Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

 

What to you make on a cold day like to day why chocolate chip cookie's my friend's

who does not love a warm cookie on days like this, now lets get to the cookie I what you to give this recipe a try I know everyone has that go to chocolate chip recipe there been use in for ever like toll house I know I did so back to the point I what it to do some thing new so that get me into research mode and I find it Jacques Torres he a renowned chocolatier and pastry chef.

 

I get his recipe for the new York times article I made it and I love it but it was missing something so I search out other's blog's that had made this cookies see what they did and I find the one I like more it was what I had been looking for in my kind chocolate chip cookies thick but not to thick, warm, gooey and chewy.

 

 

  

 Adapted From http://cilantropist.blogspot.com 

 

 

 

 

1 cup cake flour

3/4 cup bread flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1 1/4 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

10 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used what I had at the time )

fleur de sel

Mix first five ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.  In a mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla together until creamy, about 5 minutes.  Add egg and mix, then add dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until everything is well incorporated.  Add chocolate chips and mix by hand to distribute.  Form the dough into a compact ball in the bowl, and press plastic wrap directly against the dough.  Refrigerate dough for at least 24 hours, up to 48 hours. 

To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop out dough and form into balls that are approximately 1 3/4-2 inches in diameter.  This is the size I found to be ideal.  Place on prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart.  Sprinkle each with a pinch of fleur de sel, and bake until golden brown; about 15-17 minutes, depending on how soft you want the center of your cookies.  Cool baking sheet on a wire rack, then transfer cookies to the rack to cool completely.  (Or eat them right away!)  This recipe will make about 18-20 cookies that are 3-3 1/2 inch in diameter.  

                           PUMPKIN PIE SPICE SOUP

Happy Halloween everyone anyway i was trying to come up with a new awesome post so if it is
pumpkin pie soup made with homemade pumpkin  puree  it go good with all the cold weather we been having it so good.


                                                     Pumpkin pie spice soup

                                                         2 cups pumpkin puree  (homemade or form a can)
                                                         1 cup whole milk (room temperature)
                                                         2 TBSP   Butter
                                                         3  TBSP maple syrup
                                                         1/4  tsp pumpkin pie spice

With a saucepan on mild heat  combine all ingredients slowly stir and bring it to a simmer. Reduce heat to low  and cook for 18 minutes take off the heat and serve warm,generous with a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice if you like.

SPINELLI'S PIZZERIA

 

 

New York  pizza is awesome but for many  like me who don't live in NY how are we to get some i live in Ky and i have  the place spinellis pizzeria is as close to new york you can get without a long dive to get some, the location is a bit of a hole in the wall but it a awesome hole in the wall

the inside decor is awesome too with comics all over the wall.

  

This place is awesome it has a cool feel about it, there a great variety of food big slices of pizza that are pack full of topping's the crust is handmade but what i love the most is there deep fry oreo's it like i dead and was reborn after eating one it was a hot chocolaty yummy that you know after one bite you need to have more.

If you come to Louisville Ky and get the need for some pizza spinellis is the place to go.

                                City girl Snickerdoodles

As a lover of snicker doodles cookies ever since i was a little girl,but as of late i have not had a good one in sometime,as a person who love to eat healthy you find that some of your loved cookie recipes like main ask for alot of butter,sugar or egg's because that i began looking for a snicker doodle that cut down on the fats after a some research on the web i found a book that not only had a good for you snicker doodle but other cookies i loved too.

The book is called 'Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar' by Isa chandra moskowitz & Terry hope romero so i was weary before buying this book i know what a vegan is and all i cook vegan meal's all the time but i had never don any baking before so after a little of to buy or not to buy, i get the book form my library to look at to see if it was any good and you know what it was.

IF YOU ARE A LOVER OF BAKING HEALTHY AND NOT HAVING TO GIVE UP TASTE TO DO SO THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU.

INGREDIENT

(adapted form vegan cookies invade your cookie jar)

1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine softened

1 1/4 cups Sugar

2 Tablespoons nondairy milk i use soy milk

1 1/2 Teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1Teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda

1/4 Teaspoon salt

In a large bowl cream the margarine and sugar together until light and creamy about 3 minutes,scraping the sides of the bowl when necessary.Add the soy milk and vanilla extract and beat  it until combined.

Sift in the flour,cornstarch,cream of tartar,baking soda, salt and beat mixture until a soft dough forms,about 4 minutes.The dough will be soft and fluffy you need to chill the dough for 30 minutes or if you what cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

cinnamon sugar for rolling

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons white decorator sugar or

any large crystal sugar

1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon

a big pinch of ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small shallow bowl combine the sugar,decorator sugar,cinnamon and nutmag.

Scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and drop it into cinnamon sugar,and gently roll it into a ball place dough balls on cookie sheets about 3 inches apart.Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a little additional cinnamon sugar.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes cookies will be puffed and will deflate after removing for the oven.allow cookies to cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets before moving to a wire racks to complete cooling.

store in a loosely covered containter.

Makes 2 Dozen cookies

Lime cupcake's with meyer lemon frosting

I love cupcake's but i don't make them a lot so i DECLARE  to make some for the weekend  the one down side was i lost my go to recipe for them so i did what anyone would do i get online and stated to look for a recipe that was fun,and easy to make changes to.

with a little searching i find it on the baking bites site there named vampire cupcake's i was so cute i had to make me some but i find i had no jam of any kind  i did what any baker did i look to see what was around my kitchen to see what could find i had some lime's,merey lemon's and lime curd.

lime cupcake's(adapted from http://bakingbites.com/2007/10/vampire-cupcakes/)

2 cups cake flour
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 large egg whites
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBSP lime zest

3 Tbsp lime juice freshly squeezed

lime curd homemade or store bought for Filling

 cream cheese

butter

meyer lemon juice

                                                                       powder sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line cupcake's pan   with paper liners ( i like Reynold's new liners myself) and set aside.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add granulated  sugar,lime zest and blend, using the paddle attachment or a hand mixing.
Cut butter into 4 or 5 chunks and drop into the bowl with the flour mixture.
Blend on low speed until mixture looks sandy and no large chunks of butter remain, 1-2 minutes.
In a large measuring cup, combine eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and lime juice. Beat lightly with a fork until combined. With the mixer on low, pour 1 cup of the buttermilk mixture into the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Reduce speed back to low and pour in the rest of the buttermilk mixture. Continue to beat at low speed for an additional 30 seconds, until liquid is fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a few more seconds, if necessary.
Divide evenly into prepared muffin tins, filling 18 cups as equally as possible.
Bake for 16-20 minutes, until cupcakes are light golden and a toothpick inserted into their centers comes out clean. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed.
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 18 cupcakes.


Lime curd Filling
one jar lime curd

get a cooled cupcake and,  a small knife, cut a cone of cake  out of the top. Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set aside and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.
Take the lime filling and spoon about tablespoon or so into each cupcake cavity, filling it almost to the top with filling. Top off with the flat circle of cake you just removed to seal the hole and hold the lime curd.

                                                    


                                                      Meyer lemon cream cheese frosting
                                                       8 oz cream cheese room temerature
                                                           4 Tbsp butter room temerature
                                                    2 Tbsp meyer lemon juice freshly squeezed
                                                            1 or 2 cup powder sugar

Beat together butter and cream cheese in a bowl. Beat in lemon juice and  blend in the powder’ sugar until frosting is thick and creamy.
Spread frosting evenly on top of cupcakes

Orange Chess Pie

My mom from the South we get to talking about her childhood there and what pie she like of her most loved dessert was a chess pie for it was not to sweet and a lovely silky pie filling,my dear mom then said she had not had a chess pie in along time.
i had little trouble i ran into i had no idea what a chess pie was i never see one or eating one i was born in Californian i had a lot of dessert's from all over but not chess,So i did what anyone would do go to the Internet and like it up.As you get to know there is no set recipe for the pie i look on alot of websites to find one that look right i  get it and made the pie for mom  and she WAS SO HAPPY.Anyway i find it on bakingbites.com i  made a adapted i use orange's as the baking bites was a lemon chess pie, it was wonderful. O you can use  graham cracker pie crust or pie dough blind-bake it first and let it cool before adding the filling.



                                                          (Orange Chess Pie)
                                              
                                                                  4 large eggs, separated
                                                                  3/4 cup sugar
                                                                 3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
                                                                  1/2 cup fresh orange juice
                                                                  1 tbsp orange zest
                                                                  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
                                                                 2 tbsp all purpose flour
                                                                    1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Place pie crust on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well-combined. Add in butter, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, flour and salt and whisk until smooth.
In a medium bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently whisk into the lemon mixture until batter is uniform, and no big streaks of egg white remain. Pour into prepared crust.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until filling is set and the top of the pie is a dark golden color. Allow pie to cool on the pan for 20-30 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack or to the counter top to cool (moving the pie while the filling is too hot may crack the crust).
Pie may be served slightly warm or chilled. If serving warm, allow pie to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Orange Tartlets

                                    

Tartlets are a smaller version of tart's i like tartlets better then tart,the size is not only cute but
a lovely classic dessert that is easy to make for a dinner guest's.
This  tartlet's has been adapted from lemon curd i whated to go a different way i love lemon but i also love orange so i made this curd useing,orange juice and zest with great success.

The tart crust was adapted form america's test kitchen cookbook,this crust has an sweeter,crisper,and less flaky than a pie crust it texture is more to a cookie dough.

                                                        Orange Curd
                                                 1/3 cup strained, fresh orange juice
                                                           2 tsp fresh orange zest
                                                          5 tbsp sugar or 4 tbsp
                                                  1 large egg, room temperature
                                                      1/2 tsp vanilla extract


In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, combine sugar and lemon juice. Add zest and stir until sugar is dissolved completely.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat egg. Whisking constantly (or with an electric mixer on low), very slowly stream the hot lemon-sugar syrup into the egg. Beat for 2 minutes (only 1 if you’re using a mixer), then transfer back into the saucepan by pouring the mixture through a sieve.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the curd just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Transfer to a small airtight container and store in the fridge.
Makes about 2/3 cup. Recipe can be doubled.

                                                          Classic Tart Dough
                                       (from the america's test kitchen)
                                                   1 large egg yolk
                                                               1 tablespoon heavy cream
                                                              1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
                                                                 6  1/4 ounces AP flour
                                                            2  2/3 ounces confectioner's sugar
                                                                 1/4 teaspoon table salt
                                  8 tablespoon (1 stick) unsalted butter,cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled

1.whisk the egg yolk,cream,and vanilla together in a small bowl.Process the flour,sugar,and salt together in a food processor until combined.Scatter the butter pieces over the top and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal,about 15 pulses.
2.With the machine running,add the egg mixture through the feed tube and continue to process until the dough just comes together around the processor blade, about 12 seconds.
3.Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a 6-inch disk.Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.Before rolling the dough out,let it sit on the counter to soften slightly,about 10 minutes.