Hiatus

On an extended hiatus from blogging...don't know if or when i'll be back

so long and thanks for all the fish

i'm feeling a tad exposed, so it's time to relocate.

moni, nat, kepa,cmae - i'll let you know where to find me

and if you were just lurking along, i hope you can find your way to me again

Cookies!

Since I am a cook, I've decided to make three types of cookies from a basic recipe.

1. Chocolate chip cookies
2. Chocolte chip walnut cookies (add pan toasted walnuts)
3. Spicy chocolate chocolate chip pistachio cookies (add cocoa powder, cinnamon, smoked chipotle powder and dry roasted pistachios)

Here's the basic recipe (from Cook's Illustrated):

2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup light brown sugar , 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1–2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips

3. Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)

4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.)

Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.
Makes 1 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies

A Sad State of Affairs

I have to state for the record that I have not done a lot of baking in my life. I am primarily a cook. Now, it's not that I can't bake...it's just that I don't do much of it.

However, I am making cookies as a treat for a meeting next week. Instead of printing out a recipe, I've decided to go with old faithful....the recipe that comes on the back of the yellow bag. Now, even though I'm not a baker, I know that some things make a difference (unsalted vs. salted butter, butter vs. margarine, light brown sugar vs. dark brown sugar) and the back of the yellow bag doesn't specify these things.

So what's a chick to do? Well, stand in the aisle and ask women of a certain age for advice. Here's where it gets pathetic.

Not a single woman of a certain age...or a woman of my age (including mothers) could tell me if I should use dark brown sugar or light brown sugar. Because none of these ladies baked cookies - ever. In fact, they all told me that when they wanted cookies, they broke open the refrigerated package.

Fortunately, I was able to get in touch with my sister, a most awesome baker, and she was able to help me out.

African American

My favorite line?

"At your naija party eatin' egusi stew".

Nice to see ya

I'm back from my hiatus. It's been rather interesting around here lately and I haven't had the energy to blog.

But now, I'm back and glad to see ya.

Nothing much to report from the Jersey front...except that the St. Patty's Day parade is this weekend. No, the calendar is not wrong. Yes, I got the date right. So why is the St. Patty's Day parade this weekend? Because nobody wants to compete with the NYC celebrations.

Yeah, I'm not Irish, Catholic or a big drinker...so I'm not sure that it's really that important to me that the parade is this weekend. Just thought I'd share

Revelation

46 out of 82?

No wonder they were always trying to yank my card in college

Right on Brotha Dick!