Cookie Time - simple and basic

Nothing says comfort to me like a chocolate chip cookie.  I've tried many - soft, chewy, crispy, with nuts, without, with oats, with peanut butter...you get it.  Nothing satisfies me like the King Arthur Flour chocolate chip cookie.  It's perfection.  It's chewy but not gooey. It's crispy but not crumbly.  It's simple..batter and chocolate chips.


I am beginning a project and felt the need for comfort and felt the need to pamper myself and what better way to spend a lazy Sunday than baking and eating chocolate chip cookies?


I am reading a great book of daily practices called Simple Abundance and this month's focus is food - more specifically, today's focus is comfort food.  What other food can invoke childhood and adult memories like the chocolate chip cookie?


Here's the recipe and a few pictures of the finished comfort food product.  Enjoy!

• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed


• 2/3 cup granulated sugar


• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, right from the fridge, or at room temperature


• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract


• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract


• 1 teaspoon vinegar, cider or white


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 large egg


• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour


• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

1) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, butter, shortening, salt, vanilla and almond extracts, vinegar, and baking soda, beating until smooth and creamy.

2) Beat in the egg, again beating till smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is thoroughly combined.

3) Mix in the flour, then the chips.

4) Use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to scoop 1 1/4" balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them on all sides; they'll spread.

5) Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, till their edges are chestnut brown and their tops are light golden brown, almost blonde. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan till they've set enough to move without breaking. Repeat with the remaining dough.

These cookies were a wonderful treat for a tired and weary soul...

Baking as meditation...

Many people have written about baking bread as meditation. Just google it and lots of things will come up - from cookbooks to blogs.


I admit that I am not a baker. I love baked goods but I can't bake. Years ago I realized my baking skills were lacking due to a lack of patience. I am the baker that opens the oven door, that stands there tapping her feet, sneaking small pieces of bread, cake, brownies, cookies, rolls well before they are done. I end up tossing the whole lot because they weren't good enough. Well...that says something about me and my need for perfection.

I recently began honoring and loving myself on a level deeper than surface love (looking good, buying expensive products and items). I have always meditated but now I do it with ease and peace because I love myself and I need to take care of me.

This self love and self care spills over to the meals I create as well as my baking skills. I spent yesterday relaxing and making sticky buns for my beloved. Today I created pumpernickel bread - an homage to the man I love.

I used this recipe and it was a breeze: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpernickel-Rye-Bread/Detail.aspx. I used my bread machine and all I had to do was set and forget it.

Look at the finished product...it tastes as good as it looks.

Who says baking can't add a dimension to your meditation?

Happy Meals

Don't let the title of this blog fool you!  Happy Meals - I am sure people know about the infamous McDonald's happy meals.  There were no happy meals when I was a child (I'll be 47 this year) but my daughter (who is 24) loved them.

This is a different kind of happy meal.  This is a meal that makes you happy when you prepare as well as eat it.

I had a *happy* Independence Day!  The day was filled with grilled chicken, homemade barbecue sauce, my grandmother's potato salad, bleu cheese cole slaw, smoked pork loin stuffed with Andouille sausage (thanks to my friend Jerry), smoked chicken and a family recipe pound cake.   My neighbor, the Deej, came over and we ate and drank until we were full.

I can't share my bbq sauce recipe with you (I'm entering it in a contest) but I will share photos of the cake as well as the recipe.

This cake turned out to be amazing and I thought the frosting effects looked like a fireworks blast. Here's the recipe:

1/2 pound butter
1/2 cup crisco
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and shortening together until pale yellow, light and fluffy. Add sugar, a half cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to butter, sugar and egg mixture, alternating with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Add vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean

Food should be fun...it should make you happy.

Deal and website of the day!

Check it out!  Dorie Greenspan's bowls:

https://opensky.com/doriegreenspan/offer/duralex-lys-10-piece-set

Dinner tonight

I bought three beautiful fresh Tuna steaks from my fishmonger and plan on grilling them tonight.

Let's try this recipe on for size.

Tuscan-Style Grilled Tuna Steaks


4 fresh tuna steaks, 8 ounces each,
1-inch thick lemon, zested
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, about 2 tablespoons leaves stripped from stem
Handful flat leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Coarse salt and black pepper or grill seasoning
Extra-virgin olive oil, for cooking

Rinse and pat tuna steaks dry. Place zest on top of cutting board. Pile rosemary and parsley leaves on top of zest. Pile garlic and some coarse salt and black pepper or grill seasoning on top of herbs. Finely chop the garlic, herbs, and spices. Drizzle the olive oil over the tuna steaks just enough to coat each side. Rub herb and garlic mixture into fish, coating pieces evenly on each side. Let stand 10 minutes.

Grill tuna steaks 6 minutes on each side or 4 minutes on each side, if you prefer pink tuna at the center. Cook steaks over: high setting on indoor electric grill, medium high heat on outdoor gas grill or, 6 inches from hot, prepared charcoal.

I'll post the photos and my review tonight.

Cookies and more cookies

I've said it before and I shall say it again...I LOVE MY NEIGHBORS!

I live in a community.  For once in my life, I know my neighbors and they know me.  They look out for me and vice versa.  They bring me dinner when I'm home alone or have worked late.  It feels good to belong.

To reach out to my neighbors, I am baking Linzer cookies and cinnamon rolls for them this evening.  I'm so excited!!!

As the weather chills, I look forward to baking in my kitchen.  I love creating treats and meals. 

For Halloween the subdivision comes together for a chili cook off.  The adults dress in costume - I will be the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland this year.  Can't you just see and hear me?  "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!"  LOL

I made an awesome apple cider for last year's celebration and this year I'll whip up something delightful.

So tell me, what's your fall ritual?

Granola

I was on a granola kick.  I couldn't find one that would serve me so I turned to my tried and true...smitten kitchen.  If she doesn't have it...it's not to be had.  I adore her website (http://www.smittenkitchen.com/).

I baked and baked batches of these.  My friends Char and Ern came for a visit and Char is always such a doll and sends us home with lots of treats I repaid the favor and made Granola Bars.  Ern said Char has made them every day since they left my house.  HA!  I haven't made them since their visit.  I will make some this weekend.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/thick-chewy-granola-bars/

They are amazing.