afternoons in tablespoons

September 2nd, 2009

it takes two (batches of oatmeal chocolate chip coconut cookies).

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, whence comes the lovely little drawing at right) 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.

the chemistry of cookies, the loveliness of leaveners

But before I got started on the baking, I did a little homework to figure out what the deal is with oatmeal cookies. I love ‘em, but I find that it’s pretty hard to get them to turn out perfectly at home – they’re too flat, or a little bland, or rubbery, or smacking of eau d’baking soda, etc. After traipsing about in the cloud for a while, I discovered a few key facts about oatmeal cookies, and about cookies generally:

1. Because oatmeal cookies have rather heavy ingredients (oats, raisins, whathaveyou), they need to be baked at a slightly higher temperature than most other cookies in order to get the leavening agents to react properly. I didn’t quite understand this before I started, and my first batch of cookies (I ended up baking two; hence the title) was not as crispy-soft as would have been desirable.

2. Also due to the heaviness of their ingredients, oatmeal cookies tend to spread out fairly quickly as soon as they heat up. To prevent this, it’s good (especially in hot climates) to chill the dough for a while before setting the cookies in the oven. This slows the spreading of the dough and allows the edge to form and get crispy.

3. Using melted butter or liquid oil in a cookie recipe is never good if you want non-flat cookies. When butter is melted, it’s impossible to incorporate air into it because of the way the fat cells sit in the liquid. So, when preparing for cookies, just set your butter out on the counter for about a half hour before baking, and the butter should be just as pliable as it needs to be in order to whip it with a mixer (whipping it by hand is, of course, a bit more difficult, but hey, you’ll get some muscles).

4. Instead of using just baking soda in a cookie recipe, it’s sometimes helpful to use a combination of both baking soda and baking powder. Without getting too far into the chemistry of leavening agents, baking soda starts to release carbon dioxide as soon as it’s mixed with an acidic ingredient (chocolate, in this case), while double-acting baking powder (which contains baking soda as well as its own acid) reacts in two stages: first when it’s mixed with ingredients, and then when it’s heated. This is also why chilling the ingredients a bit before they go in the oven is helpful; it slows down the reaction of the leavening agents and leaves all (or most) of the magic to happen when the cookies start to heat up.

5. If you’re not going to use chocolate or another acidic ingredient (honey, yogurt, etc.) in a batch of cookies, use baking powder instead of baking soda as your leavening agent, because baking soda doesn’t react unless acid is in the mix.

There’s lots of other stuff, too (science, guys!), but that’s probably enough to cure most basic cookie woes.

cookies, take one

So anyhow, cookies. I looked around for an inspiring recipe, but ended up using ideas and ingredients from a plethora of sources. The foundation of the recipe was about the same as your basic Quaker Oats cookie: oats, sugar, butter, eggs, flour, and baking soda. I decided to go with just brown sugar, as I like the texture more for this type of cookie. And chocolate chips, because that’s what was requested, but no raisins (raisins definitely have their rightful place in oatmeal cookies, but in my opinion, anyone who tells you that you can put chocolate chips and raisins in the same cookie is a right whackjob). I also added some sweetened coconut, for flavor and texture, and a bit of honey, for funsies. I’d never put coconut in an oatmeal cookie before, but Kenan pretty much loves coconut more than anything, and I saw it mentioned in a few different places, so I thought I’d give it a go.

After buying the ingredients, I got into the kitchen and got down to cookie business. Most standard drop cookies are fairly similar in their preparation, and this was no different. I sifted the dry ingredients (flour, salt, leavening agents, cinnamon) separately. I whipped room temperature butter with the brown sugar, and then added the eggs, vanilla, and honey. I folded in coconut after this, because I wanted to make sure that it didn’t get clumped up. Next I added the flour mixture, stirring gently and making sure not to deflate the air in the batter. Then, finally, went the chocolate chips. I set those guys in the freezer (the refrigerator can work, too, but ours is small and not very effective) for about 10 minutes before dropping them with an ice cream scoop on a parchment-covered baking sheet and sliding them into the oven.

The cookies looked lovely, all golden brown and textured. But as I mentioned above, this first batch (I wound up baking more for another festivity) was not quite as puffed up as I would have liked. They tasted awesome; the coconut was very pleasant and subtle and added a nice texture, and the chocolate was melty and delicious against the stout chewiness of the oats. But really, I was still quite pleased with and proud of them, especially considering that I’d basically just winged the recipe. They went over famously, and Alli nibbled on them as she flew about her apartment, packing and unpacking, regaling us with hilarious airport stories, and impressing us with some top-secret but still absolutely adorable baby pictures. We’ll miss her, but I’m sure that she’ll come back with even more tales to tell.

cookies, take two

So after being nearly, but not quite, thrilled with the texture/puffiness of my first batch of oatmeal cookies, I thought I’d give them another shot. And as it happened, we had a little birthday gathering to attend on Sunday evening, so we would have a venue in which to present them and observe their degustation. This time around, I added a bit more coconut, a bit more flour, turned up the oven temperature to 375, and chilled the dough for a full 45 minutes before baking. And this time, oh man, those cookies were heavenly. They had a perfect, crispy-crunchy bottom and crust, and an airy but still substantial inside. Definitely the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever made, and all (or at least mostly) thanks to science.

We brought them to Fette Sau for Simon’s birthday party. Everyone insisted that they were too full of barbeque to try any, but somehow, those cookies disappeared in a matter of minutes – so quickly, in fact, that Simon didn’t even get to try any! And although we didn’t get to spend quite as much time there as we would have liked, it’s nice to be around new people. Sometimes I get a little unsure of myself, but armed with baked goods, there’s always something delicious to talk about.

**note: There’s a new request page around these parts. Leave a comment with an idea, question, challenge, etc., and I’ll do my best to find a recipe for it. Neat, huh?

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

recipes below the fold. photos by kenan “boy blue” rubenstein.

Posted by girlcate in chocolate, cookies, oats & grains | 5 notes ≈

August 17th, 2009

north brooklyn bloggers banquet super gosh awesome wow!

Once upon a time, by which I mean about two months ago, Kenan had an idea.

Actually, I should maybe give you some background first, before I get to the idea part: You see, Kenan and I are fortunate enough to have a plethora of friends (and friends of friends) who share our proclivity for blogging and photographing and drawing and such. As it also happens, all of them like to eat good food, even if they don’t themselves make a project of creating it (for more information, see my ‘blog roll, ladies and gents; they’re all worth a read). Kenan and I often talk about how living in a city like this is so great for community; not only are there great multitudes of talented people around doing amazing, beautiful things, but a good number of them live in our neighborhood, and having their stuff around to keep up on and learn from is both inspiring and happy-making. So, Kenan had the idea to get a group of said bloggers and photographers and generally epicurean folks together for one big, extravagant, entirely blogger-created meal. We pitched this to said folks, and of course they all (rightly) thought it sounded like the best ever. Initially, Kenan thought to include to include myself, Boots, Emily, Kenan, and Coach. Emily suggested that we also consider adding three more of her talented friends, bringing our number up to eight. The venue would be Coach n’ Boots’ cozy and very graciously-surrendered apartment. Each of us would come to said apartment and either prepare something comestible, or document the process in some way, or both. It was a bit of a trial to get eight busy people in the same place at the same time, but after some nudging and compromising and e-mailing, we settled on Sunday, the 26th of July. Each participant (apart from Kenan and Coach, who would just be photographing and drawing) offered up one dish to prepare for the feast, and all of them sounded incredible and worthy of salivation: Emily was going to make a summery chilled corn and avocado soup, Boots a cracked pepper and cilantro hearth bread, Jacob a shell bean and string bean ragout, Dory a watermelon-tomato-feta salad, Tanveer a squash curry soup, and I an almond tart and some plum-raspberry-currant frozen yogurt. Kenan, Coach, Jacob and Tanveer would document it all with their cameras and (in Kenan’s case) pencils.

choosing menus, choosing dates.

I was more than a little intimidated by the prospect of baking for such a seriously gifted and artistic bunch, so I put off the decision of what to make until what was probably a bit too close to the last minute. After much hemming and hawing, doubting and second-guessing, however, I came up with the idea of doing something fresh, fruity, summery and cold, and pairing it with something sweet and pie-adjacent; in short, the aforementioned almond tart and frozen yogurt. I picked the fruits for the frozen yogurt by looking at what was most tantalizing at the farmer’s market, and the recipe for it and the tart were found on David Lebovitz‘s addictive and captivating blog. And I must also give credit to Emily for offering up her ice cream maker and for giving me the idea to do something cold in the first place; she’s a really classy lady.

oh those summer nights.

The baking/cooking fervor/fever (it was hot as balls in that kitchen) started early Sunday afternoon, when Kenan and I went over to Coach n’ Boots’ place to get started on the tart dough. I’d never before done a tart dough in this particular style before – it’s a very soft, almost cookie-like dough that’s a bit tricky to deal with. It comes out of the food processor supple and melty, and after it’s cooled in the refrigerator for a while and brought back up to room temperature, it’s pressed into a tart form with your fingers, after which you place the formed dough in the freezer to harden up for a while. The recipe also says to save some of the dough to patch things up in case holes appear in the baking process, but I (surprise!) forgot to do that. After I had the dough set to chill, I got out the fruit to prepare the frozen yogurt.

I don’t know if you’ve ever cooked or baked with currants before, but I certainly hadn’t, and I don’t think I was quite prepared for how demanding and fussy they are. I’m sure there is some much more intuitive, easy way to prep them for use in things like frozen yogurts, but I ended up slicing the butt end off of each tiny little currant to prep it for the yogurt, after taking off the little stems with my fingers. Needless to say, this was less than stimulating work, so I got a bit bored and ended up not using as many currants as I had originally planned and making up for the difference with extra raspberries. So anyhow, I then peeled and cut up the plums, threw in the raspberries and mixed it all up with some kirsch and sugar and let it all hang out (ha!) for a couple hours.

When the fruit was ready to go, having soaked in all the sugary alcoholic goodness, I threw it in the ice cream maker with some Ronnybrook whole milk yogurt and churned that stuff. All in all, the churning part took about 20 minutes; turns out frozen yogurt is quite quick and easy to make if you have the correct tools. Who knew? I then put the yogurt in the freezer to set up fully in the few hours left before dinner.

After the tart dough is sufficiently frozen, it’s taken out of the freezer and cooked to a light golden brown, and the almond filling is added after it’s baked. The filling was really fragrant and fun to make; cream, sugar and salt are heated until they start to foam up, and then you add almonds, almond extract and some grand marnier (or a substitute, cheaper-but-still-delicious orange liqueur, as my friendly neighborhood polish-guy-at-the-liquor-store recommended). The filling then goes into the partially-baked tart shell and is baked for ten minutes. Why such a short baking time, you ask? Well, it doesn’t come out at the end of those ten minutes; you have to open the oven every 8-10 minutes and use a rubber spatula to break the crust that starts to form on the top of the tart. It’s a tad high maintenance, the tart, but the effort pays off in the end, with the crust turning eventually to a dark, appealing coffee-like brown.

oh man, guys. eating.

And oh man, after everything was prepared, it was time to sit down to our exciting feast. I’m seriously don’t think I’m being biased when I say that this banquet was one of the most delightful and delicious meals in the history of ever. Everyone’s dish was a study in summery perfection. Emily’s corn and avocado soup was transcendent, creamy and refreshing and just exactly right with all the garnishes, and went deliciously with Boots’ spicy, chewy, cilantro-laden bread. Dory’s salad was a great palate freshener, and had a great combination of tastes and textures. Jacob’s ragout was a perfect use of beans, and turned out crunchy and delicately spiced, a great green dish to go along with everything else. And Tanveer’s squash curry soup was hot and spicy-spicy and had awesome textures that complemented the rest of the dishes.

I was fairly nervous when it was time for dessert because I hadn’t really tried the dishes together and was afraid that the tart would be gross or something. But I have to say that I was really quite proud of the effort I had made. The tart was scrumptious, crispy and crunchy and almondy and sweet. I think I may have overcooked it a teensy bit, making it a bit hard to cut or bite through, but as I said, I was really quite proud of it, especially for a first go. And the frozen yogurt, which I think was my favorite of the two, was amazing. It tasted like a cold, zesty bite of summer – tart, refreshing, not too sweet, and creamy without being rich at all.

But most of all, it was just so incredible to be able to share such a perfect meal with such an incredible group of people. Kenan’s initial idea was, no matter what he might tell you, to take advantage (as we so often forget to) of the fact that we are surrounded by a community with so much creativity and fun. And sharing in that community, as we did that sticky, sweltering night with such an abundance of fantastic food and good company, was exactly what we all needed: a reminder that we’re all inspiring and feeding each other, and that it is a truly amazing thing to be able to do so.

So. Make dessert, guys.

make them stuffs.

recipes below the fold. photos by tanveer “atmosphere” badal, joe “coach” victorine, and kenan “boy blue” rubenstein.

Posted by girlcate in fruit, nuts, pies & tarts, sorbet & frozen yogurt | 10 notes ≈

August 9th, 2009

siblings and friends, berry cobbler and george michael.

My lovely and wonderful little sister, Meg, arrived for a short but much-needed visit a couple weeks ago. As it happened, her visit also coincided briefly with the visit of Leah, one of my dearest and closest friends from Oberlin. The seemingly ever-looming rain had returned, so the prospect of going on big adventures didn’t seem so appealing, but we decided to get dinner in the neighborhood, rain be damned (okay, so by the time we went out the rain had pretty much slowed to a drizzle, but we’re still a pretty intrepid bunch). We went to the always cozy and delicious Habitat. I’ve gotta tell you, I’ve loved french fries since I was no bigger than an easy bake oven and thus consider myself somewhat of a french fry connoisseur. And as a self-proclaimed fry expert (fryspert?), I feel confident saying that the waffle fries at Habitat are magnifique – some of my favorites at the moment.

After dinner, we pointed our feet homeward, where we set up to bake some berry cobbler and watch Arrested Development. The dessert was quite impromptu, as Meg and I had decided just a few hours before that we wanted to make something while she was here. But it turned out to be a good night for baking, as it wasn’t too hot – and of course, what could be more satisfying than preparing a nice summery dessert with family and friends around, and with a healthy dose of good television? With another (modified) recipe from Tartine, we did a simple berry cobbler (they called it a dumpling, but I object to that word on aesthetic terms).

baking time, bluth time

The Garden had some pretty slim pickings as far as seasonal fruit was concerned, but we found some passable raspberries, blackberries and plums (I’m really into plums these days; I feel that they’re underappreciated when compared to the pantheon of summer fruits). Tartine’s recipe calls for a huge amount of cherries, but we just used the amount of fruit we had (a pint each of raspberries and blackberries and about 5 plums), and futzed around with the other quantities a bit. Then we whipped up the simple batter (a bit of butter, some crème fraiche, flour, etc.) and dabbled it over the fruit. The recipe demanded a 9 x 13 baking casserole, but we don’t have anything that big, so we used a 9 x 9 and didn’t add all of the batter.

The cobbler baked up really fluffy and looked almost like a cake or souffle, having turned a light golden brown and risen above the level of the pan. Taste wise it was light and subtle, but I think I should have added even less of the batter, as it was so thick that it kinda overpowered the taste of the fruit. But for a completely unplanned and not by-the-book try, it was delicious, especially along with some ice cream and lovely company.

In other news, keep your eyes peeled some time in the next week or so for a post about a certain super secret super awesome banquet(!)

i’m mr. manager, i bake cobbler!**

get berrying, get recipes, over this way

Posted by girlcate in cobblers & crisps, fruit | 5 notes ≈

July 19th, 2009

peach, apricot and raspberry free-form tart.

It’s always good to get out of the city. Kenan and I took the opportunity presented by the long weekend to hop a bus down to the outskirts of Baltimore to visit Kenan’s uncle Ephraim, for the Fourth of July weekend (once again, this post is a couple weeks late coming out, but bear with me – it’s gonna be fun). Ephraim and his wife, Sarah, live in a big old plantation house so beautiful and full of awesome things that it makes me want to rethink my existence as a city dweller. When the weather’s nice, they eat all their meals on their patio, surrounded by Sarah’s gorgeous garden. And not only are the house and grounds stunning, but there’s a trampoline, a ping pong table, a swimming pool next door, and a goofy, friendly German Shepherd who always seemed to be wandering around looking for someone to throw a ball for her. Needless to say, all of this made our stay both full of fun and relaxing, certainly worth making our asses numb from sitting so long on the bus to get down there. In order to repay our gracious hosts for the use of their house and grounds, we proposed that we prepare dinner and dessert on Saturday.

adventures in tart.

I didn’t have anything in mind for baking before we left, but something fruity seemed fitting, considering the holiday. I thought a free-form tart would fit the bill. Free-form tarts are super easy, they’re lovely without being fussy, and they tolerate pretty much any kind of fruit. Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought along any of my recipes or cookbooks, so Kenan and I ended up dong some espionage and, er, “borrowing” part of a recipe from the local Barnes and Noble (shh, don’t tell).

With a vague idea of what to make, Kenan and I were off to the store. I decided that peaches, apricots and raspberries would make for a nice, summery combination. When we got back to the house, I prepared the crust so it had ample time to sit in the fridge before baking. I used an equal amount of butter and shortening this time, and it turned out great; flaky and yet still flavorful, although I think next time I might add a bit more butter. I also used a more basic dough recipe, with no sugar, so the fruit could stand out a little more on its own. While the crust was cooling, we played a few rousing games of ping pong and traipsed about on the trampoline, waiting until it was time to prepare the dinner.

When it was baking time, I brought the crust out of the fridge and rolled it out to about a 12-inch diameter. Then I tossed the fruit with some cinnamon and nutmeg. Then the fruit went onto the rolled-out crust, the sides of which I brushed with a simple egg wash. Then I folded the sides over, brushed some more egg wash on top, and sprinkled everything with a generous helping of coarse-grained brown sugar. It looked beautiful, but after I had done all this and it was ready to go into the oven, I realized that I had completely forgotten to add sugar to the fruit and spice combination. Yeah, nice going. I’m going to chalk it up to not being in my own kitchen, although really, the sugar was sitting right in front of me, so I have nothing and no one to blame. Just spaciness. But while the lack of sugar (aside from the sugar sprinkled on the top) was a relatively frustrating omission, it turned out to not be a huge deal, because the crust was great and the combination of the fruits was interesting. The only problem was that the peaches and apricots were just a little shy of perfectly ripe, and thus didn’t develop their own natural sugars as much as would have been preferable in the baking process.

The tart baked up beautifully, the crust golden brown and the fruit soft but not mushy or overcooked. After dinner, we went out to the front porch and lit some sparklers to go along with our dessert (cause really, nothing goes with sweets like sparkles). I was pretty happy with it – the crust was nearly perfect, and the filling, although a bit on the tart side, was very pleasing. Of course, adding some sweetened whipped cream to top it didn’t hurt anything either.

Sunday was another day of travel, and although it was difficult to leave such an idyllic place, it’s nice to go home and sleep in one’s own bed. But as I said before, I’m starting to rethink this whole city-dwelling thing; backyards and open space are kinda awesome, you know?

make it, eat it, sparkle.

recipes below the fold

Posted by BoyBlue in fruit, pies & tarts | 4 notes ≈

July 2nd, 2009

father's day bavarian cake.

Usually it’s a little difficult to bring oneself to do a lot of elaborate baking shenanigans in the summertime in New York, what with the humidity and the stickiness and the death by sweating and such. But seeing as how it’s basically been raining for two straight months (making us city dwellers feel like we’ve somehow been transported to the opposite coast), there’s been plenty of sleepy, cool baking weather to go around. All of which turned out to be quite convenient when I decided to bake a very elaborate and time consuming cake for Father’s Day (I realize this was two weeks ago; I’ve been busy… with stuff).

Bavarian cakes are generally done with either genoise or chiffon as a base, both of which are relatively light and unassuming, thus making them a good straight man (straight cake?) for all the fruity wonder that goes on. Your basic Bavarian consists of several layers: a bottom layer of cake covered with a fruit puree; a layer of Bavarian cream; a layer of fruit (one or several types, depending on your preference/what’s in season); yet another layer of cream topped with another layer of puree; a second layer of cake; and a very slightly sweetened whipped cream topping. The component parts are relatively simple, but the production takes a good long while because each of the parts are prepared separately and cooled before the cake is assembled. I went with another outstanding Tartine recipe for this guy. You’ve probably noticed that I use their recipes a lot, so I’ll come right out and say that I’m pretty smitten with them. They are, quite simply, a win.

preparation.

The cake adventure started on Saturday morning, when Kenan and I got an early start on the farmer’s market, where we purchased fresh, delicious strawberries, after which we went to the Garden for the rest of the fruit (raspberries and peaches of several varieties). Then it was back to the apartment to prepare the pastry cream. I always get a little nervous when making pastry cream that I’ll cook it too long and cause it to curdle. But this time it went very quickly and smoothly, I think owing at least partially to the fact that I’ve finally convinced myself that it’s worth it to measure and set out all my ingredients before hand. I mean, I knew it was good practice, but I’d never really had the patience to do it before. Then I set that up to cool while I dealt with the cake.

I really wanted to make a genoise for the cake foundation, as the ingredients are so simple and the result is, I think, a perfect base for this type of dessert. However, I didn’t have a heatproof bowl that was big enough for all the batter, so I went with a chiffon instead. Chiffons tend to be a bit too far to the angel food side of the cake arena (sticky, fluffy, etc.) for my taste, but that’s not to imply that they aren’t a great alternative to a genoise. They’re easier to make, and produce an airy texture that’s quite pleasing. At any rate, I had a mini-freakout during the batter process because I initially forgot to add water, but I was able to correct the error, and in the end the cake came out of the oven like a champion; it had risen up and out of the 3-inch deep pan, and it was moist, airy and golden.

After waiting for the cake to cool down entirely and then cutting it in half, which is actually a bit more of a trick than it sounds (it’s very wide and thick, and you kinda have to saw through it like it’s a big tree), I cleaned the pan out, lined the sides with plastic wrap (prevents the filling and fruit from sticking to the sides of the pan) and then placed the bottom layer of the cake in the pan. This bottom layer is then coated with a simple fruit puree, for which I used a combination of raspberries and golden raspberries and a touch of brandy. Then it was time to make Bavarian cream. This involves heating a small amount of pastry cream with gelatin – it’s a bit wonky, but it makes the filling stand up heartily under the weight of the cake and fruit – and then adding that concoction back into the rest of the pastry cream. Then you whip up some heavy cream and gently fold that in and quickly spoon half of it onto the bottom layer of the cake. Next comes a generous helping of fresh fruit, for which I used white peaches, saturn peaches, raspberries, golden raspberries, and strawberries. I then made a slight mistake: before adding the rest of the bavarian cream and then the fruit puree, as you’re supposed to, I put the rest of the batch of fruit puree on top of the fresh fruit. Because of that, I didn’t have any more puree to put on top of the cream and thus soak into the top layer of cake, which meant I had to make another batch of puree. It was a bit of a happy accident, however, as the extra puree made for yet another layer of fruity fun – it was just lucky for me that I had enough fruit left over to do that. And so, after the hoo hah, it was time to cover the cake up with the plastic wrap and put it to sleep for the night (or for three hours, at the very least).

hanging out, eating cake.

I let the prepped cake hang out in the fridge on Sunday while we gallivanted. There was bowling, delicious egg salad at lunch, an interlude of inside time with books and video games owing the rain, a rousing game of Calvin Ball in Central Park, and a dinner so great that it really proved quite the trick to save enough room for cake.

Before serving, the cake comes out of the pan and gets unwrapped and topped with a layer of whipped cream. And then, savoring the end of one of the first beautiful days of summer (despite the brief rain), we ate the crap out of that thing.

make it.