Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies...making small things with great love!

No two chocolate chip cookie recipes are alike

I like chocolate chip cookies and I love this recipe from

 The Bouchon Bakery Cookbook, which, I got  as an early Christmas gift.

You must follow the recipe very carefully.

However, to suit my taste, I replace the kosher salt with a coarser salt. I also reduced the sugar by 2 tablespoons. I know that some of my friends count the calories so,

 I made 70 g. cookies instead of 150 g. and they took 15 minutes to bake at 325 F 
regular oven.

It is important that you use the two different types of chocolate. 
That makes this recipe so good.
If you have no time to go to Bouchon Bakery,
 these homemade cookies will make a lovely gift.

Happy Holidays!

Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

238 grams (1 1/2 cups + 3tbsp) all purpose flour
2.3 grams (1/2 tsp) baking soda
3 grams (1 tsp) kosher salt
134 grams (1/2 cup + 2tbsp lightly packed) dark brown sugar
12 grams ( 1 3/4 tsp) unsulfured blackstrap molasses
104 grams (1/2 cup + 1 tsp) granulated sugar
107 grams (2/3 cup) 70% chocolate chunks 3/8 inch
107 grams (scant 1/2 cup) chocolate chips
167 grams (5.9 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
60 grams ( 3 tbsp + 2 1/2 tsp) eggs

 

Directions:

Place the flour in a medium bowl. Sift in the baking soda. Add the salt and whisk together.

Place the dark brown sugar in a small bowl and stir in the molasses and granulated sugar, breaking up any lumps; the mixture will not be completely smooth.

Place the chocolate chunks in a strainer and tap the side to remove any powdered chocolate, which would cloud the cookies. Mix with the chocolate chips.

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn to medium-low speed and cream the butter, warming the bowl if needed, until it is the consistency of mayonnaise and holds a peak when the paddle is lifted. Add the molasses mixture and mix for 3 to 4 minutes, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs and mix on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds, until just combined. Scrape the bowl again. The mixture may look broken, but that is fine (overwhipping the eggs could cause the cookies to expand too much during baking and then deflate).

Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds after each, or until just combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry ingredients that have settled there. Add the chocolate and pulse on low speed about 10 times to combine. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

Position the racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat to 325F. Line two sheet pans with Siplats or parchment paper.

Using the ice cream scoop, divide the dough into 6 equal positions, 150 grams each. Roll each one into a ball between the palms of your hands.

The cookies are very large; bake only 3 on each pan. With a short end of the pan toward you, place one cookie in the upper left corner, one in the lower left corner and the third one in the center, toward the right side of the pan. Bring the dough to room temperature before baking.

Bake until golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes in a convection oven, 18 to 20 minutes in a standard oven, reserving the positions of the pans halfway through baking. Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.

The cookies are best the day they are baked, but they can be stored in a covered container for up to 3 days.

Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery

Hand-carved wooden Santa Claus ornament from New Brunswick, Canada

 
 

Whenever you give someone a present or sing a holiday song, 

you're helping Santa Claus.

To me, that's what Christmas is all about. Helping Santa Claus!

LOUIS SACHAR, Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

 

Herb Roasted Chicken with Potato Gnocchi, Quinoa and Vegetables

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 

1 Chicken (2 ½ to 3 pounds)

1 Lemon

1 Onion, peeled and quartered

3 Sprigs of Rosemary

1 Bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley

1 Pound of Baby Carrots, peeled or Regular Carrots, cut into ½ inch thick pieces

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into ½ inch thick pieces

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

½ Pound of Cherry Tomatoes

Potato Gnocchi

1 Pound of Starchy Potatoes such as Russets or Yukon Gold

½ cup of All Purpose Flour

1 Egg

1/3 cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt

Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon of Chopped Parsley

Sautéed Quinoa

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Small Onion or Shallot, diced
1 cup of Red Quinoa
2 – 2 1/2 cups of Water or stock
Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towel. Using a peeler, make two strips of lemon zest and insert under the skin of each breast of the chicken. Rub the chicken with the juice of half lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Slice the rest of the lemon and fill the cavity of the chicken along with some onions, a sprig of rosemary and parsley. Chop a sprig of rosemary and sprinkle on the chicken

2. In a roasting pan, mix the onions, a sprig of rosemary, carrots and butternut squash. Season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Put the chicken on top of the vegetables. Roast in a preheated 350°F oven for one hour. Baste the chicken a few times while roasting. Add the cherry tomatoes to the roasting pan on the last ten minutes of roasting.

3. For the potato gnocchi, cut the potatoes in half. Boil the potatoes in salted water until very soft. Drain the potatoes and let it cool for 5 minutes just until it is comfortable to touch. Peel the potatoes, and then mash the potatoes using a potato ricer, a sieve or a fork. Add the egg, flour and parmesan cheese, and mix until soft dough is formed. Divide the dough into four pieces. Dust with more flour. Roll each piece into a shape of a long rope. Cut the gnocchi about 1 inch long. Poach the gnocchi ten pieces at a time in salted boiling water with olive oil. The gnocchi will float when ready.

Drain and set aside on a platter with olive oil and chopped parsley.

4. For the quinoa, sauté the diced onion or shallots in a frying pan with olive oil. Add the quinoa and sauté for five minutes. Add 2 cups of the water, salt and pepper. Let it simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the rest of the water if you like the quinoa to be softer.

5. After one hour, your roasted chicken is ready, as well as your vegetables and natural sauce (jus) from the chicken. For presentation, carve the chicken. Separate the breasts and the legs. On the platter with the gnocchi, put the quinoa and arrange the roasted vegetables all around. Put the carved chicken on top. Drizzle the natural juices from the pan or serve on the side.

Health Canada recommends an internal temperature of 175°F for roasting a whole chicken.

Health Benefits

Chicken is perhaps best known for its high protein content, but it is a food that actually provides broad nutrient support. With respect to protein, one 4-ounce serving of pasture-raised chicken breast provides about 35 grams of protein, or 70% of the Daily Value (DV). Included in this excellent protein content are plentiful amounts of sulfur-containing amino acids like cysteine and methionine, as well as branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) that are important for support of cardiac and skeletal muscle. All B vitamins are present in chicken meat, including B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, folate, biotin, and choline. (There remains controversy over the biotin content of chicken meat, which appears to be smaller than the average 10-microgram amount of biotin in chicken eggs and which seems more sensitive to the chicken's dietary intake.) Chicken is a particularly helpful food for obtaining vitamin B3, since it provides about 77% of the DV per serving and ranks as an excellent source of this B vitamin. About one-third of the DV for vitamin B6 is provided by 4 ounces of chicken breast, which also provides about 20% of the DV for choline.
In terms of minerals, chicken is richest in selenium and provides about 45% of the DV in a single 4-ounce serving. Zinc, copper, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron are also provided by this food.http://www.whfoods.com