Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently came across a statement from the authors of this bake-book that in their kitchen the cookie is king.  If that's in fact the case, then I say all hail the chocolate chip.  Cookie, that is.

So, when I came across this recipe, it was a no-brainer for my selection for Project Pastry Queen.  Two types of nuts.  Three types of chocolate chips.  Chewy.  Gooey.  Uber awesome cookies.

Which brings me to the question, if the cookie is king in the kitchen, what the heck is queen?!?

PS - The Monarch said this is queen in the kitchen.  I thought he'd say it's me. Go figure...

 

All-time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies (The Pastry Queen)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups walnuts

1 1/2 cups pecans

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 scant teaspoon salt

3 cups chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli milk, bittersweet and semi-sweet chips)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Arrange the nuts on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast them for 7-9 minutes until golden brown and aromatic.  Cool the nuts and then chop coarsely.

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats, or grease generously with butter or cooking spray.  Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars in a large bowl on medium speed about 1 minute, until fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed for one minute.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix on medium-low speed until incorporated.  Stir in the walnuts, pecans and chocolate chips.

3. Drop the dough onto prepared baking sheets using a 1 3/4" diameter ice cream scoop.  Spread the cookies about 1 1/2" apart as they will spread.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are medium brown around the edges. 

Focaccia with Grapes or Schiacciata con L'uva if you want to get Italian!

 

"Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"

 

So my Marvin the Martian mug kept (subconsciously) murmuring to me, as the flat and burnish-colored focaccia emerged from the oven.  Something's not right.  Where are the baked peaks and valleys that rose and fell from the dimples in the fresh focaccia dough?  Where is the shimmering lightly-golden crust?  Where are the craters overflowing with amethyst juices from the Concord grapes?  Where are the glistening fragments of sea salt scattered over this cragged landscape of doughy goodness? 

 

But most importantly, where is the kaboom?!?  Specifically, the earth-shattering kaboom?  The moment where the fever pitch of anticipation erupts when the Schiacciata con L'uva, baked to perfection, is finally ready? 

 

Kaboom, my eye.  Kaplooey.  That's all I heard. 

I suppose I'll have to make another grape focaccia.  Now, where did I put my illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator?  I may need it to destroy this one...

 

In case you're wondering what may have gone wrong, I suspect that the 00 flour contributed to a thin-crust focaccia.  Great for a Mexican pizza.  Not so good for this recipe.

 

Focaccia with Grapes (Schiacciata con L'uva)

adapted from Gourmet (January 2001)

 

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
• 3 tablespoons Chianti or other dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3/4 cup warm water (110–115°F)
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups Italian "00" flour or half all-purpose flour and half cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1/4 cup fine-quality extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Tuscan)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups Concord or wine grapes (1 1/2 pounds)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Directions

For crust:
1. Stir together yeast, wine, honey, and warm water in a large bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes. 

2. Stir in 1 cup flour (mixture will be lumpy). Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 40 to 50 minutes. 

3. Add oil, 1 1/2 cups flour, and sea salt and stir until a sticky dough forms.

Knead dough on a floured work surface, gradually adding up to 1/2 cup more flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic but still soft, 8 to 10 minutes. 

4. Transfer dough to an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. 

5. Turn out dough onto work surface and knead several times to release air. Cut dough in half. Roll out 1 piece of dough, keeping remaining piece covered, with a lightly floured rolling pin into a rough 12- by 10-inch rectangle. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled 15- by 10- by 1-inch baking pan and gently stretch to cover as much as possible of bottom (dough may not fit exactly). 

6. Scatter half of grapes over dough, then sprinkle grapes with 1/4 cup sugar. Roll out remaining piece of dough in same manner and put on top of grapes, gently stretching dough to cover grapes. Scatter remaining grapes and 1/4 cup sugar on top and gently press into dough. Cover pan with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°F. 

7. Bake schiacciata in middle of oven until well browned and firm in middle, 40 to 45 minutes. Loosen sides and bottom of schiacciata with a spatula and slide onto a rack to cool. Serve at room temperature.

Yogurt-cheese Honey Cheesecake

Chick flicks.  The bane of any male's existence.  If you spot a male accompanying his female companion to such an event, then chances are that it is under due protest or as punishment for crimes previously committed.

Unless, it is true love.  You know, true love.  The kind of love that Westley waxed poetic about for his Princess Buttercup.  The kind where if her love were a grain of sand, his would be a universe of beaches.  (That's ok, she didn't get it either.  Good thing she was of unsurpassed beauty!)  The kind of love that brought him back from the brink of death (well, technically he was mostly dead, but still). 

I'm sure The Monarch's love for me is so true.  After all, he did sit through both Bridget Jones movies with me.  Oi.  And Hitch.  And 27 Dresses.  And Love, Actually (although come to think of it, that one may have been for crimes committed).  And SATC2.  And Eat, Pray, Love....  Whoa there.  Those last few were actually girls night out movies.  Hmmm.  I'm sensing a pattern here.  All the former movies were watched together while we were courting.  Now, chick flicks have been relegated to, well, chicks.  Hmmph.

That's ok.  I have a DVD copy of P.S. I Love You on stand-by.  In case he forgets a birthday or anniversary or something like that....

So, in the spirit of this post, here's a recipe that I think is decidely chick-y.  It's a sort-of-cheesecake, made with a yogurt-cheese, to keep the calories svelte.  Just like we chicks like to be.  Svelte.

Here goes.......

First the crust.....

Don't forget to make the yogurt-cheese.....

Quite the filling filling.....

And here she comes.....

Yogurt-cheese Honey Cheesecake (adapted from "Fresh"/Anna Olson)

Yogurt Cheese

2 cups 3.5% yogurt

2 cups creamy ricotta cheese

Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling

1 recipe Yogurt-cheese

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

raspberries

Directions

1. Prepare the yogurt-cheese the day before.  Stir the yogurt and ricotta together and place in a cheesecloth set inside a strainer.  Place the strainer over a bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and chill for 24 hours.  Discard the whey (liquid in the bowl) and refrigerate the yogurt-cheese until ready to use.

2. Preheat the oven to 325F.

3. For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, lemon zest, salt and melted butter and press the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie plate.  Bake for 10 minutes, then cool while preparing the filling.

4. For the filling, stir the yogurt-cheese with the honey, egg, lemon zest and vanilla.  Spoon this into the cooled crust and bake for 30 minutes.  Cool to room temperature then chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

5. Top with fresh fruit. 

Seventh Heaven Chocolate Truffle Cake

 
Are you vanilla or are you chocolate?

Well, if you're chocolate, then do I have a treat for you!  This week's Project Pastry Queen was a Seventh Heaven Chocolate Truffle Cake, picked by Sarah of 20something cupcakes.  It's a towering chocolate behemoth.  Chocolate cake, chocolate truffle filling and chocolate ganache frosting.  It contains more Ghirardelli in each slice than in the entire Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco!  (OK, that may be a teensy exaggeration but you get what I mean!)  

The only thing is that the Monarch and the Mrs' household is a wee bit saturated with the sweets this week (the Monarch will never admit this but it is so) - so I made a half recipe.  Three layers instead of six.  Only a pound of chocolate instead of two.  A half dozen eggs instead of a full dozen.....

But that still leaves me with the question: are you vanilla or chocolate?  Me?  Yes.  The answer is yes.  That's all I'm saying for now.

Here's my (disco-ed up!) version of the cake:

The chocolate cake.....

The chocolate truffle filling.....

The chocolate ganache.....

The whole kit-and-kaboodle.....

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes - by the Monarch

 

As you may or may not know, it was the Mrs the Monarch’s birthday this week thus my stint as guest blogger today.  Now, I don’t know much about baking (eating is another thing but baking not so much) but dang it, the Mrs the Monarch needed a birthday cake so it was time for me to step up to the plate...or mixing bowl as it were and get down to business.

Step one involved getting the Mrs the Monarch to choose the cake she wanted.  A feat not without peril.  I mean the choices are endless.  Chocolate cake, cheesecake, devil’s food  cake, angel food cake,  upside down flint rubble double bubble cake.  Ah the dilemmas!  In the end peanut butter and jelly cupcakes won the day (Thanks Martha).

So, let’s get down to business.  First things first I had to banish the Mrs the Monarch to a day lounging in bed reading and watching movies.  This is a crucial step when cooking with the Mrs.the Monarch.  When you cook like she does, there is a fair amount of tut-tutting when my more chaotic style of baking comes into play (though I will still state to this day that it was on fire when I got there!).  She’s got the mad skills, I’m just....mad I guess.

So, after preheating the oven to 375 I was off to the races.   

First I whisked together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and stuck it to the side.  Then with the mighty mixer I creamed the butter and sugar together (apparently with the wrong attachment but live and learn).  Then I mixed in the peanut butter, and eggs (one at a time).  Then came the vanilla and I slowly started mixing in my flour mixture (which made far more of a mess than I care to admit).  Added sour cream and peanuts and that was that!

  

Put everything into cupcake tins (3/4 full) and bake for 22 minutes.  Now, to make sure that everything is cooked through they say to stick a toothpick in to make sure it comes out clean.  I don’t like toothpicks in general.  It makes too big a hole in my opinion.  I use a dry piece of spaghetti .  Tiny hole and if things aren’t quite done I just break off the wet part and poof!  Brand new  pokey thing!

 

Then came the icing.  Martha Stewart has a mighty good peanut butter icing recipe.  I think I could eat that by itself.  Here’s the deal:

6 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup creamy peanut butter

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup heavy cream (which pound for pound  is really not any heavier than any other cream as far as I can tell)

1. Beat the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until it’s all pale and fluffy.  Add the salt & peanut butter and mix it all together (sort of sounds like the Hokey Pokey at this point), then add the vanilla.

2. In another bowl whisk the cream until medium-stiff peaks form.  Fold the cream into the peanut butter mixture and that’s the end of that.

When the cupcakes come out of the oven they look nice and golden.  Very friendly looking I think.  Then comes the icing.  This is when I discovered the trick to making all those cupcakes look so nice and round on the top.  It has nothing to do with the cupcake like I always thought but instead you just keep adding icing until the bloody thing is round!  I SO like the way they think!  Then I made a dent in the top of each cupcake with a teaspoon, added some strawberry jelly and voila!  Peanut butter and jelly cupcakes!  I tried (eventually unsuccessfully) to make a little heart shaped indentation for the Mrs the Monarch’s birthday cupcake but in the end it turns out the jam likes to escape if you don’t stick them in the fridge right away.  So, my birthday heart turned into more of a birthday blob but the thought was there.  The spirit is willing even if the skills are weak!

  

The Mrs the Monarch got her birthday cupcakes (and despite the fact that I am the one writing the blog today I swear she is just fine!) and I got to bop around in the kitchen and use every bowl and utensil we own...and do the dishes afterwards.  I am SUCH a well trained baker to be.  Who knows, since I did the dishes, maybe the Mrs. will let me use the kitchen unsupervised again.  If so I’ll be sure to keep you posted but in the meantime, repeat after me: “It was on fire when I got there!”, “It’s SUPPOSED to look like that” and of course “It’s not burnt...it’s BLACKENED!”

Note: Cupcake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart "Cupcakes".  Blogging by the Monarch.  Still off this week lounging and reading - the Mrs. the Monarch.

Jailhouse Potato Cinnamon Rolls

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

Well, I'm not late for the Mad Tea Party, but I'm a wee bit late in posting the Jailhouse Potato Cinnamon Buns, which is this week's challenge in the Project Pastry Queen.  See, a little earlier this summer I came across a recipe for peach kolaches, then another one for fried hand pies, and then one for a peach cream cheese tart.  I sensed a theme.  Sure enough, all the recipes were by the Pastry Queen, Rebecca Rather, proprietor-ess and baker-in-chief of the Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe in Fredericksburg, Texas.  And, lucky for me, there was an established group of bloggers who dedicated themselves to baking their way through The Pastry Queen cookbook, and who graciously included me in their gang.  

So, the first recipe to come down the rabbit-hole is one for cinnamon buns.  It was chosen by Katy's Kitchen.  And it was a Texas-size recipe!  A half-batch netted about 16 rolls!  (The Monarch is a very happy man today!)

Here's how it went down.  For the recipe, check out Katy's blog.

Potato Cinnamon Buns

Yes, you did read right.  Potatoes.  In the dough.  

 
 The KitchenAid got a rest since the dough was mixed by hand.

Proofed...then punched down.  Jailhouse rolls are tough!

 Time to get things rolling.....

sliced, baked and iced.....  Enjoy!!!!!