30 Foods Meme - Day 1

I have never done one of these meme things, but this one sounds like fun, and the first one elicits a very easy response. I will take a shot at playing along.

What is the best recipe that a parent taught you to make?

There are different ways one could take that. My mother is not one of nature's cooks (my father is not in this picture at all). She kept us fed on a tight budget, and my childhood palate was perfectly all right with macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and things based on Cream of X soup. Vegetables were frozen, garlic was powdered, and going out to eat meant Perkins. Her own parents ate much the same way. It's the way a lot of Americans eat. It wasn't until I reached adulthood that I started to realize what a world of food there was (perhaps ironically, due to a cookbook she got me when D* and I first moved in together); I reached college without ever having eaten Chinese food, without having had real butter, and I still remember picking up a bunch of fresh asparagus for the first time.

So when it comes to recipes that a parent taught me to make, well, there's a pretty slim selection. If anything, it's actually gone in the other direction; my mom has recently started learning to cook because she's become vegetarian, and occasionally wants to cook for others, which means something other than frozen cheese pizzas. Some of these dishes have reached my grandparents' table, which has acquired more dietary restrictions as they age.

I have acquired a couple of recipes from my in-laws, but nothing that really fits the bill here. Which leaves me with only one thing, something we made straight through my childhood, in all of the apartments and houses we lived in, through good times and (lots of) bad. I made it for my college roommates. I still make it in exactly the same way.

The Toll House cookie. I know that small fortunes have been invested in a search for the perfect cookie, and entire books have been written on the topic. As far as I'm concerned, that money has all been wasted. There is no better chocolate chip cookie. I make them big, and underbake them slightly so they're chewy all through, and there is nothing out there that will ever take their place. I know the recipe by heart.

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c butter, softened*
3/4 c sugar
3/4 brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 package chocolate chips**

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together.
3. Cream the butter with the two sugars.
4. Add the eggs and beat until well incorporated.
5. Mix in the vanilla.
6. Mix in the dry ingredients slowly, just until incorporated.
7. Mix in the chips.
8. Drop onto a cookie sheet in large spoonfuls. Bake anywhere from 9-12 minutes, depending on how big they are and how you like the edges done.
9. Allow to cook on the sheet for a few minutes, then remove to a rack to finish cooling.

* I use salted butter, but stick to something like Land O Lakes, which has relatively mild salt content. For regular table use I prefer Kate's of Maine and Kerrygold, but those are too salty for cookies.

** I don't hold with walnuts in chocolate chip cookies, but if you do, go right ahead.

So there you have it, my very first meme.

How I Spent November

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

The first time I made these, a perpetually-dieting friend ate three and told me I was never allowed to make them again. I don't actually make them very often, in part because it is horribly easy to eat too many of them, and in part because I am iffy about peanut butter cookies generally, finding them somewhat dry. These definitely benefit from a cup of tea or glass of milk. Also, the recipe makes a ton of cookies, and one can get tired of them after a while, so make sure you have a good home in mind for them.

I got this recipe from Bon Appetit--the RSVP column, which attributes them to The Inn at Cedar Falls in Logan, OH--but the epicurious site doesn't appear to have it, so here it is:

2 1/2 c AP flour
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl to blend.
3. Beat butter, peanut butter, and both sugars in large bowl until well blended.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
   
5. Add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Form dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Flatten with the back of a fork, making criss-cross pattern. (Note: This step is important if you don't want weird-looking little lumps instead of nice, shapely cookies.)
8. Bake until dry on top and golden brown on bottom, about 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool.
   

A Very Quiet New Year

Our plans to drive to the city for a party were derailed by the latest winter storm warning. As it happened, the storm didn't amount to much, but by the time this became apparent it was too late to go (the perils of living an hour away from pretty much everything).

Instead, I made cookies -- Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal, and some more cutout ones to replace the Christmas cookies long since devoured -- to take to a friends' open house New Years Day.


Try though I would, I could not seem to relax and get into a groove with the day. JJ was cranky, L was pesky, and I was snappish, and finally several cookies slid off the sheet as I was putting them into the oven and commenced burning into a smelly mess. Deep breath time. Open windows, turn off smoke alarms, turn on fans. The cookies got done regardless, and I spent some time playing with L before it was time to start dinner.

Given the uncertain planning, we kept it simple -- pizza and a movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. We had seen it before, but not since just after L was born, and for some reason, I always manage to forget the musical aspect. It remains a very well-done, stylish, and funny film. I was a bit concerned about L, but she didn't seem to be scared by anything that was going on. It's hard to tell at age 4 what she thinks about most things; she has picked up the concept of "scared," but I have yet to see her really frightened about anything. She certainly isn't afraid of dogs or the dark or anything like that so far.

In the course of replying to a post in an online forum, today I opened up the recipe tracking file I started at the beginning of last year. I was astonished to see how much cooking I did back then, and how many new recipes I was trying (62 in three months!), even after I went back to work. Lately I seem to be all out of energy for that sort of thing, and I really hope to get it back.

"Where are the presents?"

Trust a four-year-old to get right to the point, once we had finished decorating the tree Sunday afternoon! I tried a couple of times to explain to L that the presents come later, but I'm sure we'll be getting the question more than a few times in the next week.

A busy, busy weekend, what with getting the tree and decorating the apartment and coping with a teething baby (again! this kid has had more trouble than I would have thought possible with that) and trying to fit in some baking. I keep thinking in some vexation that I got a lot more than this done last year, despite being in advanced pregnancy, but then remind myself that a) I only had one kid underfoot while doing it, and b) I was working from home three days a week, so I had at least three more hours to get stuff done in the kitchen.

Regardless, it was a productive time, baking-wise.

• Christmas cutout cookies
• Another batch of peanut blossoms
• Midnight Crackles
• Gingerbread
• Whiskey cakes

Pictures and recipes to come, but I wanted to get this post up to make sure I did it!

Sunday night, after all of that was done, I made a pizza, and we all sat on the couch and watched Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, which is on my list of Best Things of All Time.

December Supper Club - Cookie Swap - Cranberry-White Chocolate Shortbread

One of our club's longest-standing traditions is that in December we go out for dinner and do a cookie swap, freeing everyone up from having to clean the house (again) to have people over (again) and make a whole meal (again). This year we went to Olive Garden, which I have to admit struck me as a rather peculiar choice, but the food was acceptable (short ribs and tortelloni for me) and since we were there early the place wasn't the usual zoo. L nibbled breadsticks and lettuce and ignored her pizza, JJ sampled two different jars of food and moved from lap to lap once he got restless, and we talked--mainly about the economy and such.

And of course we swapped cookies. I don't have the recipes anyone else, but here's mine, from kraft.com (of all places) via the Cooking Light bulletin boards. I had everything on hand to make them and they looked dead easy, which was a major factor in their selection with the two kids underfoot and very little sleep all weekend due to JJ's cold.

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

4 cups flour

1 pkg. (6 squares) BAKER'S White Chocolate, chopped

1-1/2 cups dried cranberries

Heat oven to 350°F. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour; mix well. Stir in chocolate and cranberries.Drop rounded tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets; flatten slightly.Bake 10 to 14 min. or until lightly browned. Cool 5 min. on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Can you believe that I've never made shortbread of any sort before? These turned out pretty well, I think -- light to the tooth, sweet and chewy with cranberries. I might make them part of my annual repertoire.

Milk Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps

As is right and proper, the day after Thanksgiving I started the holiday baking. Just a sort of warm-up round, with much more to come. This is a recipe I got from the Cooking Light bulletin board last year. This particular batch didn't turn out perfectly--I had less molasses than I thought I did, and wasn't willing to go out and get some more at the last minute--but they are entirely snackable and yummy.

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 c unsalted butter
1 c packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 c molasses
1 1/2 c milk chocolate chips
1/4 c granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. In a mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar for about a minute.
   
4. Add the egg and molasses, mix until blended.
5. At low speed, mix in the dry ingredients.
6. Mix in chips.
7. Form dough into balls, roll in granulated sugar, and place on cookie sheets about 2" apart.
8. Bake for about 14 minutes. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to rack.
   

Is it possible that this is the first cookie recipe I've blogged? I haven't used the label before....