besides, such admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings), and make the other person think, "Yes, you're right, this is an awful meal!" Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake collapsed -- eh bien, tant pis!

Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile -- and learn from her mistakes."

Like any good moral tale, the conclusion of my tart disaster proved that most things do end at least tolerably ever after: When Tart Time arrived, my soggy-bottomed pastry actually looked very pretty, and everyone finished their messy slices (unlike some more-professional tarts of the evening).

Pike Place Pears

Between errands downtown, I stopped at Pike Place to pick up pears to make Melissa's rustic pear tart. The man behind the produce talked me into parsnips, kale and celery root as well. I guess I'm an easy sell when, in the middle of barren winter, presented with colorful fruits and green vegetables.

One last Christmas cookie: Bourbon Balls

These bourbon balls are a little messy but incredible easy: crush cookies, melt chocolate, mix and shape. No baking -- just be prepared for chocolate-and-bourbon-covered hands.

Rum or Bourbon Balls

• 1 C semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 C sugar
• 3 T light corn syrup
• 1/2 C dark rum or bourbon
• 2 1/2 C finely crushed vanilla wafer cookies (~ 10 ounces)
• 1 C finely chopped nuts
• 1/2 C sanding sugar

Melt chocolate chips, either in a double boiler or the microwave. (In the microwave, heat on high for about 2 minutes, stopping to stir every 30 seconds. Don't overheat! Remove from microwave when mostly melted, and stir to melt the rest.) Whisk corn syrup and regular sugar into the chocolate, then add bourbon.

Combine crushed vanilla wafers and nuts in a separate bowl, then add chocolate mixture and stir to blend well. Chill dough in fridge for at least half an hour.

Place remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in shallow bowl. For each cookie, roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball, then roll in sanding sugar to coat evenly. If sugar dissolves into cookies too much, roll in sugar a second time or dust with sugar.

You could also try rolling in powdered sugar (coating very generously) or finely crushed nuts, instead of sugar.

Gingerbread Snowflakes

Winter and the holiday season snuck up on me this year -- I can't believe Christmas is next week.

We've sent the cards, hung the stocking and trimmed the tree. And, of course, we baked the cookies.

Melissa came over last Friday, with recipes and lots of chocolate for some fudgey chocolate cookies. I opted for gingerbread snowflakes from Martha Stewart. The recipe includes lots of spices -- ground ginger, clove, cinnamon plus the molasses. Compared with the minimal sprinkle of cinnamon or vanilla most recipes require, I love dumping in the rich-colored teaspoons of spice here.

The recipe was simple, but the dough was difficult to handle. After hours in the fridge, it was still not chilled enough to roll out. It went into the freezer for a while, but my Martha-recommended method of rolling the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap still left me with gobs of goopy dough.

So I scrapped the plastic-wrap method and covered my counter with flour, rolling and dusting and incorporating more until the dough had a reasonable texture. I know overworking the dough and adding too much flour are detrimental to cookie texture, but sometimes a baker must take risks.

The final results: a chewy and soft cookie, not the crunchy gingersnap I expected, and definitely not the tough, overworked cookie I fear. With some royal icing and sanding sugar, they look perfectly festive for the holidays. :)

Chocolate-Ginger Brownies

It felt like a cookie-baking night, so I got out my Martha Stewart's Cookies to browse. The book looks small, but has a ton of recipes (some traditional, some new, most interesting and reliable) and a very helpful photo table of contents that makes searching for the perfect treat very easy.

 

When I saw the Chocolate-Ginger Brownies I was sold. Perhaps not quite a cookie, but close enough. And with ginger, cinnamon, ground clove, and nutmeg (lots extra, in my kitchen), it has some familiar wintery flavors. And, while brownies always take a disappointingly long time to bake, this recipe is super quick and simple and only dirties one pot. 

Not Always the Breadwinner

Let's be honest folks, cooking is not always a victorious triumph that ends with a beautifully presented and delicious dish. Sometimes, it's a pain in the ass. You can slave away in the kitchen for hours with the end result an inedible and unappetizing failure that only leaves you confused, frustrated and hungry. You followed the directions. You checked and double checked your measurements. Yet, something went wrong. In the case of my honey wheat bread - terribly wrong.

Sunday night at around 7pm I decided I wanted to use my new bread maker. That was my first mistake -- who the hells bakes bread at 7pm at night? Bread -- the kind you must knead and wait to rise and...and...and...yeah genius...it takes forever! 4.5 hours to be exact. But, with thoughts of our new house smelling like a loaf of freshly baked homemade bread I headed out to the grocery store to round up my ingredients. Not feeling overly ambitious (aside from the whole baking bread at 7 o'clock at night) I decided upon a recipe that came straight from the booklet in my Cuisinart bread maker:

Basic (laughs) Honey Whole Wheat Bread -- Large, 2lb loaf:

1 1/4 cups of water 80-90°F
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbs unsalted butter 1/2 in pieces at room temperature
2 tbs honey
1 1/4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp active yeast

Place all the ingredients, in the order listed, in the bread pan fitted with the kneading paddle. Press "Menu" and select "whole wheat". Select your crust (soft, medium or hard) and loaf size then press "Start" to mix.

Hello. Could those be any simpler instructions?

I didn't actually get the loaf started until 9pm. At 12:30am I checked the bread maker and decided to call it a night (or rather, morning) after seeing the clumpy, crumbly mess illustrated in Photo A.

Here's what went wrong:
#1 The Water Temperature: Foolishly thinking that water boils a 100 °F, I boiled some water and let it cool for a few minutes in hopes of reaching the required 80-90 °F temperature. Water, in fact, boils at a scalding 212 °F. I was off by 100°F. The hot temperature of the water killed the yeast.

#2 The placement of the yeast The yeast must remain COMPLETELY separate from the wet ingredients. I sprinkled the yeast on top, and while I did place all the ingredients in the correct order, some of the yeast particles must have fallen downward and gotten into the water rendering them ineffective. The booklet says to "Create a small crater in dry ingredients using your finger or a spoon, and placed yeast within the crater."

#3 Flour measurement Do NOT pack down your flour when measuring and always measure on a flat surface. When baking, you must be as precise as possible. Spoon your flour into your measuring cup and then level with a knife or spatula to ensure the measurement is exact. By scooping and packing you could potentially add an extra tablespoon or more of extra ingredients. I packed the flour. And I packed it hard. Oops.

Not learning from Sunday's late start time (or perhaps just determined to get a successful loaf of bread!) I decided to try it again last night. After making those 3 adjustments, by 1am I had a beautiful loaf of bread and the house smelled divine.

Cooking (especially baking) takes time, patience, practice and finesse. But this recipe helped reinforce the fact that if you follow a recipe very carefully, you’re likely to have success -- no matter how difficult a recipe may be. This reassuring fact continues to give me the confidence and motivation necessary to keep trying more challenging recipes.

My next loaf: Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella bread. Well...maybe I'll just start with an old-fashioned buttermilk.

Rustic Pear Tart

A regular reader of A Lovely Morning (a blog I stumbled upon while wedding researching and have been loving ever since), I was drawn to a yummy looking recipe for a plum tart Kristina posted this past summer. While she served her's for breakfast, I decided to make mine an after dinner dessert for my mom's birthday this past September. It was a hit, and I made sure to save the recipe in my archives. Aside from the beautiful deep red and purple colors of the plums, my favorite part of this recipe is the crust. Not only is it the easiest-no-wait-crust EVER, but it is also delectably sweet.

The Crust

• 1 cup (4.5 oz) all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, lightly whisked
• 3 tablespoons firm but not hard unsalted butter, cut into a few chunks

With Raven's housewarming party coming up, I knew I wanted to bake something special to bring. With not a ton of time (as Nate and I are still in the process of moving into our new house) I needed something that was quick yet still pretty in presentation and, of course, tasty. I quickly dug up the plum recipe, but instead of using plums, I opted for a more fall appropriate fruit: pears. I decided to pair (hahaha, clever yes?) the crust recipe with another filling recipe I found for a gingered pear tart.

The Filling:

• 3 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1/3 cup sugar (I used only about 1/4 cup and that was plenty)
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

As per Kristina's recipe, press the dough evenly around the bottom of 9 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, making sure to press the dough firming into the scallop edges of the pan (this is what gives the tart it's pretty border). Position the pears in a fan-like pattern and bake at 375 degrees for roughly 50-60 minutes. Check on it from time to time and remove when the edges are golden - do NOT let it brown too much or you'll get an annoyingly crunchy crust. Let cool for as long as your patience allows and transfer to a serving platter. I was fortunate to get this lovely set (brand is called "The Cellar") from Macy's as a wedding present.

Coffee and scones for a greyish day

Our first Saturday in the new house: grey, but I can smell a blueberry pastry of some kind wafting over from the neighbor's. I want coffee and scones. 

Someday I will unpack my other cookbooks, but for now I'm still living by Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. His basic creme scone recipe was fairly simple and quick, but the "little bit sticky" texture of the dough was more a "unmanagable oozing blob of dough/batter" and I added way more extra flour than the recipe intended. I also left out the currants (who keeps currants around?) and added about half a tablespoon of cinnamon.

Despite the messy sticky-dough issues, 9 minutes after putting them in the oven the scones emerged warm, soft, just a bit sugary and perfect with coffee. 

I'm taking a break from 'real' coffee, and so picked up decaf from my favorite Seattle roaster. Tony's Coffee has been around since 1971, and according to their website, they've created "the equivalent of more than 10,000,000 pounds of coffee (enough to blanket Mt. Rainier like a hot fudge sundae)." The Sumatra Gayoland organic fair trade is my favorite, and they make a decaf version. 

I also make my coffee with a french press, which yeilds the perfect small amount of excellent coffee. 

I've read various methods for french press brewing, but my standard comes from Martha Stewart (who else?) and requires first adding just enough cold water just to cover the grounds. Supposedly this keeps the beans from being shocked at the nearly-boiling water, which you add next. Let the coffee steep as long as you like (maybe two minutes, I don't really time it), then press the strainer to the bottom and pour. Serve with cinnamon scones and stare happily out the kitchen window. :)