We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog Post

with some food made by my very own younger brother!  To my knowledge, he hasn't cooked since that day I was 8 and he was 6 and we made Mac & Cheese.  All by ourselves.  And then promptly ruined it by adding in orange juice (color matching! these kids are geniuses!).  I swore off Mac & Cheese for a long time after that, and haven't made it since.  Anyway, back to the food we did make.

Pizza!!! Now, Sally and I have made pizza before.  Veggie pizza, meat lovers pizza, thin-crust and everything in between, we've made it.  It's one of the foods we survived on in college - easy to make healthy, quick to freeze, great for dinner parties.  Pre-make the crust, set out the ingredients, everyone adds what they like and into the oven they go.  So when my little brother said he wanted to make pizza, I agreed to lend a hand to the stranger in the kitchen.  But the minute a store-bought crust was brought up, I was all "No way, you're first kitchen endeavor is going to be pure and right and without processed junk."

And thus, it was me, kneading the dough for 6 minutes.  Also, I would recommend checking up on several other sources before attempting this version of pizza crust, because either 'someone' forgot to add a 1/2 cup of flour or the recipe needs an extra 1/2 cup of flour, because that's about how much I ended up adding while kneading.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
adapted from the Pioneer Woman's recipe here
Ingredients
1 prepared pizza crust*
1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast
½ cup barbecue sauce
8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ whole red onion, thinly sliced
chopped cilantro, to taste
olive oil
salt
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place chicken in an ovenproof dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Remove from oven and cut into a fine dice. Pour BBQ sauce on top of chicken and toss. Set aside.
3. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees.
4. Roll/stretch out one pizza crust. Lay it on a sheet pan drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil on the crust, then sprinkle on a little salt.
5. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of extra BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it evenly. Top sauce with the mozzarella. Sprinkle on the diced chicken and thinly sliced red onion.
6. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
7. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on plenty of chopped cilantro. Cut into squares and serve immediately. Repeat with other crust and other ingredients, or save for another time.

Pizza Dough Recipe

from The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (enough for 2 pizzas)
2 ½ to 3 cups AP flour
1 package active dry yeast
½ tsp salt
1 cup warm water (120F to 130F)
2 Tbs olive oil
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ¼ cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Divide dough in half. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes.

The Great Cookie Exchange

As you know, Sally and I were invited to a delightful holiday party, complete with hors d'oeuvres and plenty of  cookies.  While we obviously didn't bake these cookies, they were so pretty we had to take pictures of them in all their holiday glory:

Mint Chocolate Cookies

similar recipe here and here

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Here's a similar recipe: Chocolate Caramel Cookies or here

Chocolate Chip Cookies

recipe here

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Last week Sally and I were invited to a Cookie Exchange Party - aka an excuse to take a break from the dreary days of finals and stuff ourselves with delicious cookies.  The cookies we brought were an old favorite, one I always tend to make around holiday season.

 They're a little different from your normal gingerbread cookies in that they aren't the roll-out cookies you'd use a gingerbread man-shaped cookie cutter on (which is good, because we don't have one!) and the ginger/molasses flavors are more intense.  Oh, and there's chocolate in them.  I love this version because it uses fresh ginger (which we usually have) and while it calls for ground ginger as well, I tend to skip it (because I never have any).  These cookies are great straight out of the oven, but even better the next day.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
from Martha Stewart's "Cookies" book, makes ~2 dozen
Ingredients

7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

 Directions 

1. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. 

2. Beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined. 

3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate.

4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; flatten. Roll in granulated sugar.  Place on cookie sheet, 1 inch apart. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apple Spice Cookies

When Sally and I first saw this recipe, we were excited to bake a cookie that "tasted like apple pie."  Ooo, a pie-cookie.  It sounded delicious, and a great way to use the random apples sitting in our fruit bowl.

But in the end, the cookies became more like muffin-cookies, rather than pie-cookies.  They were fluffy (perhaps due to my overzealous sprinkling of baking soda), not dense like I imagine pie-cookies should be.  They also didn't taste much like apples... So Sally and I took it upon ourselves to make some modifications.  The dough was pretty wet, so we added oatmeal to decrease the moisture and make the cookies more dense.  We also added cranberries (yes!) to give them more of a zing.  They didn't taste like apple pie, but they were delicious.

Spiced Apple Cookies
adapted from here
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
1/4 cup whole milk
1 egg
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup chopped cranberries
1 cup unpeeled apple, peeled and finely chopped
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat together butter and brown sugar until combined. Add egg and milk and mix ingredients well.
3. In a separate bowl combine flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients, scraping down the sides as necessary, until everything is fully combined.
4. Stir chopped apple, oatmeal, and cranberries into the batter.
5. Drop cookies by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2-inches apart on a cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are slightly browned on the edges.

Snickerdoodles!!!!!

That's what the text from my little brother said when I asked him what kind of cookies he wanted in his finals package this year.  You see, I'm a nice big sister, who stocks her siblings with food when they need it the most... never mind that the food I send tends to be the kind that will pack on the pounds while you're spending hours sitting at a library desk cramming.  He's a growing boy, right?  In need of sugar and caffeine.  Usually I send a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies spiked with espresso, but this year I thought to ask him what he wanted before starting my holiday cookie extravaganza.

Bad idea.  Snickerdoodles?  I've never been a fan - eating several store-bought varieties of snickerdoodles  rife with the overpowering taste of cream of tarter or just plain crumbly will do that to you.  And a cookie without chocolate? Blasphemy! Let me tell you, Sally and I were sorely tempted to add chocolate chips to this cookie.  Or even cocoa powder.  But we resisted, and by the time we finished mixing (and tasting) the dough, we had revised our opinions completely. 

These are without a doubt the best non-chocolate cookies I have ever had.  Soft, cake-like, cinammony with just a hint of sour cream of tarter at the end... these are very very good.  So good that I sent every single one off to my brother (and forgot to get a picture!).

Snickerdoodles
adapted from here
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 stick or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
2 large eggs
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to combine.
3. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine.
4. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Form 1 1/2 inch balls of dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes.  Make sure you watch the oven - these burn easily!

Scharffen Berger Shmarffen Berger

I'd like to think Sally and I agree on most everything.  We both love to bake.  We both love our kitchen (when it's clean, of course).  We both love chocolate, but who doesn't?  Sally and I agree on all the important things... except chocolate chip cookies.  Now, I know, everyone and their mother has "the best chocolate chip cookie recipe" and they're all just a little bit different.  The problem lies in determining what the best chocolate chip cookie is: soft, crunchy, crispy, chewy, tons of chocolate chips, only a few chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, chocolate disks, and don't even get me started on the question of nuts.  It's a matter of preference.  So here is one of Sally's favorite recipes, the famous Scharffen Berger Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Personally, I think these cookies are a bit kooky. The edges are really crispy, but the middle is really cake-like.  Never mind how that happens (Sally's the one with the chemistry degree, remember?), I just find it all a bit odd.  A cookie with bipolar disease? Who would have thought?

Scharffen Berger's Chocolate Chip Cookies
found here
Ingredients
 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt*
12 tablespoons (1-1/2 ssticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (approximately 8 ounces)
Directions
1. Preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended.
4. Beat the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl. Add to the butter mixture and blend well.
5. Add the flour mixture and beat until just mixed; scrape down the bowl. Add the chocolate and optional nuts and mix until incorporated into the dough.
6. Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are golden brown but the centers seem slightly underdone, about 13 minutes. Do not overbake or the cookies will be crisp throughout instead of chewy. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely. The cookies will crinkle as they cool. 
*I thought this was way too much and would recommend adding only 1/2 t. salt