J'aime le Chocolat

When I was taking French I my last semester of college, the first thing we learned to say we loved was chocolate. J’aime le chocolat. Our professor went around asking everyone individually, “tu aimes le chocolat?” to which everyone vigorously nodded and responded “oui, oui, j’aime le chocolat!” Except for me. Je n’aime pas le chocolat. Lets be honest here, I’m not about to turn down a brownie or anything drastic like that. But I am also not the type to be upset if one of my housemates mistakenly eats the last of my stash of Dove chocolates. Nor do I even have a stash of Dove chocolates. There is no situation in which I would pick a chocolate dessert over a fruit tart at dinner, and a bowl full of M&Ms can sit next to me for days without disappearing… the same can’t be said for a bowl of popcorn.

Needless to say, I was in a bit of a conundrum when, about to bake a nice apple pie for a friend’s birthday, my friend told me she hated pie and wanted something chocolatey. I’ve never baked anything chocolatey. I wasn’t even sure what that entailed, so I turned to tastespotting.com for help. I found what seemed like a simple recipe (until I noticed the measurements were in grams), and went to work with the help of my friend Alli, a fellow dessert connoisseur – and one that aimes chocolat, at that.

The cookies were surprisingly easy to make. The dough was a weird consistency, and I had my doubts that they would crack like the recipe assures me they would, but in the end, even I have to admit they were delicious (and aesthetically pleasing). The recipe can be found here: http://noobletpatissier.blogspot.com/2010/06/double-chocolate-cookies.html.

The best part about it is that it is wonderfully foolproof. Even hacking an unmeasured amount of a 113g stick of butter to make it (approximately) 100g, and eyeballing 37/56ths of a square of baker’s chocolate didn’t affect the cookies. I might not always aime le chocolat, but I sure did love these cookies.

And now for.... Chocolate PLUS Peanut Butter!

Yup. We did it. Another blog about cookies. So sue me. Recently Christina and I were sitting in Panera working on our resumes, giving each other nervous looks when we realized applying for jobs sucks, and coping with the anxiety by buying Pumpkin Muffies. While taking a break (which lasted a while), we realized that both of us wanted to cook something sugary and comforting this week. So we went a little cookie crazy.

I was feeling peanut-buttery (I mean, how good did that peanut fudge look??). But really, what’s the best thing about peanut butter? Mixing it with chocolate, sugar, and butter. Dieters, be warned, this is not a recipe for you. But – it – is – DELICIOUS. Picture a doughy Reese’s Cup covered in sugar. Mmmmm. These would be perfect holiday cookies to hand out to friends, family, neighbors, mailmen, that cute guy on the train, ANYONE. You’ll be the talk of the town.




Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies
Adapted from Sweet Peas Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup granulated sugar (plus more for rolling)
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy putter butter, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
¾ cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375 F. Line a baking sheet (though we ended up using two) with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, use a beater or stand up mixer to beat together sugars, butter and ¼ cup of peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat to combine. Stir in the flour mixture and blend well.
4. In another medium bowl, mix together powdered sugar and remaining ¾ cup of peanut butter until smooth. If it seems too chunky, add more peanut butter.
5. HERE is the fun part. Pull off a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough and flatten in your hands. Take about 1 tsp of peanut butter mixture and place it in the center of the chocolate dough. Wrap the dough around the peanut butter center, pressing to seal. Roll the cookie into a ball and roll cookie in sugar. Flatten the cookies to about ½ thickness, and place on the baking sheet, about two inches apart.
6. Bake in over 7 to 9 minutes. Edges of cookies should have a few small cracks. Let stand on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

Anyone who remotely knows me probably is aware that I had some computer issues over the past few weeks. They also probably know I’ve recently been observing some weird dietary restrictions for medical reasons. I can be a bit of a complainer. Anyway, as a result of my computer problems, I’ve been a bit behind on updating our blog… and as a result of my newly imposed lactose-free diet, my recent culinary excursions have centered around finding sweets that satisfy dessert cravings that don’t have dairy as an ingredient (clearly a problem for me, as earlier this fall dessert basically meant anything pumpkin with cream cheese frosting on top).

A late night watching Alton Brown on the Food Network helped lead me to a creative solution to my problem… Fudge. I spend my summers in Michigan, where fudge is available everywhere from cute little bakeries to gas stations (which I frequent pretty often). While pervasive in my life, I had never really thought about what goes into making fudge, but I assumed it would be difficult. Thanks to Alton, I learned its actually pretty simple… It just takes a lot of butter (this recipe may have been a Paula Deen/Alton Brown collaboration). I picked a peanut butter (one of the major food groups) fudge recipe and got to work with my friend Maureen one afternoon. The finished product was delicious, though it is hard not to be with the amount of butter that went into it. This is definitely a satisfying dessert, even without cream cheese frosting.

Peanut Butter Fudge

1 c. butter1 c. peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
3 ¾ c. powdered sugar

1. Microwave butter and peanut butter for two minutes on high. Stir and microwave for two minutes more. Stir.

2. Stir in the vanilla, then add the powdered sugar slowly while stirring with a wooden spoon.

3. Line an 8x8 inch pan with waxed paper, and spoon in fudge. Press down so it forms to the pan. Cover with a sheet of waxes paper, and refrigerate until cool. Cut into one-inch squares, and keep them in a Tupperware container in the fridge for up to a week.

A Trip to Spain

All my older friends told me I was going to hit a wall in September after graduation and sink into a deep post-college depression. However, while I get a little nostalgic seeing my sorority sisters’ Facebook updates about the college social scene (including spending Saturdays in the library… and I’m not kidding when I say that), I haven’t exactly been pining for my college days. However, one thing do I miss on a regular basis is the culinary experience I had while studying abroad.

I spent the spring of my junior year studying in Madrid, birthplace of my ancestors, while Mary spent the entirety of our junior year in London getting to know the land of her forefathers. We visited each other, and I am not exaggerating by saying we spent the majority of both weeks eating – cupcakes at Hummingbird Bakery, churros at Valor, and occasionally a non-dessert based meal for nutritional purposes.

Recently, Mary and I were hosting some of our friends over for dinner, and we felt that it was time for an homage to our abroad experience.

We went through my family’s plentiful Spanish cookbooks, and settled on two traditional dishes to serve to our friends: sopa de ajo (garlic soup) and ham and cheese croquetas.

The croquetas were an all day affair. It started with a trip to a wine and finer foods store, since our local grocery store doesn’t have a big selection of obscure Spanish ingredients. After picking up the cheese and ham, and a bottle of Rioja, we spent a good five hours in the kitchen making the meal – it finished just in time for the arrival of our friends on their way home from work.

Ham and Cheese Croquettes:

3 c. whole milk
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. minced onion
2/3 c. flour
salt, pepper and nutmeg
1 1/2 c. (5-6 oz.) Manchego cheese, diced
1/2 c. (2-3 oz.) Serrano ham, chopped
2 t. chopped parsley

Topping:
1 c. flour
2 large eggs beaten with 2 t. water
1 c. bread crumbs

1. In a saucepan, simmer milk and remove from heat.

2. In another saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the flour, and stir, until a think paste forms. Gradually add the milk while stirring constantly, cook about three minutes until a thick béchamel sauce forms (Mary and I were unsure what a béchamel sauce was... in our case, it is a thick, thick sauce that absorbed the milk like a sponge). Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

3. Remove from heat and fold in cheese, ham and parsley.

4. Oil an 8 inch square pan, pour in croquette base and refrigerate until cool, about two hours.

5. Set out three bowls, one with the 1 cup of flour for the topping, the next with the beaten egg mixture, and the last with the bread crumbs. With wet hands, use a tablespoon to create a torpedo-shaped croquette with the base. Dip in the flour and coat thoroughly, then dip in the egg, then finally roll in bread crumbs. Repeat until all of the base is used. Refrigerate until cool, or about two hours (or put in the freezer for 10 minutes like we did when we failed to read the recipes completely).

6. Put three inches of canola oil in a saucepan, and fry a few croquettes at a time until golden - about three minutes. Keep fried croquetas in the oven on low until all are fried.

Sopa de Ajo

1 c. Olive Oil
4 c. stale bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t. smoked paprika
salt
8 c. chicken stock
3 egg yolks

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add the garlic, and cook about three minutes. Add the bread and cook until golden. Add paprika and a pinch of salt, and cook until fragrant, or about three minutes.

2. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in beaten egg yolks, and serve!

After the intensity of the croquettes, the soup is a perfect simple addition to the meal!