Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is why I haven't been baking:

His name is Truman and he was born the day after our 1st wedding anniversary so it was kismet, obviously. ;) Sometimes he is sweet...sometimes he is a terror. But he is ALWAYS adorable. People can't get enough of the pup! And he is currently confined to the kitchen until he earns privileges in other rooms...but he likes to sniff the oven when the door opens, lick the seam of the dishwasher door when it is down, and sit on my feet while I do dishes. So needless to say...we aren't spending much productive time in the kitchen.

That said, his first full day at our house was exciting, and my in-laws wanted to come over to meet the new addition to the family. They brought pizza, and I decided we'd need dessert. Having been obsessed with finding a recipe that would make me happy in the Baker's Illustrated for so long, I decided I should give my other birthday present a try - knowing that Dorie Greenspan was too cool to let me down. I needed something fast, though, and something that would be whipped up between pee-runs outside with the new baby (and I spent a good 65% of my day outside, believe me). So I tried the chocolate chip cookies. Not only were they a hit with everyone at our house, I sent some home to hub's grandfather...who ate all 8 or so in one sitting. This is a skinny 92 year old, people. So they are a recipe we'll be revisiting. And it made a lot of cookies! Which was awesome. They are thin, slightly crispy cookies, and they have an awesome saltiness to them - I found it unnecessary to add the additional salt. I also was unable to add nuts because we have nut allergies in the family. You can decide for yourself on the nuts and the extra salt, but you should definitely make the cookies!  :)

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Dorie Greenspan's Baking - From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (1 1/4 teaspoon if you really like salt)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks
 1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375º F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
2.  Whisk together the flour, salt & baking soda.
3.  In a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer in a large bowl) beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well blended. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in.
5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated.
6. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts. Now you can cover the dough and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or you can freeze it - either all together or in rounded tablespoons so you can bake homemade cookies anytime! You don't have to defrost it, just add an extra minute or so to baking time)
7. Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls.
8. Bake the cookies - one sheet at a time and rotating the sheet at the midway point - for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the center; they may still be a little soft in the middle, (Dorie says that's fine, I say it is AWESOME)
9. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.
10. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches. Enjoy with a big, cold glass of milk - that is the way hubby likes them :)

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Unfortunately, it is getting chilly around here. My favorite season is ending. Fall is rapidly approaching, which is bothering me less and less, as I just bought a sweeeet floor lamp for next to my chaise so I can knit when the mood strikes, and the temperature will be cool enough to do so. PLUS: Apple, Pumpkin, Big E & Comfort Food season...and it is time to bust out the wool...I think I'm starting to like fall more and more!

Here is the first recipe of the comfort food season, straight from my fave blogger, Brown Eyed Baker. I was browsing the usual blogs during my lunch break, and today these looked particularly appealing...Hope hubby's coworkers are in the mood for some blondies, because I can't keep them around my house - I'll eat them all :-/

Snickerdoodle Blondies

from Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: 24 blondies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 25 to 30 minutes

2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan; set aside. (Here I lined a 9x13 with aluminum foil and sprayed that with Pam)

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla. Beat, scraping the bowl, until thoroughly combined. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. Give the dough a final stir with a spatula or wooden spoon to make sure the flour is incorporated.

4. Spread the dough evenly into the pan (an offset spatula was the best tool for the job, as it’s a thick batter). Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. (this took 30 minutes for me) Cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

These were delicious and I'd definitely make them again! I hope everyone at Hubby's work enjoys them when I ship them off tomorrow...I will be sad to see them go, but happy that they'll be someone else's problem! ;)

P.S. Sorry the formatting is all over the place. I don't know HTML all that well and I am having a hard time getting everything to cooperate behind-the-scenes... :)

Pound Cake

I always disliked the name "Pound Cake." It seemed to me an ordinary looking cake with an extremely caloric name. Have I ever told you I spent the first 20 years of my life not caring much for sweets of any sort? I really didn't. If my friends and I went out for dessert, I would opt for a plate of fries if they insisted on being *bad*, or a side salad if they'd let me.  We are health-conscious eaters in my family, and if I ever craved a sweet, it would be for an oatmeal cookie or a small dish of frozen yogurt.
Enter hubbie, the first man I'd ever met with as big an appreciation for sweets as my Pepere. He got me to at least try different things, and I've even taken to sampling one of everything I make (as long as it is meat and gelatin free :)
Well this past April, I tried Pound Cake for the first time. I fought against it. I had to purchase one for a trifle that we were making as part of my Pampered Chef Party. I thought about if we could substitute Angel Food Cake in instead. I decided the Angel Food would collapse under the weight of all the trifle ingredients, or just get mooshy and gross. It was time to give in, I bought the Pound Cake.
And you know what? The trifle was delicious! Pound Cake, despite the unattractive name, wasn't that bad!
It turns out that Hubbie hadn't even tried Pound Cake, as I learned on a trip through BJ's a few weeks ago. We were there during old people buffet time, and they happened to be sampling Entenmann's single serve pound cake slices. He fell in love. I gave him my sample (just because I liked the Pound Cake in the trifle doesn't mean I am willing to just eat it willy nilly, let's be serious.) and I am pretty sure he went back for a third on our second lap around the store.
This week he started craving Pound Cake and I, eager to give my Baking Illustrated another shot at redeeming itself, decided that he should have one.

Uncooked - not perfect parchment, but good enough!

Classic Pound Cake
from Baking Illustrated
16 Tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 1/3 cups (9 1/3 oz) sugar
3 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) plain cake flour (I divided this into three small prep bowls, 2 oz per bowl. Weigh this if possible, if you pack your flour down you'll definitely use too much)

The crack in my cake wasn't too big, but it still tasted perfect!

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan (7 1/2 cup capacity). Fit a sheet of foil or parchment paper lengthwise in the bottom of the greased pan, pushing it into the corners and up the sides. Fit a second sheet crosswise in the pan in the same manner.
2. Beat the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 15 seconds. With the machine still on, sprinkle the sugar in slowly, taking about 30 seconds. Beat the mixture until light, fluffy, and almost white, 4 to 5 minutes, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
3. Stir together the eggs, yolks, vanilla, and water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. With the mixer running at medium-high speed, add the egg mixture to the butter and sugar in a very slow, thin stream. Finally, beat in the salt.
4. Place 1/2 cup of the flour in a sieve and sift it over the batter. Fold gently with a rubber spatula, scraping up from the bottom of the bowl, until the flour is incorporated. Repeat twice more, adding flour in 1/2 cup increments.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula or wooden spoon. Bake until a toothpick or thin skewer inserted into the crack running along the top comes out clean, 70 to 80 minutes. Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack. Place a second wire rack on the cake bottom, then turn the cake top-side up. Cool to room temperature, remove and discard the foil, and serve. If not serving immediately, wrap the cake in plastic, then in foil. Store the cake at room temperature (keeps reasonably well for 5 days)

The verdict: Yay for Baking Illustrated! They got one right! I enjoyed this cake, as did hubby, and my dad and mom. We'll definitely make it again, maybe even for my next trifle experiment! :)

Strawberry Buttermilk Gelato

My family knows I love baking and cooking, but that I also like to lighten things up a bit when I can. My mother is a librarian and someone was discarding a bunch of old "Cooking Light" magazines and, being the awesome mom that she is, she scooped them for me! I was so happy to find this recipe as, the couple of times I have been to Italy, I survived solely on gelato, but have found the American gelato offerings not nearly as satisfying. I can't figure out why. Maybe because the little spoons just aren't the same? ;) Maybe my memory of gelato is just more than it is cracked up to be? After trying this recipe I have to say this was a great representation of a light gelato - sort of creamy, sort of sorbet-ey, and lots of delicious. Enjoy!

Strawberry Buttermilk Gelato

Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 2  cups  sugar
• 2  cups  water
• 5  cups  quartered strawberries (about 4 pints)
• 2  cups  low-fat buttermilk

Preparation

Combine sugar and water in a large saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour into a large bowl; cool completely. (I made it a day ahead)

Place strawberries in a blender, and process until smooth. Add strawberry purée and buttermilk to sugar syrup; stir to combine.

Pour the strawberry mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

(My freezer bowl didn't have enough room to make the whole batch of gelato, so I reserved half of the mixture in the fridge, cleaned the bowl and re-froze to finish the second batch the next day!)

KAF Blueberry Muffins

Although I didn't sleep much last night, I still woke up happy. Yesterday was a great day.
I took my husband to Ikea. This probably doesn't sound like a banner experience for your average person. For someone who spends the better part of their free time in the kitchen, I have strong feelings of hatred towards it (it being my kitchen, not Ikea.) It is from the Early/Mid 90s, and the cabinets are oakey and ugly. They don't have knobs or pulls, they are permanently sticky from previous owners, they are removing themselves from the wall at rapidly increasing speeds, and the countertop is a horrible green marble formica that is cracked (again, previous owners), AND doesn't have a backsplash. I saw all this when we bought the house, but thought "SOMEDAY I will fix this kitchen" but haven't, for the year we've been here, been able to fully convince hubby that this was a good idea.
Yesterday, it clicked. If I am going to Ikea on my own, I typically breeze through the showroom, as it doesn't often change and the REAL shopping is at the marketplace. Yesterday, I took care to meander, oohing and ahhing at the kitchens, which are completely my style (I love modern things, did you know?) and are an appropriate do-it-yourself sort of project for a young married couple. Hubby Liked. He loved how he couldn't slam the cabinets and drawers - they closed themselves. He loved the granite-alternative counter substances. He loved the tile blacksplashes (MUSIC TO MY EARSSSS)...it was just all magical. Having a husband who *enjoys* the Ikea experience is key. Say what you will about Ikea, but I love it. And not ALL of it is fallaparticleboard, and the stuff that is serves its purpose for the length of time that it needs to as long as you build it properly. And now, we are seriously considering re-doing the kitchen this winter. I vote for double wall ovens and a central built-in Island with a cooktop!!! !!! !!!! ;)
Plus, he said I could get this apron, which I love. Do either of us need permission to buy ourselves presents? No. Does it make it more fun if we have it? Yes. :)

(Photo courtesy ikea.com)

So there is the explanation for the good mood, and besides that, I needed to *test out* my new apron. I decided it was a good morning to try a competing blueberry muffin recipe. I have a little bakers' crush on King Arthur Flour right now, so I went with their KAF GUARANTEED Blueberry Muffins.

A nice, thick batter...

Blueberry Muffins
from King Arthur Flour
Ingredient Section

• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I used reduced fat sour cream)
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (I used frozen maine blueberries)
• coarse white sparkling sugar for garnish (optional)

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with papers, and grease the papers. (I didn't grease the papers...it worked out fine.) 2) In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside. 3) In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand-held or stand mixer, until light, fluffy, and almost white in color. Start the mixer at low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, then gradually increase speed to medium-high until the desired color and texture are reached. 4) Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 5) Add the vanilla and sour cream or yogurt, and mix until incorporated. 6) Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth. It will be thick. 7) Fold in the berries by hand. 8) Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, using a heaping 1/4-cup for each. Sprinkle with regular granulated or coarse white sugar, if desired. 9) Bake the muffins for 18 to 24 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack. So I decided this was an awesome recipe as soon as I got to the ingredients list and it said: 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. In only 12 muffins?! Look at all that vanilla. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I love it. (Compared to the 0 teaspoons of vanilla in the last recipe of blueberry muffins that I made...) Yes, they have a bluish tinge...do I care? No, I do not. In fact, I like it that way. After actually MAKING and eating the muffins, the verdict is: they are Awesome. I might not ever try another bluberry muffin recipe as long as I live. And if you have the big sanding sugar crystals to put on top of the muffins, they are all the better. They are almost like a cake, they are so good. And I ate 9/12 of them, so I would know. (Hubby liked them, but he was in a "donut from a bag" kind of mood...so be it. I loved having the muffins all to myself. :) So enjoy your muffins, and happy baking!

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

I was so psyched. $50 to Amazon for my Birthday from one of my dear Aunts. Loads of baking books on my wishlist. WhatEVER shall I buy myself? Answer: Baking Illustrated and Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My home to yours.

Then I got the books and needed to get to work asap.

For our Anniversary weekend, I decided to start with something basic that I figured wouldn't be disappointing no matter what. You can't screw up a bluberry muffin too easily, right? I'm not 100% sure I loved this recipe, but here it is, as printed in the book. I will re-try and possibly modify at a later date. They WERE quite tasty. But they weren't as fluffy as anticipated, and they also tasted better cold, in my opinion. And husband's opinion. (I thought the sour cream bit tasted funky when heated.)...
I also didn't get around to the topping because we were having "Too Much Nature Inside The House!" issues...My dear BFF Amie understands all too well what I mean by this. The nature didn't get anywhere near the muffins, though, don't you worry. ;)

Bluberry Muffins
from Baking Illustrated by Cook's Illustrated Magazine

2 cups (10 oz) unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups (10 oz) sour cream
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 to 8 oz) bluberries, frozen or fresh, preferably wild (ME BB are the best, anyways!)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350. Grease (or line with paper, that is what I do) a standard 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.
2. Vigorously whisk in step 2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Whisk the egg in a second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.
3. Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream mixture and fold carefully with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. (Small spots of flour may remain and the batter will be thick. Do not overmix.)
4. Using a large spoon sprayed with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking, divide the batter among the greased or lined muffin cups. Baked until the muffins are light golden brown and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Invert the muffins onto a wire rack, stand the muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes. Serve as is or use one of the toppings below: (I didn't top them because of the aforementioned nature issues...I probably should have taken the time to top them)

Cinnamon-Sugar-Dipped Blueberry Muffins:
While the muffins are cooling, mix 1/2 Cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I did mix this...but it didn't look like quite enough cinnamon to me...you be the judge when you make it.) in a small bowl and belt 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan (or, for normal people "microwave" ;) After the baked muffins have cooled 5 minutes, working one at a time, dip the top of each muffin in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar. Set the muffins upright on a wire rack; serve.

Ginger- or Lemon-Glazed Blueberry Muffins:
While the muffins are baking, mix 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger or grated lemon zest and 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Bring 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat; stir to dissolve the sugar and simmer until the mixture is thick and syrupy and reduced to about 4 tablespoons. After the baked muffins have cooled 5 minutes, brush the tops with glaze; then, working one at a time, dip the tops in lemon sugar or ginger sugar. Set the muffins upright on a wire rack; serve.

The Best Banana Bread

My family has been making this particular banana bread recipe "forever"...or since before I was born, definitely. ;) I used to not like bananas much, but I liked this banana bread pretty well. Since getting married, moving into my own house, buying bananas for two and rarely making it through that whole bunch before they go from "Perfect greenish-yellow" to "Ewwww," I have been making lots of banana bread.
My mother just said to me "You know, you CAN throw them out."
But I have been known to be frugal, on occasion. So why not use a ton of other ingredients just to save these bananas!? :)
You will thank me.

The BEST Banana Bread
slightly adapted from McCall's Cookbook, 1963


2 ½ c flour
3 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 c sugar
¼ c soft butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
1 c mashed ripe bananas, about 3 small bananas (I just use 3 bananas, I don't measure them.)
2 T grated orange peel (Optional!)
½ c milk (skim, whole, doesn't matter.)
(Optional: 1 c chopped walnuts)
(Optional: Top with sugar, or even better, Vanilla Sugar!)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan.


1. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat sugar, butter and egg until smooth.
3. Add bananas, orange peel and milk. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix just until
smooth.
5. Pour into pan, sprinkle granulated sugar on top and bake one hour. It is a large loaf, so
test the middle to make sure it cooked through. (I have been having a particularly difficult time getting the loaf to cook through to perfection without making an unsightly dark, thick outer crust (the sides that touch the pan. My answer to THIS is to always make muffins! 6 giant or 12 small, and don't cook the full time. Estimate. I usually start with about 20 minutes for the big muffins and then test the middles and see how they are doing.)
6. Let cool in pan 10 minutes and remove.
7. Enjoy! It is the best!