New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sorry for the long absence. Bunker and I suffered a sad loss, and it has taken a bit of time for me to get back on my feet. So to start back out blogging...I am posting about a comfort food...chocolate chip cookies.

The other day, I read an article in the New York Times, claiming it had the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. Since I consider myself to be a chocolate chip cookie aficionado, I had to try the recipe to taste the results and judge for myself! Although a bit more time and preparation is involved, these are indeed the best cookies I have ever tasted out my own oven. So please try the recipe and enjoy warm, hot, gooey, chocolaty, cookies right out of you oven. Hopefully they will bring a smile to your face as they did to mine.

Here is the link to the original recipe in the New York Times, which was adapted from Jacque Torres.

We went to Pebble Beach with my family for Thanksgiving, and it was the most wonderful trip. Pebble Beach is breathtaking, my family is so kind, the food was amazing and the time there and the company is irreplaceable. I loved every moment. Over the next few posts I will share some of our favorite pictures!

Thanksgiving day on the beach

The Lone Cypress. 

Walking down to the beach.

17 Mile Drive on the way from Pebble to Carmel.

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Ingredients:
2 cups minus 2 tablespoon of cake flour
1 2/3 cups of bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/12 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups)
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate chips (at least 60 percent cacao content)

Steps:
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
2. In your standing mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until you have a light and fluffy mixture, about 5 minutes.
3. Add each egg one at a time and mixing well after each addition.
4. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
5. Reduce to a low speed and slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
7. Cover the dough with plastic wrap by pressing the plastic wrap onto the exposed dough in the bowl.
8. Refrigerate the dough 24-36 hours.
9. When you are ready to enjoy the yummy cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
10. Scoop out the dough into large golf ball sizes and spread out on a greased cookie sheet.
11. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. You want to take them out when they become golden, but you still want them very soft, almost like they are not finished as they will continue to cook after you remove them from the oven.
12. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!

Sweet Creamy Cornbread

In my family, a bowl of chili and slice of cornbread go hand in hand. It's rare to have one without the other. Typically, my mom whips up cornbread using the Jiffy corn muffin mix or Pioneer cornbread mix you can find at the grocery store. This time, however, I decided I wanted to make homemade cornbread without the mix.

A good friend of mine makes her cornbread with sour cream and creamed corn in addition to Jiffy cornbread mix. It's delicious and creamy, so much richer than regular cornbread. With this in mind, I set off to find a similar recipe without the mix. What I found was this recipe by Paula Deen. I made a few adjustments to suit my preferences: using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, using canola oil, and adding 3/4 cup of sugar. This cornbread is grainier than I was used to, but really delicious. Robert has declared it to be our go to recipe from now on.

Please forgive the lack of photos in this post. Apparently I was hungry and in a rush while making this and most of my photos came out blurry.

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Sweet Creamy Cornbread

Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil, plus 1/4 cup for greasing the pan

1 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 can cream style corn

2 eggs

1 7 ounce container 2% Fage Greek Yogurt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Season a cast iron skillet with 1/4 cup canola oil. Place the pan on a burner at medium high heat to preheat the pan.

 In a large bowl combine 1/2 cup canola oil, cornmeal, flour, corn, eggs, and yogurt. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir the mixture until fully blended.

 Pour the batter into the skillet and place in the oven, baking for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

 Remove from the oven and enjoy with chili, soup, or stew with a pat of butter.

Source: Adapted from Paula Deen

Bison Chili

After a weekend of constant drizzle and rain, Dallas has been in the forties this week. My morning walk from my parking spot to the office has been bone chillingly cold. It also doesn't help that my office building is kept at a frigid 67 degrees. Once the cold settled in, I knew that it was time for me to make my first pot of chili for the winter.

I grew up eating a basic frito pie type chili. Nothing fancy, just hamburger meat, pinto beans, tomato sauce and Williams chili seasoning. Up until last year, that was the only way I made chili. Then a friend of mine made her recipe for bison chili. I found the taste of the lean bison meat delicious, and while I found her recipe to be too sweet for my liking, it got me thinking of how I might deviate from the way I'd always made chili.

Last January, I came across a recipe for homemade chili seasoning and have since used it in place of the Williams chili packets that once were a staple in my pantry. One of the main reasons I like doing it this way is that it allows me to more easily control the sodium level when I make the seasoning mix myself. I decided to add chipotle peppers in adobo to this recipe because I thought the smokiness would enhance the flavor of the bison, and it provides the spice I like in my chili. In my old recipe, I would always add salsa to my bowl to increase the spice level. This recipe has plenty of heat on its own, making the salsa completely unnecessary. This chili is perfect for these chilly winter nights to help warm you up from the inside out.

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Bison Chili


Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds ground bison (regular hamburger meat would also work well if bison is unavailable)
2 tablespoons chili seasoning (you can use any chili seasoning mix you prefer, the blend I use can be found here)
2 14.5 ounce cans red kidney beans
2 14.5 ounce cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced (for a milder chili, only use one chipotle pepper)

Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat.

 Add the onions

 and bell peppers and saute for 2 minutes.

 Add the garlic and saute for a minute more.

 Add the ground bison.

 Cook until the meat is cooked through.

 Add the chili seasoning,

 kidney beans, diced tomatoes,

 tomato sauce,

 and chipotle peppers, stirring after each addition.

 Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.

 Cover and simmer for at least an hour and a half.

Serve with cheese and fritos, if desired.

Homemade Wassail

Today, I put up our Christmas tree, and soon I will add to it the rest of our Christmas decor. I love our tree. Two years ago, my mom decided to give Robert and me a brand new tree to replace the old hand me down tree that I had used since college that had most of the lights broken. Our tree is decorated with almost 70 silver bells. I was given 28 silver bells for every Christmas since I was born, and the rest were given to Robert's parents by his grandmother for every year they were married. To me it represents both our family history and our love of music. It's perfect.

One drink that always embodies Christmas to me is Wassail. It's mentioned in Christmas carols, "Here we go a wassailing", and it simply smells and tastes like Christmas. You'll find that as you make this wassail, your house will smell of citrus, cinnamon, and cloves. Also, this drink is wonderful when recovering from a cold as it is packed with Vitamin C and helps with coughs when you add a shot of whiskey to your mug. I think it's the perfect addition to any Christmas party menu and certainly has a place for parties that include caroling in the cold winter night. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Happy Holiday Season.

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Homemade Wassail


Ingredients
2 quarts bottled apple cider (looks like apple juice but says cider)
1 cup lemon juice
2 cups orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
2 sticks whole cinnamon (or 1 teaspoon ground if sticks are unavailable)
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 cup brown sugar

Instructions
Combine the apple cider,

orange juice,

 lemon juice,

 pineapple juice,

 cloves,

 cinnamon (I used ground this time as I was out of cinnamon sticks),

 and brown sugar in a large pot.

 Stir and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Remove the cloves and cinnamon sticks if used. 

Serve hot with a scone or other Christmas treat.

Orange Cranberry Scones

A few months back I shared my recipe for blueberry scones. One of the reasons I love this recipe is how they are lightly sweetened and not as dense as many scones can be. So this weekend I decided to try changing up the recipe to replace the blueberries with dried cranberries and orange zest. I also had some oat flour in the pantry so I thought I'd throw that in as well. Finally, I added an orange glaze to enhance the orange flavor of the scones.

The result was delightful! The oat flour provided a heft to the scones without compromising the airiness that I've come to expect from this recipe. The next time you need to bring breakfast to a function, you should consider bringing these scones. You won't be disappointed.

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Orange Cranberry Scones


Ingredients
3 cups flour (I used 1 cup oat flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 stick butter, softened
17 ounces lowfat Greek yogurt (I used 0% Fage)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
zest of an orange
4 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the flour, 

baking powder,

salt

and sugar. 

Whisk together to fully incorporate. 

Cut the softened butter into pieces and add to the flour mixture. 

Using your whisk, or pastry cutter if you have one, cut the butter into the flour until well blended.

Gently fold in the greek yogurt and vanilla until well blended. 

Finally, fold in the dried cranberries and orange zest.

Spoon the mixture onto a greased baking sheet. (Should make 12-14 scones) 

Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown. 

While the scones are baking, combine the powdered sugar

 and orange juice in a small bowl.

 Whisk to combine.

Remove from the oven and brush the tops with the orange glaze.

Let cool and serve with fresh coffee or a nice cup of tea.