Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 2026

Recipe from King Arthur Baking Company

My go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies has a rich flavor from browned butter. I've tried other recipes, too, but the ATK recipe for "Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies" is the one I keep returning to. It is reasonably easy to execute and the cookies are very good. However, I still occasionally try new recipes and this is one such trial using a King Arthur recipe. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, vegetable shortening, salt, vanilla extract, vinegar, and baking soda were combined and beaten until smooth and creamy. I omitted the optional almond extract though this might be interesting to try. A large egg was beaten into the mixture then flour and chips were mixed in. The recipe specified a range of 12-16 ounces for the chips, I used 14. The cookies were dropped onto a baking pan using a #30 portioning scoop (about 2 tablespoons), my favored size for cookies, and baked in a 375° oven. I also made a batch using a smaller #60 scoop (about 1 tablespoon). The recipe made 24 of the larger cookies plus 17 of the smaller ones. Total time was 75 minutes.

These are good cookies. At first I missed the nutty brown butter flavor but I enjoyed how crispy these cookies are. In part his is because they were over baked, not so much to have given them a bitter taste but enough so there is little to no chewy cookie. The extra chocolate chips didn't hurt. The recipe said to use a tablespoon scoop and in 36 minutes you would have 36 cookies. My experience did not match either of these expectations, but the cookies are still pretty good. I might try them again, perhaps with the almond extract and baking for a shorter time.

Bacon and Gruyère Egg Bites

 February 2026

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2026

I was not familiar with egg bites until reading about this recipe. Apparently they are a popular and widespread breakfast item that you can get in coffee shops or buy frozen in supermarkets and big box stores. Diane usually has eggs for her brunch so it seemed a natural item to try as it could make for a convenient meal for her.

Bacon was chopped, cooked until crisp, and transferred to a paper towel-lined plate. Next, cottage cheese was processed in a blender. Our blender did not do a particularly good job with the thick cheese. I had to stir it some so it would blend and I added an egg sooner than specified in the recipe to provide some added liquid. The creamy mixture was poured into a large bowl and 11 eggs and salt were added then whisked until well combined. Gruyère, which had been grated on the large holes of a box grater, and the bacon were distributed among 12 muffin cups that had been sprayed with vegetable oil. The egg mixture was added and stirred with chopsticks. The muffin tin was placed on a rimmed baking sheet in a 325° oven and the baking sheet was filled with boiling water. The eggs were baked to an internal temperature of 170°. Total preparation time was about 70 minutes.

The egg bites were good and worth making again. They kept reasonably well in the refrigerator for brunches and other breakfast-for-dinner meals; a short re-heating in the microwave was all that was needed to serve them. While good they were a little bland. The cheese flavor was subtle and they would have benefitted from some chives or scallions. Indeed, the recipe includes a long list of other foods–cheeses, meats, vegetables, herbs–that could be added to the egg bites depending on what you might have on hand. The bacon tended to sink to the bottom so perhaps some more vigorous stirring was needed.

Chili-Spiced Chicken Thighs and Potatoes

 December 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2023

I leaned of this sheet-pan recipe from Cook's Illustrated magazine. While the idea of a sheet-pan dinner seems like a culinary fad to me this particular combination was appealing. We like roasted potatoes and we like chicken thighs so it seemed a good combination to try and an interesting use of a sheet pan. I found a "for two" recipe online and used it to prepare four chicken thighs rather than the six or more in the original recipe. As usual it provided two meals for the two of us.

The primary change I made to the recipe was using yellow potatoes rather than Yukon Gold potatoes due to supermarket availability. I also skipped the scallion and lime garnishes. A spice rub was made with kosher salt, chili powder, paprika, black pepper, granulated garlic (subbing for garlic powder), and cayenne pepper. Yellow potatoes were peeled and cut into one-inch pieces. Four bone-in chicken thighs were trimmed of excess fat and skin, three slits were made on the flesh side of each thigh, the skin was pierced with a paring knife, and the spice mixture was rubbed over both sides of the chicken pieces. The trim was placed on a quarter sheet pan and roasted to render the fat; the trim was discarded leaving the fat on the pan. While the trim cooked the potatoes were parboiled in water seasoned with baking soda. The potatoes were drained and dried over low heat then the rendered fat and salt were added and stirred coating the potatoes with a starchy paste. (This helps the potatoes to brown.) The potatoes were transferred to the baking sheet and baked in a 450° oven until browned on the bottom. They were flipped and room was made on the baking sheet for the chicken thighs. The pan was returned to the oven to roast the potatoes and chicken. Total time was 110 minutes.

The potatoes and chicken were pretty good, though some of the potatoes were black rather than golden brown. The potatoes were nice and crispy and did not take on a strong chicken flavor from cooking in the schmaltz. The spice rub was a little too spicy for our tastes and we wondered if a gentler spice mixture could be used, perhaps garlic powder and salt or salt, parsley, sage, and thyme? Cooking the chicken and potatoes together was convenient and the leftovers were reheated in a 350° oven.

German Farmer's Breakfast

 December 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2023

I saw this recipe demonstrated on an episode of America's Test Kitchen. It is the sort of meal that Diane likes and has for brunch most days, so I added it to my list of recipes to try. Half of it was served as dinner for the two of us and the second half warmed for a second dinner.

I made no changes to the recipe other than omitting the fresh parsley garnish. The recipe specifies Yukon Gold potatoes but not finding these I used gold potatoes. Three strips of bacon were chopped and cooked in a skillet to render their fat. Finely chopped onion was added and cooked until soft and golden brown. The bacon and onion were transferred to a bowl leaving the fat behind. Butter was added to the fat, melted, and potato slices were added. They were cooked, uncovered, for about 9 minutes, then covered and cooked until tender. The cover was removed and the potatoes cooked until golden brown. The bacon and onion were then stirred into the potatoes. Butter was added and after it had melted gently-beaten eggs poured over and between the potatoes. Once the eggs had set they were lifted around the edges as the skillet was tipped so the uncooked egg ran under the mixture to cook. The pan was covered and cooked until the eggs were set. Preparing ingredients took about 20 minutes and total time was an hour. 

This was a pretty good dinner. It was a little bland but adding some additional salt and parsley should fix this.  The dish didn't hold together real well so maybe it should have cooked a little longer, but this was not a big problem. The leftovers were heated in a skillet and were just as good, if not better, than the original dish.