Procrastinating

Work has been hounding me these past few weeks and I can say with finality that I. Am. Tired.   So even if I've been busting my butt at work, they still keep on coming!  They won't stop!  I actually have a deadline on Tuesday and I'm not nearly halfway done.  I said to myself that I'll work on it this weekend, but it's Sunday now and I only got to work on a smidge.  Sigh.

I really don't like working on weekends and to procrastinate, I made this:

A mixed berry curd torte. 

I got a tray of really cute organic eggs at SM Supermarket, expensive at Php 120/dozen - I usually get my eggs from Bounty Fresh at around Php 70/dozen - but what the hey. 

I thought a really nice dessert would do the eggs justice, and I've got a bag of walnuts and frozen mixed berries that I was itching to use, so a torte was a splendid idea.  Splendid but elaborate, with the curd, dacquoise and frosting that I needed to make. 

I didn't realize how hard it was to find a recipe for whipped cream frosting, but I think I found a keeper.  I got the recipe for stabilized whipped cream frosting from here.  It still softened like crazy outside of the fridge, but it did hold its shape for about 30 minutes.  I'll tweak the recipe a bit to suit our crazy humid weather.

Now that the torte has been tasted (yum!) and stashed in the fridge, I now have to work.  Ugh.

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! :)