Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last Friday I was a man possessed in the kitchen. Mandy and I whipped up a batch of mac'n'cheese with bacon and I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. The mac'n'cheese came together faster than ever before, mainly because I remembered to start the sauce before I did anything else.

But anyway, onto the cookies. I like my cookies chewy. Not "cakey", not crisp. Chewy. Once again, I was using a modified Alton Brown recipe. His calls for bread flour, which I did not have. In theory, it should produce a chewier cookie because of the extra protein in the flour, but I've also had mixed results with it in the past. As I just picked up a large bag of bread flour for Mandy's bread baking, I'll probably try using it again someday.

Once again, our oven gave me some issues. It runs on the hot side, and definitely has hot spots towards the front of the oven. The first batch came out a little too done, but the second batch was just perfect.

If you find yourself interested in baking cookies (and more specifically chocolate chip cookies), the Good Eats episode "Three Chips for Sister Marsha" is recommended viewing. You can search for it on youtube. It explains some of the science behind egg whites, flour and sugar types in baking. Good stuff.

I'm still cooking and stuff

Hello again.

I've still been cooking, but I've been neglecting taking pictures.

So, here is a picture of some mashed potatoes and steak.

The fillet mignon was given to me by my parents. I seared it in my newish cast iron skillet and then threw it in the oven for a few minutes. There may, or may not, have been bacon fat involved.

It was pretty decent.

My parents also got me a 10 pound bag of potatoes. I haven't been eating them as frequently as I should. Oh well. But on this particular night, I whipped up a batch of mashed potatoes for myself. Once again, they were pretty decent.


If anyone wants to discuss making steak without a grill of any sort, just let me know. I have plenty of theories.


In other news, I've been spending time on a project that is way too dense for Joe Cooks Dinner and Stuff. If I manage to keep up with it for more than a week, I'll probably unveil it to the public. Later duders.

Glugg

Another holiday tradition in my family is glugg. My grandfather apparently made it every year and it was always quite the hit (I was not fortunate enough to try his original concoctions).

Together with my mom, I whipped up a batch (vat) while I was home this past week.

It is really quite simple and quite delicious/intoxicating. When it is first put together it tastes like a slightly sweeter manhattan, but if you let it sit for a day it loses a lot of its edge once the spices get "all up in it."

I'm also not quite sure what the reflective film is on the second picture, but I'm sure it is either adding to the deliciousness or alcohol content of the drink.

Glugg (yields enough to get lots of people drunk)
1 bottle rye whiskey (we used seagrams 7)
1 bottle port (can't remember what we used)
1 bottle sweet vermouth
handful of almonds
1/4 cup dark raisins
1/4 cup golden raisins
10-12 cardamom seeds
6-10 cloves (i think that's right)
4-5 cinnamon sticks

bring it all to a slight simmer. add in simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water heated up) to taste. done.

If you want to put on a show and burn off some of the alcohol, you can light the whole thing with a match (just don't blow yourself up if you're using a gas stove). This will reduce the drunk yield so I don't think I'd recommend it.

Molasses Cookies

Traditionally, my grandmother would bake enormous amounts of cookies for all of my family during the holidays. And they were all delicious.

Unfortunately, these days it falls to jokers like me to make some of those same cookies if I want them.

I hadn't had molasses cookies in a few years, so I decided to try my own hand at them. My mom had actually unearthed my nan's recipe a little while ago, so I basically used that (I didn't have any ground cloves, so I subbed in a little all-spice instead).

After baking I let the cookies cool for a little bit and then ate one. I was a bit disappointed because they weren't particularly chewy (which is probably the best thing about these suckers). After letting them sit for a day they took on the usual super chewy texture. I was then quite pleased with baking prowess.

Molasses Cookies (Yields about 3 dozen cookies)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 ground cloves
1 1/2 cinnamon

Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar until light-colored and fluffy. Beat in molasses and eggs; set mixture aside.

In another large bowl, combine flour (no to to sift), salt, baking soda, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Blend thoroughly with wire whisk. Gradually mix flour mixture into creamed ingredients until dough is blended and smooth.

Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip tops into granulated sugar; place 2 1/2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 11 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool on wire rack.