Small Batch Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
adapted from Joy of Baking
ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 an egg (either weigh it and divide by two, or whisk it well and take approximately 2 tablespoons)
splash vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
pinch kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
directions:
Microwave chocolate and butter together on medium power until they are melted, set aside to cool slightly.
Whip the egg with the sugar until pale yellow and doubled in size.
Add the vanilla and chocolate and beat to combine.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the top of the mixture.
Beat until batter comes together.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the confectioner’s sugar on a plate or shallow bowl.
Using a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop or two small spoons, form 10 small balls.
Roll well in the confectioner’s sugar so that no brown is showing.
Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
Bake for 7-8 minutes, until the crackle pattern has formed.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Category: Stupid
Peachy Keen
Then, I was enjoying a beautiful, sunny day and evening with friends at Taughannock.
peel the peaches (Said it before, and I’ll say it again: I never peel peaches for pie. I love that fuzzy skin, and I totally approve of this message what it does texture-wise when cooked)
use 3 pounds of peaches (this just seems excessive because you have to peel each one like WHAT)
quarter and then thirds all the peaches (there has to be a more efficient way to do this. Peeled peaches are so very slippery and go shooting off the cutting board like soap)
macerate the peaches (I thought we wanted the juice to stay in)
cook down the resulting juice with pectin (thank God we canned the other weekend… or I would have been out of luck)
mash some of my macerated peaches that I worked SO HARD cutting up (not that hard, but whatever I’m trying to make this list long and dramatic)
use cornstarch (jk I love cornstarch)
ok I’m done
Plus, they gave me some lame-ass pie crust with shortening, giving an excuse about lattice pie crusts needing to hold up or something along those lines. I’m not sure ’cause I stopped reading when I saw Crisco.
I don’t know about you but I am really not down with shortening in pie crusts, but you probably know that because one of my earliest posts was dedicated just to all-butter all-good pastry doughs.
The low down: you can make flaky, flavorful, workable, pliable, tender pie crusts with just butter. You just gotta have the right technique.
And I’m going to share my super-secret method for getting flaky, flaky, flaky pastry.
(Scroll down through the recipe and you’ll see it, as well as a poorly-lit shot meant to demonstrate how flaky the crust is.)
So to wrap this up: their pie filling was good. The texture was perfect, the flavor was too lemony and too sweet for my palette.
I generally use next to no sugar in my pies, but since I was trying to review the recipe, I made no changes to the filling and how it was prepared.
I used my own crust recipe, which has taken a lifetime to develop (practically), because I will always stay loyal to butter and buttermilk.
This was a fussy recipe. But altogether, I would recommend it.
I think I have to say that, because I had two fat wedges of this pie today.
Om nom nommedy nom.
Dirrrty
All up in there in the weirdest places.
TRUST ME.
Then, Russell of Chasing Delicious made this amazing Mississippi Mud Cake, and I decided it was high time to get back on the chocolate wagon.
It had been so long. Summer just doesn’t always seem to be compatible with chocolate, which melts and makes a mess. I usually stick to fruit.
But here we are, with a giant chocolate pie to talk about.
I’ll talk you through the layers- it’s not as hard as it seems, I promise.
Come your next chocolate craving, make this. It will satisfy every bone and tooth in your body.
First up: chocolate cookie crust.
I used Oreos, because for some reason all the regular chocolate cookies were out of stock in all of the grocery stores near me. Whatever.
Smash up some cookies, add a little seasoning (sugar+salt) and bind the whole thing with a stick o’ butta. Yum.
Next: my favorite brownies.
These are a one-pot, one-spoon, super simple affair.
They come together in 5 minutes and bake in 15.
They’re fudgy and perfect to line the base of the crust.
Simply cut off the top of the brownie base and lay it right in your crust.
Third: milk chocolate mousse.
This stuff has two major steps, but neither is difficult.
You come away with the smoothest, fluffiest mousse, one that is very light on the tongue but is completely sliceable.
This would usually be a pudding, but I wanted something a little more sophisticated than chocolate puddin’.
A mousse is perfect for this type of molded dessert!
Spread it over the cut side of the brownies and chill until it’s completely set.
Next: salted chocolate ganache.
Rich, dark, and so, so deeply chocolaty. Need I say more?
Finally: Italian meringue.
These marshmallow-y clouds on the top of the cake are the perfect foil for all the chocolate they’re sitting on. Traditionally, these would be marshmallows or whipped cream, but I prefer the lightness and softness of meringue.
One slice of this will do in your chocolate cravings in just the right way.
Mississippi Mud Pie just done grew up.
Pinch cream of tartar
Worth It
Boy, I thought I was a clever little imp.
It’s one of my favorite kinds of pie. It’s up there with peach and apple and nutmeg-maple cream.
Key limes are cheap, too.
This pie tastes better than many key lime pies and is so much easier without the baking of the interior. It’s quick and has some health boosts to boot. I’ll take it!
Bien Cuit
Mais ça se fait pas en France.
Next time a recipe calls for melted butter, brown it (I always, always do).
Take your caramel just a little deeper before pouring in cold, sweet cream.
You will be substantially rewarded with very, very happy taste buds.
Call Me Sally
Trust me on this one.
Frost the outside of the cake with the chocolate frosting; to smooth, use a warmed knife.
Saranghae
danced out toward its object, eager and nimble—
-Rachel Sally, Fall 2012
Je Te Kiffe
Our nation’s most lovey-dovey holiday is right around the bend. Now, I’m sure that many Valentine’s Day-bashing memes and rants will soon be populating the internet, but this post is not for that.
“Be mine” |
I adore Valentine’s day; not because I celebrate it with anyone in particular or do anything special- I just love the idea.
(I love you, my dear readers, and I am ever grateful for you!)
Conversation hearts are iconic of elementary school valentine exchanges. Personally, I hate them. They don’t taste good; they’re not chocolate; they say weird things like “SEXY,” which are not appropriate for grade schoolers, etc. Anyways, they’re just meh.
Oh! But look!
Here are some sweet little conversation heart cookies, written in French. They have sugar AND butter, and are accordingly delicious, they say exactly what you want, and they’re cute to boot.
I made these with a simple sugar cookie dough, like here, here, or here (Ohmagah. Those cookies. I can’t even. SO stinking perfect. I hate love envy them so.), and frosted them with even simpler royal icing.
I didn’t yet have my #1 tip, and my #4 was way too large (see the last photo in the series), so I had to write with a toothpick to get the right size. It was a real headache, let me tell you.
I’m still trying to perfect my decorated cookies. It’s becoming an obsession!
I love how beautiful they can be. Mine are not there yet. One day, though; one day.