MITCH IN THE KITCHEN

compost cookies

Hot damn these cookies are good. I used to have an uncontrollable habit of marching into Momofuku Milk Bar anytime I was within a 10-block radius and picking up some of my favorite things there: a slice of chocolate chip cake (back when they used to sell cake slices), a volcano, a blueberry cookie, and/or a compost cookie. I found the recipe for that last item online and figured it would be a good contribution to an event that is (for me, anyway) all about over-consuming fatty, salty, crunchy, and sugary things to wash down lots of beer in front of a televised sports event featuring expensive commercials.

The recipe calls for rolled oats, graham cracker crumbles, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coffee grounds, potato chips, and pretzels. In the true spirit of composting, I dumped whatever other cookie-appropriate leftover stuff from my pantry into the mix: pecans and shredded coconut. If you choose to make these cookies less enormous than the recipe calls for, make sure you reduce the baking time accordingly.

apple gouda oatmeal cookies

One glimpse at this recipe and I knew I had to try it. Are these cookies supposed to be eaten for dessert? Breakfast? Late-night snack?

Who cares, they’re delicious. I want to start carrying them around in my pockets so I can eat them whenever I want.

A few notes: I didn’t peel the apples and I finely chopped them instead of grating them. I ran out of golden raisins so I added dried cranberries. Chill the dough before baking to get chewy, tall cookies. Best when fresh and gooey and crisp on the outside, in my opinion.

rhubarb-almond bars with ginger

Before making this, I tossed around several ideas for what to do with several stalks of rhubarb I had collected several weeks ago from the farmers’ market and my CSA share. I thought about making a rustic galette or braised chicken, but ended up making little dessert bars late one humid, sticky weekend evening to bring to a July 4th picnic in the park. I used a pastry blender and cold butter instead of the grater and frozen butter called for by the recipe, and added a bit of minced ginger to the rhubarb mixture.

homemade oreo cookies

I’ve had this recipe for homemade Oreo cookies bookmarked for a long, long time. Superbowl Sunday (whose traditional feasts of beer, cheese, and guacamole I look forward to more than the game itself) finally gave me an excuse to make them. I adjusted the recipe a tiny bit to dial down the sugar and amp up the salt (3/4 cup of sugar and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt in the cookies). The best part is total control over how much cream (or is it “creme”? there is no actual cream in the stuff) filling gets sandwiched in those cookies. If you like only a thin layer of filling (ahem, me), you don’t need to scrape half of it out while people frown at you. And if you’ve ever had drooling fantasies about Triple- or Quadruple-Stuf cookies (ahem, Pavla and Jake, cutest snack-sharers I’ve ever seen), you can go home happy in a DIY sugar-filled haze.

rugelach

I learned at a very young age (thank you, Kindergarten Multicultural Day) that Hanukkah has some really popular food traditions. Latkes? Jelly doughnuts? Yes. I learned at an older age, after tearing through a gifted box of rugelach, that I really like these rolled up pastry-like cookies. And what do you know, rugelach may be a traditional Hanukkah food too. I did plain chocolate, chocolate raspberry, and apricot raisin walnut (the best of the three, in my opinion) for Nicole’s Hanukkah potluck this past weekend.

Future plans now include savory rugelach. With things like leeks and fresh herbs and olives and cheese. Perfect for dipping in pan sauce from the Blumenfeld family brisket recipe.

(white) chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies

If you’ve hung out with John (yes, he is coming up in all of these posts now) in the past few months, you’ve probably heard about how we’re planning to install wood laminate flooring in our apartment, as a couple of hapless, decorating-challenged newlyweds would. After a solid day of moving furniture around, Asian-squatting over and over, and sawing and pounding on many many planks of stuff that looks like wood but is much cheaper, we were dead tired and wanted only greasy Thai takeout and cold beer for dinner.

Luckily I planned ahead for dessert by making some cookie dough the night before. I will be baking small batches at a time throughout the week (unless I end up just freezing it for later). I meant to use brown chocolate chips but found only white chocolate chunks in the kitchen. These were a huge improvement from the failed apricot cookies I made a few weeks back. Chewy and moist and maybe a little bit sweeter than I usually like stuff, but perfect with a glass of cold milk in the late evening. Ok fine, or for breakfast.

Sift together and set aside:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream together for 3 minutes using an electric mixer:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, left out at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (lightly packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix into butter and sugar mixture:
1 large egg

Then add the flour mixture while the mixer is still going on low speed.

Fold in:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted in a dry pan (more is ok)
1/2 cup chocolate chips or white chocolate chips (this is also a pretty conservative amount)

Chill dough for several hours, or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop tablespoon-size balls of cold dough on to a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Bottoms of the cookies should be barely golden and the centers should still be gooey. Let cool for 5 minutes, then dig in. Makes about 60 1 1/2-inch cookies.

apricot trial and error

“Can I tell you something about apricots? 1 in 30 is a good one. It’s such a low percentage fruit.”
- Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm

I have a hard time appreciating apricots. Unlike most of their stone fruit brethren, they lack the sweet-tart juiciness that makes cherries, peaches, and plums perfectly enjoyable with only a rinse of water as prep work. They’re a little mealy and have (in my opinion) a sort of off-putting pasty texture. The only things I really like about apricots are that 1. they are cute and 2. their pits are super easy to remove. So what did this apricot-disliker do with a dry quart of fresh ones? (I refuse to make jam/preserves.)

Oatmeal Cookies with Fresh Apricots, White Chocolate, and Pecans
I finally busted out my brand new KitchenAid mixer (thank you Diana, Nicole, Pavla, Jake and blog-less Mike) to make these. They weren’t exactly the best cookies I’ve ever made. In fact, they were probably the worst. My head is swimming with ideas why but I’m not ready to blame it on the apricots being fresh rather than dried, because it’s been done. Anyway, the idea of a chewy oatmeal cookie with fruit, white chocolate, and nuts is still a good one, so I am alarmingly determined to get this one right. Get ready for cookies, friends, because I certainly cannot handle that much dessert.

Apricot Clafoutis
Just like gooseberry clafoutis (or a traditional cherry clafoutis) but with pitted apricot halves and flavored with almond and vanilla extracts. Next time: smoother batter!

Apricot and Prosciutto Flatbread
Prosciutto and fruit is always so good. You almost can’t go wrong. The idea for this came from Cooking Light and a cooking blog far more impressive than this one. I pre-baked the crust for a few minutes in a very hot oven, then topped it with ricotta, sliced apricots, and prosciutto and popped it back in the oven for a bit. After that, a sprinkling of salt, pepper, fresh basil, and grated Parmigiano cheese to finish it off. The crust wasn’t (is never, sigh) quite crisp enough on the bottom. I am starting to seriously want a pizza stone but I’m not sure we have room for one (and the wooden paddle board thingy) among all the other cool new stuff in our kitchen. Like that KitchenAid mixer.

gingersnaps with lemon ice cream

milkmadeicecream:

Back to that ice cream sandwich idea. Here’s one we whipped up with lemon ice cream and gingersnaps. I love love love the combination of lemon and gingery baked goods (I used to keep a box of Carr’s ginger lemon creme cookies at my desk, and we’d eat these whenever we could in Berkeley). The lemons were grown by a friend in San Diego, and hand-imported in economy class by my personal fruit smuggler. The hardest part about making these is not eating all of the cookies and ice cream before they’re ready to be sandwiched together in perfect harmony.

<00, Mitch

spicy chocolate cookies

I’ve probably mentioned before that I don’t bake much, mostly because I’m not really a sweets and desserts eater. I am, however, trying to get better at it (the baking part, not the eating part), so yesterday was a perfect opportunity to bake a bunch of cookies for a holiday party (again, at Pavla and Diana’s). I’m not sure if they were eaten in the sangria-fueled chaos and gift-exchange-rage that ensued, but I’m glad they at least looked cute.

(recipe adapted from Epicurious)

Makes about 5 dozen (I got up to 66 cookies)

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

powdered sugar
candied cherries, dried cherries, almonds, or pistachios

Remove butter from the refrigerator and let it sit out at room temperature (I forget to do this all the time).

Melt chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, or in a double boiler. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a medium bowl. Beat 1 3/4 cups sugar and butter in large bowl until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and chocolate. Gradually add dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Chill dough until firm, about 2 hours (or throw it in the freezer for 20 minutes while you worry about being late to your friends’ party because you didn’t read the recipe directions).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter your baking sheet(s), or line them with parchment paper. Place powdered sugar in a plate or shallow pan. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in sugar to coat; shake off excess sugar. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Press one cherry or nut into the center of each cookie. Bake until cookies puff and crack but are still soft, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.