Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Triple-Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies - made July 19, 2010 from The Pastry Queen

If you don't like chocolate or are indifferent to it, move along, there's nothing to see here. But, if you're like me and think chocolate is the greatest invention of mankind and would inject it directly into your veins if you could, then this is the cookie for you. I think of it almost as baked fudge. It's rich, it's moist, it's just good. But two caveats - first, this isn't for the faint of chocolate heart. This cookie does pack a (chocolate) punch. Second, you must use high quality chocolate. There's a high proportion of chocolate in relation to the other ingredients and if you use inferior chocolate, you'll get an inferior cookie. For the bittersweet chocolate, I used Lindt Excellence 70%.


You should time this recipe as it's sometimes hard to tell when they're done baking. I go mostly by appearance - the cookie is done when it isn't as glossy and fine dry cracks appear slightly. But I say time it because you don't want to overbake it. I bake it for 10 minutes, take them out of the oven and let them sit on the hot cookie sheet a few minutes more to keep baking. Once they're cool and the chocolate sets, they're perfect.

Note that the dough is very soft, almost like a batter, and doesn't really harden. For that reason I don't give this my usual cookie dough treatment of portioning into dough balls and freezing first. It's actually unnecessary because the cookies don't really spread since they have such a high proportion of chocolate relative to butter. Do let it rest for 20 minutes as the directions call for as you don't want the batter to be too liquid before you bake the cookies. Oh, and it goes without saying I left out the nuts and only added milk chocolate chips. This is pure chocolate.



1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped walnuts
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Arrange the pecans and walnuts on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast for 7 to 9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Cool the nuts completely.
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats, or grease generously with butter or cooking spray.
3. Melt the butter, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in a small saucepan set over low heat. Stir occasionally, watching carefully to make sure the chocolate does not burn. Remove the pan from the heat to cool.
4. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 3 minutes, until fluffy. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate. Beat on medium speed about 2 minutes, until the dough is thick and glossy. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes, which makes it easier to scoop.
5. Use a 1 ¾” diameter scoop to drop spoonfuls of dough on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them at least 1 ½” apart. Wet your fingertips lightly with water and gently flatten the cookie dough (no need to press hard; just press out the hump). Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops begin to crack and look glossy. Cool the cookies for 10 minutes before removing them from the baking sheets.

Rok Bistro

Today for lunch, a few of my fabulous coworkers (the good ones, haha) took me out to lunch for my birthday at Rok Bistro on Murphy St in Sunnyvale http://www.rokbistro.com/

Evelyn, me and Rhuwena

Rhuwena, me and Jenny

If you've never been there, their claim to fame is, depending on your order, they serve it to you on a volcanic rock heated to 700 degrees so you can cook your entree. Rhuwena and Evelyn got the steak.

They serve it in thick chunks but you're armed with a sharp knife so you can cut it into strips or pieces and cook it more quickly. Be warned though - 700 degrees is nothing to mess with and it'll cook your steak pretty fast and with a lot of splatter. Meaning, best not to go there with dry clean only clothes or if you have an important meeting in the afternoon. Unless you want to go back to work in grease-spattered clothes smelling like cooking meat :). Copious covering with the cloth napkins they provide is highly recommended.

Jenny's order

I got the Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich (hold the red onions). The chicken was partially cooked and served with the ham on a hot volcanic rock as well so I could finish cooking it. The alfredo sauce and cheese were to the side along with a little cup of fresh fruit. It was the first time I'd tried the sandwich and it was pretty good. I only ate half though to save room for dessert....

My sandwich entree - Chicken Cordon Bleu

Because, let's face it, the real reason to go to Rok Bistro is for the chocolate fondue. During lunchtime, fondue is $9 per person with a 2-person minimum for each type of chocolate fondue. Evelyn is a dark chocolate fan but she was outnumbered by 3 milk chocolate lovers so we ordered my favorite, the milk chocolate hazelnut which is essentially milk, Callebaut milk chocolate and nutella.




The fondue is set on the table which has a flat-top burner in the center and heated atop a pot of water until it's nice, melted, free-flowing chocolate, ready for dipping.


Because you can't have fondue without something to dip into it - their standard platter includes oreo-covered marshmallows, pound cake (Sara Lee), pretzels, rice krispie treats, cream puffs, bananas, pineapple, strawberries and apples. My favorite combination is the banana and chocolate followed by the rice krispie treats, strawberries and pound cake. Never could get into the pineapple dipped in chocolate.

Our server overheard us mentioning my birthday so she surprised us with a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting atop a volcanic rock - this one frozen so the ice cream didn't melt easily. I thought that was really nice of her! Not to mention she gave each of us a $10 coupon for our next visit. More chocolate fondue! As soon as I workout like a fiend to burn all the calories I consumed....

As always after a fun lunch, thanks, ladies! It was a great start to my birthday weekend!

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Bars with Shortbread Crust

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Bars with Shortbread Crust - made July 15, 2010 from epicurious.com

I have both macadamia nuts and miniature semisweet chocolate chips to use up so this seemed like a good recipe to try since it contained both. I downloaded this from Epicurious.com long ago and have held onto the recipe for months, if not years. I go through periods when I’m hunting for good recipes and just gather them all up. Then they gather dust until I’m inspired to try one of them.

The recipe calls for a food processor to make the crust and I have one but I’ve already packed it in preparation for my move. But it’s not a big deal to manually cut the butter into the sugar and flour – I do it all the time with lemon bars so I’m used to it. Just make sure your butter is chilled and you use two sharp knives or a pastry blender. I confess I’ve never gotten used to a pastry blender as it seems to drill the butter into the flour/sugar rather than actually cutting the butter. It’s all a matter of what you’re used to and I guess I’m old school. Plus, I don’t need another baking gadget like a pastry blender when two knives will do. Just make sure your butter is cold as that makes cutting it into the dry ingredients easier – you don’t want the butter so soft that it actually makes a paste with the flour and sugar. There should be little bits of butter coated with the flour/sugar mixture but not actually blended into it.

I baked the crust for a little longer than 15 minutes, probably closer to 20. My experience says the best part of a shortbread crust is when it’s – well – crusty. If you underbake it, it’ll be too soft and won’t provide enough of a texture contrast to the filling. Don’t overbake it either as you don’t want it too hard and remember it’ll bake some more once the crust is added. I toasted the macadamia nuts first and let them cool before I added them to the filling. Try to add the nuts last and right before you pour it over the crust – they should soften less by spending less time in a liquid batter before it’s baked. As I’ve said ad naseum, I’m not fond of nuts within a baked good although I’m fine with them on top. It’s a texture thing – nuts will steam and soften when baked so they lose the more crisp or hard texture which is what I like about nuts. I’m actually a little more forgiving of macadamia nuts since they don’t soften as much as nuts like walnuts or pecans.

I only had a small smidge of this since by the time it cooled last night, it was late and I don’t like eating right before going to bed. It was pretty good. The shortbread crust had the right “snap” to it and when I ate this, the filling was still just the tiniest bit warm so it was soft. I didn’t overbake it as I had feared since I left it in the oven longer than the prescribed 50 minutes. I recommend actually timing this one (this from me, the infamous “I never time anything” baker) because the crust on the filling forms pretty early on in the baking so sticking a toothpick into it keeps breaking the filling crust while just underneath, everything’s still too gooey to be done. I only had a vague sense of when I put this in the oven so I had to keep checking and could only go by how brown the crust was and what the toothpick test was showing me.

For crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces

For filling:
1 cup sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (about 7 ounces)

1. Make crust: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Blend flour and sugar in processor. Add butter; process using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer mixture to 8-inch square glass baking dish. Press mixture onto bottom and ¾ inch up sides of dish. Bake until crust is golden brown on edges, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Whisk sugar, flour, eggs, butter and vanilla extract to blend in large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Pour filling into warm crust, smooth surface. Bake until filling is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 50 minutes. Transfer dish to rack; cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.) Cut into 16 squares.

Nothing Bundt Cakes - red velvet cake

Red Velvet Bundt Cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes - July 12, 2010

With my sweet tooth, it should come as no surprise that I like trying out different bakeries. I've already admitted I've done a foodie trip to New York City for exactly that purpose. I also try out local places, of course. Today's experiment was Nothing Bundt Cakes in Los Gatos. One of my coworkers, Rhuwena, ordered the red velvet cake for my birthday to serve in our boss' staff meeting this afternoon. It's no secret that I HATE being the center of birthday attention. It's just not my thing. I'm more of a quiet introvert and I celebrate my birthday pretty low key. I'm not a "HEY! It's my birthday!!!" kind of person. So I was half-mortified when they all broke into song at the beginning of staff today. Thankfully, I control the staff agenda so I got us moving right along to the scheduled topic, lol.

I also cut and passed out slices of this cake. One bite and I was hooked. OMG, this is an awesome red velvet cake. Perfect texture, moist without being gummy, flavorful with the perfect addition of the chocolate chips. I told Rhuwena I forgave her as soon as I took a bite of this cake. The picture above is all that's left of the cake today. Saving one piece for lunch tomorrow and chowing down on the other piece for dessert tonight.

http://www.nothingbundtcakes.com/index.php - I will have to visit them in person in Los Gatos and see what else to try :).

One of our VPs had a birthday celebration last week and trusty Rhuwena ordered a couple of cakes for his birthday (thankfully my cake celebration was way more low key than his, ha), also from Nothing Bundt Cakes - carrot cake and chocolate chocolate chip. I tried the carrot cake first and it was good. Then I had a piece of the chocolate chocolate chip and it was great. While I'm fond of carrot cake, the chocolate chocolate chip won hands down. It was moist and had a good chocolate flavor without being in your face or overwhelming about it. Seriously, I really must go visit this place before too long. After another slew of workouts to offset the calories, of course.

Here's a pic of the two cakes - the carrot cake is on top and the chocolate is on the bottom:

Chicken Parmesan aka Dinner in a Bag

Chicken Parmesan - made July 11, 2010 from Food Network and Giada DeLaurentis via my cousin Christine

I met my cousin Christine and her son for dinner last Friday and Christine's parting gift to me was "Dinner in a Bag" - or maybe even a purse since it looks like one but is actually an insulated bag. Christine knows my penchant for non-cooking and is determined to get me to cook successfully. So she had the inspired idea of prepping a simple recipe for me to make. Simple because she already did the leg work of making the marinara sauce and all I had to do was put it together. Should be simple, right?? Ha! You don't know me :). Although I do have to crack up that she thought of it and my mom had a good laugh when I told her about it. She knows my non-cooking skills well and has been trying to get me to cook for years. Christine included the frozen ziploc of marinara sauce, the package of chicken breasts, the herbs needed (which I never have since I don't cook) and the recipe.


True to her word, the recipe was pretty simple. I pounded the chicken breasts a bit first since I do have actual experience that that works to make the chicken tender. I chopped up the herbs and combined with the olive oil which thankfully I did have from past cooking attempts. Fried the chicken (note to self: really need a splatter screen if I intend to keep cooking in the future) after brushing it with the herb-oil mixture. I don't have a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven so I simply fried the chicken until the outside was brown then laid them in a Le Creuset rectangular baking dish, covered with the marinara sauce and sprinkled the Parmesan cheese on top. The recipe calls for mozarella as well and I thought I had some in the freezer but it turns out I only had the Parmesan. Oops. But I'm sure it'll still taste good! Here's the pre-bake shot:


At first I covered the dish with foil so the cheese wouldn't burn since it's going into a 500 degree oven. I never bake at 500 degrees so I didn't even know until today that my oven does go to 500. I forget how long I had this in the oven but it was until at least the cheese had somewhat melted. I took the foil cover off and let it sit in the oven for longer after I turned it off. Here's the post-bake shot:

Then, because my cooking skills do extend to boiling water, I boiled some whole wheat fettuccine noodles to make a bed for the chicken parmesan. I actually haven't tasted this yet as I'm writing this because the funny thing about me is when I cook, I cook for the next day or days. I've never actually gotten into the habit of cooking then eating (I know, I know, I'm strange). I ate dinner (leftovers from a Pho lunch with my parents after church) then cooked this. So it's too late and I'm too full to eat it now but this is lunch tomorrow - thanks Christine! I'm sure it's delicious.

Here's the link to Giada's recipe on foodnetwork: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-parmesan-recipe/index.html

Miss Milton's Lovely Fudge Pie

Miss Milton's Lovely Fudge Pie - made July 10, 2010 from Sweet Serendipity by Stephen Bruce

Back in 2007, I went to New York City with a friend on a foodie trip. She went for the restaurants and I went for the bakeries and desserts. I was delighted to go visit bakeries I'd only heard about and drooled over. It wasn't my first trip to Manhattan and it won't be my last even though my staying power in the Big Apple is usually 3 days (tops). It was on that trip that I sampled Magnolia Bakery (brownies to die for), Buttercup Bake Shop (red velvet cake!), Bruce's Bakery (meh, no standouts), Billy's (banana cake with cream cheese frosting - YUM), Dylan's Candy Store (I was actually indifferent to candy), the Shake Shack (best burgers ever), and a few other places I can't remember at the moment. But I do remember having lunch at Serendipity and having their frrrrrozen hot chocolate (also yummy). Part of the fun of the trip is I either already had or later bought the cookbooks from the places I went to. The Sweet Serendipity cookbook was one of them.

No, I don't have the wrong picture up there even though the title is for a fudge pie and those look like brownies. That's because I had already packed my pie tins and they're somewhere in one of the multiple boxes in my garage labeled "Baking Pans". I don't know which one. So I used a 8" square baking pan instead. Once the "pie" had cooled, I just cut them into squares. So technically I guess this isn't a pie but more like a soft brownie. It has a very nice chocolate flavor and definitely a soft texture without being too mushy or gooey - as long as you don't overbake it. The original recipe calls for serving it with raspberry coulis but I didn't have any raspberries and I didn't bake this to serve it at a dinner but rather to try the recipe and kill time because I woke up too early on a Saturday and needed something to do. It's very easy to put together and bake so it wasn't a bad way to kill some time.

Note: although I usually try to dry up a plain chocolate recipe with some kind of add-ins like caramel or chopped up candy, the batter for this is pretty liquidy and I didn't think any add-ins would hold up well, i.e. they'd just sink to the bottom and be too jarring in the pie. So I left it plain and was glad I did. You can use this as a base for ice cream - works well with a warm pie and cold ice cream.

Unsalted butter for the pan
¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
4 ounces (4 squares) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream
Confectioners’ sugar, to garnish

For the coulis:
1 pound fresh or frozen raspberries (if frozen, thaw completely)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar

1. To make the pie: preheat your oven to 325˚F. Butter an 8-inch round pie pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a double boiler over hot water, carefully melt the butter and chocolate, stirring to mix. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and sour cream together. Add the melted chocolate and mix completely. Fold in the flour mixture and stir only until the batter is uniformly brown.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, just until the batter is set and no longer jiggles when touched. Do not overbake; it should be moist and slightly gooey.
4. While the pie bakes, make the coulis: puree the berries and pass through a sieve. (If you are using fresh berries, you may wish to reserve a few to use as a garnish when serving.) Mix the cornstarch with a little cold water until smooth. Place the berry puree, the cornstarch, and the sugar in a saucepan and heat to simmer. Cool 1 minute, then cool. Chill before using.
5. After removing the piece from oven, allow it to cool completely in the pan. Carefully turn it out of the pan, remove the parchment paper, and dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Serve warm or room temperature with raspberry coulis.

Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies

Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies - made July 8, 2010 from Caprial's Desserts by Caprial Pence

Need to catch up my blog - between work and deliberately being out of the house while it's up for sale, I haven't been able to do a lot of baking. When I am home, it seems like people still come and go to look at the place and of course, you have to let them have at it even though it's clearly beyond the posted hours on the listing (have to suck it up since the important thing is to sell the place).

The "Mom" referred to in this recipe isn't my mom. I assume it's Caprial Pence's mom since this is from her cookbook. I still have a couple of bags of peanut butter chips to use up and some peanut butter hence why I seem to be making the same things. I have multiple recipes for peanut butter cookies and now seems like a good time to try a few of them. This is your standard peanut butter cookie, the butter version, which will make it taste like a peanut butter version of a chocolate chip cookie. The traditional peanut butter cookie has shortening in it and will be drier and more crisp in terms of texture. I prefer the chewy so I go with recipes with butter in them. This was a good cookie, pretty standard in terms of peanut butter cookies. It wasn't a total standout but my taste buds are pretty jaded. If you want a fast, easy recipe for peanut butter cookies, you probably can't go wrong with this one.

1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup good-quality peanut butter
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a sheet pan well and set aside.
2. Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs and vanilla extract, then add the peanut butter and mix well. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth.
3. Using a tablespoon or a small ice cream scoop, form the dough in ½” balls and place on the prepared pan. Flatten them with a fork. Bake just until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack or paper towels and let cool completely.

Butter Toffee Crunch Shortbread

Butter Toffee Crunch Shortbread - first made March 11, 2002 from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley

If you like butter, butterscotch and toffee, this is the shortbread for you. And even if you don't, try this anyway - you won't be sorry. Sometimes a good shortbread is hard to make. If you underbake it, it's too chewy and doesn't have the "snap" in the texture. If you overbake it, it's too hard or crisp and the butter can taste burnt. Follow the instructions exactly, even if it "looks" done. Trust me. The times I've not done this shortbread correctly is when I've taken it out too soon. With my oven, I tend to take this out at 55-65 minutes, depending on how it looks and whether it's brown all over.

I chop the butterscotch chips into smaller pieces, sometimes in halves, sometimes in thirds, as much as I'm able to with that little chip. It's a pain and somewhat time consuming but I like to have the chips roughly the same size as the toffee bits. For the toffee bits, I use the Heath Bar toffee bits that come in a bag, sans the chocolate covering. For shortbread, I like the pure butter and toffee taste without the chocolate. The rich taste of the butter stands on its own. Make sure your butter is fresh. Also, as the recipe says, cut into pieces while it's still warm. Otherwise it won't cut cleanly when it's cool and will break unevenly instead.

Nothing smells as good as this shortbread in the oven. If you ever want to perfume your house before company comes over, time this recipe to bake an hour or so before your guests arrive. Even once they're baked, they're very fragrant and mouth-watering. I discovered this recipe years ago and don't make it often enough because I could eat more than I should of it. I'm planning to make it this week, barring any late nights at work, as I seem to have a plethora of butterscotch chips I need to use up.

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup rice flour or substitute cornstarch if rice flour is unavailable
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups (¾lb) fresh unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons fruit sugar or superfine sugar
6 tablespoons tightly packed light brown sugar
¾ cup miniature butterscotch chips
¾ cup English toffee pieces (available in the baking sections of most supermarkets)

Additional unsalted butter for greasing the pan

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch metal baking pan. Line the bottom and up the two long sides with a piece of parchment paper. Leave about a 1-inch overhang over the sides to make removing the cooled shortbread easier. Sift the all-purpose flour and rice flours together with the salt and set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, beat the butter until very smooth. Gradually add the sugars and cream the mixture until it is very light and fluffy. If using a mixer, transfer the creamed butter-sugar mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture, about ½ cup at a time, fully incorporating each addition before adding the next. Use your fingers to knead the final portion of dry ingredients into the dough, keeping your palms off the dough as much as possible, so the warmth doesn’t turn the butter oily. When the last of the flour is fully blended, add the butterscotch and toffee bits and knead them into the dough until they are evenly distributed.
3. Press the dough firmly into the prepared pan and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth the surface. Prick the dough all over with a fork and set the pan in the center of the oven. Bake the shortbread for about 45 minutes, then prick the dough again to release any trapped air. Return the pan to the oven for another 15 or 30 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown, and the center feels just firm to the touch.
4. The shortbread will set to a very firm biscuit as it cools, so it must be cut while it is still warm. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 7 or 8 minutes, then run a sharp paring knife around the outside of the dough to loosen the edges. Make two long cuts in the shortbread, dividing it evenly into three rectangles, each cut beginning and ending at a short side of the pan. Cutting from long side to long side, cut the rectangles into about ¾-inch wide fingers, wiping the knife on a clean towel between each cut, as it gets sticky and can pull and tear the cooling shortbread.
5. Leave the fingers to cool completely in the pan, then re-cut and transfer them to airtight tins. This shortbread can be frozen before or after it is baked. Freeze the dough pressed into the prepared pan, well wrapped with plastic and aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, without disturbing the wrapping, and bake directly from the refrigerator. The baking time may have to be increased by a few minutes to compensate for the chilled dough. Freeze the cooled fingers in airtight bags or containers, layering between sheets of waxed or parchment paper and wrapping the whole tin or container with aluminum foil. Thaw the entire package, without removing the wrapping, at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - made June 20, 2010 from Monster Cookies by Helen Witty

I'm cleaning out my cupboards (and drawers) of ingredients in preparation for my upcoming move so I'm intent on using up my ingredients. Hence you may be seeing a lot of recipes involving peanut butter, oatmeal and/or chocolate chips.

This one is from a cookbook my cousin Bernadette gave me years ago for its chocolate chip cookie recipe. I tried this peanut butter recipe for the first time and got good results. It's a nice, basic peanut butter cookie recipe. I don't know that it's a real standout amongst all my other peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipes but it's pretty good. If you underbake it, it's very soft and moist. If you bake it just right, the edges are a bit crisp and the middles are more cakey. I like to underbake it even though it makes for a more fragile cookie. I had a bag of combined peanut butter and milk chocolate chips so that's what I used. It worked pretty well. I didn't have any orange juice on hand so I made these with water but someday I'd like to try the orange juice version and see what the difference is.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup chunk-style peanut butter
½ cup (packed) light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 tablespoons orange juice or water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 to 1 ½ cups (6 to 9 ounces) semisweet chocolate pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F, with an oven rack in the center position. Lightly grease one or two baking sheets if making small cookies. For the larger sizes, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it lightly. (You’ll need extra sheets of lightly greased foil for subsequent batches.)
2. In a mixing bowl (using a wooden spoon) or in the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the peanut butter until the mixture is soft. Beat in the brown sugar, then the granulated sugar, beating after each addition until the mixture is light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the orange juice or water and vanilla.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, then stir in the chocolate pieces.
4. To make 9-inch maximonsters: Divide the dough into four equal portions. Using a 7-inch pot lid or round baking pan as a pattern, mark with a fingertip a circle onto the greased surface of each foil-covered baking sheet. (If you have only one baking sheet, form the dough for subsequent cookies on sheets of greased foil, then slip each in turn onto the cooled sheet after baking.) Heap each portion in the center of the ring marked on the foil. With your hand or a rubber spatula, pat the dough for each cookie out into a neat circle inside the marking. Bake the cookies one at a time. If you want to bake fewer than four maximonsters, measure out 1 cup of dough for each one (shaping them as above) and form smaller cookies out of the rest (steps 5 and 6). Bake each maximonster in the preheated oven for about 15 to 16 minutes, or until it is golden brown and the center is just firm. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes, then slide the foil, with the cookie, onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make 6-inch monsters: Measure the dough for each cookie in a 1/3 cup measure, with the top leveled. Place three portions of dough on each foil-covered baking sheet, spacing the cookies well apart. Flatten each mound just under a 4-inch diameter with your hand or a rubber spatula. Bake for about 14 minutes or until done as described for maximonsters in step 4. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes, then slide the foil, with the cookies, onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To make 2 ½” cookies: drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the greased baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, and flatten the mounds slightly with your hand or a rubber spatula. Bake the cookies for about 14 minutes, or until done as described for maximonsters in step 4. Cool the cookies on the sheet briefly, then lift them with a spatula onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. When the cookies have cooled, wrap or bag them, or place them in a tightly covered container, and store at room temperature for a few days. Refrigerate or freeze them for longer storage.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce - made by Ellen on June 19, 2010 from Williams Sonoma's Asian cookbook

This is another recipe Ellen made for our picnic. This is the kind of thing I love eating but would never make. One look at the ingredient list would send me running, not to the grocery store, but for the hills. For a non-cook like me, it's just too intimidating. Give me a baking recipe with the same number of ingredients and complexity and I'd take it on without blinking. But real food? Nah. Fortunately there are better cooks out there than me so I don't have to go without :).

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 ½ cups coconut milk
½ cup fish sauce
5 tablespoons chopped palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus 1 tablespoon chopped stems
1 tablespoons Madras curry powder
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon each peeled and chopped fresh galangal and chopped lemongrass
1 fresh red hot chile, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil, plus oil for brushing
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
¼ teaspoon shrimp paste
1 cup unsalted peanuts, toasted and minced

1. Cut the chicken strips 4 inches long by 1 ½ inches wide. In a large bowl, stir together ½ cup of the coconut milk, ¼ cup of the fish sauce, 3 tablespoons of the palm sugar, the cilantro leaves, and the curry powder. Add the chicken strips and stir to coat evenly with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to overnight.
2. Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill, or have ready a stove-top grill pan. Place 12-15 wooden skewers, each 9 inches long, in water to cover and let soak for at least 20 minutes.
3. In a mortar, combine the shallot, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, chile and cilantro stems and grind with a pestle, gradually adding 1-2 tablespoons water to form a paste. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the 1 tablespoon oil. Add the shallot-garlic paste and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup coconut milk and simmer until thickened, 7 – 10 minutes. Add the remaining ¼ cup fish sauce, remaining 2 tablespoons palm sugar, lime juice, shrimp paste and peanuts and cook until the peanut sauce thickens, 5-7 minutes.
4. Drain the skewers and remove the chicken strips from the marinade. Discard the marinade. Weave 3 chicken strips lengthwise onto each skewer. If using a stove-top grill pan, preheat it over high heat. Brush the grill rack or grill pan with oil. Place the skewers on the rack or pan and sear the chicken until golden brown on each side, 4-5 minutes per side. If using a charcoal grill, move the skewers away from the direct flame, cover the grill and cook until the chicken is opaque throughout, about 5 minutes. If using a grill pan, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the chicken stand for 5 minutes. Arrange the skewers on a warmed platter and serve the peanut sauce on the side.

Makes 4 servings