The Chewy (Chocolate Chip Cookie)

My housemate said the other week that she wanted chocolate chip cookies. It's her birthday this week. Surprise!
And they are 'European' sized cookies...I usually get made fun of for making 'American' sized cookies...i.e. REALLY BIG cookies

I was going to make just Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookies but with all the hate that Alton Brown has been getting on Twitter, I thought it best to show him some support and make his cookies (which I had been meaning to get to anyway since I ALWAYS make the Nestle ones).

Recipe taken from here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

Conversions done here: http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2.8 cups bread flour (I used all purpose because Ireland makes bread flour difficult to find)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup (and a bit more) granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cup (and a bit more) light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

2) Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda onto a paper plate. I don't have paper plates (or even a proper sifter) so I use used a bowl and pasta strainer.






 3) Pour the butter into your stand mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes. I don't have a stand mixer so I just used the pot the butter melted in in






4) Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, the egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. My measuring cups are not big enough so I used a regular bowl. The picture makes me want to make French Toast...






5) Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

6) Using the paper plate as a slide, gradually integrate the dry ingredients, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl.







 7) Once the flour is worked in, drop the speed to "stir" and add the chocolate chips.
8) Chill the dough for 1 hour.
9) Preheat the oven to 375F/190C and place racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven. I just put the rack in the middle.

10) Scoop the dough into 1 1/2-ounce portions onto parchment-lined half sheet pans, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake 2 sheets at a time for 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.






11) Remove from the oven, slide the parchment with the cookies onto a cooling rack and wait at least 5 minutes before devouring. Devouring did happen....before the 5 minutes were up.

Omelette with Basil Tomatoes

Working through this cookbook:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
125g cherry tomatoes (about 8), halved
basil, chopped
3 eggs
1/2 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
butter
25g soft goats cheese
salt and pepper
watercress
Directions:

 1) Heat the oil, add the tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the basil, salt, and pepper and cook for a bit longer.







2) Beat the eggs, mustard, salt, and pepper together. Add the butter to the frying pan and once the butter stops foaming add the egg mixture.

3) Add the goats cheese once the omelette is ready and fold it in half. Cook for a bit longer on each side.

National Vanilla Cupcake Day

One of my new years resolutions was to celebrate food holidays. I've been using this to find them: http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm and http://www.thenibble.com/fun/more/facts/food-holidays.asp

Today was National Vanilla Cupcake Day so I made these: http://www.wechooseorganic.com/2011/09/12/wonderful-tasty-and-rich-vanilla-cupcakes-you-dont-want-to-miss/

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Frosting:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup confectioners sugar (I used regular sugar so it came out kind of thick)
• water to thin it if necessary

Directions:
Cupcakes:
1) Preheat the oven to 350f/176c. Put cupcake liners in the pan.
2) Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3) Mix the vinegar and the milk in another bowl.
4) Beat the eggs in another bowl. Add the sugar to that and mix for a minute. Add the vanilla and vegetable oil 
5) Add half the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix. Then add half the milk, the rest of the flour mixture and then the rest of the milk mixture
 






6) Pour the batter into the cupcake pan (3/4 of the way) and bake for 12-15 minutes








7) Let the cupcakes cool completley before frosting.
Frosting:
1) Mix the butter and sugar together. Add the water if necessary to thin it out.

They are best when heated up for 10 seconds in a microwave!