For April 22

This week is "celebrity chef" week here at Joyful Mind Bakery. Or, at least, celebrity chef recipe week - no celebrity chefs were involved (0r harmed) in the baking of these confections! Anyway, here is the lineup:

Buttery Pecan Rounds, from Martha Stewart's Cookies
Brownies, from Thomas Keller

OK, so the "Martha Stewart's Cookies" cookbook is a reminder of what great book design can be. Even if you don't buy it, even if you would not think of baking a cookie if your life depended on it, next time you are in a respectable bookstore it would be worth your while just to pop over to the cookbooks and look at this book and appreciate it as an example of function and design. It is a wonderful book. The book is organized by "type of cookie" - soft and chewy, sandy, etc. It is a wonderful organizing principle in itself, but even better, the table of contents has a picture of every cookie next to its name! How cool is that? Anyway, the book was just named by the James Beard Foundation as one of the 13 essential baking books to have in your library (along with a few of the others that I have and that readers here have heard about; as for the ones I don't yet own, that is what my Amazon Wish List is for, but I digress...). Anyway, before there was this book, there was a smaller holiday cookie magazine that followed the same organizing principle. I bought that magazine at the grocery store in Oakhurst, California, right outside the south entrance to Yosemite National Park, as we were going into Yosemite for our Thanksgiving celebration in 2005, just a few weeks after I began this baking odyssey, and I spent the entire four-day weekend reading it and becoming entranced. I baked a lot of the recipes out of that magazine early on - the chocolate black pepper cookies that were so popular, as well as the cornmeal thyme cookies, the pine nut cookies, the pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing, and many others. It eventually got expanded into a book, and it is a wonderful book with lots of really good recipes. With as many recipes under my belt as I have now, I would probably edit the text a bit to make some things clearer and revise a few techniques here and there based on things I have learned from other cookbooks, but it is a very good friend to have on hand.

Anyway, these butter pecan rounds are a first time recipe for me. They are a very simple recipe - the dough seems to be little more than dark brown sugar and butter, with some flour thrown in to hold them together. Oh, and there is also a good amount of pecan meal - toasted, chopped pecans that take the place of flour to amp up the flavor of the dough. After the dough is made, you scoop it out, then place a pecan half on each cookie. The good-quality brown sugar is a great foil for the pecans and the butter. It is a nice combination.

The brownies are from Thomas Keller, chef at the French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon, etc. This recipe is from his new cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home, and I found it on the NPR web site. Actually, I had no plan to make brownies this week; I was browsing on my computer trying to find a work-related file in my "My Documents" folder and I found a file called "Thomas Keller Brownies." Huh? It was a MS Word file that I had obviously created, but I had no distinct memory of it, and it didn't indicate where it had come from. (Eventually I googled it and found it in various places, but I now remember that NPR did an interview with him and had a few recipes from the new cookbook on the site. We love you, Google!) I saw the recipe and thought that it would be good to make, since I have been doing a series of brownie recipes recently exploring different variations on the theme. These basically fall into the "I see you and I raise you ten times" or whatever a poker player would say. These are intense. There is a lot of just about everything in them: these brownies are cocoa based, but then there is a substantial amount of bittersweet chocolate that I hand cut and add so that there are little chocolate surprises buried within the brownie. Making two trays of these brownies required - hold on, kids - nine sticks of butter, 3 cups of Valrhona cocoa powder, 18 oz. of Scharffen Berger chocolate, nine eggs, sugar, butter, salt and vanilla. The grocery store bill for these suckers was astounding - so eat up! They are an incredibly midnight black brownie, deeply intense with all the butter, and then the small pockets of chocolate here and there are like little taste bud land mines. Eating these and the pecan cookies together, these have to be eaten second, because your taste buds are just blown out by the intensity of it all.

Anyway, enjoy!

For April 15

Tax Day. It calls for cookies!

Last night, Andrew Bodhi-Heart was working, so I was on my own. Luckily, I planned ahead and made one of my doughs the night before, so all I had to do was slice and bake on Wednesday ... and make the whole other set of cookies. Amazingly, all worked out OK, as I was pretty much done fairly early (as these things go). I am not quite sure how it happened.

Here's the lineup:

Hempseed Whole Wheat Sables, from Alice Medrich, Pure Dessert
Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, from....Nestle?

I have raved about Alice Medrich's sables before, and I am happy to have another chance to do so. These french butter cookies are really amazing. Her cookbook, Pure Dessert, tries to pare back ingredient lists to the bare minimum to let the intensity of the few remaining ingredients shine through. Here, the two "showcase" ingredients are whole wheat flour and hempseed. Yes, boys and girls, hempseed. Hempseed is a relatively obscure ingredient, but delicious. She likens it to a delicate version of a sunflower seed. Whatever the proper analogy, they are quite good. (At bld restaurant, here in Los Angeles, they have a hempseed-crusted tofu entree that Bodhi-Heart is a big fan of.) Anyway, sorry to disappoint you but there is no psychoactive ingredient in hempseed, so don't get too excited. The hempseeds not only give this a very delicate texture, but also an interesting visual appeal. Highly recommended!

I have also been hankering for good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. So I grabbed the Toll House recipe off the web and went home and made them! Of course, I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips instead of the usual Nestle semi-sweets, but otherwise I hewed to the recipe. These turned out very nicely, so my craving is satisfied...for now.

Come enjoy!

Catching Up (Again): For April 8

Last week I didn't end up putting up a post on the cookies, so I will do a quick "make-up" post now. Andrew Bodhi-Heart was not working on Wednesday night, and we once again shared baking duties - this time, each of us made one of the two items. It is nice to only have to be responsible for one item - it is like a mini-holiday! Anyway, here was the lineup:

From Bodhi-Heart: Butterscotch Cookies, from Sherry Yard, The Secrets of Baking
From Dharma-Joy: Brownies, from Elisabeth Prueitt & Chad Robertson, Tartine

Bodhi-Heart decided he wanted to make a butterscotch something, and so we went browsing cookbooks to find a something that was butterscotch. "Butterscotch" as a confectionery is based on the combination of brown sugar and butter that are cooked together to that that familiar (and to me, nasty) butterscotch flavor. But in baking the same term is used for items that rely heavily on brown sugar and butter, and so it is with the recipe Bodhi-Heart ended up making. The recipe is fairly straightforward, and relies on the quality of the ingredients to really work well; there is a lot of subtlety to them. The flavors in this recipe definitely developed after a day or so, and Bodhi-Heart says that they were best when dipped in coffee. Hmmm...I thought they were yummy on their own.

The brownies continued my long-term effort in looking for exquisite brownies, and my short-term effort in cooking my way through portions of the "Tartine" cookbook. This is the cookbook from a noted bakery in San Francisco, and the recipes have all been really great. These brownies did not disappoint! The proportions guarantee a hyper-dense, fudgy brownie, so if you like the cake-like versions, look elsewhere. There was a lot of chocolate and eggs, and not much flour in these puppies. I think the flavors on these also developed over time. Highly recommended.

For April 1

Last week the Zen Center began a retreat on Thursday night, so there were no cookies. Since we were in the midst of moving my offices, it was quite OK!

This week, we ended up making two different recipes that originated in Paris bakeries. Here they are:

French Butter Cookies/Les Punitions from Lionel Poilane by way of Dorie Greenspan
Pleyels (French Chocolate Almond Cakes) from La Maison du Chocolat by way of Nick Malgieri

I got home late (again) on Wednesday so Bodhi-Heart (aka Andrew) helped me out by making the butter cookies. I don't know why, but cookies that are rolled out and cut just scare me. So he handled these - thanks! Unfortunately, they are not our favorite cookie. They are a very simple butter cookie - two people mistook them for a shortbread, and they are quite close. They are not as tender as I was hoping for, and need just a little pizazz. I have not made many simple butter cookies, and I think I am going to have to pay some attention to finding a recipe I like.

The second recipe went in a completely different direction. It was also a bit experimental. The recipe is for mini chocolate almond cakes. The recipe reminds me quite a bit of the chocolate hazelnut torte that is one of my favorite recipes, and that I made at Tassajara to serve 100 people. Anyway, I ended up making two adjustments to the recipe (aside from doubling it). First, I roasted the slivered almonds before grinding them - the recipe does not call for roasting them, but I am a big believer in roasted nuts as a flavor booster in recipes. Second, the recipe called for using regular cupcake tins to make these, but they would be wildly oversized for my purposes, so I downsized into mini-cupcake tins. (As a result, the recipe that, when doubled, was supposed to make 24 regular cupcakes ended up making 68 mini-cupcakes.) This requires careful monitoring to make sure they didn't overbake, since they are substantially smaller than in the recipe. I ended up serving them topped with a shake of powdered sugar to give some visual contrast between the deep black of the cupcake and the stark white of the sugar. I am a fan of these types of "cakes," and this one was very yummy. I think that the little chocolate cakes I made a couple of weeks ago were probably higher up my list, but those were completely different - those were airy and light, while these have a more substantial texture.

For March 18

This entry is a day late, due to some unanticipated work challenges involving a federal court brief filed at 11:53 p.m. on Wednesday night. I will say no more.

Anyway, this was a chocolate week:

Chocolate Peppermint Squares, from The King Arthur Flour Baking Companion
Chocolate Friands, from Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson, Tartine

The chocolate peppermint squares are a repeat. Sensei Merle Kodo Boyd is visiting ZCLA this month from her home in New Jersey, and I happen to know that these are one of her favorites, so in her honor I made them. Although many people think that peppermint is a winter flavor, chocolate and mint are a great combination, and these are a very yummy creation. This involves making a mint-infused base - essentially a mint brownie - that then has a peppermint icing, followed by a squiggle of melted chocolate. It gives me a chance to use my squeeze bottles for decorating - it is like being back in elementary school art class!

The second recipe falls in the "this will rock your world" category of dessert. According to the cookbook, "Friand" means "little mouthful" in French, and these are basically tiny chocolate cakes, but with a wonderful, tender consistency. They are made in mini-cupcake pans, and indeed are just little mouthfuls of cake. It is important not to overmix or overbake these or else they start to not only look but also taste like the Trader Joe's Two Bite Brownies. But otherwise they are really wonderful - the outside is firm, but the inside is incredibly tender and light.

According to the recipe, after they cool you are supposed to make a ganache and dip the tops in, so you have an iced babycake. Andrew helped me tremendously with this project, given my court filing challenge, and we only finished around 1 a.m. We decided to forgo the ganache; instead, I sprinkled powdered sugar over them before serving, which made them very beautiful. The ganache sounds nice, but this way we didn't distract from the pure intensity of the cake itself.

Enjoy!

For March 11

Two recipes this week, both from Tartine, by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson

Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookies
Almond Rochers

The double chocolate cookies are a deeply chocolate affair. They combine high-quality bittersweet chocolate (I am using three different chocolates, with chocolate percentages at 66% (Valrhona), 70% (Scharffen Berger), and 72% (Green & Black Organic)) and a substantial amount of cocoa powder (I am using a mixture of Valrhona and Dagoba - can you see I am trying to clean up my pantry?). The result is a very chocolatey, quite soft and tender cookie. I am curious to see how people like it.

The other cookie is another effort to provide goodies for my friends who have gluten issues. These are almond rochers - "rochers" means "boulders" in French. It is a meringue-based cookie. It involved a few interesting (and, in the making, nerve-wracking) techniques. You take a substantial amount of sliced almonds and toast them well, then crumble them. Next, you make a meringue. This involved heating some egg whites and confectioners sugar in a double boiler. According to the instructions, you should wisk them constantly until the mixture reaches 120 degrees, which it estimates will take 5 minutes. Well....I guess I have kick-ass burners, so after not too long a time (like, 1 minute) the mixture was well (WELL) above the 120 degree mark. It got yanked off and onto the mixer to start whisking into a meringue. I think it all ended up OK, but it was quite a moment of panic. Anyway, a few other ingredients are added, then the almonds are folded in, and then I used a tablespoon scoop to form the cookies, which then bake into, well, baby boulders. While they continue to dry out over time, last night when we had some (uh, I mean when the quality control team checked to make sure they met normal standards) they were really soft and almost creamy inside and crunchy outside. We'll see how they are by tonight. For a cookie with no flour and no fat (other than what is in the almonds) these are really yummy.

Both of these are from Tartine, which is a San Francisco bakery I now obviously have to visit. A few weeks ago, the Tartine lemon bars were a hit, and I think that tonight will continue the winning streak.

Take care!

Catching Up, Part II - For March 4

OK, still a little catch-up work to do before tonight's baking begins. This week was a cookie week, to wit:

Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Flo Braker, Baking For All Occasions
Oatmeal Currant Cookies, from Alice Waters, The Art Of Simple Food

Flo Braker is another of the main movers and bakers on the scene today. I got this book quite a few months back, but finally took it out this week. This is a very simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. No nuts, no special ingredients. The limited number of ingredients and flavors means that quality matters. These were not my personal favorite chocolate chip cookie, but a lot of people liked them. This was a nice recipe because it has you make logs of dough and refrigerate them, then slice and bake later. Since this was a rare week where I was doing two cookies (no bars, no biscotti, just individual cookies), it was great to be able to at least make the dough ahead of time. So this one is a keeper!

The second cookie was a real favorite. This is a recipe from Alice Waters of Chez Panisse. Her most recent cookbook has very few cookie recipes, but this one is very nice. The first step is to take the oats and grind them quite fine in a food processor - almost to a flour. This gives you the oatmeal flavor, but a much, much more delicate cookie. And using currants simply extends that approach, since the currants (which are briefly cooked in water to plump and soften them) are smaller and more delicate than raisins. This produces a soft, delicate cookie, not a big, hard, crunchy type cookie. The abbot of ZCLA is a big oatmeal raisin cookie fan, and I made these for her; happily, she enjoyed them very much!

Catching Up, Part I - For February 25

Sorry for the delay in posting! It has been a bit crazy, and I haven't had a chance to post. So here is what has been happening:

February 18 -

Five-Spice Snickerdoodles, from The Los Angeles Times
Best Unsweetened Brownies, from Alice Medrich, Bittersweet

Both of these are recipes I have made before, and both proved worth repeating. The Five-Spice Snickerdoodles are a variation on the traditional snickerdoodle cookie. In the normal snickerdoodle, after making the dough, individual balls of dough are made and rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mixture, then baked. In this variant, which I did in honor of the Chinese New Year, the cinnamon is replaced with Chinese Five-Spice Powder (which has some variants, but usually includes star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Szechwan pepper and ground fennel). The flavors are subtle and pleasant. The recipe is a very nice one, and very straightforward. The cookie is soft and a bit chewy. I recommend it!

The brownie recipe was another one from Alice Medrich's book, Bittersweet. She is amazingly knowledgeable and sophisticated in how she handles chocolate. Each variant on chocolate (cocoa, unsweetened, bittersweet, semisweet, etc.) has its own brownie recipe, with each leading to a different texture (since, as I know understand, a brownie that has all its fat coming from the butter (i.e., a cocoa-based brownie) will lead to a very different result than one that gets most of its fat from the chocolate (semi-sweet)). Anyway, I added some nuts and some cacao nibs to make it interesting. Quite yummy - very intense, not overly sweet. I tend to like a high chocolate to sugar ratio, and this brownie definitely delivers!

For February 18

The curse of the chocolate cookie has been broken! Hurrah! This week's cookies:

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cafe Volcano Cookies

both from Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home To Yours

While it is Dorie Greenspan who calls these her favorite chocolate chip cookie, they are awfully good. I like this cookie a lot - it tends to be very crispy/crunch at the edge, and a bit chewy at the center. As usual, I hand cut the chocolate instead of using store bought chocolate chips. This time I am using a mixture of Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet and Green & Black Organic 72% Bittersweet chocolate bars for my "chips." And while the recipe calls for walnuts, tonight I substituted pecans, because I am already using walnuts in the other cookies.

Ah, yes, the other...cookies. OK, I am very narrow minded, I admit it, but given that the Cafe Volcano cookies have no flour and no dairy in them, I have some trouble calling them cookies. But they are cookies, and they are both gluten- and dairy-free. Indeed, these have a very small number of ingredients but make a very interesting cookie that is basically an interesting variation on a meringue. The main ingredients is roasted nuts - almonds and walnuts. The only other significant ingredients are sugar, espresso powder, and some egg whites. They are all mixed together, and then plopped on the baking sheet to cook for 20 minutes. Then voila! Cookies. (Andy says the look like dog poop, but it didn't stop him from eating one.)

OK, time for sleep. Night night!

For February 11

I think we have to call it the curse of the chocolate chip cookie. Last week, I had planned to make Sherry Yard's chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I ended up getting home from work very late and ended up making a brownie recipe instead. This week, I planned to make Dorie Greenspan's chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I once again ended up getting home from work at 9 p.m., which is just too late at night to make two desserts with one of them being a drop cookie recipe. So, boys and girls, can you guess what I made in its place?

This week's entries:

Lemon Squares With Brown Butter Shortbread, from Prueitt & Robertson, Tartine

Best Cocoa Brownies, from Alice Medrich, Bittersweet

Our friend Liz gave us a bag of Meyer lemons from her trees, so lemon squares are a natural outlet when you have a lot of lemons at hand. Tartine is a very well-known bakery in San Francisco, and my friend Seishin, who left LA to move to SF, emailed me this recipe and said they were the best lemon squares she has ever had. I got this cookbook around a year ago, but this is the first recipe that I have made from it. It looks like there are a number of nice recipes in it, so now that I have made something, perhaps I will try a few more out in the next few weeks. This is an interesting recipe; it calls for a lot of lemon juice, but also a good amount of sugar. The shortbread crust has pine nuts in it, so it will be interesting to try.

Tonight I walked Soba for his last walk of the day, and when we came back into the house, the air was just permeated with the smell of chocolate. Wow, yum. What a nice experience. This is another brownie recipe from Alice Medrich's chocolate book, Bittersweet. Last week I made a variant on the "best semisweet brownies" recipe. This week I am using the "best cocoa brownie" recipe. There are also a best unsweetened and a best bittersweet recipes. Each one produced a slightly different brownie, principally because there is a difference that comes about depending on the source of the fat - in the cocoa brownie recipe, for example, virtually all of the fat comes from butter, which results in a very different texture than in the semisweet recipe, where a significant amount of the fat comes from the cocoa mass. Anyway, these made a very dark, intense looking brownie. We'll see how they actually taste!

Or not...actually I am going to have to go to Las Vegas for work tomorrow, so I will not be at the Center; I will drop them off, instead, and hope that people enjoy them.

It is midnight now, so I am signing off. Ciao!