blue artichoke

Crawfish Etoufee (nee Magenta Green Goddess) called me on my birthday and we had one of our usual long-winded conversations that just seem to pick up where we last left off, even though we talk only a few times a year. As we were talking, she was making a batch of her favorite hot chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. Surprised that I had never tasted her cookies, she said she'd make me a batch. And sure enough, about a week later, right in the middle of a particularly sluggish weight circuit exercise session in my living room, the UPS guy knocked on the door. Usually I avoid all interruptions when I work out, but that day I was feeling particularly distracted and unmotivated, so after a set of squats, I decided to see what UPS brought me. A box of hot chocolate-chocolate chip cookies! I ate one immediately, and the back of my throat was on fire. So I ate another one. And another. Back to the workout! In between every set of exercises, I'd reward myself with a cookie or two (luckily, they were small). By the end of the workout, I'd eaten 2/3 of the bag. I saved the rest for GC to try, but after he ate a few, there were three left, so I ate them for breakfast the next morning. Those cookies didn't stand a chance; they didn't last even 24 hours in Chez Blue Artichoke!

I asked for the recipe, of course. How could I pass up a cookie so addictively painful (I'm particularly sensitive to cayenne, so these cookies almost brought tears to my eyes. Yet I couldn't stop eating them) and delicious? Crawfish Etoufee posted the recipe in the comments section of my last entry, but these cookies deserve their own post. So, without further buildup, here's the recipe:

Hot Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields 3 dozen
Preheat Oven to 375

Ingredients:
3/4 c [1 1/2 stick] butter (I use Earthbalance instead)
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa
3/4 c sugar plus 1/3 c to use later for rolling cookies (I use unbleached, raw organic sugar)
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp (or to taste) cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c semi sweet choc chips (small ones work best, but i used the reg size for the batch i sent you)

Heat butter in large saucepan until just melted. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa, sugars, cayenne, cinnamon and salt. Stir until well-mixed and slightly cooled. (I usually wait 10 or 15 minutes before I go to the next step)

Add eggs, flour, baking soda and stir until completely blended. Stir in choc chips.

If dough is too sticky to work with, let chill for 10 minutes in the refrigerator.

Roll dough into one-inch balls, roll in sugar and arrange on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. (really try to keep them small, as the cookies really are better when they are medallion sized after baking - just the right dose for the spice they pack!)

Bake at 375 for about 10-12 minutes, until the top of the cookies crack.

Notes: The cookies will be very soft when you take them out of the oven. Do NOT bake them more than 12 minutes!!! I usually check on them after 9 and take them out at 10 minutes.

My tongue is tingling just thinking about them!

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So, the 30 New Things are finally over. Now, onto 31 New Things! I think I'll take a cue from another friend who adopted my 30 New Things idea and start a list in advance of all the things I want to do before I turn 32. That way I won't be scrounging around for something new to do or contemplating illegal activities just to fill out my list. I'm working on my list now, and am open to suggestions.

I already received one challenge, in the form of a birthday present. The present was an apron. And the card read: "So- here's an idea for one of your 30 new things -- wear a ridiculously girly apron while you cook... ONLY the apron! HA HA!"

Done.

I can't believe I just posted a scantily-clad pic of myself.
Apparently modesty is lost at 31.

What I am strategically holding is our Valentine Dinner, a roast duck with lavender and honey. That's the same recipe I made last year, to kick off my 30 New Things list. I think last year's was better because I had a bigger and juicier bird. I also made roasted butternut squash with sage and thyme and, of course, artichokes. For dessert we had an assortment of truffles and the chocolate chip cookies I've been thinking about all year.

Not Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Though the recipe says NOT Mrs. Fields, I think it is the recipe. And if it isn't, it should be, because these cookies are fantastic. I used to make them a lot in middle- and high school, but then sort of forgot about them as I moved on to fancier cooking. Once I started the January diet and cut out all sweets and grains, I started thinking and dreaming about these cookies. I made a batch yesterday for my birthday, and am having a difficult time resisting them. I used dark chocolate chips, pecans and increased the vanilla a bit. I also increase the amount of chocolate chips (just until it looks like there is a good ratio of chips to batter) and omit the grated milk chocolate. These cookies will be hard to beat. They're awesome.

½ c. butter (1 stick)
½ c. white sugar
½ c. brown sugar
1 egg
½ t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 ¼ c. oatmeal – blended
¼ t. salt
½ t. baking powder
½ t. soda
6 oz. bag chocolate chips
2 oz. milk chocolate, grated (optional)
¾ c. chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Mix together flour, oatmeal, salt, powder and soda. Combine wet and dry ingredients; add chocolate and nuts.

Make golf ball-sized cookies and bake on ungreased cookie sheets, 2” apart, for 6-10 minutes at 375. Do not over bake.

Yield: ~2 dozen.

Any other bright ideas for my 31 New Things list?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

GC and I are flying home for the holidays this year, so my whirlwind holiday baking is somewhat diminished. I won't be giving many baked goodies as gifts because delicate cookie trays are no match for TSA baggage handlers. Still, I wasn't about to let that stifle my holiday baking urges, so I made cookie trays for my neighbors. If you keep in mind that I have only two intended recipients (though those neighbors will undoubtedly share with their friends and families), you will grasp the ridiculous magnitude of these cookie trays. I like to include five selections in a cookie tray. One selection doesn't make a tray. Two says I couldn't decide which to make, so I made both. Three is OK, but provides many cookies in few varieties, so if someone doesn't like one selection they're stuck with 1/3 of a cookie tray to dispose of. Four may be the perfect number, but it's even and therefore results in a too-symmetrical arrangement. Five says I like you and want to make everything for you, but I must restrain my goodwill; these are the recipes I just could not bear for you to miss. Plus, five selections give plenty of options for flavors and textures and are aesthetically pleasing.

On the cookie tray this year: gingersnaps, mini-chocolate chip snowballs, white-chocolate cranberry-orange fudge, peppermint brownies, Christmas tree butter cookies and peanut butter cookies. Ooops. That's six. The peanut butter cookies are the anomaly here, not very Christmasy and probably should have been left out. But I was in the mood for peanut butter cookies, so I made them. Back off.

Each recipe made 2-4 dozen cookies. Remember that I had two intended recipients and note that there are about six of each cookie on the tray. It doesn't take a mathlete to figure out that we have dozens of cookies tempting us at the Blue Artichoke headquarters.

The three best cookies are, in no particular order, the gingersnaps, the Christmas tree butter cookies and the mini-chocolate chip snowballs. Recipes follow. The peanut butter cookies are good, but are nothing special compared to all the other holiday superstars. The peppermint brownies are also good, but if you're going to make a chocolate-peppermint treat, the cookies that I made for GC's office party are far superior to these brownies. The white-chocolate cranberry-orange fudge is excellent, but I won't give the recipe because my mom and I usually make it as gifts. We'd have to find another super awesome treat to give if everyone we know already has the recipe for this fudge. Until that happens, consider this a secret family recipe.

Mini Chip Snowball Cookies

1-½ cups (3 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels
½ cup finely chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 sprinkle of powdered sugar

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

BEAT butter, sugar, vanilla extract and salt in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour; stir in morsels and nuts. Shape level tablespoons of dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven. Sift powdered sugar over hot cookies on baking sheets. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar if desired. Store in airtight containers.

These made ~ 2 1/2 dozen awesome cookies.
Nestle: www.verybestbaking.com

Somebody Named Beth's Gingersnaps

¾ cup butter or shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground allspice
sugar to roll the balls in

1. Beat shortening or butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well.
2. Add the egg and molasses.
3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add to molasses/shortening mixture.
4. Chill the dough. Beth says she often skips this step. Blue Artichoke chilled the dough for a few hours.
5. Roll into 1" balls, then roll the balls in sugar.
6. Place the balls on cookie sheets, then bake at 375° for about 10 minutes.

The recipe makes two to three dozen cookies, which will be delicious and soft. They'll remain delicious but slowly get crunchier as time goes by, assuming you can restrain yourself. And they're wonderful with vanilla ice cream!

This recipe made ~3 dozen gingersnaps.
http://www.stuttercut.org/hungry/archives/recipes/000101.html

The recipe for the Christmas tree butter cookies deserves an entry of its own, so look for that recipe later this afternoon.

Getting to Know All About You: Holiday shopping: done, in progress, or not yet begun?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

And... we're off! Holiday baking has officially begun. Yesterday I got an email from GC asking if I could bake some sort of treat for him to contribute to his office holiday party. Sure, I said, when? Oh, tomorrow. So, after work, I pawed through my baking supplies to see what I had to work with. A bag of Andes Peppermint Crunch looked good, but I didn't have the rest of the ingredients to make either of the recipes on the back of the bag. I turned to my vast collection of cookie recipes and found one that would work. The original recipe called for a bag of chocolate chips and some crushed up candy canes to be added to a chocolate cookie batter. Out with the chips and canes, in with the peppermint crunch. Done!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon mint extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cocoa
1 bag Andes Peppermint Crunch

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and mint extract.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, beating until blended.

Fold in peppermint crunch; drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 3 inches apart, onto lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 12 to 14 minutes (do not overbake). Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 2-1/2 dozen
Adapted from Southern Living, DECEMBER 1997

I also changed the fat in these cookies. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of butter plus 1/4 c. of shortening. I no longer keep shortening around, so I just doubled the butter. This caused the cookies to spread out more, producing a thinner, crisper cookie. If you want big, fluffy cookies, then use half butter and half shortening. Shortening helps the cookie to keeps it's shape when baking.

These cookies were really good, with a nice mint flavor that wasn't overpowering or astringent, as some mint cookies seem to be. I'm not doing a whole lot of holiday baking this year because I'm flying home for the holidays and don't want to stuff my suitcase with fragile cookies, but the next time I go to a cookie swap or design a holiday cookie tray, these cookies will be included. For sure.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite holiday treat?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)