Monster cookies

I've been holding out on you. I made these cookies for my thesis defense party several weeks ago and haven't gotten around to sharing the recipe until now. I wanted to space out the dessert recipes a bit, but it's been a month since the last one, so I think it's about time for some sweets! The recipe for these cookies came from the Baked cookbook. I had never heard of monster cookies before I came across this recipe, but apparently they are well known in certain areas. If you are unfamiliar with them, monster cookies are peanut butter oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and M&Ms. According to the authors of the recipe, they are called monster cookies because they are the Frankenstein's monster of the cookie world - a mashup of different components. (Also, I got 60 largeish cookies when I made this, but the recipe says it yields 36, so the cookies that they serve at the Baked shop must be pretty monstrous in size). Now, I think oatmeal chocolate chip cookies beat oatmeal raisin every time, and I love peanut butter, so mixing it all together sounded great to me!

To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with these cookies when I first made them. They were good, but not amazing. But then I stuck a bunch of leftover cookies in the freezer after the party and ate them over the following weeks, microwaving them briefly to thaw them. Well, microwaving did the trick and made me love these - it softened them up slightly and made them a little warm, but left the chocolate chips and M&Ms solid, just the way I like it. Perfect with a glass of milk as a snack or dessert. Too bad I finished the batch - I could really go for one right now...

Chocolate-whiskey cake

I'm excited to finally tell you about one of my absolute favorite cakes! I first made this cake over two years ago for a dinner party - I came across the recipe in Gourmet Today and decided to try it simply because, well, how can you turn down chocolate + booze for dessert? It was a major hit with my friends - perfectly moist and chocolatey, with just enough whiskey flavor to elevate the cake to a level of sophistication that you don't usually find in chocolate cake. And if the deliciousness of the cake wasn't enough to convince you to try it, it's actually quite straightforward to make and improves if made ahead of time! It is the perfect choice if you are looking for a simple but impressive dessert to serve to guests (but if you eat it all yourself, I wouldn't blame you).

What is your go-to dessert for guests?

Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies

A couple weeks ago, Andrew and I went to the New England Mobile Book Fair, which is an awesome discount book store. The cookbook section is the biggest I have ever seen, so naturally I was in heaven. Especially when I found out that some of the cookbooks were on sale for 40% off. I came home with the Flour bakery cookbook, Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, and Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain (believe me, it took a lot of effort to pare down my selections to just those three). I'll be doing posts about all these books as I try them out, but for today, I'm focusing on Good to the Grain. I have heard a lot about this book, which has earned rave reviews from some of my favorite food bloggers. The book focuses on baking with whole grain flours, which is a topic that gets very little attention in other cookbooks. Different grains have a great variety of flavors and textures that can add a lot of baked goods, as long as the recipes are created with care (you can't really substitute different flours without knowing their properties really well). The recipes in Good to the Grain are supposed to be fantastic, and I'm excited to finally have a copy of the book.

Yesterday I baked a batch of the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. I had a craving for sweets and figured I'd see how the whole wheat cookies compared to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. This is the only cookie recipe I've tried that uses cold butter for creaming with the sugar instead of room temperature. I'm sure there's a good reason for that, though I don't know what it is. But it doesn't really matter - the cookies are great! They are sweet and chocolatey, nice and chewy in the middle but crisp at the edges, just the way I like. You should make these, and not because they are made with whole wheat. They're just really good chocolate chip cookies.

Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies
Adapted from Good to the Grain
Makes about 22 cookies

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
8 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into small (1/4 - 1/2-inch) pieces

Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 deg F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. If there are bits of grain or salt that remain in the sifter at the end, pour those into the bowl as well. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together at low speed just until they are blended, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix each until they are combined. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and add all of the chocolate. Mix until chocolate chunks are evenly distributed throughout the dough and then transfer the dough onto a work surface. Use your hands to mix and make sure all ingredients are fully incorporated (sometimes the stand mixer doesn't completely mix the stuff at the bottom of the bowl).

Scoop balls of dough (about 3 tbs in size) onto the baking sheet, with about 3 inches between them (you'll fit about 6 on each sheet). Bake cookies for 16-20 minutes, rotating pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until the cookies are evenly golden brown. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool and repeat with remaining dough.

Note: If you want to save some cookie dough to bake later, you can scoop it out and refrigerate the balls of dough for about a week (wrapped in plastic). You can also freeze the balls of dough on a tray until firm and then transfer them to a freezer bag.

Chocolate cake with Nutella frosting

My sister's birthday was last week, and we had her over for a birthday dinner last night. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted me to make, and she said chocolate with hazelnuts. I didn't find a satisfactory recipe in my cookbooks, so I decided to adapt a double chocolate layer cake recipe that I found in Gourmet Today. To get the hazelnut flavor in there, I added Nutella to the chocolate frosting, and also used Nutella between the cake layers instead of frosting.

Let me tell you, this cake is incredible. Just incredible. It's rich, intensely chocolatey, and very moist, and the Nutella adds a nice flavor dimension. The frosting is a ganache, which was pretty easy to make and work with. This chocolate cake recipe is an absolute keeper, and popular opinion agrees with me - turns out it is one of the all-time highest rated recipes on Epicurious. You'll never need another chocolate cake recipe again after trying this one!

Classic whoopie pies

There is not a vegetable, whole grain, or local ingredient to be found in this recipe, but that's ok, because these are delicious and should be eaten anyway. For those who don't know, a whoopie pie consists of two cake-like cookies sandwiching a layer of creamy filling. Think of a softer, more yummy Oreo. I got this recipe from a cookbook aptly named Whoopie Pies, by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell, that was recently given to me as a gift (thanks Katie!). I made a classic version with chocolate cakes and a buttercream filling. We served them at a dinner party with homemade cheese straws (post coming soon) and pizza -- kind of a gourmet junk food theme. I wasn't really a huge whoopie pie fan before, but I am now! I'm looking forward to trying some more creative flavor combinations...


Classic whoopie pies
Adapted from Whoopie Pies

I got about 17-18 whoopie pies from this recipe.

Chocolate cake:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tbs vegetable shortening
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 deg F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I tried parchment paper as well as Silpat mats, and found that the Silpat resulted in a thicker, more rounded cake, which I liked better).

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening, and brown sugar on low speed until just combined. Increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes (this took less than 2 minutes for me, fyi). Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.

Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the batter and beat on low until just incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Add remaining flour mixture and milk and beat until completely combined.

Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop about 2 tbs of batter onto the baking sheets, spacing them at least 3 inches apart (for smaller cakes, you could do 1 tbs of batter spaced 2 inches apart). Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until pies spring back when pressed gently. Remove from oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Buttercream filling:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tbs heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the confectioners' sugar with the butter, starting on low and increasing to medium speed, until the mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute. Add the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt and beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Note: I had a good amount of filling left over after I assembled the pies. I'm guessing that we used about 2/3 of the amount this recipe makes. But if you like a thicker layer of filling, go for it.

Assembly:
Spread filling onto the flat side of one cake using a knife, spoon, or pipe filling with a pastry bag (a round tip or no tip at all should work). Top with another cake, flat side down.