The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

I am forever in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  It must be moist, chewy, slightly crisp on the outer edges, not overloaded with chips, and have a good cookie base flavor.  I also don't want to bother with a small, dinky sized cookie.  I have tried recipes on the back of both fancy and store brand chocolate chips and chunks.  I have tried recipes from old cookbooks, magazine clippings, and food blogs.  I've tried cookies with oatmeal added, banana puree, and even applesauce.  Nothing quite hits the spot, though you'd never know that based on how fast they are all consumed.

After reading a recent article about the top chocolate chip cookies in the Seattle area, I realized the panel of judges in the write-up have a similar goal as me.  Finding the perfect cookie.  But where to go...

Thats when I thought about the spots that serve my fave cookie.  Specialty's Cafe & Bakery is at the top of my long list.  Their cookies are very extra thick, moist, and usually warm from the oven.  But how do I achieve this cookie at home, and probably make an entire batch for around the same price as one cookie at a Specialty's shop?  This is when some serious experimenting happens.  A great thing for cookie lovers in my house. A bad thing when you screw up and need to adjust ingredients.

If you attempt to Google and find a specific restaurant's recipe, you'll get all sorts of answers or guesses.  I wasn't going to make a few hundred batches to decide which was best.  So I started with a tried and true recipe, a few hints and tips I found on the web, and went from there...

My fave cookies from the cafe are typically more square than round making me think they are cut off a big flattened, rectangular bar of dough...

I chilled my dough for two hours before popping it in to a 400 degree oven for five minutes.  Ooops.  This trial was a major failure.  Cookies as flat as can be and super soggy in the center.  And of course I tried a taste and they were actually good for a flattened disaster. (Actually, I couldn't stop eating them - same with the husband)

Next up, I added more flour and lowered the oven temperature...  Now we're getting closer!

And then I lowered the oven temperature a bit more and chilled the dough overnight and baked without parchment paper.  I think I'm on to something.  Thicker than usual cookies that were chewy yet firm on the edges.  They still aren't to my ultimate cookie hopes, so stay tuned for future installments of my ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe!

Do you have an ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe that you'd like to share?  If so email it to me and I'd be happy to feature it on the site.  Happy baking!

Blueberry Crumble

Nothing goes better with ribs slow cooked for 8+ hours on the grill, than a dessert cooked on the grill too!   

This crumble was fairly basic to make.  Biggest pain is that it requires some lemon zest and fresh lemon juice.  I call this a 'pain' because I hate having to wash the zester, but thats just me being super lazy.  The zesting and juicing (I squeezed with my hands) are well  worth the trouble for this yummy dish. 

The recipe is courtesy of grill/BBQ guru Steven Raichlen who hosts two different cooking shows: Barbecue U and Primal Grill.  This dude can cook on basically anything, and has a lot of great recipes.  This particular recipe calls for an odd-sized foil pan.  If you can't find the 8x10" pan, go for 9x9" or even 8x8", if necessary.  If you switch the pan size I suggest you check on the crumble 5-10 minutes before the suggested end cooking time although you may need to add additional time at the end.

This is the perfect dessert to make on a hot summer day when the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven.  Serve with vanilla bean ice cream!

Click here to go to the recipe.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels

I love the cooking blog 17 & Baking.  The author is a Seattle teen who is now older than 17 and attending college on the east coast.  Although she is still young, she is a very experienced cook who tries her hand at a huge variety of recipes.  I saw her blog post about peanut butter pretzels dipped in chocolate and knew it was a must-try. 

But forgot all about it until a friend mentioned the recipe on Facebook earlier this week.  That afternoon I found all the needed ingredients in my pantry and whipped up a half batch.  These little morsels are addicting and I'm now very glad I stuck to my gut and didn't make 45-60 of these dudes.  And you should stick to a half batch as well, unless you're using them for a party or gifts.  Otherwise you'll end up eating most of them yourself!

The recipe is very basic, requires only a bowl and a spoon or spatula, and a cookie sheet or plate.  I did use parchment paper just to ensure the chocolate didn't stick.  This is also a very kid friendly recipe... rolling balls of sugary peanut butter?  What kid could resist!?

Click here for the recipe from 17 & Baking.

Sunshine and Ice Cream!

Nothing sweeter than watching your babe enjoy their first ice cream cone. Outside.  In the sunshine!

Pan-Seared Salmon, Sauteed Spinach and Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce

I love pink grapefuit.  And I love salmon.  And I love wine (who doesn't?).  When I saw the name of this recipe it was a must-try.  The salmon is pan-seared giving it a wonderful slightly sweet coating to the fleshy side and enhancing it's flavors.  The sauce is subtle but gives a great enhancement to both the salmon and sauteed baby spinach.  We don't typically have Pinot Noir in our house, but thanks to my childhood friend, now one of the sommeliers at a nearby seafood restaurant, my house is stocked!  Thats a whole other story.... I make her lunch, she brings me a case of wines.... Talk about a good friend!

The end result of this recipe is something worthy of a fancy schmancy restaurant menu.  Give it a try, but make sure you read through the entire recipe once or twice before starting to avoid any hiccups!

Simmering the Pinot Noir Sauce.

Searing the salmon, skin side first.

After straining the sauce and adding butter and small grapefruit segments.

The spinach is sauteed in the same pan that cooks the salmon.  There aren't too many dirty dishes resulting from this recipe. 

The finished product.  I served with long grain, wild rice and a variety of mild fruits on the side.

And yes, even my children loved this dish - including the spinach!

Pan-Seared Salmon with Sauteed Baby Spinach and a Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

5 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets, skin on, scaled and scored
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (10-ounce) packages baby spinach, washed and spun dry
Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce, recipe follows

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees F.

Preheat a large saute pan with 3 teaspoons of the olive oil. Season the fillets on both sides with 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper. Sprinkle the skin sides evenly with the sugar.

Place the salmon in the pan, skin side down, and cook until it is nicely browned and caramelized, about 3 minutes. Flip over and cook on the other side for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from the pan, place on a small ovenproof dish or platter, and place in the oven to keep warm, skin side up.

Add the remaining olive oil and butter to the pan and once the butter is melted, add the spinach and remaining salt and pepper. Cook the spinach until wilted, 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve the salmon by dividing the spinach among 4 warmed entree plates, place a piece of salmon on top of the spinach, and drizzle the sauce around the plate.

Pink Grapefruit Pinot Noir Sauce:
1 cup fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice
1/2 cup Pinot Noir
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1 garlic clove, smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup chicken stock
3 to 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
4 teaspoons chiffonade fresh basil leaves, optional
Grapefruit segments

Place all the ingredients except the butter, basil and grapefruit segments in a 1-quart saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce until the liquid is slightly thickened. Reduce the heat to low, remove pan from the heat, add a few cubes of the butter and use a whisk to stir constantly until the butter is melted. Return to the heat and add a few more pieces. Continue to place the pan on and off the heat, adding a few cubes of butter at a time, and whisking until all the butter is used. Remove the sauce from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh strainer. Stir in the grapefruit segments and chiffonade of basil and keep warm until ready to serve - do not allow the sauce to boil or it will separate.

Italian Meatballs

I love Oprah.  In fact, I think most people do.  Her talk show has been around forEVER and I know I have watched quite a few episodes between college, maternity leaves, and when a must see guest or topic is covered.  I watched her Royal Wedding episode and she mentioned a few recipes featured on her website.  When I checked out the food section of her site I stumbled across some great finds!  This kid-friendly meatball recipe is one of them.

Mixing the meats and ingredients together.  I hate having to mix meat with bare hands so attempted a spatula.  Didn't work.  Using your hands ensures the ingredients are mixed together thoroughly, plus your hands are going to get dirty while shaping the meatballs anyways...

Fairly easy to make, but a tad messy due to frying them in a pan with oil.  You can bake them in the oven which my mom prefers as its a tad less of a mess.  I also made my meatballs slightly smaller than recipe calls for.

Instead of simmering on the stove, I used our crock pot and cooked for about an hour on high and another 2-3 hours on low.  The kids thought the meatballs were really good and Blake ended up having three helpings!  A great recipe and the finished product is equal to very high quality Italian restaurant flavor.

I used lean ground beef and Isernio's ground pork in this recipe (they don't just sell sausages). 

Click HERE for the recipe...

Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo.  Or I as prefer to call it, Drinko for Cinco!