My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies...because I love you

For the last year I have searched for my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have tried more recipes that I can remember, I've made variations and combinations of multiple recipes, and I have taken in countless cookies to my coworkers. When I got close, I felt greedy and nervous. After all, I had done all of the work and I wasn't sure I wanted my favorite recipe given out. Then I got over it. Why shouldn't I share my recipe? It will only increase the cookie joy in the world.

2 sticks butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 lb chocolate bar







A couple notes: Use cake flour and not all-purpose flour. Seriously. Don't question it, just trust me. I had a patient that used to own a bakery. She passed along this tip to me and, to my dismay, it made a difference. For the chocolate, using a bar limits the wax that goes into chips. This melts the chocolate through the layers of the cookie. I prefer milk chocolate, hands down. I've tried milk chips, semi-sweet chips, milk & semi-sweet chips, combined milk & semi-sweet bars, and a milk chocolate bar. The milk chocolate bar wins without question. The bar vs. chips tip comes from notwithoutsalt.com which is actually where the foundation of this recipe comes from. My tweaks are the cake flour, baking time, and I don't top with salt. I wanted to prove her wrong about this being the ultimate cookie recipe and then I tried it. It was pretty good, but once I made the tweaks: perfection.

Cream the butter and the sugars until light. Add one egg at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Make sure you're scraping down the sides of the bowl as you mix. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined then, with a spatula, fold in the chocolate.





Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 360 degrees (yes, 360) for approximately 9 minutes. The cookies should look like they're not quite finished. Remove from oven, but allow them to sit on the baking sheet for a couple minutes longer to complete the baking. (This helps them to be chewy and heavenly.)



When I tell you I've tried every combination, I'm not kidding. But to have a fair tasting, I made the four combinations at the same time. It's the kind of person I am. Some say OCD, I say...well, I say nothing because I'm too busy focusing on the details.


Milk chips


Milk & semi-sweet chips


Semi-sweet chips


Chocolate bar


My favorite part of baking is sharing the food with others. :)

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

You may remember my professed love for Starbucks' Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake. No? Well, let me remind you. I LOOOOOOOVE it. I love it so much that when I stopped in Starbucks a couple weeks ago on my drive home from Columbia, I was simply giddy to find there was one slice left. And then I was instantly paranoid that the woman in front of me would order it. She did not and so I smiled with glee about my success. Anyway, since trying the coffee cake while visiting Tulsa I've been slightly obsessed with the combination of banana and chocolate chips. I made a couple breads and found one I liked pretty well. So, when I had bananas that REALLY needed to be used I planned on making banana chocolate chip bread. Then, the idea of banana chocolate chip cookies came to mind. I found a recipe online which comes from the Miraval Spa. I have no clue where that spa is located, but I can tell you that they know their banana chocolate chip cookies. Ridiculous. These cookies were gooooood. Make them today. Or in a couple days when your bananas are really ripe. Hey, it counts as fruit in your diet....right?

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup raw cane sugar (Turbinado aka Sugar in the Raw)
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups quick-cooking oats (I only had old-fashioned oats which worked fine.)
1 cup chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and applesauce and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugar, bananas, eggs and vanilla.



Beat until smooth. Gradually add the flour and baking soda. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips until incorporated. Drop the dough by teaspoons onto the baking sheets. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.


Look! A heart. :) Awwww.
(If you can't see it, please don't judge my sanity. Or do, just don't report your concerns.)

The French Toast Experiment

A couple years ago I saw an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives where a restaurant made Capn Crunch French Toast. I wanted to make it, but forgot about it until I saw a rerun a year later. Yet again, I didn't get around to making it. After hearing about a cornflake coated french toast I was once again reminded of the recipe. I tried it last week with Jenny and thought it was okay. When I was planning on my second attempt for the blog, I decided I might as well test the corn flake recipe too. And then in the cereal aisle, I wondered about the option of Frosted Flakes. The recipe is the same for all. After trying all three, I think that the Capn Crunch works the best and that the whipped topping is what makes it. However, I've also decided that I prefer regular French Toast to the cereal dipped versions. This realization reminded me of a wonderful baked French Toast that my mom discovered years ago, so I'll be attempting to hunt down that recipe to share.

.....Can I be honest? I wouldn't bother with these. Let me simply advise you not too. I mean, if you're dying to try them, go for it. Just know that I plan on never making them again. That's how unimpressed I felt. The Pioneer Woman likes to "keep it real", so in following her example, I'm going to try to steer you clear of less than delicious recipes. In fact, I just decided that I'm not going to post the recipe. If you want to attempt it, just make your basic french toast egg bath and then dip in the cereal. Here are some photos, so you can see the outcome.

Cowboy Calzones minus the Cowboy

The first time I saw the Cowboy Calzone recipe I thought about a pizza version. Today I gave it a go. It's simple and pretty tasty. So here's my Cowboy Calzone minus the Cowboy.

You're going to start with the PW's pizza crust recipe. My photos for today are less step-by-step because it's hard to use a hand mixer, pour, and take photos with just two hands. Is that enough of an excuse to buy a stand mixer? I didn't think so, but it was worth a shot.

Pizza Crust
1 teaspoon or 1/2 packet active dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or be a rebel like me...you'll see)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Inside:
Sauce of your liking
Cheese
Pepperoni
(Or whatever the heck you'd like inside)

Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Don't stir it yet.


(Note: I have a glass measuring cup, so I just added the yeast there. It saved washing another dish. You're welcome.) Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.






Sooo...I didn't have kosher salt. I used the hand grinder we had, but then my hand got tired. So I used the pink salt that I think is sea salt, but I really have no clue because it's in a glass jar without a label. To be safe, I topped off the teaspoon with regular salt. I wanted to play it safe. Feel free to use just one kind of salt. I have issues, let's just accept it and move on.

With an electric mixer (or hand-mixer if you're named Amy) on low speed, drizzle in the olive oil until just incorporated.


This is as close to an action shot as you'll get with a simultaneous mixing/pouring step while using a hand mixer.

Return to your yeast/water mixture. You can stir it gently now. Add it into the flour/oil mixture; mix until the dough forms a ball. (I did the majority of this by hand since the dough gets caught up in the mixer pretty easily.) Drizzle a little olive oil into a clean bowl. Toss the ball of dough in the bowl and turn over to coat in oil. Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, or cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.


(After 75 minutes)

Okay, now we're switching to the Cowboy Calzone recipe...sort of. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Divide the pizza dough into 8 equal-size balls.



With a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll each ball into a 6-inch circle. (Huh. I didn't read the 6-inch part until just now. Oh well.) Place the sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on the middle of each circle.





Fold half the circle over the other half, gently press to slightly spread and flatten the filling inside. Press a fork along the edge to seal closed, then transfer the calzone to a greased baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Brush the calzones with olive oil.



Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.


Rootbeer + calzone = delicious

Oceano Bistro

I made a quick trip to home and the St. Louis area on Sunday. It was a really brief trip, but I was able to go to Oceano Bistro for dinner. Holy cow. Or should I say, holy fish? DELICIOUS. Deeeeeelicious. I would swoon over this food. Okay, I did swoon over the food and I even thanked the waitress for her excellent suggestion. And then I hugged her....okay, I didn't hug her.

I ordered the Northern California Rock Snapper (pan roasted with potato gnocchi, artichoke fricassee, pancetta, Reggiano soubise and parsley oil). If you feel the need to lick your screen, I'll understand. I might judge you a little, but I'll understand.

Coffee Cake

When I think of coffee cake I think of my mom. She made it frequently for breakfast on Sunday morning. I'd sit at our kitchen table eating my coffee cake and drinking milk while my dad read the Sunday paper and my mom prepped Sunday lunch (usually roast beef with carrots and potatoes). Yesterday, the Pioneer Woman posted what she described as the best coffee cake ever. What better way to start my week off work than with a little coffee cake?




Cake
1 1/2 stick Butter, Softened
2 cups Scant Sugar
3 cups Flour, Sifted
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/4 cup Whole Milk (I used 2%)
3 whole Egg Whites, Beaten Until Stiff

Topping
1 1/2 stick Butter, Softened
3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
1 1/2 cup Pecans, Chopped (I didn't use pecans. My mom never did and I'm not really a fan of nuts.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat egg whites and set aside.



Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined. Don’t overbeat. Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula. Spread in a well-greased 9 x 13 or 8 x 11-inch baking pan (use the latter if you want thicker slices of cake.)
In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle all over the top.


So I may have gotten a little distracted and mixed the crumbly topping way too much. Drats. In this case, do as I say, not as I do.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly.

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies

I was at Barnes & Noble last week and I saw America Test Kitchen's recent magazine of top recipes. I flipped through it and made a mental list of recipes I'd like to try, but when I came to the brownie recipe I was intrigued. Now, you may remember from a recipe posting that I'm not really a brownie fan. But after that recipe, I read a post from the Pioneer Woman that discussed the difference in baking chocolate. Wondering if that was part of my disappointment, I decided to try this recipe. Guess what? It's not. I really don't prefer brownies. Period. These had a more distinct chocolate flavor, but I wasn't a fan of the texture. They were moist, but stuck to your mouth. I've decided that the next time I have to make brownies, I'm going with a box. Yup. A box. And I won't even feel bad about it.



5 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into quarters
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Fold two 12-inch pieces of foil lengthwise so that they measure 7 inches wide. Fit one sheet in bottom of greased pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; overhang will help in removal of baked brownies. Fit second sheet in pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.


(I was a rebel and didn't fold the foil. It worked just fine. Save yourself a step.)

2. In medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost-simmering water, melt chocolates and butter, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth. Whisk in cocoa until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.



3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk warm chocolate mixture into egg mixture; then stir in flour with wooden spoon until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan, spread into corners, and level surface with rubber spatula.




Bake until slightly puffed and toothpick inserted in center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35 to 40 minutes.




Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan using foil handles. Cut into 1-inch squares and serve. (Do not cut brownies until ready to serve; brownies can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated up to 5 days.)