A Decent, Honest Cookie

Even though I consider myself more of an optimist than a pessimist, I am also a realist. And the reality is there are some people out there who do some bad things. So when you lose your wallet you would expect that it's lost for good and that your identity might be compromised (i.e. stolen). Just when you think that the world can be a pretty messed up place someone does something to remind you that people are good. Like when you get a postcard in the mail saying that the sender found your wallet and had no way to contact you except by using the address on your driver's license. And if you are indeed the rightful owner of said wallet please call them to describe the wallet and its contents and then come to their house to claim the wallet. It's comforting to know that there are still truly decent, honest people in the world!

What is more decent and honest than a chocolate chip cookie? Not to say that other cookies are any less decent. In fact, I would say that all cookies are decent. Maybe I should call chocolate chip cookies comforting.

A few weeks ago someone asked me if I had a chocolate chip cookie recipe on my blog and it was at that moment that I realized I have never posted one. When I first started making chocolate chip cookies, like many American home bakers, I used the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe found on the back of the bag. In high school and college, any homemade chocolate chip cookie was delicious so Toll House cookies sufficed. And I continued to use the Toll House recipe for many years after that, but it always bothered me that I would get inconsistent results with that recipe. I'm sure the Toll House recipe is a good one, but it was just incompatible with me. Even to this day I have no idea what I was doing wrong in the kitchen. So after many more unhappy batches, I finally abandoned the Toll House recipe and searched for a new one.

It was around that time when former Chez Panisse pastry cook David Lebovitz's "Room for Dessert" came out. I was a big fan of SF Bay Area pastry chefs at the time (and still am a big fan) and I bought every cookbook written by my local "pastry heroes". From the very first time I tried David Lebovitz's recipe many years ago to this very day, I always get great consistent results.

Chocolate cookie recipes are a matter of personal taste. There are a million recipes out there for chocolate cookies and everybody has their favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Some might even claim that their recipe is the best. I would never call this recipe perfect or the best, but it's the one that really works for me, so it's the best one for me.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes 4 or 5 dozen cookies depending on the method*)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
8 ounces (2 sticks/16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup chopped nuts

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Or place them in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside your dry ingredients.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter with both sugars until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well combined. Mix in vanilla extract.

Mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

*Method

-- Method 1 (makes about 5 dozen cookies): Preheat oven to 350F. Scoop out tablespoons of dough (I use a mini ice cream scoop) and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes^ or until the edges are just barely golden and the centers are lightly colored. (Cookies in photo are baked using method 1.)

-- Method 2 (makes 4 dozen cookies): Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into four roughly equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerated until firm, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350F. Slice each log into 3/4-inch-thick slices and place the slices about 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. If the dough falls apart, push them back together trying to maintain the round shape as much as possible. Bake at 350F for about 12 minutes^ or until the edges are just barely golden and the centers are lightly colored.

^ I like my chocolate chip cookies just barely baked. You can adjust the baking time to suit your preferred doneness.

Rum Raisin Apple Cake

For the past couple months I've been buying tons of apples from the farmers' market every weekend. I can get varieties that are not available in the supermarket. Arkansas Black, Philo Gold, Wickson, Connell Red, Northern Spy and Spitzenberg just to name a few. Sadly the local apple season is coming to end and I'll have to go back to eating supermarket apples that have been in cold storage for who knows how long before showing up at supermarket for sale.

I recently brought home some red Rome apples from the farmers' market. They were so crisp and juicy. They were labeled as "dry farmed" and I'm not sure if that had anything to do with how delicious they were. Red Rome apples are perfect for this rum raisin apple loaf cake.

This cake is one that I can whip it up in no time at all. It's full of apples and rum soaked raisins. The recipe is from Francois Payard's "Simply Sensational Desserts". I modified it just slightly. The original recipe says to cut the apples in wedges of 2 different sizes and lay them nicely into the cake batter so that when it bakes you'll see the perfect wedges of apples neatly tiled up next to each other. I decided to simplify it by just dicing the apples and mixing them into the batter.

Soaking the raisins in rum keeps them moist and adds a nice flavor to the ordinary raisin. Even if your raisins are very fresh to start, I still recommend soaking them. There's just something magical that happens when you let dried fruit sit in a little bit of booze. But if you are pressed for time you can skip the soaking step and just add the quantity of rum and dry raisins directly to the batter. Either way, the rum is not overwhelming. There's just enough to remind you that it's there.

The area of cake immediately surrounding each apple nugget stays slightly moist from the juicy apple and provides a nice contrast to the cakier parts of the cake. Someone even said it tasted like bits of custard surrounding the apple.

Even though it's optional I highly recommend brushing the baked loaf cake with the apricot glaze. Although the cake is already very moist and will keep well, the glaze helps retain moisture longer. And it adds a lovely shine to this simple cake.



Thanks to everyone for comments about their favorite vegetable in my zucchini post. And the winner of the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook giveaway is Claire. She also loves zucchini. Congratulations Claire!



Rum Raisin Apple Cake
(adapted from Simply Sensational Desserts by Francois Payard)

Cake:
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark rum, such as Myers brand
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
8 tbsp (1 stick/113 grams/4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Approximately 3/4 to 1 pound of apples, peeled, cored and diced (juicy varieties work best like Rome or Fuji apples)

Glaze:
1/4 cup apricot preserves

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan. Dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess flour.

2. Bring a small pan of water to a boil, add the raisins, and boil 1 minute. Drain and repeat the process. Drain the raisins well a second time and place in a small bowl. Add the rum to the warm raisins and stir. Set aside.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and confectioner's sugar on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

5. Mix in the raisins and any rum that did not get absorbed by the raisins. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until blended. Mix in the diced apples.

6. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.



7. Bake the cake at 325F for 60-65 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Unmold the cake and turn it right side up. The cake could still be quite hot so take care.

8. Make the glaze. Place the apricot preserves in a small heatproof, microwavable bowl. Microwave on high power for 20-30 seconds, until just bubbling. Push the warmed preserves through a fine meshed sieve. Gently brush the apricot glaze over the top of the hot cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting it into slices.

I Heart Zucchini

I love zucchini. I eat it year round. It's my absolutely favorite weeknight vegetable since it's so easy to prepare. Just slice them up and put them in some boiling water with a pinch of salt. I could eat it every night. And I actually make zucchini bread because I really like it not just because someone had a bumper crop of zucchini.

Zucchini bread was one of the first things I ever baked on my own. When I was 15 my best friend Nora gave me a recipe for zucchini bread and she said it was easy and delicious. I thought it was strange to have zucchini in a dessert, but I tried it and she was right about it being delicious. All through my high school years I made zucchini bread over and over again. I remember sitting at the dining room table grating the zucchini by hand with my mom's old box grater. Even to this day I grate zucchini by hand. I know it's faster to use a food processor, but I like doing this particular task by hand.

But whether you love zucchini like me or just tolerate it, when zucchini is combined with chocolate it can't be bad. When I saw this chocolate zucchini cake recipe on the King Arthur Flour website I just had to make it. It definitely uses more chocolate than zucchini. I think the zucchini is more for moisture and texture than flavor. But every once in a while you'll encounter a green fleck which I find rather pretty. Regardless of the reason, it's a good way to add more vegetables to your diet.

GIVEAWAY

I am giving away the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook. (The cookbook has a whole wheat flour version of this chocolate zucchini cake too.) Please leave a comment on this post before 11:59pm PST on November 12, 2009 and be sure to mention your favorite vegetable. I will select one comment at random. I plan to contact the winner by email so please make sure you have a valid email address associated with your user ID. Unfortunately I can only ship to U.S. addresses. My sincerest apologizes to my international readers.



Chocolate Zucchini Cake
(adapted from King Arthur Flour)

4 ounces (1 stick / 8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or whole milk yogurt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa*
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chocolate chips, for glaze
Coarse sugar for decorating (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly butter and flour a 9" x 13" baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.

Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake cake at 325F for 35-40 minutes, or until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set. Take the cake out of the oven, sprinkle it evenly with the 1 cup chocolate chips, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, and use an icing spatula or rubber spatula to spread the chocolate chips into a smooth glaze. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (if using). Cool on a rack.

* The recipe on the King Arthur Flour website uses 3/4 cup cocoa, but I like using only 1/2 cup cocoa.

Pumpkin Thing

The premise behind the You Want Pies With That? event is to make a pie based on the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie that month can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets choose the theme the following month. Jeanette and I had the honor of choosing a theme for October. We decided on "Masquerade Pie" - make a pie that has a secret.

We suggested that "You can conceal your pie's secret identity (with a robe of dark chocolate, maybe?) or disguise your pie as one thing when it's really something else (like a mock apple pie deceptively made with Ritz crackers instead of apples). You can use a mysterious, unusual or surprising ingredient in your pie or if you're more inclined to step out from behind the mask, you can reveal a secret recipe or technique."


I decided to make something that I hesitantly call pumpkin pie squares. The recipe is based on a recipe I got from a restaurant in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. I've been making this recipe for over a decade now, but I never know what to call it. That restaurant called it a pumpkin pecan pie, but that name never seemed right to me. So I ended up calling it that "pumpkin thing". The restaurant makes the recipe in two 9-inch round pans, but I found it easier to make the recipe in one 9x13-inch cake pan or one 10-inch round springform pan. If I make it in the 9x13 pan I call it pumpkin pie squares, but if I make it in the springform, it's just that pumpkin thing.

The dirty little secret to the pumpkin thing is the use of boxed cake mix. The cake mix, which is sprinkled on top of the pumpkin batter in the pan, becomes the crust when you invert the baked pumpkin thing. I am almost embarrassed to say the words "cake mix" when people ask me what's in the crust. The pumpkin thing is one of my two most requested recipes. The other is the toffee almond bars which also uses boxed cake mix. What is it about cake mix that people love so much? I will never understand it.

The internet is filled with variations of this recipe and most of them are named pumpkin dump cake or similar. But no matter its name, it's no secret that people love the pumpkin thing.

Pumpkin Pie Squares
(aka Pumpkin Thing)

One 30-ounce can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
One 5-ounce can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk)
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
One 18-ounce box of yellow cake mix (Pillsbury or Better Crocker brand)
1 cup chopped pecans
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Line one 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan with parchment paper and coat with baking spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine pumpkin, both sugars and evaporated milk. Beat in eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt and then pour batter into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle half the cake mix over the batter. Sprinkle on the pecans and then the remaining cake mix. Drizzle with melted butter.

Bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool in pan for 2 hours on a cooling rack. Loosen and gently invert onto a serving platter. Carefully remove the parchment paper. Leave it pumpkin side up.

Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 or 3 hours before slicing.