Levain Bakery copycat #10 - Bustle

Levain Bakery copycat #10 - made dough December 13, 2016 from Bustle

Wait! Don't go on that New Year's resolution diet yet! I'm blogging out of order and hurrying up to get this post up before everyone's good intentions to eat healthy kick in. Because you'll want one last sugar gasp, right? Something to tide you over before you start eating more vegetables, drinking more water, hauling your post-holiday butt to the gym, and counting your calories. Trust me, this is last-supper worthy.

You know I've been obsessed with Levain Bakery cookies. I've now been to the actual Levain Bakery in New York (more to come on that in a future post) and know what the real thing tastes like. But I've also tried so many copycats (you can see I'm now numbering them so I can keep track) that I've decided I'm not actually trying to recreate the actual Levain Bakery cookie. As scrumptious as those are, let's not kid ourselves. I just want to make big, thick, chewy, equally scrumptious cookies. Because the copycats haven't really been coming that close to the real deal of Levain cookies. But for the most part, they've been really, really good.

And I'm happy to tell you that this one, copycat #10, is the best one so far. Seriously. Not necessarily the most authentic to Levain but it doesn't matter because it's that good. There's room in my heart for more than one favorite chocolate chip cookie. My love is boundless and unconditional. In fact, this one may knock off some of my earlier favorites as well. I know, my love is fickle as well as boundless and unconditional. Yours will be too when you make this.

The main thing that's a pain in the butt is, if you want to be authentic to the Levain Bakery process, apparently you should mix this by hand. Erk. I have a mixer for a reason. I don't do hand work. Not just because it doesn't seem as sanitary even though I fanatically scrub/wash my hands clean. But also because I don't like that dough sticking to my fingers and having to be washed off when it could conceivably remain in the bowl and later be made into cookies instead of washing down the drain. I can't scrape my hands clean of dough as well as I can a mixing bowl. #firstworldproblems But I was faithful, at least the first time, and followed the recipe's instructions to get my hands in on the mixing action.

The other kinda pain-in-the-butt is, unlike other recipes that use the entire egg, this one measures the egg by tablespoon. You ever try measuring goopy egg by tablespoon? Pain in those soon-to-be-firm butt cheeks. But soldier on because this cookie is worth not only that first world problem but it's also worth penance time in the gym to burn those cookie calories off. ETA: Forgot to mention, one of the reasons you almost need to mix by hand is the dough seems rather dry at first. The warmth from your hands will help bind it together. You can add up to 1 extra tablespoon of egg if you can't get it to bind, especially after you've add the chips but don't add too much. This isn't a sticky dough.

This is the kind of cookie you definitely don't want to overbake or even fully bake or you won't get the soft, chewy, moist texture you see here. It's like baked cookie dough but better than cookie dough and better than a "normal" chocolate chip cookie. I don't know why I like it so much but you know when my jaded taste buds clap, this is a cookie worth making.

This cookie also breaks my "wait 10 minutes out of the oven" rule. As in, you actually want to cool it almost completely before you eat it. I know, talk about test of willpower. But the wait will be worth it. If you eat it while it's too warm, it'll be too mushy. Optimal texture is at room temperature or, if you're just dying for a nibble, at least lukewarm. Not hot, not warm - control yourself. You'll thank me later even if your waistband doesn't.

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I left them out)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon eggs (add up to no more than 1 tablespoon if your dough isn't sticky enough)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, sliced into cold one-inch pieces
2 3/4 cups + 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Guittard chocolate chips

1. In a mixing bowl, combine cornstarch, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and walnuts if using. 
2. Add eggs, vanilla and butter to the mixture. Knead with your hands to incorporate.
3. Add flour and chocolate chips to the mixture. Continue mixing together with your hands until it forms a thick dough. 
4. Portion the dough into 6 to 8 large dough balls. Gently flatten slightly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly space chilled dough balls. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Salted Caramel Apple Butter Bars

Salted Caramel Apple Butter Bars - made December 10, 2016 from The Cookies & Cups Cookbook by Shelly Jaronsky

Merry Christmas Eve! Or happy first night of Hanukkah! Or happy whichever holiday you celebrate. Frankly, I can't believe the year is almost over and I only have one more week to be in denial about it. But time and baked goods experiments march on.

If you checked where I got this and the Marbled Hazelnut Chocolate Cookie recipes from, you'll probably have figured out I got a new cookbook for Christmas. You'll also notice, based on the dates when I made each recipe, that I opened my present before Christmas Day. Yeah, I'm weak. Actually, I got it in the mail from a friend and, based on the size and shape, I figure it would be a cookbook and I would probably want to try something from it right away. Turns out I was right on both counts, ha.

Before

After

I have made recipes from Shelly Jaronsky's Cookies & Cups blog before. I think I found previous recipes via pinterest. It's always nice to see a food blogger come out with his or her own cookbook after they've been blogging for awhile. That's a level of dedication and professionalism I don't have since I only do my blog for fun, during my free time outside of work. I know how much work doing this as a hobby is so I can only imagine how doing it full-time as a job is. So it's always great to see a mark of that success in the form of their own cookbook.

Like a kid with a new toy, me with a new baking book means I go through the whole book, marking which recipes I want to make sooner than later and I get started right away. So don't be surprised if I do another one or two recipes from the book then it disappears again for awhile. Because after 3-4 recipes, I will likely have gotten distracted by another book or my pinterest board called me back to try something else. For now, let's go with these bars. I had actually thought I'd made these already from the Cookies & Cups blog but a search of my record says nope. So I rectified that.

I made a couple of minor mistakes with this one. First, baking at 325 degrees only seemed to melt the bottom layer rather than bake it so I cranked up my oven to 350 degrees to get some browning action going on. Which would've been okay if I hadn't taken my eye off the oven for a minute or 6 because next thing you know, the base layer was golden brown all over instead of just at the edges. Oops, my bad.

Pre-baking

Just out of the oven

But I figured that would be okay because the caramel and apples would add some moisture and it's better that the bottom wasn't soggy. So I forged on. My second "mistake" was I couldn't find my little jar of fleur de sel to sprinkle over the caramel layer. You know, the "salted" part of "salted caramel". So I sprinkled it with a tiny bit of table salt instead. I know, that was a little pathetic. It was even more pathetic that (of course) I found the fleur de sel later.

Whatevs, despite my mistakes, these turned out pretty well. Even the golden brown crust that only baked further after the top layer was put on. That helped make the bottom of the bars crisp so they didn't get soggy even with the baked apples and caramels on top of it and provided a nice texture contrast. The top layer of bits of dough layered over the apples and caramel didn't spread as uniformly as I thought they should have. I think it was because I did chill the dough while I worked on the lower layers. If I had kept it at room temperature, I think they would've spread more and looked more like a nice even layer. Look at the pic on the Cookies & Cups blog and you'll see what I mean,

I also got a little fancy and sprinkled the top with cinnamon sugar. I'd like to tell you it was because I was getting creative but that'd be a bald-faced lie. I'd made my favorite snickerdoodle recipe before this to put in holiday gifts and had some cinnamon sugar left over. I didn't want to waste my precious Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon so I used it for the top of this caramel apple bar. Which, incidentally, was freaking delicious. A bit rich with all that butter, a bit sweet with the caramel but I loved the combination of butter shortbread crust and top with tart apples and sweet caramel. A winner as a fall dessert.

2 cups (1 pound) salted butter, at room temperature (I used unsalted)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
14 ounces soft caramels, unwrapped (about 55 pieces of Kraft caramel)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon flaked sea salt
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced (I used 3 Granny Smiths)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. Turn the speed to low and gradually add the flour, mixing until the dough comes together.
5. Divide the dough in half. Press half into the bottom of the prepared pan. Wrap the other half in plastic and refrigerate until needed.
6. Bake the base for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool slightly but leave the oven on.
7. In a medium saucepan, combine the caramels and cream; melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Once the caramel is melted and smooth, pour evenly over the top of the baked base.
8. Sprinkle sea salt evenly onto the caramel and layer the apples over the caramel evenly, overlapping where necessary.
9. Remove the reserved dough from the refrigerator and crumble it evenly on top of the apples, covering it as much as possible.
10. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is light golden brown and caramel is bubbling. Cool completely before cutting.

Marbled Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Marbled Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies - made dough December 10, 2016, adapted from The Cookies & Cups Cookbook by Shelly Jaronsky

I could conceivably call these "chocolate chip cookies meet Nutella and have a party" and you'd know exactly what I'm talking about. It's essentially a chocolate chip cookie dough and before you scoop it out, you dollop Nutella over the dough so that you end up with swirls of the good stuff in the chocolate chip cookie as it bakes. This is exactly how I make the Almond Nutella Swirl cookies and you know how much I love those.

I love the concept of these and conceivably, you could do the Nutella dolloping trick with your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Or these cookies are pretty good too so you can also make the recipe as is. Be generous with the Nutella. The best part about this combination is even after the cookies have cooled and the chocolate chips are firm, the Nutella is still wonderfully creamy and gooey in the cookie so it provides an extra richness to the cookie. And that's never a bad thing.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature (I used unsalted)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chunks
2/3 cup Nutella (or more as desired, I didn't measure)

1. In a medium bowl, whisk togehter the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla; mix on medium speed for 1 minute until combined and smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
4. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing until evenly incorporated and just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and dollop heaping spoonfuls of Nutella over the cookie dough. Swirl gently; you do not want to incorporate the Nutella into the dough but simply want it swirled in with the Nutella distinct from the cookie dough. 
6. Scoop into golf-ball size dough balls, dolloping more Nutella on top of the diminishing bowl of cookie dough as desired. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space chilled or frozen dough balls. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Do not overbake. Cool for several minutes then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Molasses Crinkles

Molasses Crinkles - made dough December 11, 2016 from Baking Style by Lisa Yockelson

What one of my holiday gifts typically look like

At this time of year, many food blogs showcase a lot of seasonal desserts: peppermint bark, eggnog cheesecake, white chocolate cranberry something, mint chocolate (shudder) some other thing, gingersnaps, yulelog rolls, stuff colored red and green and so on. You might have noticed that, with a few exceptions, my blog doesn't really roll with that (yule)tide. I'm a Christmas freak when it comes to decorating, ornaments, and gift giving. And I bake a lot of gifts to give away. But not so much with the more traditional flavors typically associated with Christmas.

Sure, I'll do red velvet with the best of them, I'll mix in red and green M&Ms to some cookies, sprinkle red and green sugars on top of frosted cupcakes and camouflage the non-Christmas flavors with pretty Christmas packaging. In other words? I fake it. I can't help it. I don't like eggnog. I eat cranberries only baked into my pumpkin upside down cake with caramelized pecans. Peppermint is a gum, not a flavor in baked goods (I don't eat candy canes either). Do not ever pair mint with chocolate and offer it to me. You might as well hand me a piece of fudge and ask me to brush my teeth at the same time.

I do occasionally take a stab at ginger molasses cookies as some kind of nod to the flavors of Christmas. I actually have nothing against either ginger or molasses. I like ginger in savory foods, less so in baked goods. Molasses I can take in small, small doses. Even the mild version is strong for me. But I think hope springs eternal that I will find a recipe I will fall in love with and become a gingersnap/ginger cookies fiend and then I can fit in with all the seasonal posts flying around. So I keep trying.

This is one of those attempts. It's from Baking Style by Lisa Yockelson and I trust her completely to have excellent recipes. Because she does and I've proven it out time and again with various brownies, bar cookies, cookies and cake recipes. So I thought this would be a safe choice. Plus, since I've become such a Penzey's fan, for once, I wasn't put off by all the spices in the recipe because I either wanted an excuse to buy what I didn't have from Penzey's or use up what I did have so I could buy new ones from Penzey's.

This is the kind of recipe where it's easier and less intimidating if you do a proper mise en place. Meaning, measure out all of your dry ingredients first and combine them before you start mixing the dough. That way you won't get confused on what you did and didn't already add to the mixing bowl. Then it's just easier to mix everything all at once.

I also used this recipe as an excuse to buy crystallized ginger, also from Penzey's. Granted, I was conservative and only bought the little jar which meant I was about 1/2 cup short of the amount called for in the recipe. No matter, I just needed to try a little of it in the cookies. I'm not entirely sure if they added anything to it, either because I didn't have/use enough for it to matter or whether the ginger flavor got lost in the molasses. If you make this recipe, you probably want to use the right amount and see for yourself.

Underbaked a little too much

As ginger molasses cookies go, this was good. I don't know that I'd go into raptures for it but surprisingly, I liked it. At least I liked the one I baked properly. The first batch I did I was too paranoid about overbaking so I took them out a minute or so too soon so the texture was a little gummy. The second batch had a much better texture and I liked it a lot better. You can see the difference in the pictures. So for once, I don't advise underbaking too much. I still wouldn't want it overbaked but this is a case of bake until "just right" and you'll get a much better texture like in the picture below.

Baked just right, note the difference in texture

3 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons solid shortening
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
6 tablespoons light unsulphured molasses
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

Sugar and spice rolling mixture
3/4 cup granulated sugar blended with 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice.
2. Cream the shortening and butter in the large bowl of a stand mixer on medium-low speed for 4 minutes. Add the sugar in 3 additions, beat on low speed for 1 minute after each addition. Blend in whole egg and egg yolk. Blend in the molasses and vanilla extract.
3. On low speed, mix in the sifted ingredients in 3 additions, beating just until absorbed. Blend in the chopped crystallized ginger with the last addition. Scrape down sides of the mixing bowl to keep dough even textured.
4. Refrigerate the dough for 3 hours or until moldable and rollable into balls. Once chilled, portion the dough into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (I baked it at 350 degrees and it was fine). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Place the sugar and spice rolling mixture in a shallow bowl. Roll each frozen dough ball in the mixture and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 3 inches apart.
7. Bake for 14 minutes or until set. Let stand on cookie sheets for 1 minute then transfer to cooling racks using a wide metal spatula to cool completely.

Penzey's Chili

Penzey's Cathy's Chili - made December 3, 2016 from Penzey's

Is it cold weather where you live right now? There are always certain comfort foods I like to eat, especially when it's cold outside. My go-to comfort food is spaghetti and meatballs but if I want to lean more protein and less carbs, I go for chili. Ignoring the fact that I also like to eat chili with fresh-baked bread. Hey, when it's cold, nothing better than a hot bowl of chili.

Technically I didn't make this myself; my mom did. But I found the recipe on Penzey's site, bought her the spices and I was there when she made it so I almost made it myself. Trust me, for a non-cook like me, that's as good as it's likely to get. Plus this turned out pretty well so I wanted to share the recipe for it. Only thing to note is this is not a spicy chili. I know some people like their chili hot as in hot and spicy. I and my bland taste buds, which prefer not to be set on fire, like a milder form of chili and this one fit the bill nicely.

1 - 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 teaspoon English Prime Rib Rub
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 12-ounce can tomato sauce
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3-4 ounces water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon English Prime Rib Rub
1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin

1. Place the onion in a large pot and cook over low heat until softened, stirring regularly. Add the ground beef and English Prime Rib Rub. 
2. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the meat is browned. Drain off any fat.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
4. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for at least 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Taste and add more chili powder and cumin if desired.

National Cupcake Day (December 15)

National Cupcake Day - December 15, 2016

Tomorrow, December 15, is National Cupcake Day! I've recently posted 2 cupcake recipes from the Sprinkles Baking Book but this post is a compilation of some of my favorite places for cupcakes. A couple of them offer online ordering and shipping in case you're still scouting around for Christmas, Hanukkah or other holiday gifts.

In no particular order, I highly recommend these cupcakeries:

Sift Cupcake and Dessert Bar - Sift is located in San Francisco. I've visited their retail storefront but they also offer online ordering and (to me) reasonable shipping charges, especially if you're sending to someone in California or the Bay Area. My absolute favorite is the Samoa cupcake. This is the one where I even ate the frosting (rare).

Samoa Cupcake from Sift

Sibby's Cupcakery is another local favorite but alas, they don't have a retail storefront and they don't ship so unfortunately, Sibby's is only available in the Bay Area, if you're willing to drive up the peninsula. I'm willing even though for me, it's a drive. But their cupcakes are worth it, especially the lemon and the salted caramel.

Sibby's Salted Caramel Cupcake

The iconic Sprinkles is a sentimental favorite since I consider Sprinkles and Candace Nelson the originators of the cupcake craze. Their red velvet is also a sentimental favorite with me although it's closely followed by their banana. lemon cupcake, pumpkin cupcake, coconut cupcake - well, you get the picture.

Crumbs Bakeshop - I'll be doing its own blog post about Crumbs soon since I visited one of their retail storefronts last month but for now, here's what I wrote about the birthday cupcakes I received in the mail. Having had the real thing in an actual Crumbs location, I can say the mail-order cupcakes are just fine but the having-it-same-day-of-purchase cupcakes were sublime. For food porn, here were a few of their mail-order cupcakes. They do take online orders but be forewarned, shipping is outrageously expensive.

Sprinkles Cinnamon Sugar Cupcakes

Cinnamon Sugar Cupcakes - made December 2, 2016 from Sprinkles Baking Book by Candace Nelson

Still playing with my new Sprinkles Baking Book like a kid with a new toy. After the red velvet cupcake, I'm almost equally agnostic between the next few favorite flavors: coconut, lemon, pumpkin, banana and cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon sugar was the easiest to make since the "frosting" is really just melted butter, cinnamon and sugar, a no-fail combination that I prefer to most actual frostings.

Hence this seemed like a good one to try out next. And it was. Equally easy to make as the red velvet cupcake batter and I'm getting the hang of baking cupcakes properly. Usually I tend to underbake them and the texture therefore turns out a bit dense. This time, I baked it just the right amount of time and subsequently, the texture was cakey-fluffy like it should be.

The awesome thing about having a topping of melted butter and cinnamon sugar? You can dip the cupcake top in melted butter while the cupcake is still warm then roll the buttered top in the cinnamon sugar and enjoy the cupcake warm. Something you don't always get to do when a traditional frosting is involved since you can't frost a too-warm cupcake without endangering the frosting. Not so with this topping. And really, there's almost nothing better than warm cupcake, warm melted butter and crunchy-sweet cinnamon sugar. I don't think I'll ever eat this kind of cupcake at room temperature again. It's too good when it's at least lukewarm.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2/3 cup buttermilk, shaken
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. 
3. In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until combined, 1-2 minutes. 
5. Slowly add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, then the remaining flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Do not overmix.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the liners and bake until the tops are just dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 21-23 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool completely.
7. For the topping: in a shallow bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Brush the tops of the cupcakes with the melted butter, turn them upside down, and roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, tilting them from side to side to cover as much of the top as possible. Invert and serve.