lookie lookie

Say hello to my little friend....

darn soft cookies!

Apartment deep clean: check.  Exercise: check.  Hike: check.  Awesome acting class: check.  Day spent with a girlfriend: check.  Italian dinner: check.  It was a good 3-day weekend. 


As you might know, I love food blogs. I love reading them and I love drooling over them.  It's one of my favorite things to do, especially at work when there's a lull in my day.  I've been reading Slow Like Honey for a couple years and I love it and bet you would too!  It's the kind of place you find yourself reading archives because you're enjoying yourself.  On Thursday night I decided to make some cookies at work because I was in the mood to bake and it's nice to bring something sweet just cause. :) So I tried out SLH's Peanut Butter Cookies. Man. These were the softest cookies I have ever made. They were so yummy.  I switched it up a little, try it!

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Chunk Cookies
Adapted from Slow Like Honey

17.feb.2012
Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip,
Cherry Chunk Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (I used a generous cup)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temp.
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt (I tend to put  more salt then is asked for - I really like savory with my sweet! But just a teeny tiny bit more). Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture in two batches and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped cherries. Cover the dough and put in in the fridge for about 20 - 30 minutes.  

Get a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using a spoon get a meatball amount - not like, I'm having an entree meatball but like a swedish meatball from IKEA size - roll into a ball and put on cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using your palm, push down on each cookie a little, you're not mashing them you're just flattening them a little. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (I did 11 minutes). Don't overbake. They may appear to be underdone, but they're not. This is where they get good!

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk and remember to share!

Here are my other instagrams! (ps. I LOVE instagram)

18.feb.2012
Grant & Wendy hard at work - Wendy is an
awesome AD!

18.feb.2012
Josh & Vanessa getting ready to do some reaction
shoots so we have stuff for coverage. These two
are funny, funny actors!

20.feb.2012
Egg Day Off Salad Sandwich for lunch.

opening night cookies!!

cookies. what better than chocolate chip cookies on opening night. everyone gets their own little bunch. i havent started baking yet and the current brain debate is: make them a 'normal' cookie shape OR make like chocolate chip cookie bars. sounds sort of incredible...i decided to try this out with molasses instead of granulated sugar (mainly cause i have a lot of molasses that is just sitting in the pantry but also, b.c it reduces the sweetness factor).  with a little research on that handy-dandy-world-wide-web, i learned that you a) should not replace more than half the sugar content in a recipe w. molasses, b) you have to add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for every cup of molasses you add to the recipe, c) you use 1 1/3 cup molasses for every cup of sugar (*note: i replaced the granulated sugar b.c thats the more processed of the two sugars - brown and granulated) and d) reduce the liquid in the recipe by 5 tablespoons. (there's no liquid in the recipe so...i'm ignoring that step.) Ali (from Gimme Some Oven) suggests cooling the dough for 20/30 min to make sure your cookies dont go flat. on it!

i also have an affinity to dark chocolate and when you're making gifts for people...why not splurge a little. at whole foods i found sirius chocolate. its pure icelandic chocolate. i purchased 14.1 oz of their 70% extra bitter (damn...) i also borrowed this picture from someones website b.c i couldn't make sense of the actual companies website. doesnt this look amazing? Found here.

the packaging is even awesome.

so...i am taking my first batch out and they fell and look like chocolate on chocolate cookies...verdict will be the taste - i guess. verdict: they taste like molasses cookies w. a hint (slight) of chocolate. SO - if you dont like molasses cookies, don't make them my way. :)

Dad’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Gimme Some Oven)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. butter, slightly softened
• 1 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips (mini, regular, or chocolate chunks!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips.  Drop by large spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for about 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until they look cakey.

presents

stuff done: i had a friend move to manhattan literally yesterday. he crashed on my couch the night before moving to what i am sure is a kick ass apt on the uws. i would love to someday live on amsterdam or columbus between 69 and 80. its such a cool neighborhood, albeit expensive as all get out but very nice nonetheless.

anyway - i've been having an itch for something sweet. even at work i said, out loud, i want cookies or brownies but the idea of buying them makes my stomach turn. i want to bake something sweet and eat it. so...i decided to bake a house warming gift (which i'm not even going to eat, unless tomorrow he wants to share them) i'm baking thumbprint cookies. with black raspberry jam.

i got the recipe from one of the blogs i read: eat make read. i dig kelly's blog a lot. she has a lot of good recipes and ideas. i want to read the book she posted today, especially if i'm getting into this cooking/stuff blog. the only thing missing is a camera.

i made these cookies for kyle after we talked at length last night about how, when he cooks he googles what he's in the mood for and the filters it through blogs. he browses a bunch of the blogs i frequent, so i thought using a blog i love would do perfect justice to these little guys!

and here's the recipe:
Cookie Dough
based on this recipe from everyday food

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract OR 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 jar of jam

Preparation
1. in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.

2. add egg yolks, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. reserve egg whites. add vanilla and lemon extract or zest.

3. with mixer on low, add flour; mix just until combined. wrap in plastic; chill until firm, about 1 hour. to make ahead: refrigerate up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months.

4. preheat oven to 350°. remove chilled dough from refrigerator. using a small scoop, place round of dough on cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.

5. using the bowl of a 1/4 teaspoon, make an indentation into each cookie.

6. whisk the egg white with 1 teaspoon water and brush each cookie with the wash. (i forgot this step so i did it after i had put the jam in the cookies.)

7. spoon 1/2 teaspoon of your chosen jam into each cookie.

8. bake for 13-15 minutes.

for me, this yeilded 20 LARGE cookies and b.c they were so big, i cooked them for about 20 minutes or so. (they smell, divine! the whole house smells of buttery goodness.)

let's hope he likes them!