Skillet-Roasted Chicken Breasts

February 2026

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2026

I’m almost always up for trying a simple chicken recipe, and this one fits the bill—easy enough for a weeknight and paired with a flavorful pan sauce made from pantry staples.

I halved the recipe for the two of us and substituted granulated garlic for fresh. Two bone-in breasts were seasoned with kosher salt under the skin, which I pricked to help render the fat before lightly spraying with oil. I started them skin side down on the stovetop until well browned, then flipped and finished them in a 325° oven to 160° internal temperature.

After removing the chicken, I returned the skillet to the heat and cooked the juices until they formed a dark fond. Butter and granulated garlic went in, followed by orange zest and thyme. Once fragrant, I stirred in orange juice and whole-grain mustard. Off heat, I added another strip of zest and a few fresh thyme sprigs. The chicken was removed from the bones, sliced, and served with the sauce. Total time was just under an hour.

The dish lived up to expectations. The chicken was tender and the sauce a nice complement, though the mustard was the dominant flavor. Halving the recipe gave us dinner for two nights. I’d make it again—perhaps trying the lime-hoisin or pineapple-cilantro variations next time.

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.