M&M Cookies

March 2025

Recipe from Cook's Country, December 2020

I've had M&M cookies but I've never made them myself. They are similar to chewy, buttery chocolate chip cookies, which I make on a regular basis, with M&M's in place of chocolate chips the most obvious  difference. A recent episode of the Cook's Country TV show inspired me to make them myself. As a bit of a bonus the dough is made by hand, no mixer.

I used plain, dark chocolate M&M's because that's what we stock in our cupboard for snacking and for trail mix. Flour, salt, and baking soda were whisked together in a bowl. In a larger bowl melted unsalted butter was whisked with brown sugar and granulated sugar. An egg plus a yolk and vanilla were whisked into the butter mixture until fully combined. Half of the flour mixture was gently stirred into the butter mixture followed by the second half of the flour mixture and the M&M's. The dough was portioned onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet using a #30 scoop. (This is my favorite size for making cookies, the recipe specifies somewhat larger cookies.) I put 8 scoops of dough on the half sheet pan then flattened them to ½-inch disks. These were baked in a hot oven, 425°, for about 8 minutes.  The recipe made 28 cookies in about 65 minutes.

The cookies are blond with a crispy exterior and chewy interior. When I first ate them I thought they were a little bland, perhaps I was unconsciously comparing them to brown butter chocolate chip cookies. They are not very sweet putting a premium on the butter and chocolate flavors. As I've eaten more of them I have grown to like them more and more. These colorful cookies are worth baking again.

Hemstrought's Half-Moon Cookies

 6 February 2021

Recipe from Home in the Finger Lakes

I knew half-moon cookies from the little bakery, Lynch's, in my Central New York (CNY) home town of Chittenango. My mom made them but not until after I had moved away from home. I recently made Black and White Cookies, thinking they might be the CNY classic, only to learn that they are a different cookie from New York City. Sometime previously I had saved a recipe for Half-Moon cookies claiming to be based on the originals, so I had to try it. There are two versions, chocolate and vanilla, and this recipe is for chocolate cookies,

The dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt—were whisked together in a large bowl. (The online recipe neglects mentioning the salt in the instructions, so beware.) Softened butter was beaten in a stand mixer. Sugar and cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed) were added and beaten several minutes until fluffy. (The instructions say to add these with the mixer running. This would have spread cocoa powder all over the kitchen, so I turned the mixer off to add these then gradually increased the speed of the mixer to minimize the mess.) Eggs and vanilla were added and mixed until incorporated. The flour mixture was then added (with the mixer running) in portions alternating with milk and mixed until combined. The finished dough is thinner than most cookie doughs. It was portioned onto baking sheets using a #24 scoop then spread into a 3-inch circle. (I didn't have the #20 scoop suggested in the recipe so my cookies are a little smaller and I made 36 rather than 30 of them.) These were baked in a 350° oven until the edges were set. The finished cookies are soft and moist and stuck a little to the parchment paper. It was 80 minutes from starting to finishing baking. It took an additional 40 minutes to make the buttercream frosting and put it on the cookies, after they had cooled. The recipe didn't make enough frosting for 36 cookies.

As the article from which I got the recipe describes, these are soft, cakey cookies. They are almost fudge-like but not that rich. They are okay but not good enough for me to want to make them again. I guess I prefer cookies with a little more texture and cookies that keep better, these tended to stick to whatever they are stored on as does the frosting, even in the freezer.  They are not as good as the Black and White cookies that I made a few months ago.

Black and White Cookies

 23 October 2020

Recipe from The Perfect Cookie, America's Test Kitchen, 2017, p. 237; recipe also available online.

In Central New York (CNY), where I grew up, people are familiar with half-moon cookies. While similar in appearance, the two cookies are apparently different, though the similar appearance can lead to confusion. I didn't eat much of either growing up as my mom didn't make them and you could only get them from the little bakery in town, Lynch's. My youngest sibling remembers my mom making these regularly, though, and I did have one from a bakery at a family reunion. As a CNY, or NYC, classic, I had to try making them.

There are two phases to making these cookies: making the cookies and making/applying the glazes. Making the cookies was straightforward. Dry ingredients—AP flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt—were whisked together in a bowl. Sugar and butter were beaten in a stand mixer until fluffy. Eggs and vanilla were mixed in. The flour mixture was added in three additions alternating with the addition of sour cream. The dough was dropped onto sheet pans using a #16 disher (about ¼ cup) and baked. This produced 10 large cookies and took about 45 minutes. After the cookies cooled the glaze was made and applied, this took about an hour. The glaze was made by whisking confectioners' sugar with whole milk, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt. (Sifting the large amount of confectioners' sugar took some time and made a bit of a mess.) This was divided in half and Dutch-processed cocoa and milk were whisked into one half. Using an offset spatula, half of each cookie was covered with the vanilla glaze, on the flat side. These were refrigerated for 15 minutes to set the glaze, then the other half was covered with the chocolate glaze. 

I have been enjoying these cookies and will make them again. The glaze is little sweet for my taste but that isn't stopping me. The cookies are tender and cakey. They keep well in the freezer and at room temperature. I cut these large cookies in half when I have one so maybe next time I'll try making them smaller. Of course, I will need to try the CNY recipe for half-moon cookies, too. 

November 2024

I made these again with a few changes:

• I made them smaller, using a #30 dishes rather than #16. 
• I made 24 cookies. They baked for 14 minutes.
• I did not sift the confectionery sugar or the cocoa. The glaze seems to be fine nonetheless.

Recipe Notes: Snickerdoodles

 5 August 2020

Recipe from The Perfect Cookie, America's Test Kitchen, 2017, p. 53; recipe also available online.

What a great name for a cookie! Even though snickerdoodles are popular in New England, near which I grew up, I don't recall ever having them as a kid. It was only after moving to California and getting married that I eventually had some made by Diane's grandmother, who was born in Montana and lived in Washington. I was also surprised to find I had not written a blog entry about them. I'm sure I have made them but apparently I didn't write anything. Until today.

Making these cookies uses standard cookie techniques, with a couple of twists. First, half of the fat comes from vegetable shortening rather than butter. Second, the recipe includes cream of tarter and no baking powder, just baking soda. The dry ingredients—AP flour, cream of tarter, baking soda, and salt—were whisked together in a bowl. Using a stand mixer, shortening and butter were creamed with sugar. Several eggs were added, one at a time with the mixer running, followed by the flour mixture. A #30 disher was used to make balls of dough approximately two tablespoons each. These were rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked at 375° until the edges were just set. The cookies cooled for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before being moved to a cooling rack. The recipe made 27 cookies and, except for cooling, took 50 minutes to finish.

These are good cookies. The have a soft interior, crispy edges, and a distinctive crinkly top. They are slightly tangy from the acidic cream of tarter and this is complemented by the spicy cinnamon coating. 

Recipe Notes: Chewy Brownies

22 January 2020

Recipe from The Perfect Cookie, America's Test Kitchen, 2017, p. 245; also available online.

I've tried numerous recipes for brownies but I am always up to try a new one. When one of the recipes in the recently published America's Test Kitchen Top 20 recipe list was for brownies I knew I had to try it, especially since it had been a while since I had made brownies. This recipe came from the season 11 of ATK in 2011. Maybe this will be THE brownie recipe.

The brownies were easy to make with all of the mixing done by hand. Dutch-processed cocoa powder and espresso powder were dissolved in boiling water. (The espresso was listed as optional in the recipe and I used half of the suggested amount.) Chopped unsweetened chocolate was whisked in until melted. Vegetable oil and melted butter were whisked in followed by eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and sugar. Next, all-purpose flour and salt were folded into the batter. To provide a final hit of chocolate, chunks of bittersweet chocolate were added. The batter was baked in a 13x9-inch baking dish lined with an aluminum foil sling. Total time was a little over an hour not counting cooling.

These are good brownies, it is easy to understand why they are so popular with ATK readers. They have a nice, chewy texture and good chocolate flavor. The chunks of bittersweet chocolate provide bonus chocolate flavor that provides pleasant surprises distributed randomly throughout the brownie. My batter seemed to have more bubbles in it than seen in the TV show or cookbook, but this didn't detract from the flavor or texture. The brownies take about the same time to prepare as a batch of cookies. The cookbook includes a variation with a chocolate frosting that might be worth trying.

Recipe Notes: Classic Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

13 June 2018

Recipe from The Perfect Cookie, America's Test Kitchen, 2017, p. 30; also available online.

We sometimes have oatmeal cookies, they are a favorite of Diane's. They almost always have chocolate chips, though, and tend to be small and crispy. I made a crispy chocolate chip oatmeal cookie several years ago and it worked out well. In working my way through The Perfect Cookie it became time to try the ATK recipe for a chewy oatmeal cookie.

Unlike most cookies, these were made entirely by hand, the stand mixer was not needed. The dry ingredients—AP flour, salt, and baking soda—were whisked together and set aside. Butter was carefully melted and browned in a skillet, transferred to a mixing bowl, and cinnamon was added to the warm melted butter to bloom its flavors. Brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vegetable oil were whisked into the butter mixture. An egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract were stirred into the mixture, followed by the flour mixture, then rolled oats, and finally some raisins. The dough was portioned onto baking sheets using a #24 scoop (about 3 tablespoons). The cookies were flattened to 2½-inch disks and baked until the edges were just set 11 minutes at 375°. It took just over an hour and the recipe yielded 16 large cookies.

These cookies are certainly different from other oatmeal cookies I have had. They are soft and chewy in the center with crispy edges, the texture is different than any others I remember having. They almost seem too dry, but this is a minor flaw. They taste very good, even with the raisins instead of chocolate chips, with a stronger flavor of oats than other recipes provide. They are big cookies, but I can always eat just half of one, though I rarely do that. These cookies were easy to make and are worth making again, though I might try substituting chocolate chips for the raisins. I know that Diane would vote for that modification.

Update: 30 June 2023

I made these again with a few modifications. I substituted 1 cup of chocolate chips for the ½ cup of raisins. I used a smaller #30 scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to portion the dough rather than a #24. Twelve cookies fit on a baking sheet and the recipe made a total of 28 cookies. They cookies baked for 10 minutes. These were both good modifications and I will probably make these changes when I use this recipe in the future.

Recipe Notes: August 2017

7 August 2017
French Butter Cake

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2017

This cake is from the Brittany region of France where it is known as gâteau Breton. The article in the recent Cook's Illustrated describes it as a "simple, yet pretty cake, rich in butter, with a dense, tender crumb that falls somewhere between shortbread cookies and pound cake." This version includes an interesting apricot jam filling to help offset the richness of the butter-rich cake.

Preparing the cake took less than an hour. The filling was created using dried apricots which are always available. These were chopped and processed in a blender with some water. This mixture was then cooked, with some sugar, to thicken it and then finished off with some lemon juice. The cake batter was made by beating two sticks of butter then adding sugar, egg yolks, rum, vanilla extract, flour, and salt. The recipe calls for dark rum but I used clear rum as we have no dark rum.

The finished cake is attractive and good to eat. It is rich from the butter and egg yolks and not too sweet. It is sturdy enough that it can be eaten out of hand without a fork without making a big mess. The apricot jam filling complements the cake well, I wouldn't mind there be a little more of it in the cake.

13 August 2017
Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2017

For a summer supper it's hard to beat grilled chicken. This is particularly true if the chicken has great flavor, is juicy, is easy and quick to prepare on a gas grill, and works well left over. This recipe looked like it could deliver so I gave it a try.

The recipe calls for 5 pounds of chicken drumsticks which is a lot for two people. At the supermarket drumsticks were sold in packages of 6 which weigh a little under 2 pounds. This is a reasonable amount of chicken for us, enough for three meals if we each have one drumstick. Preparation is straightforward: the chicken is first brined. I chose to brine it for the minimum time of 30 minutes to avoid it becoming too salty. It is then rubbed with a spice mixture. Three mixtures were provided in the recipe: barbecue spice rub, jerk-style spice rib, and Ras al Hanout spice rub. I chose the latter, making half of what the recipe details, which includes warm, North African spices: paprika, coriander, cumin, brown sugar, cardamon, cinnamon, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper. The drumsticks are then cooked over indirect heat on the grill. When they are cooked through they spend a few minutes over direct heat to provide a little char and crispiness.

Cooking time was about 50 minutes producing good chicken which was nicely seasoned (not too salty) with crispy skin. It was easy to fix so I must say it fulfills the requirements set out. This is a dish worth making again the next time we want grilled chicken.

June 2018: I made this again using the barbecue spice rib which includes brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. It was a little spicy but not too spicy for us. This rub is also good. I can't compare it with the Ras el Hanout rub after so much time other than to say both are good.

28 August 2017
New England Hot Dog Buns

Potato recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 137
New England hot dog pan usage from King Arthur Flour

I have written about New England hot dog buns but I have not made them for several years. I don't know where to find the recipe that I used, it came with the pan. Thus I need to use another recipe and to figure out how much dough to use to fill the special pan that is used to make these buns. I have been happy using a potato roll recipe recently to make slider buns, would it work for the New England hot dog buns, too? Fortunately I found a web page with instructions for using the pan.  (I did not try the King Arthur recipe because it includes several ingredients that I don't normally have on hand.)

The recipes I found online for using the pan employ 3 cups of flour, but the potato bun recipe uses only 2¼ cups. However, it also uses 1 cup of mashed potatoes so I was hoping the amount of dough would work out OK. I made the dough following the recipe through the first rise of the dough. I then sprayed the pan, pressed the dough into it, and let it rest for 15 minutes. I then stretched the dough to fill the pan, covered it with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it was about ½ inch from the top of the pan. The dough was sprayed with cooking spray, a piece of parchment was placed on top, and this was covered with a weighted sheet pan and baked at 375° for 18 minutes. I verified the temperature of the buns was then greater than 190° and it was done!

The resulting buns are very good. The recipe provided the right amount of dough. I cut the crusts off each end of the loaf so each bun has two sides ready to be buttered and toasted. The buns freeze well. They are pale, compared to most bread, perhaps cooking them for a few minutes without the weighted sheet pan would provide some more color. However, the eternal question remains even with these homemade buns: why do buns come ten at a time when hot dogs come in packages of eight?

29 August 2017
Whole Wheat American Sandwich Bread

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 86

My search for a great whole wheat sandwich bread continues. The previous recipe I tried produced a nice bread and was easy to make. However, it was lacking in whole wheat flavor and texture so I am trying more recipes. This one is based on a recipe for white sandwich bread, substituting some whole wheat flour for white, adding wheat germ and honey. I suspect the result will be similar to the previous recipe I tried, but the recipe is pretty easy so there is no harm in trying.

Making this loaf was straightforward. The dry ingredients (bread flour, whole wheat flour, toasted wheat germ, instant yeast, salt) were whisked together, the wet ingredients (milk, water, melted butter, honey) were combined, the wet was added to the dry in a stand mixer with a dough hook and mixed and kneaded. I used 2% milk instead of whole milk and I added an additional 2 Tablespoons of flour during kneading because the dough was a little too sticky. The dough rose very well, was shaped into a loaf and rose again until it was 1" above the top of the loaf pan, then baked. The total process took about 3½ hours, mostly hands off, quite reasonable for a loaf of sandwich bread.

My initial impression is that the loaf met my admittedly low expectations. It is a good sandwich bread, perhaps with a little more whole wheat flavor than my previous recipe, soft yet strong enough to stand up to fillings. However, I think I need to try the Test Kitchen's more wheaty recipe, which I have been avoiding so far because it takes a little more effort.

Recipe Notes: November 2016

13 November 2016

Deep-Dish Apple Pie

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated Baking Book, 2013,  p. 378

I don't make pies as often as I might because I lack confidence in my pastry skills. I just cannot roll out the dough to form a nice circle of uniform thickness! Nonetheless, I hadn't made a pie in a while and since I was not planning to spend time making something new for dinner, I thought I would make something for dessert. I haven't written about this recipe before, thus this essay.

I used the Test Kitchen recipe for "Foolproof Pie Dough" which I have used before. It substitutes vodka for some of the water so the dough is wet and easier to work but still tender. The trick with the filling is cooking the apples in advance to remove moisture. This prevents the pie having a large air space between the filling and top crust. The filling has five pounds of apples: half Golden Delicious and half Granny Smith. It has just a little sugar and a little cinnamon and a little lemon. I made a mistake in the way I added the lemon juice and ended up having more than the recipe called for.

All in all, the pie came out good. I still had trouble rolling it out. It would have helped if I had worked more quickly, I think it became a little too warm as I worked with it. Nonetheless, the final result is tender enough though perhaps not as flaky as it should be. The bottom crust was a little soggy. The filling was good. The Golden Delicious apples broke down providing a nice base for the firmer Granny Smiths. Diane thought it could have used more cinnamon, and I agree. She also thought it had too much lemon. Perhaps I should try a different recipe for the dough next time, maybe look to see what they have at Serious Eats.

20 November 2016

Cast Iron Steak and Baked Potatoes

Steak recipe from Cook's Illustrated, December 2016

Best Baked Potato recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2016

Steak is an easy entree to fix for dinner. Good cuts of steak, though, can be expensive, so a good cooking method is required to get the best return on your bovine investment. I have written about steak several times before in this blog but wanted to try a new method.

Cast iron holds heat very well so is good for searing steak, but it does not heat up quickly or evenly. To get around these issues,  you can heat the skillet in the oven and use a generous amount of oil when cooking the steak. Also, after the steak is seared on both sides it is flipped every two minutes until it reaches the desired internal temperature.

I purchased a one-pound strip steak, but I didn't do a good job choosing my steak. The one I got was too thin and the thickness varied. Thus it would be impossible to cook it to uniform doneness. The steak reached an internal temperature of 140° after just two minutes on each side, a little higher than desired. 

Heating the pan in the oven and using a lot of oil did help. Not only was the steak seared uniformly across its surface, but the oil minimized smoking and setting off the smoke alarm. Since the oven had to be on to heat the skillet, I baked potatoes; the potato-baking temperature of 450° was close enough to the 500° recommended for heating the skillet. The recipe called for an herb butter garnish, but I skipped that.

Despite the issues with the steak, both it, and the potatoes, came out well. The potatoes were nice and creamy inside with a crispy skin. The steak was OK, not great, but a thicker, more evenly cut steak would solve that problem. All in all, this was a good method for cooking steak, though the preheating of the pan means you have to plan ahead. The side benefit to this, of course, is great baked potatoes.

24 November 2016

Thanksgiving

Easy Roast Turkey Breast recipe from Cooks Illustrated, November 2007

All-purpose Gravy recipe from Cooks Illustrated, November 2003

I prepared our Thanksgiving dinner for two this year. On the day before Thanksgiving, Diane fixed a vegan Thanksgiving dinner for four as Caryn and Brandon were in town. With just two of us cooking a whole turkey makes no sense. Even a full turkey breast, which can weigh upwards of 7 pounds is too much, so I purchased a three-pound half breast.

The recipe to roast the turkey was, as advertised, easy. The turkey was brined for about three hours. A butter/salt/pepper mixture was rubbed on the breast under the skin. The turkey was roasted in a 325° oven for about 90 minutes with the roasting pan filled with water (the turkey was on a rack above the water). It then rested for 20 minutes before carving.

A disadvantage to cooking a small amount of turkey this way is the lack of drippings for making gravy. I found a recipe for an all-purpose gravy that is made without meat drippings. It uses onion, celery, carrots with a mixture of beef and chicken stock.  I halved the recipe which worked out pretty well for this size turkey.

Thanksgiving dinner was good. We enjoyed the turkey. The gravy was passable though it was not the same as having turkey gravy. We had leftovers for one sandwich, one dinner, and then several nights of our Almond Turkey with Peas.

27 November 2016

Broccoli and Feta Frittata

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2016

Diane frequently makes us frittata for dinner. She will use whatever leftovers we have in the fridge as the filling, often using greens that came in our monthly CSA box of produce. Thus I was excited to try my hand at making one myself when this recipe was published in a recent Cook's Illustrated.

The recipe uses a dozen eggs, more than Diane usually uses, but for the first time making this recipe, why not. We had broccoli from our CSA box so it made sense to use it as the filling. (The magazine and web site also have recipes using asparagus and goat cheese, chorizo and potato, and shiitake mushrooms with pecorino Romano.) The broccoli and seasonings are cooked first, then the eggs are added with milk and the feta. This is cooked on the stovetop for about 8 minutes and then finished in the oven. This meal took less than 45 minutes to prepare, so it is pretty quick. 

The frittata came out good! The eggs had a very nice texture and the ratio of eggs to broccoli to cheese was just right. For our Sunday dinner I served us each one quarter of the frittata, which was too much. For the two meals when we had leftover frittata we had half as much with some bacon or sausage on the side. This is a recipe worth repeating, perhaps trying some of the other fillings and the "for two" version of the recipe from the web site.

28 November 2016

Molasses Spice Cookies

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated Baking Book, 2013, p. 202

With cooler temperatures, a spicy molasses cookie seems right. I went to the Cook's Illustrated Baking Book and found a recipe that looked promising and which I had never tried. 

Preparation was straightforward and standard. Butter and sugars are creamed together, then dry ingredients and molasses are incorporated. The cookies are formed into balls, rolled in sugar, and baked. The dried spices are cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and black pepper. The recipe calls for each cookie to be made with one tablespoon of dough with a yield of about 22 cookies. I used a #60 disher and got more than 40 cookies.

These cookies are really good! They are crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, and taste great. They keep well, too, and have maintained their consistency for several days.  They are pretty small and I usually eat two at a time. I could try a #30 disher to have cookies closer in size to those specified in the recipe. The recipe also includes an optional dark rum glaze which I did not use and which is probably worth trying as well as a variation that includes "orange essence".

Notes: July 2016

24 June 2016

"Santa Rosa Plum Compote"

Recipe from Epicurious.com

This was a good way to preserve excess plums from our one plum tree. By no means is it better than eating the ripe plums right off of the tree. It is probably also not as good as using the plums to make jelly. But it is better than throwing away good fruit and less work than making jelly. 

We were preparing to be away from home for a week towards the end of the plum season and made the compote to use up the plums. The ingredients (plums, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla) were combined per the instructions; I had just the right amount of plums. Lacking a vanilla bean I substituted 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. The mixture was brought to a simmer over medium heat, simmered on low for about an hour, cooled, and frozen. 

Upon returning home it was thawed. We ate it as is and served over vanilla ice cream. The compote is tarter than ripe berries and is lacking the fresh sweet taste of ripe fruit. (Some of the fruit was ot quite ripe, perhaps this contributed to the tartness.) Nonetheless, it was good with ice cream and would probably go well over shortcake or angel food cake.

Postscript: I learned from Phil Cosentino that Santa Rosa plums are not grown commercially any more. They used to be the most common plums in the supermarket, but no longer. They have a fragile stem and so fall from the trees easily, thus losing money for the growers.

23 July 2016

"Sweet and Tangy Grilled Country-Style Pork Ribs"

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2015

This was a quick and easy recipe for grilled pork ribs. Country-style ribs aren't really ribs, they are from the shoulder. I was concerned about finding these in the supermarket so I had them cut to order at Whole Foods. I should have paid more attention because I got "ribs" with much too much fat, my bad. I didn't even try to trim them, there wouldn't have been much left! It turns out the supermarket had plenty of country-style ribs for sale so my concerns were not borne out.

The ribs were treated with a dry rub and refrigerated for 4 hours. They were then browned over direct heat on the grill and moved to the cool side of the grill to cook to an internal temperature of 150°.  Because of all the fat I had some problems with flare ups and the meat was blackened on one side rather than browned. I used Bullseye Barbecue sauce for basting (after browning) and serving rather than making my own sauce.

Despite the poor quality meat and flare ups, these were pretty good. The meat was tender with a little chew and had good flavor. The investment in time and effort was minimal, they were very easy to make and quick to cook, so worth making again, but with better meat.

31 July 2016

"Chocolate Crinkle Cookies"

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2014

I made a similar cookie once before using a different recipe. I didn't say much about it in my blog but I recall it was pretty good, so it seemed worthwhile to try it again with a different set of instructions.

I followed the recipe and instructions pretty closely. It is nice that a mixer is not required, the relatively-thin dough can be mixed easily by hand. I used Dutch process cocoa, the recipe says either Dutch or natural is OK. I substituted bittersweet chocolate for half of the unsweetened chocolate because I did not have enough of the latter. Finally, I used only 1 teaspoon of the optional 4 teaspoons of instant espresso powder.

The resulting cookies look really good. They have a very thin crisp coating and a soft, sweet interior. Diane thought they were too sweet, perhaps because of the chocolate substitution I made. I thought the coffee flavor was OK, not too strong. The cookies are good and I will enjoy eating them (the recipe makes 22 cookies). But they're not great and so probably not something I will make again, except maybe as a showy holiday cookie.

P.S.  After eating these for a while I am becoming more of a fan. They keep really well, both at room temperature and frozen. They maintain their texture well, even the thin crust.

May 2024: I made these using just the unsweetened chocolate and 1½ teaspoons of expresso powder. They are still good but Diane still thinks they are too sweet. This may be due to the double coating of sugar. The amount of expresso powder could be increased to counter the sweetness.

Notes: March 2016

13 March 2016

"All American Beef Stew"

Recipe from Serious Eats

I tried a new recipe for beef stew, this one from the Serious Eats blog.  I didn't note how much time I spent cooking it, but between the stew and the pie (below) and the relaxing I killed a whole Sunday afternoon.

The stew didn't take all that long,  I started with a three-pound chuck roast and it spent about 2½-hours cooking. I followed the times in the recipe and it probably would have benefitted from another half hour or so as some of the beef wasn't as tender as it might have been. The 1-½-hour estimate in the recipe for active time seems about right.

The stew tasted good! I used Thai Fish Sauce, instead of anchovies, in the "umami bomb" that was part of the recipe. We thought it could have used more carrots and some more potatoes would have been okay, too.

The recipe called for cutting the roast into three steaks and browning these all at once in a Dutch oven. However, three steaks were too big and I should have browned them separately. which would have taken some more time.

The sauce was a little thin, it could have reduced more. The stew cooks with the lid only partially covering the stew and I could have exposed more of the stew than I did during cooking.

This stew is worth making again.

Lemon Meringue Pie

"Lemon Meringue Pie" recipe from Cook's Illustrated Baking Book, p. 405

Crust recipe, "Classic Single-Crust Pie Dough for Custard Pies", ibid., p. 373

This is the second time I have made a lemon meringue pie. While it has been too long since the previous pie to make a comparison, I can say this pie came out great. I made it this month because lemons seem to be in season. But that's silly: lemons are available all year and you only need three or four of them to make the pie so there is no reason to make it at any time of year. (And it allowed us to have pie on Pi Day.)

The crust recipe is pretty standard, using a mixture of vegetable shortening and butter which are mixed with the flour in a food processor. The interesting part is that the use of graham cracker crumbs instead of flour when rolling out the chilled dough. You get a classic flaky pastry crust plus the flavor of graham crackers.

The filling is easy to make. The meringue was fun because it was the first time I've made an Italian meringue. A hot sugar syrup is slowly added to the whipped egg whites in the mixer with the mixer running. This cooks and stiffens the meringue. The end result is smooth and sweet. And it made for great licking of the bowl and other tools used to make the meringue.

This pie is worth making again. I think, though, that I should try making a lemon chiffon pie next.

20 March 2016

"The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies"

Recipe from Serious Eats

The title of the recipe is pretty boastful. I have tried many different recipes for chocolate chip cookies and the New York Times recipe has been my favorite for some time. But perhaps the King is dead, long live the King! I'll have to try a few more to be sure, but the initial impression of these cookies is excellent. They are crispy and chewy with large pockets of chocolate throughout. Like the America's Test Kitchen recipe these use brown butter to give them a nutty toffee flavor. But unlike the ATK cookies here the toffee flavor is more subtle, which I like.  I baked these cookies for about 16 minutes which may have been too long ... next time I should go for 14. The recipe made 28 cookies.

"Better Chicken Marsala"

 Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2015

For the second consecutive month we had chicken marsala. It's a favorite of Diane's and a recent recipe from Cook's Illustrated magazine was worth trying.

The two boneless, skinless chicken breasts were larger than the upper limit in the recipe even though I purchased the smallest ones available: 1.6 pounds. I made a few changes to the recipe:  The Marsala was a mixture of our old bottle (which was not marked "sweet" or "dry" and our new bottle of dry Marsala; the recipe specifies dry. I used dry parsley and oregano because the amounts needed were too small to purchase fresh herbs. The pancetta was thinly sliced rather than the ½-inch pieces in the recipe. I didn't pay close attention to the time but it was probably about 90 minutes in the kitchen to prepare this dinner.

The result, though, was good. The sauce was more richly flavored than the recipe I used last month. In part this was because some of the chicken burned and the sauce was probably over-reduced. The chicken was also a little over cooked and dry. Nonetheless, despite the flaws in execution, this is a recipe worthy trying again because of the rich flavor of the sauce.

"Perfect Quick-and-Easy French Toast"

Recipe from Serious Eats

I have written in this blog several times about French toast. I have not had any for a while and so while home alone for a weekend I tried this recipe. Like most people I didn't usually follow a recipe when making French toast. In this recipe, the author ran various tests to determine the best ratio of milk to egg, for example, as well as optimizing other variables. 

I halved the recipe, making four slices, though I had enough batter to make at least one more. I used homemade sandwich bread which I dried in the oven. I cooked the toast using a square griddle on a round burner on the stove top.

The result was very good. The toast was nicely flavored by the vanilla with hints of spice from cinnamon and nutmeg. It took longer to cook than the recipe said. Perhaps I should have used a higher setting on the stove, though much higher and the butter would have burnt. The slices did not cook evenly because the pan was hotter in the center than in the corners which were not near the heating elements. Cooking just two slices at a time might help with this.