One day I will go to New York. Until then, I will make cookies. For a while I have been curious about these two-toned cookies named after a very famous city that I have yet to (but am terribly excited to one day) visit. What exactly is a Black and White cookie? Are they really famous in New York? I had never heard about them until I came across the recipe in one of my cherished Martha Stewart books. The recipe has been in my possession for over a decade, yet I had not made any further steps to discovering more. My final prompt or push to create these for myself came after watching an episode of Seinfeld, maybe you know the one! Jerry and Elaine are in a bakery and are having a hilariously frustrating time and during this time Jerry buys himself a Black and White cookie on which to snack. OH MY GOODNESS I am finally seeing this cookie "out in the wild" or at least beyond the confines of my Martha Stewart book and I am reminded of it's existence! It is with the assistance and encouragement from my cookie partner (and fellow Seinfeld fan) pictured above that today we bring to you my first attempt at Black and White cookies. I say attempt because I have never actually eaten one before and don't really know what is to be expected. Further research into my bookshelf revealed that I have not one, but TWO recipes for these cookies. Further proof that they are indeed a "thing" out there. I have my tried and true Martha Stewart, and also a rather fancy and trendy book from the homies of Mast Brothers Chocolate. So OBVIOUSLY we had to try both recipes to see which one comes out on top! Martha knows a thing or 2000 about cookies, but also the Mast Brothers are indeed from New York and know a thing about chocolate, so there's got to be some legit business happening here. It is a very fun project to try two very similar but not quite identical recipes for the same thing... My kind of science experiment! Highly recommended way to spend a January afternoon. Then you eat the cookies of your labour while watching Seinfeld, of course. The cookies themselves are more like little cakes, half frosted with vanilla or just plain glaze, and the other half with a chocolate glaze. Glazing the cookies was a messy task, and we realized after doing them all how we could have done it better. But as I always say, it's always good to leave room for improvement... and, learn by doing, am I right?! Because I KNOW you are curious...I will reveal to you... our favourite was from... drumroll please... MAST BROS! Their cake-like cookie was lighter (and Anthony appreciated the bit of lemon zest in there) while I found Martha's to be a bit denser, though still delicious. Also taking the win for the Bros was their chocolate glaze... which makes sense seeing as they are in the chocolate biz. It was made with lots of real actual dark chocolate, whereas Martha's was a bit too-sweet-with-only-a-bit-of-cocoa-powder version (don't worry Martha, you will still forever be my go-to-gal). Next step is to go to New York to find the real thing I suppose. Meanwhile, if anyone can tell me where to find these in Calgary... holla at yo girl! New York Black & White CookiesRecipe from Martha Stewart COOKIES:
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Cream the butter in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and mix for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry) Mix until just combined but do not overman or the dough will get tough. Use a small cookie scoop (or use two spoons) to scoop portions of dough into balls. Place on a lined baking sheet placing 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating halfway through until bottoms of cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. GLAZE:
Spread white icing on half of each cookie's flat side and cocoa icing on the other half. Let stand until set (30 minutes). Cookies can be stored in airtight containers for up to 3 days. New York Black & White CookiesRecipe from Mast Brothers Chocolate COOKIES:
WHITE ICING:
CHOCOLATE ICING:
Add the butter and vanilla, mix until the mixture is smooth. Spread the chocolate icing on the other half of each cookie. ***What we realized after making a giant mess and glazing all the cookies... is that it would be much cleaner looking to glaze half of all of them... then let the glaze set! THEN glaze the second half... Next time. You can learn from my mistakes. You are welcome.
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Happy Birthday to meeeee! This year, 2020, I turned 28 years old. Golly that sounds like I should have my life together. Sorry past Lar, you will probably never totally feel like you have your life together. But We can continue to be grateful for all that is wonderful in your life and all there is to celebrate... and let me tell you there sure is lots to celebrate!! No crazy celebrations though this year, because we are in the thick of a global pandemic and I'm not even allowed to go to my parent's house. Thank goodness I live with two wonderful friends who surprised me with this cute kitchen banner to make me feel special. Later on I picked up my guy and brought him over and we had a tiny party with PIZZAAAA and silly games. And of course I made dessert.
It's essentially like the comforting chocolate puddings that Ma would make on a weeknight, you know, the Jell-o packet kind. Put that on an oreo cookie crust, throw on some whipped cream and SPRINKLES and we have ourselves a birthday party pie. It's something you definitely want to eat. Even despite eating waaaayyy too much pizza. There's always room for chocolate. I continued to eat small slivers of this every night for a week after my birthday was over, as one should. Chocolate Cream PieRecipe slightly adapted from Martha Stewart Crust:
Filling:
Place the powdered gelatin in a small bowl and pour the water over top. Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes or so to soften (also called "blooming"... what a lovely phrase) the gelatin. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks to temper them. Return the whole mix to the pot (what a lot of back and forth!) and continue cooking the custard over medium heat, stirring all the while, until the pudding is once again thick and bubbles are appearing in the middle... about 1-2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, add the softened gelatin, stirring until it is dissolved into the pudding. Also stir in the vanilla. Yum! Let the pudding cool for a few minutes ever so slightly, stirring frequently so it doesn't form a skin on top, before you pour the whole shebang over your baked cookie crust! Use a spatula to spread the pudding evenly and flat over the crust, give it a few taps on the counter for good measure, cover the top with plastic wrap (prevent that puddin' skin) and place the whole pie in the fridge to firm up that filling... about 4 hours minimum. Waiting is the hardest part. Topping:
Every cake deserves a glamour shot... The world is very unfamiliar at the moment and at times can feel a bit dark. Dark times call for a dark cake... at the same time, something to bring us comfort in place of uncertainty. I experiment and like to try new recipes quite a lot but every so often I make something that is just so good that I crave making it again. Either because it is seasonal, fun to make, or other beg me to do so. For this particular cake, it just patiently yearns to be made for a true St Patrick's day celebration, it's fun to make because you need BEER for it (also you don't use the full can so you're pretty much encouraged to drink whilst baking), and in this case it was me who was begging myself to make one... And sometimes one must follow their heart. Especially if it involves chocolate cake. And beer. And nobody was going to complain about it. This cake was made this year during the initial brink of a literal pandemic in which shelves in grocery stores had been more or less wiped clean. I made a special effort to get out of my house and collect THE LAST* pathetic tiny carton of 6 eggs (who only buys 6 eggs at a time normally?!) and THE LAST tiny tub of sour cream. It was worth it. *I lied, there was one other tiny carton of 6 eggs, but a good half of them were broken. What a strange time it is out there. Good thing we can make cake to comfort us. My roommates particularly liked this one too... it's a wonderful snacking cake to just leave on a cake stand in your kitchen with a small knife sitting next to it, so that one may saw off a nibble here or there anytime of day or night. Chocolate Guinness CakeRecipe from Nigella Lawson
For the cream cheese glaze, all I did was take some cream cheese frosting that I had stashed in my freezer. I melted it down with a splash of cream and a splash of Bailey's irish cream liqueur. If you need a recipe for cream cheese frosting... Martha Stewart is always my go-to gal. However, I will also include the frosting recipe that Nigella suggests for her cake... the only reason I didn't use this one is because as mentioned above I already had some very suitable frosting. And better to waist it than waste it, ya know?
Isn't it just the best when old classics get re-imagined into a different form? It's like when you hear a really good cover song by a band that makes you hear a familiar song in a whole new way! Presenting Sticky-Toffee-Pudding in the form of cookies!! Now one of my favourite sit-down restaurant style desserts is portable. We have a winner folks. Also... this recipe has a super secret weapon! And it's weird. Which is what attracted me to try it other than the fact that sticky-toffee-cookies sounded delicious. What (I'm assuming) adds to the texture of these sort of cakey sort of chewy cookies is... wait for it... Lentil Puree!!! What the heck? I promise you truly don't taste it at all in the actual cookie. And you get a bonus hit of protein in your sweet snack. Happy days! **The next time I make these though, I'd like to experiment further... the lentil puree reminds me so much of the texture of pumpkin puree... and I feel like pumpkin and sticky toffee would make excellent friends... so next time I'm thinking I'll play match maker and swap the lentil puree for pumpkin and see where that takes us. Stay tuned. Sticky Toffee CookiesRecipe from the wonderful SweetSugarBean also known as Renée Kohlman
First begin by making the Lentil Puree. Here's how to go about that:
A bit of a mouthful to say... but these cookies are definitely something you want your mouth full of. OH GOSH that was weird and I know it, I'm sorry #notsorry but please do make these cookies because they are soft and chewy, sweet and salty and there is something for everyone in them!! Kids will like them because they are chocolate chip cookies and all kids like chocolate chip cookies (if they don't take extreme caution, because they will likely grow up to be psychopaths... these are the ones to watch out for) Also toffee bits!! Fun!!! Adults will like them because there is a bit of coffee in the dough itself, which balances the sweetness of everything else. Sophisticates will enjoy these because there is browned butter and Maldon sea salt flakes on top. Prime combination of my abilities and knowledge as an adult, with my inner desires to remain a kid who just wants to bake cookies. These were real winners in my book... would make again. I used homemade toffee bits in these bad boys, but you can easily buy them at a store. I learned this past fall just how easy it is to make homemade toffee bits! So perhaps one day in future I will write about that. Until then... COOKIE TIME! Salty-Toffee-Coffee-Chocolate-Chip CookiesRecipe slightly adapted from "The Baker in Me" by Daphna Rabinovitch *Yields about 2 dozen cookies (this is the original recipe, halved)
** I thouroughly imagine that you could easily use just all purpose flour instead of the blend... I just happened to have some cake/pastry flour kicking around and so I thought I would use it. But a fun trick to know is that you can make your own cake/pastry flour at home in a pinch if you have regular flour and cornstarch. Take one cup of all-purpose flour minus one tablespoon... mix it in a bowl with 1 tbsp of cornstarch. Give it a sift, or at the very least a good whisk. BOOM, now you have 1 cup of homemade cake and pastry flour. ***You can absolutely use all regular butter in this recipe, just use 4 ounces (or 1/2 cup). The browned butter just adds extra flav that I love. Make sure when using browned butter for baking that you brown the sh*t out of your butter, like almost burnt (but not actually burnt) butter. Otherwise you won't taste it amidst all the sugar.
Never have I ever actually celebrated valentines with one significant romantically inclined other... The valentines that I have known and loved all my life involves baking cute things and sharing them with my mother, my friends, and my coworkers. This year was no different. However this year for the first time I hosted a bunch of my grand old pals for a "Pal-entines" party. There was a LOT of snacks and wine, lots of laughs, and lots of valentines themed stuff... including these festive cupcakes! What a fabulous treat to make for your pal's during this wonderful month of love! I used these cupcakes as an excuse to eat chocolate covered strawberries... one of my favourite little delicacies that I never ever seem to have, despite them being so incredibly simple! I suppose they take a little bit of effort... but there is something wonderfully festive about setting yourself up to dip a whole basket of bright red berries into a bowl of velvety chocolate. It's like making cookies at christmas. It helps to set the mood if you play some old-school love songs. Gosh I love Valentines!!! Chocolate Strawberry CupcakesRecipe slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine Chocolate Cupcakes
Do I really need to provide you with instructions for chocolate dipped strawberries? Probably not. But here you go.
**for the cupcakes pictured above, I used my favourite chocolate swiss buttercream recipe which you can find in this recipe post... just swap the white chocolate for dark chocolate as necessary. I did this because I had it on hand, so much of it, and it begs to be used, and how silly it would be to not use it! However if you do not have your favourite frosting kicking around in your freezer... maybe try the recipe below. It is the one that comes from Food Network Magazine, though I have not made it. If you do, let me know how it goes!
Happy February! When your old boss, the Japanese pastry chef of a fine dining restaurant who is known for making very unconventional desserts with strange ingredients, invites you over for dinner and asks you to bring dessert, maybe you will consider making these strange but deliciously indulgent brownies? I knew I wanted to try an experiment and make something kind of strange, because this was exactly the appropriate audience with which to do. I forgot however, how analytical he is because before tucking into the brownie he was examining it and smelling it far more intensely than one would like, making me fear what could he possibly be thinking about my weird, simple and, let's be honest, quite rustic dessert. (He is not exactly the simple and rustic type.) I suddenly had second thoughts about sharing such a frumpy treat to this pastry guru whom holds far higher standards than I could ever aspire to. Nasu Dengaku is a Japanese side dish. It is eggplant that has been sliced in half, shmeared with a mixture of miso and mirin and roasted in the oven. I've never tried it. But when I saw a recipe for miso-eggplant-brownies that used this technique (and the accompanying photo looked dangerously fudgey and decadent) I had to give it a try. Miso is one of my favourite cooking ingredients, and I am sure intrigued by baking with it. It adds saltiness, but also such a depth of flavour that makes you go, "Dang what makes this taste sooo GOOOOOD?" It's satisfyingly savoury. So, can we add it to a dark and dense brownie batter? Stir in some roasted eggplant? Share it with some highly acclaimed chefs? (What the heck am I doing) To my relief, he claimed it was good! Now, whether or not he was just saying that to be polite we'll never know. However I do know that he is the type to say it like it is, and regardless, I liked the brownie very much if I do say so myself. And if I needed more consolation, everyone else who I shared it with gave me wide-eyed praise. All in all I'd say it was a success! And so continues the experiments and the usage of unconventional ingredients in baked goods! Nasu Dengaku BrowniesRecipe from "Sticky Fingers Green Thumb" by Hayley McKee 1- 2 long thin japanese eggplants (you will need about 1/3 cup of mashed roasted eggplant for the brownie batter)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil 1/4 cup white miso paste 4 tsp honey 4 tsp mirin 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup cocoa powder 4 eggs 200g (7oz) butter 200g (7oz) dark chocolate, chopped 1 cup granulated sugar Heat your oven to 350˚F. Grease and line a 8X8" baking dish with parchment. Half the eggplants lengthwise and score the flesh deeply in a criss cross pattern. Soak the eggplant halves in cold salty water for 15 minutes. This step helps to remove any bitterness in the eggplant. Drain the eggplant halves and pat dry. Place cut side up (skin side down) on a parchment lined tray and brush with oil. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until they begin to brown. Stir 4 tsp of the miso with the honey and mirin together in a small bowl to form a paste. Spread the paste evenly over the cut side of the eggplant. Return to the oven for 10-20 minutes, or until the mixture starts to bubble and brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool before scooping out the flesh, discarding any seeds which can be bitter tasting. Measure out 1/3 cup of eggplant flesh and mash it well. Any leftover eggplant is a treat for you, the chef. Reduce the oven temp to 325˚F Whisk the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining miso paste until smooth. Gently melt the butter and chocolate together over a water bath, or very carefully in the microwave, stirring often. Pour the melted chocolate-butter mixture into a large bowl and stir in the brown sugar and white sugar. Gradually stir in the egg and miso mixture, then stir in the dry ingredients followed by the mashed eggplant. It's gonna be thick. It's gonna be delicious. Pour the batter into the prepared 8X8 tin and bake for 30-35 minutes... it will appear not quite set in the middle, but this is good if you like a fudgey brownie (all hands raised). If you are one of those sad people who prefers cakey brownies, you can go ahead and bake it longer, maybe 45 minutes and it wont be jiggly in the centre. But I want nothing to do with that brownie. Fudgey all the way. Let cool completely before removing from tin and slicing. This is especially important if your brownie is fudgey. Trying to cut a warm fudgey brownie can cause frustration. It also makes for a mighty tasty snack though, if your not concerned about clean cut edges :) Enjoy! And share with as many people as possible, because it's fun to watch reactions when you tell them what's inside. I promise most people will be stoked. And if they're not, they're wrong. (More for us!) Every year when the grocery stores suddenly stack their shelves high with tiny bite size versions of everyone's favourite chocolates and candies in preparation for spooky season I get STOKED. What a wonderful time to be alive! It seems that public establishments everywhere suddenly have not only a reason but perhaps an obligation to stick out bowls of free candy. And the public has not only a reason but an obligation to do their part by taking and indulging in such free tiny delicacies. I set all self control and logic on the shelf when it comes to halloween time. I normally wouldn't be eating candy bars everyday, but TIS THE SEASON and they are so small so just one can't hurt right? But just one never really seems to be thing. Oh well. THIS IS MY CHANCE. This time of year is also terribly inspiring for me as a baker because I've had a looooong time dream of making my own homemade versions of halloween candy. Yet year after year passes and I somehow never set aside the time to do this. Well this year I changed that and I MADE the time. Twix bars were never my favourite halloween candy as a kid, but as an adult they have snuck right up there and I've realized that they are like tiny versions of "millionaire's shortbread"... which is one of my favourite treats to bake/eat!!! So I knew I had to make homemade Twix bars a reality! But once I get the ball rolling it's hard to stop and suddenly I'm thinking, what if we somehow incorporated PUMPKIN into this candy classic... and soon with a bit of research and recipe mish-mashing and kitchen tinkering I have successfully created the "Pumpkin Twix Bar" that I am proud to share with you today!! Don't let your dreams be dreams! I quite like these little guys. They feature a shortbread-cookie base that is spiced with the all familiar "pumpkin pie spice" (use a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger if you don't have a pumpkin pie spice blend kicking around). The filling is just as I was hoping for... a chewy caramel that is not rock hard and impossible to bite, but not too soft so that it oozes everywhere and looks messy. No, this caramel holds its shape but gives way when your teeth sink into it. For best results though, serve this at room temperature. I especially love to sprinkle the top with toasted pumpkin seeds and flaky sea salt... to show that these ain't your ordinary twix bar... and also to balance out the sweetness from the caramel. Enjoy!! Pumpkin Twix BarsRecipes adapted from "Tastes Better from Scratch" and "Challenge Dairy" Shortbread Base:
I was recently asked a daunting question: What is the greatest joy in life? Is it odd that immediately my brain went to food related things? Well, knowing me, not odd at all. Also, food is a great joy in life for everyone... we need it to survive and also can derive great pleasure from it so I think it's only natural I would jump to this topic. I came up with two conclusions: chocolate. I have always loved chocolate from the dawn of time (read: when I was a tiny thing not even born yet and my mama would get strong cravings for chocolate ice cream). I crave chocolate everyday, and the darker, the better. My other response was: anything that strikes that wonderful contrasting balance of sweet vs salty. I live for sea salt on my cookies, salted caramel anything, and those Nature Valley bars that are literally called Sweet and Salty. I drool just thinking about it. It's something about the initial sweetness and then this POW of addictive salt that is crave-able beyond my wildest dreams. Some people only think of using salt in savoury cooking. They are so wrong. Baking requires balance of flavours too, and salt can offer so much to sweet foods in this regard. Next time you have toast with jam, sprinkle a little salt on top. KAPOW So what about taking these two great joys in life (Chocolate + Sweet/Salty) and putting them into another great joy in life? Of course I am talking about COOKIES. I love creating a cookie based on a quick scan through the pantry, throwing in whatever I have on hand that might taste good together. In this case, during a cookie baking emergency where I wanted to whip up something quick and delicious, the cookie gods were smiling down upon me I found a half-full bag of these "salted caramel chipits" and an open bag of pretzel sticks that needed to be used. Throw those gems into a chocolate cookie base (with some extra chocolate chips for good luck) and we have ourselves a sweet and salty treat with a good hit of cocoa to relieve those intense chocolate cravings. All you need is a glass of milk, and life is golden my friends, golden. Chocolate Sweet + Salty Cookiesrecipe adapted from Daphna Rabinovitchna
And now, the only kind of date square I ever want to make ever. It will take much convincing for me NOT to put chocolate into all my date squares now. Let's talk about one of my favourite things to do in life: House sitting. It's the best. I get to pretend I live somewhere new, with all these new and wonderful things, I have space all to myself, but best of all I get to use somebody else's kitchen and discover all their wonderful dishes and snoop through the pantry to see what ingredients lurk within. This might sound (okay it does sound very) creepy. BUT I only do so with permission from the home owner... and they know full well that I will only use their kitchen for good. They can also rest assured that when they come home they better believe that there will be fresh baking awaiting them upon their (clean) countertop. My kind and gracious Aunt let me live in her cozy home for a week, and these next-level date squares are what I created in her cute little tidy kitchen. It is so clean and organized it's inspirational. I brought some of the ingredients from my home but had a time using her measuring spoons and little hand mixer... which felt strange and foreign to me. (I am spoiled with my fancy stand mixer). Her oven is amazing, which is all the more encouragement for me to bake. I mean, it's so clean! The front glass you can ACTUALLY SEE THROUGH. I don't think I've ever had that in an oven. I could just sit on the kitchen floor and watch things bake. Dates are great! I love how they are naturally sweet and taste like brown sugar. When you cook them down until they are soft and jam-like, then add chocolate, and orange zest (!) you have my ultimate attention. (I saved some of this filling back just so I could eat it with a spoon later. No shame. Just smart.) I wish I could take credit for this recipe idea but this is another great and fabulous recipe from the brilliant Renee Kohlman AKA SweetSugarBean. Be prepared for lots of her to show up on this lil site... Her tastes, cravings and ideas are freakishly similar to my own and sometimes I feel like she has taken things out of my own head and published them in a book. I love it. **Said book was given to me by said Aunt as a baking-school-graduation gift, and therefore an appropriate thing to bake from whilst taking care of her home. I can take credit for one thing in this recipe, I decided to toast both the oats and the walnuts before I mixed them into the crumb, just to ooompf up the flavour a bit more. Once you learn the wonders of toasted oats, it's hard to go back to life as it once was. I love and adore how oats taste and smell nutty when you toast them to a dark amber; it helps balance the sweetness of the filling nicely I think. I love these date squares!! They are so good please try them!! Make tonight date night. Chocolate Date Square with Toasted Oat and Walnut CrumbleRecipe from SweetSugarBean (Renee Kohlman) All The Sweet Things cookbook Chocolate Date Filling:
Toasted Oat & Walnut Crumble:
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