Make the most of what is around you.
Happy New Year.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
Adventures in Doughnutland.
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31 entries from December 2015
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
(GF Chocolate Chip Cookies, made with What Iif Flour from Gluten Free Flour Power
using the recipe below)
It seems that the original chocolate chip cookie recipe post that we did, many years ago, has disappeared into the Internet wasteland. So, as promised, I am re-posting it here. You can wrap the dough in plastic wrap to chill it as most people do, or you can vacuum seal the dough to experience the difference in flavor a little hydration makes. You probably still want to chill it for 30 minutes or so, because the cookies bake better when the dough is cold. This recipe never goes away because there are always times when you need a great chocolate chip cookie.
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
8 ounces / 225 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon / 6 grams fine sea salt
1 teaspoon / 5 grams baking soda
1 cup / 213 grams light brown sugar
1/2 cup / 107 grams dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon / 2 grams pure vanilla paste or extract
2 ¼ cups / 337.5 grams all purpose flour
1 ½ cups / 255 grams premium chocolate chips, we prefer Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips
Mix butter, salt, and baking soda on low in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Add sugar 1/2 a cup at a time and blend until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time making sure that the first egg is thoroughly absorbed before adding the second egg. Once the second egg has been fully incorporated add the vanilla and blend. Stop the mixer and add all of the flour to the bowl. Mix on low until the dough just comes together. Add chips and fold into the dough by hand. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap, wrap it up and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 375˚ F. (190°C.)
Use a ¾-ounce ice cream scoop to portion the dough into 1 ½ tablespoon balls of cookie dough and place them about 2-inches apart on a baking pan. Bake for 7-9 minutes, rotating the pan if necessary, or until the cookies golden brown and just set. Let cool on the pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Substitutions
People often ask what our most popular doughnuts are. The answer is our cinnamon cardamom sugar doughnuts, followed by our buttermilk lime doughnuts. This week Alex saw some beautiful Meyer lemons in the market and today we had Meyer lemon glazed doughnuts instead of the lime. Some people were very excited for the lemon doughnuts but the people who came in looking for the buttermilk lime were somewhat crestfallen by their absence. Meyer lemons are similar too and yet very different from limes. Several of these customers went for the cinnamon cardamom instead, which I found interesting. In light of their disappointment, many people went in an entirely differently direction. Then again, many people who normally get the cinnamon cardamom were tempted into buying the new flavor. By changing a variable it was interesting to see the paths people took.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Nesting
The investment in the equipment we use pays dividends. Most recently we have purchased Vollrath brushed stainless steel mixing bowls. The material is thick. The finish is matte. The bowls are heavy and comfortable in the hand. We wanted bowls that would stand up to every day work in the kitchen. We wanted bowls that we would be happy to work with day after day. These bowls make us happy.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Creatrilogy
Santa brought Amaya a collection of 3 books: the creatrilogy, by Peter H. Reynolds. The title of the collection is cute. And smart. A combination of two words that we can understand. The three books sky color, the dot, and ish are 3 unique and similar tales. What you first see is only a first look. Removing the expected leads to exposing possibilities. Creating is work. It is fun work. It is a frame of mind. A willingness to persevere. A want to put ideas or flavors or colors or letters or circuits or materials together. And to do it again in a different way. And again. And again. Imperfection is to be celebrated.
These three books were uplifting reads on an uplifting morning. Add them to your library, wear them out, and create.
Happy Holidays!
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Strawberry Shortcake Doughnuts
It is December 24. And it is 70°F degrees outside. Unseasonable weather calls for an unseasonable doughnut. We took our new-fashioned doughnut dough and made thumbprints. We rolled the fried dough in our strawberry sugar. We filled the thumbprint with vanilla pudding. We topped the pudding with brown butter crumbs. The doughnut was sweet, floral and tender. The pudding is rich and creamy. The brown butter crumbs were nutty sweet with a caramel backbone. The doughnut was strawberry shortcake. In December.
And apparently we were thinking about this idea when we were just starting our R&D for Curiosity Doughnuts.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Seeing Things From A DIfferent Perspective
An inspiring look at the work of an artist who chose to do things from a different perspective: Jason deCaires Taylor via Ted.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Microwave Popcorn
We're making edible garlands in Amaya's classroom tomorrow and then taking a walk in the woods to decorate the trees with garlands that will feed the animals. I was in charge of popcorn. Plain popcorn is not necessarily my forte, and of course we don't have a hot air popper in the house. I picked up a bottle of popping corn and figured I'd make it int he microwave.
Of course I didn't have a specific microwave popcorn accessory and most online tutorials tell you to use a paper bag and I didn't have one of those either. Some recipes call for putting the popcorn in a bowl and placing a plate on top but that just didn't work very well for me. After two tries I reached for the plastic wrap. I reasoned that it would create an airtight seal and if the bowl was big enough there was no reason for the popcorn and the plastic wrap to meet. A quarter cup of popcorn and 2.5 minutes in the microwave in a ceramic bowl with plastic wrap on top proved to be one of the most successful popcorn experiences ever. The trick is that you have to remove the plastic wrap as soon as you take it out of the microwave. If not, as it cools it will shrink and press against the corn. Now you can buy the fancy gourmet popcorn in bulk and drench it with good butter at home. No muss, no fuss.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Crackling Pork Roast
We created a pocket between the meat and the skin. We left the skin attached in the four corners. We salted the meat under the skin and over the skin, and over the entire exterior of the roast. We cooked the roast for several hours in a 225°F oven until the center of the roast registered 125°F.
We removed the roast and let it rest for 45 minutes in the pan. We combined the resting juices and onions with broccoli to serve on the side. After the roast rested we broiled the roast, allowing the skin to bubble, blister and crackle. I had it a shade close to the broiler and charred the top. I lowered the rack in the oven and finished the broiling. After crackle-izing the roast we let it rest again for 15 more minutes. We sliced the roast serving everyone cracklings and juicy meat. The idea of making the pocket under the meat opens the potential for applying flavors and getting a beautiful crackling crust.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Gingerbread and Frozen Custard
We made gingerbread doughnuts with our adaptable New Fashioned doughnut recipe. We glazed the crisp dough with vanilla buttermilk glaze. The gingerbread doughnut is light and fragrant. The interioris extremely moist and intensely spiced with ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. The doughnut screamed to be eaten with ice cream. And that is what I did. I topped it with a healthy dose of our frozen custard and a generous drizzle of our milk caramel. And how do we make milk caramel? We make it by substituting sweetened condensed milk for the cane syrup in our betterscotch.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip Cookies
A few years ago at Christmas someone made potato chips that were dipped first in caramel and then in chocolate. I found them in Erica's kitchen and proceeded to stand there and eat several of them before getting myself under control. Though I never asked for the recipe (too dangerous), the memory of those potato chips stayed with me. As I was contemplating making cookies for a bake sale today, the memory of those potato chips came to mind. I had recently read a recipe for potato chip cookies and it had lingered in my head. I took my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe and added chopped up Kraft caramels and crushed Cape Cod Potato chips. Amaya helped crush the chips, mix up the dough, and taste test the cookies. They have to cool completely to reach their pinnacle, otherwise the caraeml sticks to the parchment paper. Once cooled, they peel off easily and, I have to say, that it's quite possible a new standard was born.
Years Past
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The Magic of Cooking
Every so often I am struck by what happens when you apply heat to food. I came across some snap peas in the market today. They are one of Amaya's favorite vegetables so I picked up a bag. As I was cleaning them I tasted one and was momentarily disappointed. It was tough and stringy with a bare hint of sweetness. I hesitated for a moment and then shrugged to myself and continued peeling off strings. I decided to cook them anyway and hope for the best. I seared them off in hot pan with olive oil and salt, and was amply rewarded for my efforts. The peas were crisp and tender with an earthy sweetness that made them a pleasure to eat. It felt like ordinary magic and it definitely brightened my day.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Pinch Bowls
I have been looking for a flexible and colorful pinch bowl for my travel coffee set. The flexibility is necessary so that I can easily pour the coffee beans into the small opening of the the grinder. It also allows me to jam the bowl into my overstuffed coffee kit bag. The bright color of the bowl makes me smile. And that smile makes a huge difference first thing in the morning. It's the little things that allow us to start our days on the right foot.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Day Boat Scallops with Parsley Root, Caviar, Sea Truffles
In celebration of Clio, really of chef Ken Oringer, we took a favorite dish from Clio's opening menu as an inspiration. The dish was elegant, smart, forward thinking, and delicious. Ken's creation was Seared Day Boat Scallops with parsley root, fried parsley and osetra caviar. The seared scallop sat on a bed of parsley root puree. The scallop was topped with a rich scallop sauce loaded with osetra caviar. It was topped with fried parsley and ringed in a dark green parsley oil. It's elegance, refinement, and full flavors spoke of the style of food that we produced under his guidance at Clio. We took the elements and re-imagined them as a pasta course. We made parsley and preserved lemon noodles, and a white bolognese sauce enriched with ground scallops, parsley root, fennel and onion. We tucked a spoonful of parsley and wakame puree under the pasta and topped it with caviar and a generous grating of sea truffles. The dish was delicious. It was incredibly inspiring to take a dish from one of our mentors and reinterpret it in recognition of his wonderfulness.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Kitchen Tip
Sometimes the tools you need are right under your nose. For example, clean green scrubbies are perfect for getting that embedded dirt off root vegetables, so you can utilize the full flavor of the skins. Efficient and inexpensive, the perfect combination for getting things done.
Years Past
December 15, 2008
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Four FIsh
A timely Ted Talk, from Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish and, his most recent book, American Catch: The Fight For Our Local Seafood, to help us make good choices as we gear up to celebrate our seven fishes feast this Christmas Eve.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Created by Inspirations
We get inspiration from everywhere. And we are open to every inspiration. The idea of S'mores got us creating the doughnut. A desire to improve the entire experience had us creating a molasses marshmallow. And the coating of powdered sugar on the marshmallow created a super crispy caramelized crunch.
Amaya wanted dirt cups for her birthday. The idea had us revisit our chocolate pudding. We now use brown sugar in it. And the pudding was so good that it needed a home beyond Amaya's birthday wish. We made a chocolate new fashioned thumbprint doughnut. We glazed the doughnut, filled the indentation with the decadent pudding, and topped the creation with our cocoa crumbs.
My cousin Flynn wanted a chocolate, caramel, pretzel doughnut. I made a batch of our Sandy Pretzels. We used our marble doughnuts as the base. We topped the doughnuts with a glaze made from our Betterscotch Sauce. We put the sandy pretzels on top and finished the doughnut with a spattering of chocolate glaze. The doughnut came together because someone made a request and we had the pieces of the puzzle on hand to make it possible.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Christmas Cookie Decorating
Aki's way.
Amaya's way.
Everybody's happy.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Tablets of Flavor
I was served a delicious latte with a tablet of bittersweet chocolate sitting on the spoon alongside. I usually drink my coffee without sugar, although occasionally I crave a great mocha. The chocolate waiting to be tasted piqued my thoughts. I was not planning to use it. But it was served with the drink for a reason. It rested on the spoon, directing me to stir it into the latte. I followed the cues. I was not a very good stirrer. As I finished my drink I saw the half dissolved tablet of chocolate on the bottom. I used my spoon to eat the coffee-coated molten chocolate. Perhaps that one intense bite was the actual goal. I'm not sure.
I am sure that the idea of adding tablets of flavors to drinks and dishes is exciting. It is a starting point to be explored. I'll drink to that.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Preserved Lemon and Parsley
We started with preserved lemons. We pureed them with water and strained the mixture. We combined the lemon puree with semolina and a dash of cayenne and extruded beautiful preserved lemon shells.
We blanched parsley and pureed it with ice instead of shocking it in an ice bath. The idea was smart, the process was slow. The result was a powerfully flavorful parsley water. We strained the water and combined it with semolina to extrude parsley shells.
We let the shells air dry for several hours and then combined them. Both pastas became better when we combined their flavors.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Crispy Creamy Potatoes
I'm a sucker for crispy roasted potatoes. I'd happily make a meal out of them, with just a bit salad or veg on the side. When they are cooked well, they are utterly satisfying, crispy and crunchy on the outside, creamy within, with little hits of salt throughout. These potatoes were peeled and cut in half lengthwise, but if your spuds are big you can cut them into quarters. Over the years I've tinkered endlessly with these potatoes and I've finally accepted that they must be boiled first, preferably in heavily salted water. While they boil you can preheat the oven, with the baking pan in it, to 425°F.
Once they are tender, drain the water and return them to the pan. Set it over low heat and shake gently to dry out the potatoes and rough up the edges for extra crunchy bits. Here you see Yukon golds but russets work too, although their texture is lighter and less creamy. As the potatoes dry, pull the hot pan out of the oven and add a generous amount of fat. You can use any flavorful fats you like here, but it must be at lest 50% butter. This is important because potatoes roasted in butter stay crisp overnight in the refrigerator. They don't turn into a leathery, unpleasant snack for those of us who like to eat these straight out of the fridge. So again, at least 50% and up to 100% butter in the pan. Here I've added an equal amount of bacon fat. Return the pan to the oven for a minute or two to melt the fat and then pull it out and tip the potatoes into the hot pan. Season lightly with salt, turn them a few times to coat them with the fat, and put the pan back in the oven.
After abut 20 minutes, flip the potatoes. This is another seemingly excessive step that ensures that you have potatoes that are equally brown on the top and bottom. It also stirs up the crunchy pieces floating around on the bottom of the pan and allows them to adhere to the larger pieces. Bake for another 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes and the heat of your oven until they are a deep golden brown on the top and bottom. Feel free to flip them again after 20 minutes if you think they need it. Once the potatoes are browned to your liking, remove them from the oven and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. If you like, you may scatter whole herbs over the top as they rest and their flavor will permeate the roasted potatoes. Discard the herbs before serving. This resting period ensures that your potatoes are hot and delicious rather than molten and dangerous when you serve them. Make lots because you will want leftovers.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Made to Order
While we were in PA for Thanksgiving, Amaya and I stopped at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Chinatown Cafe, for lunch. We were the only ones there, which made Amaya slightly uncomfortable at first. As we settled in to wait for our lunch I reflected upon the fact that we had never actually eaten in the restaurant before. Pretty much once a week we would call from gymnastics and then pick dinner up on the way home. There would usually be a few people eating in the restaurant but the vast majority of food seemed to be prepared to go. Growing up in New York City there were Chinese take out places and Chinese restaurants and they were different. The food was similar but there was a distinct difference between the places designed for diners rather than take out. Out in the "burbs' that fine line seems to disappear and most Chinese restaurants seem to straddle the line between the two.
One of the owners was folding dumplings at a back table and she paused momentarily to deliver our food. It was delicious, exactly as we remembered, only better. The fried dumplings had an edge of crispness that you'll never get after a trip home in a paper carton, and were juicy and flavorful. The chow fun, almost impossible to find in NH, was slippery and rich, and full of savory flavor. While the two of us were barely able to make a dent in the food it was so satisfying to sit and eat freshly prepared Chinese food, taking our time to savor each bite. It's a good reminder to slow down. We may search out the best local places but we do not always take the time to appreciate the food as it should be enjoyed.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Be Reckless
When an ingredient is purchased it has a certain value. When an ingredient is grown, created, developed, or made by you, it has a different value. We find ourselves being reckless and free wheeling with ingredients we buy, using them in recipes without a thought because we know we can go out and buy more. When we make them we have a tendency to hang onto them. We have a tendency to put the homemade onto a pedestal. Is it the time involved? Is it the bond we form with the ingredient during the cooking process? Is it knowing how long it will take to make more?
Oh, you want some examples. Pepperoni is a great place to begin. I'll do everything and anything to pepperoni that I buy. When I make my own I feel a need to either look at it adoringly and then, perhaps, find the best way to use it. And as I wait, ponder, contemplate, I miss windows of delicious opportunity.
Today we started marshmallow development. We use a fair amount of marshmallows in our Doughnut World. I figured that if I could make time, I should be making them. And then as I finished our first batch of Molasses Marshmallows, I stared at the precious creation wondering how to best highlight them in our kitchen. But that is not the point of marshmallows in our world at the moment. We use them as background players. So tomorrow we will cut out a few to place in the center of our S'mores and the rest will be pureed into pie and melted into cracklings. It was important for me to realize that I need to be equally free handed with home made ingredients. In making my own I just gain a bit more control in the process. I get a better marshmallow and then it's my next job to make sure that I use it.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Color Bomb
Listening to and observing our daughter is inspirational. She connects words and ideas with clear thoughts. Her instincts have her searching for happiness. After her birthday party today, I had some surprise Silly String waiting for her at home. She had been wanting to play with Silly String for some time. We opened the cans and released the streamers. As she laughed and giggled and plotted she paused. She looked at the ground and observed: "Color bomb." She coined the phrase for me. I'm not sure how we shall use the idea in our world. For now we have it stored in our memory for future reference.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Gingerbread and Eggnog
We played with a few variations and combinations of gingerbread and eggnog. We made 2 batches of our New Fashioned Doughnut dough. We flavored one with eggnog and the other we made into gingerbread. As we were cutting the doughnuts we saw the possibilities of putting a round peg in a round hole.
In these doughnuts we were able to combine flavors while keeping them distinctively separate. It was equally fun to have the eggnog and gingerbread doughnuts side by side.
We glazed the rings with an eggnog glaze and dusted the insets with cinnamon sugar. It was a playful and delicious morning.
Years Past
December 5, 2004: when it all began
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Boiling Water Malloreddus
One difficulty when making malloreddus, the semolina based Sardinian noodle, is the difficulty in kneading the hard wheat. Yesterday we worked around that by borrowing the technique of using hot water in the dough from classic gyoza wrappers. As it turns out, we played around with the same idea this past March. In that instance we were trying to achieve a fusilli of sorts. Yesterday we were working to efficiently produce malloreddus. We love the way the hot water hydrates the dough and seems to make it more elastic. It adds texture and chew simply by changing the temperature of the dough before you knead it. Sometimes it's the small changes that make the biggest difference.
Boiling Water Semolina Malloreddus
Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a side
300 grams semolina flour
1.25 grams baking soda
150 grams boiling water
Put the semolina and baking soda in a bowl and mix them together. Pour the boiling water over the mixture and use a rubber spatula to begin stirring it together. When the dough looks rough and shaggy, begin to knead it by hand in the bowl. The boiling water makes the dough hot and it's important to make sure the dough is not too hot to handle. You can let it cool for s few minutes, if need be, or you can wear rubber gloves to protect your hands as you knead. Our hands are a bit weathered so we just dove in. Knead the dough for several minutes, until it became silky and smooth. What is interesting is that this dough feels almost oily, even though it is not. It does not stick to the bowl or your hands.
After kneading the dough we wrapped it in plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes to allow for further hydration. We rolled the dough into a 1/4 inch sheet and cut it into 1/2 inch strips. We ran the dough through our cavatelli machine. If you don't have a machine, you can use the hand rolled technique found in our miso cavatelli recipe. After making the noodles we arranged them onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and refrigerated them, uncovered. We were looking for some of the surface moisture to wick away. After 18 hours in the refrigerator we put the malloreddus into a zip top bag and refrigerated them until we were ready to cook them. Alternatively you can freeze them and cook them directly from the freezer.
When we boiled the malloreddus in salted water, they had a tenderness and a firm chewy bite. We served them with a quick broccoli and cheese sauce. What was equally exciting is that the noodles retained their texture and bite after being kept warm for several hours. Did I mention we packed the noodles in a Thermos container to eat during gymnastics practice? Homemade pasta makes a great meal on the go.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Sandy (Pretzel) Sticks
Years ago we made pretzel praline. Today we revisited and simplified the idea. We put demerara sugar and a splash of water into a pan on high heat. We watched the sugar to melt and let it begin to caramelize irregularly. We added pretzel rods and gently stirred and folded the mixture together. The sugar crystallized on the rods. The crystals grew and dried. In a matter of 2 minutes we had sandy pretzel rods. We removed them from the heat and let them cool on a sheet pan lined with greased parchment paper. These salty, sandy sticks are addictive. It was well worth revisiting an old idea. It was even more exiting to improve upon it. The pretzel sticks are delicious eaten as is. These particular sticks are destined to be the twigs in an upcoming flower pot birthday dessert. After that appearance they will take on a life of their own at Curiosity Doughnuts.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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What's In A Recipe?
When I was in elementary school I was convinced that I couldn't draw. It was thing among the girls to draw pictures, usually of girls and trees and puppy dogs. I couldn't visualize what they were supposed to look like, so I often ended up copying the techniques of my peers while adding a small twist here or there to make mine just different enough to pass without anyone realizing that I hadn't actually created a unique character of my own. Of course by the time I was done it was a unique character but I thought that because I couldn't pull how to draw the hair-eyes-dress from my own imagination, that automatically made my creations a fake. It's interesting how these mentalities follow us as we age.
I've always been a good cook. I can follow directions, internalize them, and twist them into new variations without a second thought. It's my old drawing technique reborn in the kitchen. The difference is that now that I'm older I understand that's how we learn. We copy, we change. We make things our own. Every recipe we create has its roots in something else we cooked at some other time, even if we no longer remember it. Sometimes we forget the origins of a dish and I think that's how recipes evolve. We color and we fill in the blanks to make recipes or drawings or stories our own. It's not about being the first or the best, it's about creating something we truly enjoy and then sharing it with anyone else who's interested. Life, to me, is about creating things and then letting them go. They will evolve in the wild and that's what makes the world an interesting place.
I am notorious for not reading my own books and not following my own recipes. It's not because I don't like them. It's because somehow, once I've published them, they take on a life of their own. They aren't mine anymore. I'm always thinking about the next meal and what I want to eat now. What I had yesterday holds little interest for me unless I'm using the memory to explore a new idea. I may eat a lot of roast chicken or mashed potatoes but each batch is subtly different, based on how I feel and what's in the pantry. What would be delicious right now? That's what goes into our recipes. It's what we want to eat at the moment we are creating it.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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Vegan Sugar and Spice Cookies
I was reading a magazine this morning and it showed a picture of these deep, dark, chewy ginger cookies with a caption explaining that the recipes for their amazing vegan holiday cookies could be found on their website. Of course I immediately went over to my computer and looked them up. The resulting slideshow was a total disappointment. If the ginger spice cookies were there, I missed them. The other cookies pictured looked vegan and healthy, if you know what I mean. I had been captivated by the idea of delicious vegan cookies and I expressed my disappointment to Alex. A few hours later I was eating the best cake-like spiced sugar cookies I had ever tasted and the fact that they were vegan was just an added bonus.
There's a lot you can do with this recipe. For instance we used avocado oil because we like it, but if you don't happen to have avocado oil in your pantry you can substitute a different oil, canola or corn oil if that's what you have or perhaps even a walnut or almond oil to give these cookies a different spin. We didn't have any fresh or ground ginger in the house when he made these, though you could definitely add them to the spice profile, and turn them into ginger chews or leave them as is, and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar for a play off the classic snickerdoodle.
As you can see in the pictures, for this first experiment we rolled them in sugar. These cookies are so moist that the bottom layer of sugar got sticky as the cookies sat at room temperature, so we adjusted the directions accordingly. If you like a heavier layer of sugar on your cookies you can dip the tops in the sugar and press it into the dough.
The starch paste is what makes the difference here, giving the cookies structure without using eggs. It's an old baking trick, seen in French pate choux and Asian sponge cakes and breads, and one that continues to serve us well. The flavor is sweet and clean, focusing on the sugar and the spices. The texture is soft and tender with a hint of chewiness and a bit of crunch from the sugar. They're just good cookies.
Vegan Spice Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
Cider Paste:
50 grams / 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon avocado oil
75 grams / ½ cup all-purpose flour
130 grams / 9 tablespoons apple cider
Spice Cookies:
150 grams / ⅔ cup apple cider
100 grams / 7 tablespoons avocado oil
250 grams / 1 cup + 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
Cider Paste
5 grams / 1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla paste
350 grams / 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
9 grams / 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
4.5 grams / ¾ teaspoon salt
1 gram / ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 gram / ½ teaspoons ground mace
0.5 grams / ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
coarse (raw) sugar for sprinkling on the cookies
To make the Cider Paste, put the oil and flour in a small pot set over medium heat. Use a whisk to stir the mixture continuously as it cooks. When the flour thickens and pulls away from the sides of the pan, 2-3 minutes, add the cider and whisk to combine. Once the cider has been absorbed into the flour, switch to a spatula and continue to cook the mixture, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, until it forms a smooth ball that pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the Cider Paste to a bowl and let cool slightly.
Put the apple cider, avocado oil, brown sugar, Cider Paste, and vanilla paste into a bowl and stir until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, mace, and cardamom. Use a rubber spatula to stir the flour into the liquid mixture. Beat the mixture by hand until it forms a smooth dough, about 2 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. (175°C.)
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop cookies using a purple ice cream scoop or a heaping tablespoon and roll it into balls. Press the cookies onto the parchment, flattening them slightly and leaving 2” of space between each cookie. These will rise and spread. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are just set.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
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