My favorite cookie

I may be a "foodie" who enjoys both cooking and eating many different kinds of food, but I'm no food snob. I like simple dishes and deserts just as much as I like fancier, more "gourmet" offerings.

Take, for example, the recipe below. Everyone and their grandmother (including mine!) makes these cookies, yet despite their omnipresence I still can't help but scarf down one or two (or four or five) every time I see them poking out of a cookie jar.

You can poke a lot of different chocolate candies into the top of these lovely blossoms: Hershey's kisses, chocolate stars--or my favorite, miniature peanut butter cups. If you can find the white chocolate variety of mini peanut butter cups, use them--you won't regret it.

I've been meaning to try a unique twist on these cookies for some time - baking them in mini-muffin tins and then creating a well/divit in the center with the end of a wooden spoon or similar utensil. Once cooled I would fill the indentation with chocolate ganache, frosting or even Nutella (mmmm, my mouth is watering at the thought!). I'll let you know if it works out.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Dump the butter and peanut butter into the bowl of a stand mixer, and blend until light and fluffy. Add sugars and then vanilla and eggs, beating until combined well.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and then gradually add to the creamed mixture. Continue mixing just until combined.

Roll into balls and then roll in sugar (if using miniature peanut butter cups, you may want to place balls of dough in greased mini-muffin tins instead of laying them on cookie sheets). Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Press chocolate star, kiss or peanut butter cup into center and bake for another 2 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Alternately, just bake the cookie portion for 10 minutes, add the chocolate and then let cool.

The perfect pie (for me)

I am unashamedly a lover of all things sweet--honestly, I can't think of many desserts that would cause me to turn up my nose. That said, I rarely crave pie. I like a good pecan or pumpkin pie during the holidays, and I like fruit pies (apple and cherry, especially) once in a while in the summer, but it's a rare occasion that I choose to make one over a batch of cookies or brownies or a cake.

The one exception is chocolate cream pie. I've always loved a dense chocolate-pudding pie topped with pillowy whipped cream. The recipe below--from Gourmet magazine--is the best I have ever tasted, from a bakery or home-baked. It looks a bit daunting, perhaps, but it's not--and any time you put into it is well worth it in the end.

Chocolate Cream Pie

For the crust:
1 1/3 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

For the filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Make the crust:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat your oven to 350°F.

Throw all of the crust ingredients into a medium bowl and stir to combine. Press into a 9-inch pie plate and then bake until crisp, about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Make the filling:
In a large, heavy saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt and yolks. Add the milk in a stream, whisking constantly. Continue whisking and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer, continuing to whisk, for about 1 minute (filling will be thick).

Force filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter and vanilla. Cover surface of filling with buttered plastic wrap and cool completely, at least 2 hours.

Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.

Top with freshly made whipped cream (or Cool Whip, whatever trips your trigger) and serve to your salivating guests.

Happy holidays!

Ok, so Christmas has been over for, what, three days now. I haven't been keeping up with this blog, though, so I guess any mention of the holidays should be welcomed with open arms. Although it's not like anyone's reading it. Oh, well, I don't care. Really!

Anyway, Christmas 2005 was a great one. One of the best I've had since becoming an adult. I always loved Christmas when I was a "kid" - in fact, once the presents were opened on Christmas day I'd start looking forward to the next one. Ah, that says a lot about me, doesn't it?

Once I started college, Christmastime changed a bit, and not for the better. I either had classes go right up until Christmas eve, or I had to work. That doesn't leave much time for baking or decorating or listening to holiday music - all things I enjoy doing in the grand run up to Christmas day.

This year was different, though. I made a concerted effort to start early and pace myself. One weekend I baked with my sister-in-law. I also took a day off to bake with my mom. And I spent a Saturday baking by myself. In all, I baked 12 batches of cookies - quite an accomplishment! And in doing so I came up with my own personal list of "perfect holiday cookies" to bake in the coming years. I'll post those recipes soon, but here are their names: Cookie dough truffles, peanut butter blossoms, cherry snowballs, and coconut haystacks.

No sugar cookies or fudge? Well, sugar cookies and nice to eat, but a pain to make, so I've nixed them from the list. And fudge? Don't even get me started about that! I'll buy it from now on. (Oh, what am I saying? I'm stubborn and will likely try again, but not around the holidays.)

Next year I will make some fruit cake, though. Say what you want about it (hee hee), but I love it. In any form. Even cookie form. I have a great recipe for fruit cake cookies that I'll have to share here if I haven't already.

I've gone off track, haven't I? Where was I trying to go with this? Oh, Christmas 2005 and how fabulous it was. So, I did a lot of baking, and also listened to a lot of holiday music. And decorated, too - got the lights up outside just after Thanksgiving (nothing fancy, but it made me happy, so there you have it), and even got an old (really old) fake tree from my parents. Once I bought some cheap(ish) lights and ornaments for it, we were all set. It's too big for our teeny house, but what can you do?

The best thing about Christmas for me as an adult is, of course, the food. We always have a big celebration the week before Christmas with my mom's side of the family - easily 40 people all meeting in one house (not ours!) to talk and eat and drink and eat and eat ... well, you get the picture. I look forward to it every year. This year it was held at my cousin's house - she lives in an old cheese factory, which is cooler than it sounds. Lots of food to be had (including a vegan broccoli-rice casserole that I brought - again, better than it sounds), but the highlight for me was the cookies. An entire table full of cookies. I ate 20 if I ate a single one. No kidding. If you know me you may think that's not possible by looking at me (well, isn't he the confident one!), but it is. Poor David (my husband) and Jan (his sister) had to listen to me moan, "I'm never eating again" at least 3,000 times that night.

The next weekend - Christmas weekend - was spent with immediate family. On Christmas eve David and Jan and I converged on my parent's house for dinner, dessert and presents. Everyone made something - David made his amazing pesto (shared on this site somewhere), my mom made spaghetti with marinara sauce, Jan made garlic bread, and I made a trifle of gingerbread, apples and a cashew sauce. Everything was amazing, though the gingerbread (again, recipe's on this site somewhere) was wasted in the trifle. Note to self: Give in and realize that a vegan alternative to whipped cream (the abovementioned cashew sauce) does not exist. Next year I'll stick with gingerbread, sauteed apples and whipped cream served separately, and those damn vegans can fend for themselves! (I play...)

At least we still had leftover cookies and some nuts and peanut brittle that were given as gifts.

That night I only had about 10 cookies. Much better than the weekend before.

Christmas day was once again spent with my parents. I helped my grandma make her famous "big pancakes," which fall somewhere between crepes and "regular" pancakes. They don't have a lot of flavor on their own - the beauty of them is all in how you stuff them. For example, I spread butter on mine, then sprinkle sugar over the top, then roll them up and slice them. Sometimes I stick a sausage (real or veggie) inside like traditional "pigs in a blanket." I know it sounds strange, but it's devine. David can't do the butter/sugar combo (blasphemy!), but he has gotten into putting a sausage inside. Guess I can keep him after all.

My dad had to buy doughnuts for that morning (damn him!), which we dutifully ate, and we also - of course! - had leftover cookies. I think I only had 5 this time.

That night we went to Jan's house for dinner. She bought a Tofurky, which I had never had before, and also made scalloped potatoes and sauteed snap peas. All of it - especially the Tofurky and its accompanying mushroom gravy - was to die for. We WILL be having Tofurky again next year, mark my words!

I got some foodie gifts that night: saffron from Jan (I've never used it, but I will now!) as well as vanilla beans. And a nice jar of maple butter - which, four days out, I've eaten half of. I do love sweet, spreadable stuff that can be devoured by the spoonful :) Oh, and David got me a set of ginormus (made-up word) ramekins. White, of course.

That's about it for my personal Christmas story. We've gotten rid of most of the cookies that were made, thank god - some of which ended up in our stomachs and some of which ended up in the trash - and the only holiday food that remains is one good swig of eggnog. (Did I mention I love eggnog with a passion? Well, I do!).

All that's left, then, is to take down the tree and start looking forward to next year :)

Happy holidays to any kind soul who happens to stumble onto this page!

It's always the right time for this gingerbread

If you're like most people, gingerbread is an autumnal treat. I guess that makes sense--tradition and all--but you may give a second thought to all of that after trying a piece of this luscious cake.

First mentioned (as far as I know) in the fabulous Bon Appetit magazine, it's the only gingerbread recipe you'll ever need. Top it with sauteed apples or pears, a dollop of whipped cream, or get fancy and break it into pieces for a wonderful wintry trifle (layer the gingerbread with lemon curd and blueberries, for instance).

Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread

1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cardamom
3 large eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Confectioners sugar for dusting

10-inch (10- to 12-cup) bundt pan

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

Sift together flour, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles.

Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then turn cake out of pan. Cool completely and dust with confectioners sugar.

Holy crepe!

Crepes are one of those dishes that seem harder than they are. They're so thin and fragile looking that it's easy to imagine only the most competent of home cooks should even attempt to make them.

Well, that's just plain wrong. If I can make them, I'm sure anyone can. I like to think of myself as a "better-than-average" cook, but I certainly didn't graduate (or even attend, for that matter) Le Cordon Bleu.

A few words of wisdom should help you whip these babies up in no time flat. For starters, though you can use a whisk to combine all the ingredients in a bowl, it's far easier to just use a food processor or blender. Once you've made the batter, let the batter sit for a bit. And instead of sitting around, twiddling your thumbs while the 20 minutes tick away, start heating up your skillet--it's important that it's up to temperature before you add your first crepe, otherwise it'll be a wasted, soggy mess.

My most important piece of advice? That would be to try one (or two or three) of these wondrous creations topped with some Nutella (or other cocoa-hazelnut spread) and some chopped, roasted hazelnuts. Fruit and other toppings (including dulce de leche) are more than fine, but there's nothing more mouth-watering than a crepe filled with Nutella!

Enough of my blathering. On to the recipe!

4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup granulated sugar
2 pinches salt
1 1/3 cup milk
1 1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pour all of the above ingredients into a blender or food processor and "blitz" (as Nigella Lawson loves to say) until smooth. This shouldn't take more than a few seconds, so make sure you don't walk away!

Let the batter sit for 20 minutes. Near the end of that time, start heating up your skillet. Make sure the skillet is well greased with oil or butter, especially if the one you're using isn't non-stick, as the crepes have a tendency to cling to the pan.

When the batter has set for 20 minutes and the skillet's up to temperature, pour a ladle-full of batter into the skillet and swish it around so that the batter coats the bottom of the pan. You'll likely use about a ½ cup of batter per crepe, though I like to buck tradition and make mine a little thicker.

Let the crepe sit until the edges become lacy and golden and the top seems dry (this should take 1-2 minutes). Use a spatula to loosen the edges of the crepe and then flip it over. Cook the second side for another 15-30 seconds and then slide it on to a plate to cool.

This recipe should make about 10 crepes in a 10-inch pan. If you're using an 8-inch pan or don't want to make so many crepes in a 10-inch pan, go ahead and cut the recipe in half.