Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Surviving Halloween has never been a problem for my diet. For some reason, I find candy in any form, including chocolate, eminently resistable. However, if you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my weakness--baked goods. Pies, pastries, cookies, they all make me weak in the knees  (and in the backbone).

However, if I am going to consume the calories, I want the experience to be worth it, and that means the texture needs to be just right. The pastry should be buttery and flaky, and the cookies must be chewy and moist. (This is why I usually find storebought cookies less than tempting, and also perhaps why I've become ever-so-slightly obsessed with baking my own once I found out how easy it was.)

If, like me, you are a fan of a chewy cookie, this is a great recipe, based on Alton Brown's infamous "The Chewy". A couple tips--using bread flour, which has more protein, in place of all-purpose flour makes for more gluten (what makes good bread chewy) in the finished product. Chilling the dough before baking keeps the cookie from spreading too much in the oven, allowing the exterior to set before the interior has lost too much moisture. Finally, an overbaked cookie will never be chewy and moist, so underbaked is best. The center of the cookie should not be completely set--try to pull the cookies when you can just pick up the edge of a cookie, and it bends, not breaks; then let them finish up outside the oven on the hot cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling. If the cookie looks baked all the way through, it is already too late (sob!)

With these tips, your cookies should still be chewy goodness three days after you've baked them.

Ingredients
2¼ cups bread flour
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼  cup sugar
1¼ cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I recommend Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet chips)


Hardware
Ice cream scooper (Alton Brown recommends "a #20 disher, to be exact", but if you don't have one, try a 1/8 cup measure or 2 tablespoons)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer (stand or hand)
wire cooling rack

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
3. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes, checking the cookies after 5 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges (but not yet set in the middle). Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove cookies to a wire cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.

Bread Stuffing with Sausage, Cranberry, and Dried Apple

Our family stuffing has always included sausage. Nothing brings a flavor punch like a pound of pork sausage browned up and added to your stuffing (especially when it's not actually going in the bird). This is the second or third year that I've been preparing stuffing for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meals, and it's undergone some evolutions. We started adding dried cranberries to the bread stuffing once dried sweetened cranberries became available regularly; this Thanksgiving I had dried apples on hand, and the added sweetness went well with the pork sausage.

This recipe is based on America's Test Kitchen's basic "Classic Stuffing for a Crowd" recipe, which is a great base for trying your own interpretations for the next holiday gathering. It's very easy, and can be made with (plain) storebought bread cubes in place of homemade--just make sure to increase the amount of chicken broth to 7 cups to compensate for the lower moisture content.

ATK points out that you can air-dry the bread cubes if you work it a day (or, ideally, two) ahead of time; but, if you don't want 5 cookie sheets with ½-inch bread cubes drying in a single layer taking up counter space in your kitchen, you can dry the cubes in a 300-degree oven for 30-60 minutes and let them cool prior to mixing with the other ingredients.

Ingredients

1½ pounds bulk breakfast sausage

12 tablespoons butter (1½ sticks), plus extra for baking dish

4 medium ribs celery, chopped fine

2 medium onions, minced

½ cup minced fresh parsley leaves

3 tablespoons minced fresh sage leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried)

3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried)

1 tablespoon minced fresh marjoram leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)

3 pounds high-quality sandwich bread (white), cut into ½-inch cubes and dried

1 ½ cups dried sweetened cranberries

¾ cup dried apple, diced medium

5 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth

4 large eggs, beaten lightly

2 teaspoons table salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Hardware
large skillet (12 inches minimum)
very large mixing bowl
wooden spoon
15 x 10-inch baking dish (see step 3 for substitutions)
baking sheet (for drying bread cubes)
aluminum foil

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the sausage from the skillet and reserve. Drain the fat, and reserve.

2. Either add all the butter to the now empty skillet, or substitute the reserved sausage fat for an equal amount of butter -- you'll need a total 12 of tablespoons of fat. Add the celery and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, sage, thyme, and marjoram and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute longer. Transfer to a very large mixing bowl.

3. Add the sausage, cranberries, apple, dried, cooled bread, stock or broth, eggs, salt, and pepper to the vegetables and toss gently to distribute dry and wet ingredients evenly. Turn mixture into buttered 15-x 10-inch baking dish. (If you don't have a 15 x 10 dish, here is a guide to substitutions--more mixture in a smaller dish means a denser texture.)

4. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until golden, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

To Make Ahead: The stuffing can be assembled in the baking dish, then wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking. To bake, let the stuffing stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and proceed to bake as directed in step 3.

UPDATE: Apple Slicer Review

In its September 1 issue, Cook's Illustrated reviewed apple slicers. It turns out their criteria for an apple slicer is pretty much what mine were --they wanted something sturdy that made clean, even slices of even firm, thick-skinned Granny Smith apples with minimal effort.

Fortunately, their pick is the one I already own--the Williams-Sonoma Dial-A-Slice Apple Divider:

Its wider-than-usual, 1-inch, serrated corer gripped the apple and ensured the entire core was removed. We also liked the comfortable rubber handles and plastic cap that pushes the hard-to-reach bottom of the apple entirely through the blades. (Other models left slices attached, forcing us to push the apple back up, which meant we were handling the sharp blades.)

Good to know my impulse buy compares well. Check out their review.

(image courtesy yucca2k6 / http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaughnhalls / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Cranberry Shortcake

"Cranberry shortcake?"

Don't sound so dubious, this will be delicious. I first made this dessert last year for some friends during one of our infamous card nights (Euchre, anyone?) But I've been eating this dessert for much longer than that--every fall that I can remember, the restaurant at the annual church fair serves up hundreds of these things. This is one of the stars of the fair, every year.

There are some truly heinous recipes for cranberry shortcake out there. Many of them are methods of using up leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. Imagine jellied cranberry sauce over pound cake or angel-food cake and you get the idea. This recipe uses fresh cranberries and has a great tart-sweet flavor. It's also incredibly easy to make.

My personal prejudice when it comes to any dish that calls itself "shortcake" is that nothing that could, on its own, be called "cake"--that is, angel food cake, chiffon or yellow cake, pound cake, etc.--should ever be involved. "Shortcake" means one thing, and one thing only: biscuits. This recipe calls for buttermilk biscuits, which I've included instructions for, but if you don't feel like going to that kind of effort, just use Bisquick--it'll be fine.

Ingredients
Fruit

2 cups of fresh cranberries
1 medium apple

1 banana
2/3 cup sugar

Biscuits
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)

2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cup buttermilk, cold (see note)*
1 large egg
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Whipped cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hardware

food processor

hand mixer or stand mixer

3 bowls (for whipped cream, biscuit dough, and cranberries)

baking sheet

Directions

For the Fruit:

1. Coarsely chop cranberries and apple. (Make this easy on yourself and pulse in a food processor. Who wants to chop 2 cups of cranberries?) Add sugar to taste and mix until blended.
2. Refrigerate cranberry mixture 2 to 3 hours to mingle flavors.
3. Dice the banana and add to mixture shortly before assembling shortcakes.

For The Biscuits:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt in large bowl.
3. Whisk together buttermilk and egg in medium bowl; add melted butter and stir until butter forms small clumps.
4. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with wooden spoon until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Continue stirring vigorously for 30 seconds.
5. Using greased 1/2 cup dry measure, scoop up mound of dough and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (if dough sticks to cup, use small spoon to pull it free). Repeat with remaining dough, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create 4 biscuits.
6. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon sugar evenly over top of biscuits. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 15 minutes before assembling.

For The Whipped Cream:

1. Using hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla on low speed until bubbles form, about 30 seconds.
2. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave trail, about 30 seconds longer.
3. Increase speed to high; continue beating until nearly doubled in volume and whipped cream forms soft peaks, 30 to 45 seconds longer.

To Assemble:

Split each biscuit in half and place bottoms on individual serving plates. Spoon portion of cranberry mixture over each bottom. Top cranberries with 2 tablespoons whipped cream, cap with biscuit top, and dollop each shortcake with some of remaining whipped cream. (Or, add more cranberries and even more whipped cream.) Serve immediately.

Makes 3-4 servings

*Don't feel like buying buttermilk? Add lemon juice to regular milk (at least 2% fat) in the ratio of 1 tablespoon to 1 cup, and let stand for 15 minutes. Use for an equal volume of buttermilk in any recipe.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting

I don't mean to be obsessed with extra virgin olive oil.

But, it is one of those products that, when it's good quality, can make a basic sandwich or vinaigrette better. (My personal favorite is sopressata, provolone, and tomato on bread spread with olive oil vinaigrette.)

And yet, the bottles are a mystery--in any given supermarket or boutique grocery, there could anywhere from a half-dozen to a baker's dozen different brands and/or varieties. There's also no guarantee how long a particular bottle has been sitting on the shelf, exposed to light and heat. When higher-end olive oil can easily go for $30-$50 per liter, a bad bottle can be an expensive disappointment. But I've talked about this before.

In the incident that led directly to this blog post, I found myself purchasing a bottle of Colavita at Whole Foods in Washington Square, Brookline.

"Is this yours?" asked the checkout woman.

"Uhhh....yeah," I said, articulately.

In a friendly, slightly superior air: "You should put that back and get the 365 brand. It's really high quality and half the price."

I was reluctant to tell her to mind her own business, for some reason, so I ended up buying both--rationalizing my decision by hitting on the idea of a taste test.

In this highly unscientific taste test, I and one other person tasted five different olive oils.

Four of them were widely available supermarket brands: DaVinci, Filippo Berio, Colavita, and 365, the Whole Foods brand. We also added a ringer--Cook's Illustrated's favorite premium extra virgin olive oil, Columela, which I've written about previously (same link as above).

It was a blind taste test, in which we tasted each olive oil plain, and then drizzled on some bread. Each of us then ranked the oils in order of preference, and scored them. A first place vote from a taster received 10 points, a second place vote, 8 points, a third place, 6 points, and so on.

Here are the results, from worst to first:

4th place (tie): DaVinci Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $16-$17 per liter

Both tasters were more or less in agreement on this one--this was supposed to be extra virgin olive oil? "Not a very strong flavor," wrote Taster One. "Well...it's oil," wrote Taster Two.

Taster One liked it a bit better overall, finding "nice herbal notes" when tasted straight that were masked when eaten with bread. Taster Two thought Taster One was nuts.

4th place (tie): Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $24 per liter

Both tasters found this oil strongly flavored, although they couldn't agree whether that was necessarily a good thing. Taster One found it had an "interesting musky flavor, but...not enough bite to cut through." Taster One seemed to get more and more repulsed by this oil, saying that the bread didn't "mask enough" of the flavor. "It almost tastes spoiled."

Taster Two liked it better, but found it so pungent when tasted straight that it stung the palate. "It has character...very smoky, but with green and briny accents. It's a little overwhelming...I wanted to like this more than I did." Taster Two concluded that "it could be great for dressings, salads, where you're not eating it BARE."

Although Tasters One and Two put Colavita in fifth and fourth place, respectively, based on the oil tasted straight and on bread, after the tasting, we gave it a second chance. Used in a simple vinaigrette, it held up, and gave a basic green salad a huge flavor payoff.

Colavita Fruttato (apparently a premium version of the Colavita we tasted here) was a Cook's Illustrated runner-up in their July 2008 tasting of supermarket extra virgin olive oils, for what it's worth, so that oil could definitely be worth a second look. The Cook's Illustrated website (subscription required) doesn't note that they tasted the premium version, but the image of the bottle they used clearly says "Fruttato" on the label.

3rd place: Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $14-$15 per liter

Both tasters found this oil to have a very clear flavor with a nice velvety richness to it. Taster One thought it had a "very herbal flavor, but didn't contain a lot of sweetness." Taster Two thought it was fruity and pleasant, but too mild--it lacked any real assertive, peppery, green elements. "It seems like it could be boring if you used it in a recipe rather than tasting it straight."

2nd place: 365 (Whole Foods brand), $14 per liter

This one started slow and picked up. On first taste, Taster One thought 365

"[didn't have] a strong flavor, but had a decent fruitiness." It did, Taster One noted, have enough flavor to show up well when tasted with bread. "Nice and light...with some sweetness," Taster One concluded.

Taster Two was underwhelmed at first, but then noticed some "fruitiness backed up with some assertive peppery tang....This one won me over."

For the price of $6.99 per 17-oz bottle, not a bad choice. However, the hands down winner was...

1st place: Columela Artesano Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $30-$35 per liter

There wasn't really any contest. Taster One found Columela "fruity and herbal, with a nice bite while remaining sweet enough...Not an overwhelming flavor, but held up on bread and was not too greasy or oily." Taster Two liked the "green, sharp" beginning flavor that was tangy without being overwhelming (like the Colavita). The tasters thought this was by far the most well-rounded oil, with the "best olive flavor" and balance of tangy and sweet.

So, what's the verdict?

While DaVinci and Colavita both received one fourth place and one fifth place vote each, for the remaining olive oils, the two tasters agreed right down the line the oils that were in first, second, and third place.

If you have the money, the Columela Artesano Extra Virgin Olive Oil (an unfiltered blend of four different varieties of Spanish olive) is highly recommended. It usually retails for between $15-$18 per 500-mL bottle, more than twice the price of the runner-up, 365. For my money, it's more than worth it, particularly for special occasions or dishes where the flavor of the olive oil will make a significant difference.

Both can be difficult to find. Unfiltered olive oils, although they frequently have more olive flavor than filtered versions, have a shorter shelf life because the particulate matter can speed up spoilage. This means that most supermarkets won't carry unfiltered oils, unless you happen to live in or near a place where such oils get high turnover (like, say, Brookline, home of Cook's Illustrated magazine, and foodie haven). 365 brands, on the other hand, are sold exclusively in Whole Foods stores, which might not be convenient unless you live near one--and they (ahem) also tend to congregate in areas in which might be classified as foodie havens. Or, at least, areas where people are willing to pay extra for "quality".

In that case, Columela Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the filtered version of Columela Artesano, should be available at more stores. There are also online retailers, even Amazon, which carry olive oils, although frequently they are not particularly price-competitive, especially when you factor in shipping. Colavita, while too pungent for tasting straight, should work well in recipes that call for strong flavors.

My personal plan is to keep 365 Extra Virgin Olive Oil on hand for everyday use, and Columela Artesano for special occasions or just to eat with crusty bread from my fantastic local bakery...which is, as they say, another post.

Now I have to go back to that checkout woman at Whole Foods and pronounce my peccavi for doubting her and her "twelve years in grocery".

A Culinary Trip to Ireland: Ballymaloe Farm

The Ballymaloe Cookery School is in the middle of an organic farm, including an herb garden, greenhouses, free range chickens, dairy and beef cattle, among many other things. Darina Allen, the head of the school, is a big proponent of the "Slow Food" movement (she is the Councillor for Ireland in that organization).

Given that background, it's no surprise that Darina supports people growing and raising their own food, including chickens. (She very generously gives people like me who live in high-rise apartment buildings with no balconies dispensation to buy instead.) One of the highlights of the 3-day course I took was jointing a whole chicken, which yields enough food for more than a week for someone like me.

As she pointed out--multiple times,in fact--a single whole chicken will yield 2 each of breasts, wings, thighs, drumsticks, as well as chicken skin (good for baking until crispy), wingtips, neck, and bones suitable for stock, and liver for pate (which I don't personally care for, but I'm sure other people like). A whole organic chicken can cost about $22-$26 (about $5.49 a pound), compared to $4-$5 (at about .99 cents a pound, sometimes it's as little as .49 cents) for a whole standard chicken. Whole chickens also tend to keep better longer, at least before you portion it out. Now that I've actually jointed a whole chicken, I can't see buying chicken breasts unless I'm pressed for time.

One thing I'm dead envious of at Ballymaloe is all the lettuce, vegetable, and herb garden space they've got. I can't help but think it would be much easier to eat better and more varied salads on a regular basis if I had access to this kind of facility in Boston. (Well, as long as I am wishing, I'd like a staff of a prep cooks like they had at Ballymaloe as well. I did try to grow some hydroponic herbs in my apartment and all I got was mice.) The salads they served with lunch at Ballymaloe were excellent, full of enough different types of lettuce and herbs for a variety of texture and flavor. I'm sure it helped that we were there in mid-July.

Ballymaloe also grows nearly a dozen different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, which I can tell you are delicious. I have some pictures of the resulting tomato salad Darina's team prepared, which I'll put up in a future post. It is prepared with all of the tomatoes dressed and served in a single layer, to avoid having to toss the tomatoes and break them up.

Ballymaloe grows enough onions, shallots, and garlic for their own use as well as distribution to some local programs. They hang them from the rafters, tops still attached, to dry in small bunches of no more than 4, to avoid bruising and rotting. The gardener--Darina's husband--contended that letting the vegetables and herbs dry with the leaves still on helps to retain nutrients and flavor in the bulb part of the plant. I won't argue--the results look and taste gorgeous.

Coming up next: more about the cooking demonstrations and lessons at Ballymaloe Cookery School (and maybe a recipe or two...)

A Culinary Trip to Ireland: Prequel

I'll soon be posting about my trip to the Ballymaloe Cookery School (in Shanagarry, Co. Cork, Ireland), as well as some of the dishes eaten at restaurants on the way.

Just as a little preview, though, here is a picture of a fast food restaurant in Cork city...

You could never get away with this in the States!

Oven Fries

Normally in late June and early July, I would be trying to make my favorite grilled "puzzle" potatoes. (Take a potato, slice it crosswise into verrry thin pieces, keep the potato slices assembled in their original order, add a pat of butter, salt, and pepper, wrap in aluminum foil, and grill.) However, so far summer has very much failed to deliver in the weather-appropriate-to-grilling department, so, I tried a Cook's Illustrated alternative--oven fries. They came out great! These pictures really don't do them justice.



Ingredients
3 russet potatoes (about 8 oz), sliced lengthwise into 10-12 spears each
5 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Hardware
18 by 12 inch heavy-gauge baking sheet, preferably nonstick--or, you can use my favorite easy clean-up trick--aluminum foil! (If you use a smaller sheet, you may need to do two batches.)

Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position; heat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes in large bowl and cover with hot tap water; soak 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coat 18 by 12-inch heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with 4 tablespoons oil and sprinkle evenly with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside.

2. Drain potatoes. Spread potatoes out on triple layer of paper towels and thoroughly pat dry with additional paper towels. Rinse and wipe out now-empty bowl; return potatoes to bowl and toss with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet; cover tightly with foil and bake 5 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until bottoms of potatoes are spotty golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating baking sheet after 10 minutes. Using metal spatula and tongs, scrape to loosen potatoes from pan, then flip each wedge, keeping potatoes in single layer. Continue baking until fries are golden and crisp, 5 to 15 minutes longer, rotating pan as needed if fries are browning unevenly.

3. Transfer fries to second baking sheet lined with paper towels to drain. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Pointless Kitchen Paraphernalia, Episode 1

In my browsing around the internet, I occasionally run into some cooking- and kitchen-related objects whose utility I question. In the first of what may be an ongoing series, here is some Pointless Kitchen Paraphernalia.

When I first came across this example of PKP, I thought, you've got to be kidding me. Perhaps it's because I don't try to roast a lot of jalapenos, but I don't get spending $20 (+ $6.50 shipping) for a stuffed jalapeno roaster. What else could you conceivably use this for to justify that kind of money, when I figure you could likely make something perfectly workable using aluminum foil, that you then could just throw away, thus avoiding the arduous process of trying to scrub burnt cheese off of 18 individual 1/2-inch-wide holes?

Maybe I'm wrong, the reviews on Williams Sonoma have it at 4.5

out of 5. I suspect these reviews are all from dedicated jalapeno-roasters.

Entry number 2 in today's PKP sweepstakes is an asparagus

peeler, also from Williams Sonoma. (I don't mean to beat up on Williams Sonoma, although it does seem to be a rich source of PKP.)

My first thought was, why on earth would one need an asparagus peeler? After some research, it appears that many chefs--especially French ones, apparently--recommend peeling the bottoms of asparagus to improve the texture and let it cook more evenly. All right, fair enough.

But let's look at this particular example. It offers two services--the snipping off of the woody, fibrous ends of asparagus with its "integral nylon blade" and the removal of the asparagus peel with its metal peeling blade. If you had a choice, would you prefer to cut off the ends of asparagus a foot above the counter, using an awkwardly shaped pair of nylon scissors with a sharp metal blade in one handle? Or would you rather rest the spear on the counter, and cut it with something you already own, like, oh, a knife? And, (bonus!) with a knife, you can cut several asparagus spears at the same time! Now, let's address the second service this gadget provides. If I'm not mistaken, the metal peeling blade appears to be identical to that of the vegetable peeler currently residing in every kitchen drawer in America. The only difference here is that, since this metal peeler is attached to the second lever for the scissor blade, it makes it more difficult to use to peel, say, a potato or a radish.

So, why not use the peeler and knife you already own instead of this $9.95 (+$5.50 shipping) green nylon beauty? Hmm. Good question.

Cheaper to buy or to make?

Jennifer Reese writes an article for Slate that documents whether it is cheaper to buy or to make certain pantry staples like bagels, cream cheese, and jam. (Plus a shout-out to Alton Brown...can't go wrong!)

Brown Sugar Cookies

These are also known as the Coma Cookies...diabetics need not apply! The recipe comes from the March 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated, and it's always been a big hit for gifts, bake sales, and just a little dessert now and again. It's also another great pantry standby because all the ingredients are things I commonly keep on hand--plus, they're really easy and fun to make!

The brown sugar combines with the browned butter for a rich, caramel-like flavor. I tend to go for a chewier cookie, so I add an extra few tablespoons of melted (not browned, since some moisture is lost in browning) butter.

Ingredients:

• 14 tbs unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)(I add the remainder of the second stick of butter for a chewier cookie)
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
• 2 cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces)
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tbs vanilla extract

Hardware

• stainless steel saucepan or skillet
• 2 cookie sheets
• parchment paper (although aluminum foil does in a pinch)
• heatproof bowl
• medium to large mixing bowl
• spatula
• shallow dish or pie pan

Instructions

1. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 (6 for chewy cookies) tablespoons butter into hot butter to melt; set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. In shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, rubbing between fingers, until well combined; set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Add remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter; mix until no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.
4. Divide dough into 24 portions, each about 2 tablespoons, rolling between hands into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Working in batches, toss balls in reserved sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, 12 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but it will take 3 batches.)
5. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone; see photo below), 12 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.
6. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.
   

Diner-Style French Toast

Alton Brown and America's Test Kitchen aren't always right. Well, mostly they are, but I vividly recall my father saying as he watched Alton Brown spatchcock a duck, "That's really interesting. I can't imagine ever wanting to actually do that, but it's interesting."

He had a point. Some recipes from ATK or Alton Brown seem, if not unnecessarily complicated, perhaps trying to accomplish something beyond the basic--admirable in some cases, but in the case of french toast, it's not what I'm looking for.

I've been making french toast since I was in the single digits, and it's still what I will order in a restaurant if I'm there for a weekend brunch. I've always been frustrated when I made my version, because it didn't look--or taste--like the french toast I got at a diner. I knew that part of it was the bread--thin slices of wheat bread, while great for sandwiches, were not, I knew, what the diner was making their french toast out of. The wheat bread I had made a very tough, dry french toast--diner french toast was thicker, and stayed moist but not soggy on the inside, while the outside got brown with eggy goodness.

The answer I eventually worked out was Texas Toast, available for about $2.75/loaf at Trader Joe's. Regular white sandwich bread (like the Farmhouse-style from Pepperidge Farm) will do if there is no TJ's nearby. A slice of Texas Toast is about 3/4 of an inch wide, compared to 1/2 of an inch for regular sandwich bread. This helps the toast stay moist on the inside.

I tried both Cook's Illustrated and Alton Brown's recipes for french toast. They were good, but a) they were overly complicated--CI's in particular requires 8 different ingredients, including whole milk, which I don't typically keep on hand--and b) the flavor they made was classic, rich, and French-inspired. I want diner, not petit dejeuner. So here is my adapted version, which borrows a couple ideas but definitely looks more like something a lady named Muriel might hand you on a bleary Sunday morning.

Ingredients

• 3 slices Texas Toast
• 1/2 cup of milk (I use 2% because it's what I have)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/2 tbs of butter

Hardware

• nonstick frying pan/skillet
• pie plate or other receptacle for egg mixure (microwave safe)
• whisk or fork for beating eggs

Directions

1. Beat eggs and milk together. Add butter to mixture in small pieces, and microwave mixture (up to 1 minute) until butter melts. (Keep a close eye on this and stir if necessary so the egg doesn't cook, just warms. Microwaves differ, and I've had some unpleasant surprises.)
   
2. Add vanilla to egg mixture, and stir to combine.
3. Let each piece of bread soak in egg mixture, 30-60 seconds each side, and then set aside to rest on a plate while the skillet heats over a medium flame. (A drop of water put in the skillet should boil quickly, but not skitter all over the surface of the skillet.)
4. Fry the pieces of toast until brown on both sides, about 3 min per side. (You can choose to put butter in the skillet to truly "fry" the french toast, but with a good, heavy non-stick skillet, I've never actually found that necessary in order to brown.)
5. Let finished toast slices wait in a 250 degree oven while you finish the remaining slices. The slices can stay in the oven up to 45 minutes, if preparing for a crowd.
6. Serve with butter and icing sugar, maple syrup, or fresh fruit as desired.

Spaghetti with Balsamic Tomatoes

This is something I put together the other day out of (almost) pantry-only ingredients; in any case, the ingredients are ones I tend to keep on hand. (If fresh basil isn't immediately available, then dried might be an option. You'll lose a certain amount of "brightness" in the final product and some eye appeal, but the balsamic vinegar has a fair amount of brightness to begin with.)

Depending on the balsamic vinegar you have, adding brown sugar to the braising tomatoes may not be necessary. The vinegar I use for this recipe is cheap--it comes in a half-gallon jug, really watery and pungent--which is why reducing it to this extent, which thickens it and reduces the harshness, is preferable to trying it straight. There's really no reason to use good-quality balsamic vinegar here, though; it would be a terrible waste.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 12-oz can of whole tomatoes (those packed in juice are preferable to those in puree)
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 2 tbs + 2 tsp olive oil
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 tbs brown sugar (optional)
  
• 2 tbs fresh basil chiffonade
• pinch kosher salt
• pepper to taste

Directions

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions. (I usually cook pasta 1-2 minutes less than the directions indicate to avoid mushy pasta.)
   
2. Drain can of tomatoes in a colander. Remove seeds, stems, and cores from the whole tomatoes where possible. (With very small or young tomatoes, the cores may not be woody and will not need to be removed.)
   
3. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat until shimmering.
   
4. Saute the drained tomatoes in the skillet, breaking them up with a spatula until they are roughly chopped.
5. Add balsamic vinegar to the tomatoes and cook until the vinegar is reduced into the tomatoes. You may add the brown sugar here if you wish, as well as salt, if necessary.
6. Set the tomatoes aside, clean the pan, and add 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat.
7. Saute garlic until golden with a pinch of kosher salt, then add to the tomato mixture
   
8. Toss the pasta with the tomatoes and garlic; add the fresh basil and top with freshly grated parmesan.
   

Mini-post: Blueberry Pancakes

I made blueberry pancakes today--pics to come soon--and they were pretty much my best attempt yet. In place of buttermilk, I use regular milk that has been curdled and thickened with lemon juice. To prevent overmixing, I beat the egg(s) in the "buttermilk" and added the liquids to the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar). This way, only a few stirs to combine finishes off the mixture. Today's pancakes were the fluffiest, most tender ones I've ever had. What do you know...Alton Brown proved right yet again!

Dial-A-Slice Apple Divider

I picked up this apple corer and slicer a few days before Christmas, on a rare trip to Williams Sonoma. (If it weren't next to Barnes & Noble I'd probably never go there.) The Dial-A-Slice Apple Divider cores and slices an apple into either 8 or 16 slices.

As I've previously mentioned, I make a lot of apple pie during the holidays. So anything that makes it easier is appreciated. So how well does it work? Well, here's my review.

Pros: There's no doubt it's easier to make it through four pounds of apples than with a knife. By the time I get to the last apple when working with a knife, my fingers are tired, wet, and stinging from the acids and the sugars in the apple juice, and I'm usually afraid that I will cut myself. This gadget is faster--I can get through the same number of apples in about a third of the time--easier, and saves the fingers. The "dial" device which allows you to switch from 8 to 16 slices consists of two rotating wheels with sharp metal spokes used to divide the apple into segments, and the mechanism is easy to use and sturdy. The rubberized handles are comfortable and much less likely to bruise the hands than all-metal models of apple slicers I have seen.

Cons: The manufacturer recommends handwashing the slicer, which is inconvenient, as the dial device can get tiny pieces of apple stuck in its hub. In order to remove them, you must reach past the sharpened metal slicers. (A toothpick might be a better solution than that rough-and-ready method.) The other main drawback lies in the fact that apples are not always perfectly round, with the core running straight down the center of the apple. This can lead to no stable surface on the bottom of the apple, making the consistent downward pressure used to divide the apple a chancy business. (Since I peel my apples first, which makes them slippery, I had a few apple projectiles shooting around the kitchen before I learned to slice a flat surface into the bottom of an apple.)

Summary: Much easier than a knife, and with some practice, I will be working through piles of apples in nothing flat. Cleanup could be easier, and there's more of a learning curve than I expected, but on the whole, worth it. 4 out of 5.

Price: $19.95 + S&H at Williams Sonoma's online store. I paid about $13 (sale price) at Willams Sonoma in Hingham, MA.

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UPDATE: Cook's Illustrated reviewed apple slicers, including this model, in their September 2009 issue. Click here for an updated post and link to the CI review.

Columela Artesano Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Here's a constant problem for a wannabe gourmet on a grad student's budget...getting good quality ingredients for affordable prices. It takes a fair amount of research, both online and the boots-on-the-ground kind. It also takes an ability to prioritize...for which products does getting the premium version actually make a difference?

One of those products where money frequently does equal quality is extra virgin olive oil. (Although not always, as certain fraudsters have recently proved. Also check out the full New Yorker article on fraud in the olive oil industry.) I've had some really bad experiences trying to cheap out on olive oil (the kind you drizzle, not the kind you cook with. The latter is a place you can go cheap.) So I've been looking for an extra virgin that was good quality, but not too rich for my blood. Say, nothing over $15-$16 a bottle.

Cook's Illustrated gave top marks in 2008 to Columela, and several other taste tests in magazines rated Columela at least near the top, so I decided to give it a try. $18 bucks for a half-liter bottle was still a little too expensive for me, though, no matter how good.

Fortunately, Boston is a foodie haven, which means that there are lots of stores that carry a range of premium brands at a high rate of turnover. This means that if you shop around, you can luck out. I ran into the bolder version of CI's winner, Columela Artesano Extra Virgin Olive Oil, at the Whole Foods near Washington Square in Brookline, for a mere $13.99 (on sale from its regular price of $14.99). Most online retailers seem to price it at around $15. (That is, of course, without shipping costs.)

It's buttery and very slightly sweet, but still sharp, peppery, with just the right amount of "green" flavor to it. It tastes like it's an actual agricultural product; really worth a savor.

And, you can savor the price, too.

UPDATE: Recently found Artesano at $9.99 for a 500 mL bottle at Marty's Liquors in Allston, across from the Harvard Ave. T stop. If you've never been to Marty's, it's not your typical college town liquor store. They have a great deli, specialty gourmet foods, an aisle full of microbrews, and a wine selection (complete with an ask-an-expert desk) that will take you from the $7 vin de table to the $200/case vintage Bordeaux. Where else in Allston can you pick up a six pack and a block of Gruyère in a single stop?

Update May 2010: Sadly, Marty's Liquors in Allston closed last year.  I've been to their Newton, MA location, and the prices are as much as half again what I used to pay in Allston. I now buy this olive oil wherever I can find it. Salumeria Italiana in the North End carries it in stock regularly. (For some other options for inexpensive-yet-good olive oils, check out my recent extra virgin olive oil tasting featuring Columela Artesano.)