Christmas Present

So. I got the most darling domestic gift from the husband last Christmas.  I haven't had the time to use it as often as I want, but ain't she a beaut?

photo from The Cooking Police

Brownies!

I have had a love affair with brownies since I was a kid. My mom used to buy a box every week from a neighborhood bakeshop, called Snow White. The box had this whimsical colored illustration of Disney's Snow White with the seven dwarves but it's what was inside that had me looking forward to seeing the box every week. Sprinkled generously with cashew nuts, the top of the brownie is perfectly crackly but below the thin crust of sweet chocolate and nuts is a soft crumbly interior. Needless to say, that brownie started this calorifically sinful love affair.

Searching for the perfect brownie recipe is something that I've been obsessing about and while I've outgrown the cakey-type of my childhood Snow White brownies, I've discovered that at this point in my life, I really really like chewy brownies.

I found this recipe online almost a decade ago (thank you to the person who posted this for me to find) and it's been my go-to recipe for simple, quick and absolutely chewy brownies.

Chewy Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

3/4 cup bread flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsps vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13x2 rectangular pan with foil. Set aside.

2. Sift flours and salt three times. Set aside.

3. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low fire. Once melted, remove butter from heat and stir in cocoa. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. At low speed, stir in cocoa mixture, walnuts (if using), vanilla and sifted dry ingredients.

5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done. Cool on wire racks. Cut into bars.

*I used my mini cupcake pan this time to control my portions (otherwise, I'd gobble the whole thing down) and topped each brownie with a sliver of almond. This is best when cold. Enjoy!

Chewiest Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple of days ago, husband had a serious craving for something sweet (no not me, hehe) that he almost munched on a spoonful of pure white sugar before I stopped him with a promise of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Now, my best chocolate chip cookie recipe came from THAT NYTimes article which dissected the elements of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

I was thinking of making a batch of the NYT cookies, but it takes quite a long time to make as the recipe calls for letting the dough sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours, 36 hours for the best taste and texture. I don't think my sugar husbandmonster isn't up to waiting another day or two for some sweets. I remember having a Cook's Illustrated magazine issue that lengthily explored the dynamics of the best chewy chocolate chip cookie, and even mentioned the NYT recipe craze. CI's version is almost, if not identical to the finished product of the NYT recipe sans the 24-36 hour wait.

So without further ado, here's the CI recipe:

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Cook's Illustrated Magazine, June 2009)

(Makes 16 cookies)

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tbsps (1 3/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz) granulated sugar

3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz) packed dark brown sugar (I used muscovado sugar)

1 tsp table salt

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 large eggyolk

1 large egg

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12 in) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside

2. Heat 10 tbsp butter in a skillet over medium high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 mins. Remove skillet from heat and using a heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tbsps butter into the hot melted butter until all butter is melted.

3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and eggyolk and whisk until mixture is smooth and no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 secs. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 secs. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture just until combined, about 1 min. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough a final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tbsps. Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet.

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, about 10-15 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

I made some minor modifications on the recipe due to some different circumstances. I live in Manila, which means to say that at this time of year, it's very very humid and really quite hot. I had to refrigerate the dough for about 10 minutes so I can mold some respectably shaped cookies. I also did one batch of the 3 tbsps-sized cookies and a batch of smaller ones for better portion control. The larger cookies were a bit softer than the smaller ones, but we didn't really mind.

I was surprised at the amount of salt and vanilla extract in this recipe and I was tempted to cut the amount of both items, but I resisted and thankfully, the cookies tasted really good. The salt balanced the 2 cups of sugar in the recipe and the vanilla added a great flavor.

This recipe was engineered to have the cookies remain chewy after several days, and we still have some from the batch I made several days ago and the texture is still the same.

All in all, I really really like this recipe as it cuts down on the prep time without sacrificing taste and texture. Try it and let me know how it turned out! :)