Dorie Greenspan's Chocolate Chip Cookie

Continuing on with my chocolate chip cookie recipe experiment, I made "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" from Dorie Greenspans Baking From My Home to Yours. The recipe only uses 2 cups of flour and higher ratio of granulated sugar to brown sugar. Thus, the cookie is definitely not your chunky type. I omitted the nuts which made them even less chunky. They are crisp on the edges with slightly soft chewy centers. I baked the first couple of batches at 350F for ~12 minutes, rotating mid-way through. Directions says to bake at 375F, but I used a heavy Chicago Metallic cookie sheet which recommends that you lower the baking temperature by 25F. The last couple of batches I baked at 325F for ~13-14 minutes. I liked the later batches better, not so brown around the edges. Not that the crisp edges aren't tasty but I prefer a more chewy cookie. Of the two recipes that I've tried, I like the Levain copycats. Next recipe on the list to try is the Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. The recipe has vinegar which should be interesting.

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 sticks (8 oz) softened unsalted butter
1 C sugar
2/3 C light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate, chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks
1 C finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
With a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter for ~1 min until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for 2 mins. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat for one minute after each egg. Reduce mixer speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon slightly round tablespoons of dough spaced 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Bake one cook sheet at a time for ~10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Rotate the sheet midway through. Let the cookies rest for one minute then transfer to a cooling rack.

One Heck of a Big Cookie

I've been craving chocolate chip cookies since this past weekend. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came out to visit this weekend. We made the obligatory trek to DC to see monuments and museums. We also watched the Rolling Thunder parade through the city which was really cool. The Rolling Thunder come to town ever Memorial Day Weekend. The choices for inexpensive places to eat is limited near the Mall. However, the Ronald Reagan Building has a nice food court. After my lunch of lamb kabobs I shared a jumbo chocolate chip cookie with my sister. While the cookie was good, I thought my homemade cookies were better. I am on a chocolate cookie experiment. I usually rely on the Nestle Toll House recipe but thought I should try some others. My first recipe experiment is from the Vanilla Sugar blog via Slashfood. This is a recipe for the Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie. Three cups of flour which is quite a lot for cookie recipe that only uses 2 cups of butter, and 1 1/2 cups of sugars. The cookie was great though, a slighly dense with a nice chewiness. I thought it might be too dense because of the high amount of flour but not at all. I used an ice cream scope and made 17 cookies. I chilled the dough between bakes. I baked the first batch at 375F for 8 mins then lowered the heat and baked them at 325F for additional 10 minutes. I baked the others at 325F for 18 minutes which turned out just fine.

Seven Layer Bars aka Magic Bars

David's going on a trip so I wanted to send some goodies with him. Since the trip was on short notice (today and he's leaving tomorrow), I decided to make something easy. I had all the ingredients on hand and he has never had seven layer bars before. These bring back good memories of high school tennis meets. My high school tennis team was not great by any means but we did know how to have fun. For a lot of meets, we use to bring baked goodies...caramel brownies, Special K bars, seven layer bars. Seven layer bars are super easy to make. The most involved task is grinding the graham crackers, otherwise it's one, two, three....

Seven Layer Bars
Preheat oven to 350 F
1) Melt 1/2 C butter or margerine in 9 x 13 inch pan in the oven.
2) Add 1 1/2 C crushed graham cracks
3) Sprinkle 1 C (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips over graham crackers
4) Sprinkle 1 C shredded coconut over chocolate chips
5) Sprinkel 1 C (6 oz) butterscotch chips over chocolate chips
6) Dribble 14 oz can of condensed milk to cover the pan
7) Sprinkle 1 C chopped nuts on top
Bake 25 mins.

Pita Bread

Ok, so it's been awhile since I've made pita bread and it shows. I forgot that thinness is important or they don't puff. My first batch were whole wheat pita's from the King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking cookbook (gift from David from my B-day), only two puffed. Determined to get this right I went to a recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads that I've made in the past. No such luck. Only one puffed nicely and the other semi-puffed. At least I captured pictures of the two that puffed nicely. It's hard to tell from the picture, the one in the oven is the whole wheat pita.



Whole Wheat Pita Bread
1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 C lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients, and mix and knead them together—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to make a smooth dough. This will take about 8 minutes by hand, 5 minutes in an electric mixer, or use the dough setting on your bread machine. Cover the dough, and allow it to rise till it’s doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes. Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven. Or line a baking sheet with parchment (or grease it lightly). Preheat the oven to 450°F. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into eight pieces, shaping each piece into a rough ball. Let the balls rest for 10 minutes, covered, while your oven comes up to temperature. Lightly spray a rolling mat, or clean work surface, with non-stick vegetable oil spray. Use a rolling pin to roll one ball of dough into a 6" circle that’s slightly less than 1/4" thick. Repeat with another ball of dough. Place the pitas on the hot pizza stone, or place them on the prepared baking sheet, and put the baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake the pitas for 4 to 5 minutes, till they puff up. Turn them over, and bake for another minute or two; total baking time should be about 6 minutes (about 7 minutes, if you’re baking on a pan rather than a stone). Remove them from the oven, stack them on a kitchen towel, and fold the towel up over them; this will keep them from becoming crisp as they cool. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.



Pita Bread
2 1/2 C bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 C lukewarm water

In a large mixing bowl, measure 1 C flour and stir in the dry ingredients. Add the oil and water. Beat vigorously with a spoon for 2-3 mins. Stir in balance of flour 1/2 C at a time. The dough should be a rough, shaggy mass that will cling to the sides of the bowl. If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour. Turn the dough onto a slightly flour surface and knead for 6 mins.

Preheat the oven to 500 F. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into a ball. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and allow to rest for 20 mins. \

Flatten the dough into a round disk. finish with a rolling pin and roll them into 6 inch diameter and 3/16 inch thick. Place each piece of dough on a 7 inch square of aluminum foil. Carefully place 2 to 3 breads on the oven shelf. Bake for 8 mins, or until puffed. Remove breads from the oven and wrap in a large piece of foil. Repeat with remaining disks.

Blonde Brownies

I was craving something sweet but not chocolate. In the past few weeks, all I've had for sweets has been chocolate ranging from thin mints, samoas to brownies and more brownies. Wanting to make something easy, I went for blonde brownies. I have tried severely recipes and finally stumbled on a winner from the King Arthur Flour website. The original recipe is actually entitled "Crazy Blonde Brownies" but I made them a little simpler with just white chocolate chips. The combination of chocolate chips, butterscotch, cinnamon, caramel, macadamia, or chips of your choice along with diced pecans or walnuts seem like too much for me. The white chocolate chips compliments the brownies nicely. For the brown sugar, since the recipe didn't specify light or dark, I used a combination of 1 cup each since I have ample light and brown sugar on hand. No, I did not use organic white whole wheat flour, just 1 3/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour.

Blonde Brownies
1/2 cup butter or vegetable shortening
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan and preheat your oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the brown sugar, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat, pour the butter-sugar mixture into a medium-sized bowl, and allow it to cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Whisk the flours and baking powder together, then add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, stirring to combine. Finally, fold in the chips and nuts. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, and bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, until they're light brown on the edges and top.

Apple Butter Crumb Coffee Cake

Yippee!! I am on spring break. Finally some time to do some baking. I am only taking one class this semester but work has been incredibly busy. As of late, I've been on a big coffee cake kick. It's the strudel. I can't get enough of the stuff. Right before Christmas, scored a bunch of new cake baking books - The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, Great Cakes and Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins, and More by Carol Walter. As soon as I saw the butter crumb coffee cake recipe from Great Coffee Cakes, I knew I had to make this. Lots and lots of strudel. I added a grated granny smith apple for something extra. I think the coffee cake would be good as is but the grated apple adds a nice flavor. I don't have a 10 inch springfoam so ended up using a 9 inch stead. It came out just fine. I had to add an extra 25 mins to the baking time though. I absolutely love the streusel. I made it with the pecans which compliments the granny smith apple nicely. Next time, I may try the crumb cake with cinnamon chips.

Butter Crumb Coffee Cake
1 large recipe Carole's Favorite Streusel
2 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C. unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
2/3 C. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Large Streusl
2/3 C. unsalted butter
1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C. finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Streusel: Place the butter in a 3 quart heavy bottomed saucepan for and heat until almost melted, remove from heat and cool to tepid. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nuts. Add to the butter and stir with fork until blended and mixture begins to form crumbs. Gently squeeze the mixture with your hand to form large lumps, then break them apart with your fingertips. Set aside.

Coffee Cake: Heat oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 10-springform pan (or 9 inch springform pan), line the bottom with baking parchment then butter the parchment. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and work with fingertips until fine crumbs are formed. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the liquid. Gradually push the crumbs into the liquid, beat for about 1 minute or until batter is smooth. Spread the batter into prepared pan. Take a handful of the streusel crumbs and sprinkle on batter. Repeat until all streusel has been used. Press lightly into batter. Set pan on 12 in square of aluminum foil in the oven. Bake 40-45 min for 10 inch pan or 60-65 minutes for 9 inch pan. Cool on wire rack before serving.

Cinnamon Date Pecan Swirl Bread

Since I came back from my trip, I haven't been baking much. I think I was still exhausted from the holiday baking and just sick of sweets and chocolate. Any baking I have done has been breakfast foods. Some bluberry scones and white chocolate cherry scones for my sister and nephew when they came to visit one weekend in January and loaf of cinnamon swirl bread with dates and pecans.

I came back from Vietnam with kilos and kilos of candy and some dried fruit. Why the dried fruit? They were all natural and tasted so much better than the packaged dried fruits you get in the states. And oh so cheap which was a bonus. The original recipe for the cinnamon swirl bread is from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. I modified it ever so slighly by adding chopped dates and pecans. I have never made any breads with dates since they are not my favorite but I was quite happy with this loaf. The dates added a nice moistness to the bread and tasted great with the pecans. I pretty much love anything with strudel so this bread is a winner. I used potato flakes rather than potato flour which works just fine. I usually have to add a couple of tablespoons of water to the 1 C. the recipe calls for.

Cinnamon Date Pecan Swirl Bread

Dough
3 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 C. potato flour or 1/3 c. potato flakes
1/4 C. nonfat dried milk
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. sugar
2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
4 tbsp. butter
1 C. water

Filling
1/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. dates
2 tsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
Egg wash, made form1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp. water

Topping
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough: In a large bowl, combine all the dough ingredients, mixing until the dough begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for ~10 minutes until the dough is smooth and satiny. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hrs.

Filling: Pulse filling ingredients except the egg wash in a food processor.

Topping: In small bowl or mini food processor, combine all the ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Don't over process if you use a food processor or you end up wiht a lumpy mass.

When the dough is ready, roll the dough into a 16 x 8 inch rectangle on a lightly oiled work surface. Brush the dough with some of the egg wash (save rest for later) and pat the filling gently onto the dough. The original recipe says to roll the dough starting from the short edge into a log, pinch the side seams and ends close. I split the rectangle into 3 parts and roll them into small logs and form a braided loaf. Place the log in a slightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan (I used 9 x 5 inch loaf pan). Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap adn allow to rise at room temperature for 1 hr or until it's crowned about 1 inch over the rim of the pan. Preheat the oven to 350 F during the last few mintues of rising time. When the dough has risen, brush the top of the loaf with some of the egg wash and gently press on the topping. Bake for about 45 minutes. For the 9 x 5 inch pan, I baked the loaf for 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes than remove the loaf from the pan. Best eaten warm.