Recipe Notes: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

9 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019; also available online

Why another recipe for peanut butter cookies? The Test Kitchen already has an excellent recipe that produces very peanuty cookies using crunchy peanut butter and chopped peanuts. What is so special and different about this recipe and how do the cookies compare? Perhaps the title provides the answer, is this a chewy version?

The technique for making these cookies is standard, it is the proportions and choice of ingredients that leads to a different sort of peanut butter cookie. Flour, baking soda, and salt were whisked together in a bowl. In another bowl, brown sugar, peanut butter (I used Skippy creamy), eggs, melted butter, honey, and vanilla were whisked together. The dry ingredients were added to the wet and stirred with a spatula to form a smooth dough. The dough was finished by stirring in finely chopped dry-roasted peanuts. The dough was dropped onto a parchment-lined baking sheet using a #30 portioning scoop (about 2 tablespoons). The balls of dough were gently flattened into 2-inch disks and baked at 350° for 11 minutes. It took an hour to make 26 cookies.

The original peanut butter cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy inside with the traditional cross-hatch pattern on the top. These new cookies don't have cross hatches and they are not crispy on the outside, but chewy through and through. They have a texture that is more like peanut butter than the classic cookie. Both are good and both are worth making whenever the urge for peanut butter cookies strikes. It's just a question of which texture you want when the time comes.

Recipe Notes: Fluffy Dinner Rolls #2

2 September 2019

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 63; recipe also available online from December 2006 Cook's Country.

This is the second recipe I've tried titled "Fluffy Dinner Rolls". The first one is actually more recent and uses the tangzhong method to result in a moist, fluffy dinner roll that also keeps very well. This method is also used in my favorite recipe for white sandwich bread which I make regularly. Both dinner roll recipes set out to create a soft roll that can be made ahead of time and frozen, yet still taste fresh, moist, and fluffy when thawed and warmed. With just two of us for dinner most nights this is a very desirable quality in a dinner roll. It worked out well with the first recipe, will it work here, too?

The dough was made using standard methods. The dry ingredients—AP flour, yeast, and salt—were whisked together in the bowl of a stand mixer. The wet ingredients—milk, honey, egg, melted shortening, and melted butter— were whisked together then slowly added to the dry ingredients using the dough hook on low speed. The mixer speed was increased and the dough kneaded for about 8 minutes. I added a few additional tablespoons of flour as the dough seemed too wet and sticky. It then rose until doubled in size. It was divided into 15 equal pieces; I used a scale, each portion was about 90 grams. Each portion was formed into a ball and placed in a prepared 13x9-inch baking pan. The dough was slightly tacky which made it very easy to form into balls. These rose until almost doubled in size, brushed with an egg wash, then baked in a 350° oven. Total time was 3 hours, 15 minutes and they were ready to eat after just 15 minutes cooling.

We have had these rolls several times now, both fresh and reheated from the freezer. In every case they have been flavorful, soft, tender, and moist. They're a little on the large size but given how fluffy they are this has not been a problem, though we have never been tempted to have more than one each with a meal. They were very easy to shape as each was a sphere and they were baked in a baking pan. Some dinner rolls can be difficult to shape but that was not the case here. These are worth making again and again, it would be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison with the tangzhong rolls, if I ever do that I'll try to amend this post.

Recipe Notes: Classic Sloppy Joes

30 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019

I have tried many variations of sloppy joes over the years, but I have always preferred an old family recipe. When the Test Kitchen published a new recipe which took a different approach I gave it a try. These sloppy joes were designed to be less sweet than most with tender meat and thicker, less sloppy, sauce. Would this be the recipe to finally replace the one I have known since childhood?

Ground beef (I used home-ground beef chuck) was mixed with a baking soda solution to raise its pH and tenderize the beef. In a skillet, chopped onion was cooked in oil and some baking soda (which helps it break down) until softened. Minced garlic was added and cooked until fragrant followed with brown sugar, paprika, pepper flakes (I halved the amount in the recipe), and salt. This was cooked until the paprika was fragrant. Tomato paste was added and cooked. Next, the beef was added, mixed with the onion mixture, and cooked until there was no more pink meat. Another innovation: the meat mixture was mashed with a potato masher. Ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire were added. Finally, a slurry of corn starch was stirred into the mixture to thicken the sauce. Total time to prepare was 45 minutes.

As advertised, these sloppy joes were less sweet, and less sour, than many of the other recipes I have tried. The finely textured meat and thickened sauce made for sloppy joes that were decidedly less sloppy than other versions. It was an okay dish made with some innovative methods. However, I think I'll stick with the old family recipe. I missed the tang and sweetness that I am used to. I like ketchup and miss it in this recipe. Some comfort foods are harder to replace with updated recipes than others.

Recipe Notes: Lemon-Olive Oil Tart

29 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2019; also available online.

I enjoy lemony desserts like lemon posset and lemon meringue pie. Thus I was happy to see a new recipe for a lemon tart in Cook's Illustrated. It was made even more inviting by the simplicity of the recipe and the use of a surprising ingredient. Inspired in part by olive oil cake, the recipe replaced butter with olive oil in both the crust and the filling. How would this work?  

First, the crust, which, though it is made with flour, is as easy to make as a crumb crust. The dry ingredients—AP flour, sugar, and salt—were whisked together. Extra-virgin olive oil and water was whisked into the dry ingredients: voila, the crust was done. It was crumbled into a tart pan and pressed by hand into a smooth crust. This was baked in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes. The filling was made while the crust baked. Sugar, flour, and salt were whisked together in a sauce pan. Eggs and egg yolks were whisked into the dry ingredients followed by lemon zest and lemon juice. The filling was cooked slowly to a temperature of 160° which took a little longer than the 8 minute estimate in the recipe. Off heat, olive oil was whisked into the filling. The warm filling was poured into the warm crust and then baked until just set, about 8 minutes. Total time was 100 minutes but this could have been shortened by not doing mise en place for the filling until the crust was in the oven.

This was a good dessert and worth making again. The crust was crispy and, perhaps not surprisingly, its texture was similar to that of a crumb crust. The filling was tart and fresh, almost too tart but the slight sweetness of the crust was a good complement. Though the crust was no longer crispy after a few days in the refrigerator, the filling was less tart; it was still very good eating.