Wedding Throwdown
I like having parties. Saturday night, Gentleman Caller and I had ~30 people over to celebrate our marriage and to stock our bar. We got lots of booze, so the next few months of wedded bliss will have an alcoholic haze. I made lots of food for the party: the previously mentioned gorgonzola and fig terrine, bacon ball, and cheese platter; lemon bars, maple-date bars, spinach-artichoke dip, smoked-ham rolls, black bean empanadas, pistachio-chili bread twists, Parmesan and oregano bread twists, lingonberry and almond puff pastries, apple puff pastry tartlets, and herbal sangria. And three batches of chocolate chip cookies, but only two batches were served at the party. Once batch was for private consumption only. Most of the food was easy to make, and all but the empanadas were new recipes to me. I won't make either of the bread twists again. They were good, but nothing special. The empanadas and the bacon ball, however, were excellent, and were the most sought-after treats on the table. A friend (I don't know her gourmand name) brought some fudge filled and frosted chocolate cupcakes that were super good. I had to hide some to make sure that I got a chance to taste them. There was quite a bit of food left at the end of the night (party ended at 4:30am!), so I sent doggie bags home with those still going strong at the end of the night. One important lesson learned from the Wedding Throwdown: use disposable cups when entertaining more than 10 people. GC and I washed lots of glasses yesterday!
Now, for the cookie review:
Batch #13 "Chocolate Chip Cookies with Salt"
Recipe from Epicurious, designed to show how sweet and salty flavors complement each other. This is the first recipe that I have not followed exactly. The recipe calls for vanilla sugar, which never have on hand. It is easy to make (stick a vanilla bean in a jar of sugar, in several weeks, the sugar takes on a light vanilla scent and flavor), but I didn't want to wait several weeks, so I used regular sugar. I don't think the vanilla sugar would have altered the recipe significantly anyway. Most chocolate chip recipes call for salt in the ingredients, but this one uses sea salt mixed into the batter and also sprinkled on top of the cookie before baking. Sea salt comes from sea water, which leaves behind large, coarse crystals of salt as it evaporates. The large, irregularly shaped salt crystals contain no additives and provide a crunchy texture. The salt added a new flavor and texture component to the cookies, but most tasters couldn't identify what made the cookie different. So, the flavor wasn't overly salty, but everyone could detect the salt after I revealed the secret ingredient. The cookies were good, though a bit unusual, but would not satisfy a craving for a traditional chocolate chip cookie. The cookies were a pale golden color with a thick, cakey texture. Batch #13 does not advance to the next round.
Batch #14 "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies (2)"
I'm not sure where this recipe came from, but it includes a basic recipe and variations with additional ingredients. There wasn't anything unusual about the basic recipe. The cookies were golden brown, spread out a bit, but kept a nice shape. They were really soft and chewy, which is what I look for in a cookie, but they broke apart easily. The flavor was excellent, but the cookie isn't sturdy enough to survive to the next round. The variations, however, will be included in the Ultimate Special Addition Chocolate Chip Cookie category.
Batch #15 "Chocolate Chip Cookies"
Recipe from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. This recipe uses mini chocolate chips. The cookies spread quite a bit, producing a large, round and flat cookie, not even 1/4" thick. It tastes good and managed to be both crispy and chewy. However, I like a cookie of substance that I can sink my teeth into. This is not that cookie.