keep calm

Blogging has been, at best, sporadic the past nine months. A variety of reasons have contributed to the slowdown:

health issues (I am trying to eat better, exercise more and bake less, though with a dearth of sweets, I've found the chips)
on demand tv viewing (so easy to while away the time in front of that box,)
and (brace yourself)

pb & chocolate chip cups

I have come to the harsh-but-true conclusion that I'm a fair weather baker.

I cannot take the heat. Literally. Pressure isn't great either, but the hot weather and humidity suck the life out of me. If I were a denizen of Alpharetta, Georgia, you can count your cookies that there would be no beurrista.

Now that school is in full swing, now that the mornings are cooler and the air crisper, I am finally hearing the siren song of the oven. The Kids are even asking for cookies after a summer full of ice cream and ices.

Today, s'mores are in the oven. I made chocolate chip cookies last week. What has been in the forefront of my mind, however, is pb&j. I love that combination. I wanted to make a pb&j bar cookie, but after running it by The Tasters, I realized that I'd have No Takers. I'd have to eat the whole pan myself...

skinny chocolate chip buttermilk scone

The one perishable ingredient I never seem to use up is that quart of buttermilk. I blame my weakness for making red velvet cupcakes, after which I can only take so many pancakes, and perhaps I could venture into fried chicken territory, but that half-used quart inevitably goes bad and gets thrown out.

As an aside, I'm always on the lookout for some good recipes using buttermilk. If you have any, please leave me a recommendation in the comments section— I'm all ears!

This recipe caught my eye not only for the buttermilk ingredient, but also for the skinny factor. I was curious about how it would taste. Skinny sounds so much more appealing than reduced-fat scone dontcha think?

ultimate chocolate chip cookie

Do superlatives such as "best" and "ultimate" pique your curiosity?  Or do you roll your eyes?  What comes to my mind is one of two things: You're really cocky and are prone to exaggeration.  Or, you've got quite the item on hand and can't wait for everyone else to try it.

This chocolate chip cookie falls in the latter category. Fabulous, decadent, delicious. The texture is perfectly crispy on the outer edge, chewy as you move towards the middle, and then just a little soft in the center.

thankful cookies aka momofuku milk bar cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie

Thanksgiving came early for me, and not in the usual form of turkey dinner, family gathering, and celebration.

I gave thanks and had an incredibly grateful heart because...

We got our power back!  (You know how they say that you don't really appreciate what you have until you don't have it...)

chocolate chip cupcakes {msc}

The Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club assignment coincides with The Son's class party— perfect!

The Son's teacher apparently has banned candy from being exchanged, but as Class Parent and Party Planner, I get a little leeway, no? I'm going to put a little chocolate ♡ on the cupcake.

chunky lola cookies

What a name.  Does it appeal to you?  It certainly piqued my curiosity. Who is Lola? Was she chubby? What's in the cookie?  

For Christmas, The Sister, feeding my cookbook obsession, gave me flour, by Joanne Chang. Joanne is owner and pastry chef at Flour Bakery + Cafe in Boston. She asked her bakers what ingredients they craved in a cookie— chocolate, pecans, coconut were favorites. They then had a cookie-naming contest for customers, and the winning name was CHUNKY LOLA.

peanut butter chocolate chip pretzel cookie

The snow keeps falling, and that makes me hungry for a stick-to-your-ribs kind of food cookie.

What comes to mind is chunky and chockablock-full-of-good-stuff.  I had a yummy peanut butter/pretzel/chocolate chunk cookie this past summer at the Hester Street Fair.  The cookie was super crunchy and delicious, but the pretzel was quite hard.  Today's recipe produces a semi-soft cookie filled with chocolate and balanced out with a crisp, salty crunch from the pretzels.

world peace cookies {bwd}

Happy New Year, everyone!

I have the pick for the Baking with Dorie baking group this week, and what better cookie to ring in the New Year than one that, if distributed, could contribute to a better place to live? (That is, only if you don't eat the batch yourself.  They really are rather addictive.)  Chocolate dough, chocolate chunks, and butter. Need I say more?

These cookies are related to the sablé — a buttery shortbread, with a slightly sandy texture. The difference is that they are packed with chocolate.  The recipe comes via Dorie Greenspan from renowned pastry chef, Pierre Hermé, who can do no wrong.  He uses fleur de sel, which "surprises, delights and makes the chocolate flavors in the cookies seem preternaturally profound."  

coffee and chocolate chip shortbread

"'Tis the season" in my book means "time to try new cookie recipes," and I've found one by Sarah Leah Chase that I think you'll enjoy.

I was first introduced to Sarah in July of 1988.  The Sister inscribed Sarah's The Nantucket Open-House Cookbook to me— "Have fun cooking, experimenting and pigging out ☺"  Happily, I'm still doing all three.  Then last Christmas, she gave me Sarah's follow-up cookbook, Cold-Weather Cooking, which has many lovely recipes.  This shortbread is one of them.  (The book was published in 1990; you'll have to ask The Sister why it took her twenty years to get it into my hands.)

After trying the Coffee Toffee Chocolate Chip cookie, I was pretty sure I would enjoy it in a bar version. What's not to like with a Toll House, Starbucks and Walker's shortbread combo?

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins {bwd}

Fall and pumpkin go hand in hand. Once the leaves start changing colors, I'm itching to bake something with it. Today's Baking With Dorie assignment is perfect for the pumpkin state of mind I'm in.

brown butter blondies- national chocolate chip day (may 15)

Did you know this day existed?  What isn't there a holiday for?  Mmm hmm, they had to squeeze it in somewhere, so why not close to Mother's Day?  Two great celebrations in one month.

For this new-to-me holiday, I baked a bar cookie: The Blondie. Bakerella posted it as The Congo Bar. (What's up with that name?  It makes absolutely no sense to me.)  The recipe piqued my curiosity and whetted my appetite. You must take a look at her photos, which are incredibly beautiful, delectable, and luscious.  Having only made these once or twice in my life, I felt inspired to bake a batch.

Don't they look fantastic?  In this case,
however, appearances are deceiving,
and they were WAAAY too cakey.

counting our blessings

You rarely realize how fortunate you are to have something until you don't have it.  Health, home, family... POWER.  Last weekend, the winds were whipping around at 60+ mph; it was raining torrentially, and a HUGE tree fell down, right around the corner from us.  It took down cable and power lines and we were out of power for 50 hours.

The extreme decay makes one wonder why it took so long to topple over.

We had our own not-so-little problem of a treetop snapping off, also because of rot.  Fortunately, it crashed onto the Big Climber and not the house.