Snow days. You probably heard all about it on the news: massive snowstorm batters the east coast, end of the world as we know it, we'll never be able to leave our houses again, Fox News makes outrageously irresponsible and and misinformed statements about global warming, yadda yadda yadda. What it meant for me was that I got to leave work at 1 p.m. on a Wednesday. It was amazing; it felt like skipping out of school at recess. And what was even better than the coming home early was that there was ample time to bake. So I pulled out Elinor Klivans' wonderful Big Fat Cookies, looking for an inspiring idea for cookies. I've made many of the recipes from Klivans' book before, but not in recent years, as my copy lives at my mom's house. But I was wanting to make some of those recipes again, so a few weeks ago, I went out and bought a new copy, and I've since spent a bit of time reacquainting myself with the aforementioned big, fat cookies. And so, on that snowy, blustery afternoon, I chose a recipe for chocolate-dipped macaroons, because, well, macaroons are awesome. Let's get to it, shall we?

get to it, indeed, yonder.

Chocolate pie, my friends. I think that's pretty much all one needs to know. Last weekend was super duper cold in this city, and the cold always ups my craving for comfort foods. We had a small get-together on Friday night, wherein Boots made delicious, delectable pizza, and I pulled out a recipe for a chocolate souffle pie from the good folks over at chocolate bar. I'd made it before, a few years ago, and had nothing but fond memories of sinking my teeth into this rich, chocolatey, melty pie; I was certainly ready to relive the experience.

live and let pie, below the fold.

Apparently, I was in the mood for some fancy-pants baking this past weekend. Like, multiple-day, million-step, fussy-as-can-be baking. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd been fantasizing recently about chestnuts. I just love those little guys so much; they're sweet, they're meaty, and I feel like they're a bit underutilized in the baking world. I mean, sure, one always hears about chestnuts going in turkey stuffing or whatnot, and of course there are always those dudes selling them on the street, but I don't think I see chestnut desserts quite as often as would be desirable. So I started poking around for something inspiring to do with chestnuts, and lo, I found one over at the Queen of Domesticity's place: a chestnut cake filled with chestnut pastry cream, frosted with a bittersweet ganache, and finally topped again with a chocolate-armagnac glaze. Holy moly.

Holy moly, indeed, over this way.

A few weeks ago, my good friend Hiro wrote to me with a desperate plea for some advice on chocolate chip cookies. She recently moved to Denmark, and is having trouble replicating the crispygooeychewy texture that is so desirable in these enigmatic little mounds of dough and chocolate. Always eager to take on a challenge, I assured her that I would do some research and come up with a good recipe, along with an at least pseudo-scientific explanation of why (and which) things can go wrong when whipping up a batch of these suckers.

get your chips on, over here.

Hello, friends! I don't know about you, but I had a very exciting holiday season, and I pretty much made out like a bandit. Among the host of awesome baking tools and cookbooks I received was a standing mixer from my favorite certain someone. It's awesome and amazing, and also makes me fairly certain he has a huge crush on me. It's grey and lovely and fits quite nicely into our increasingly fort-like apartment. Granted, it also takes up a surprisingly large percentage of our kitchen's already hard-pressed food prep space market, but it's still the coolest thing ever, and I'm certain it's going to do lovely things for us.

lovely recipes and lovely stories, yonder

Okay, so I've never actually had a subscription to Gourmet, but I've always wanted one. As the Times said this week, Gourmet was kinda like the New Yorker of food magazines: erudite, fancy, well-researched and well-edited. I always pick up a copy when I'm traveling, and I leaf through issues at bookstores, looking wistfully at all the fancy things I have yet to bake, and all the fancy places I'll probably never go. Oh, well. I believe they have a great number of Gourmet's recipes up on Epicurious, so I suppose there will still be at least one way in which to revel in the glory of things past.

Get your chocolate fix and say farewell, this-a-way.

It's been a time for serious baking, friends and neighbors. One of my (now former) work colleagues, Sarah, was leaving the law firm to move to the Bahamas and get married and stuff, and there was to be a party so we could all say our goodbyes. Dessert's kinda become my thing around the office (what else would I do with all the leftovers?), so I asked Sarah if she would like me to make anything sweet to bring to the festivities. At first she mentioned black forest cake, which I'd never heard of and sounded exciting, but then she remembered that one of her good friends who would be in attendance that night has celiac disease. So instead, she requested some sort of flourless something. I'd made Tartine's chocolate souffle cake on Memorial day, and it was fantastic, but I felt it would be fun to try something new and exciting.

caking, shuffling, and fancy parties, around the bend.

You're in for a treat, folks, because this week, you will know the glory that is messy cookie cake.

What is it, you ask? I'll tell you, but you have to realize that the end result is so much more amazing that you can imagine just by seeing the description: it's basically a cake made out of chocolate chip cookie dough and a sweet cream cheese sauce. And it's so much more than either cookie or cake could ever be. As a child, it was one of my favorite things in my mom's arsenal of sweet treats, and as an adult, it's the dessert I request every time I go home to visit. When warm, and eaten with a glass of ice-cold milk, this cake like sugary-chocolatey nirvana. It is a part of my childhood. Also, it's freakin' delicious. Are you ready?

Are you ready?

It's been quite a couple of weeks, friends: I went on vacation; I've been studying for the LSATs like mad; I've ridden on trains; I've caught up with old friends; and I've started to get to know some new ones. And this past weekend, Kenan (who just moved into some schmancy new digs) and I visited our friend Alli at her apartment in Boerum Hill to say our goodbyes before she flitted off to South Africa for a few months. As I'd just received a request for advice** on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I thought I'd prepare a batch to take with me to the shindig.

more batches of oatmeal cookies than you'll know what to do with, in the oven

Our friends Coach and Boots were kind enough to take Kenan and me with them up to Boots' parents' place in New Hampshire for the long weekend. I was excited to do some baking for a discerning audience; Boots comes from a family of epicureans, and besides, what better excuse is there for fancy kitchen tricks than a holiday, and a big ol' fancy suburban kitchen? As Boots' mom recently discovered that she has coeliac disease, and also because I felt the need to impress said mom (I'd been told many tales of her prodigious cooking skills), I decided to go all-out and do a flourless chocolate cake.

the gluten-free festivities continue across the lake.