A couple of years ago I heard about Blue Monday.
No, not the very fabulous song by New Order that hit the charts back in the day, but what feels to me like very suspect "research" to pinpoint when "we" are at our psychological low points.
Heh...I guess I was right to be suspect. When I did my own fleeting research, I found this probably-soon-to-be-removed Wikipedia article, claiming it was part of SkyTravel's PR campaign three years ago.
Regardless, the past two weeks proved to be quite trying for a number of people in my real and virtual circles. Broken hearts, work-related stresses, multiple deaths and multiple hosptilisations (for those of you who wish to read the exbf's adventure in emerg, click this. Remember, it's only funny because he's alive). There were days my heart ached when I checked my voicemail, email, replies, direct messages and message via my Twitter account.
I do what I can to help: do this and that to help ease their burden, offer an ear, shoulder or point of view, offer comfort food. Comfort cookies, to be precise.Everyone who bakes chocolate chip cookies has at least one recipe in hand. I probably have serveral dozen in my collection, but Anna Olson's chocolate chip cookies is one of the two I return to over and over again. In its original format it produces a reasonable number (24) of delicious, buttery, chewy cookies, which with a minor tweak can turn into a reasonable number (24) of delicious, buttery, crisp cookies.When comfort and restoration are calle for, sometimes chocolate chips need a little additional help. Thankfully, chopped pecans and toffee bits stepped in to do their part to add extra butteryness and crunch to the chocolaty chewy cookies.I'm not so egotistical to claim these cookies will make your life easier and solve all your problems. Simply, they just may make you feel better...and isn't that what a good cookie should do?
Chocolate Chip, Toffee and Pecan Cookies
Adapted from Anna Olson's Chocolate Chip Cookies in Sugar
Yield three dozen, depending upon the size of your cookie spoon
280g (2c) all purpose flour
1dspn (2tsp) corn starch
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
0.5tsp salt
170g (0.75c) softened butter
200g (1c) brown sugar
50g (0.25c) sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
135g (1c) milk chocolate chips or buttons
50g (0.5c) chopped pecans
40g (0.33c) toffee bits
Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line cookie trays with parchment.
Sift together flour, cornstarch, bicarb and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Mix in vanilla and eggs. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the flour mixture in two batches. Scrape down the sides again, before folding in the chocolate, toffee and nuts.
Drop by tablespoonful onto the prepared cookie sheet, slightly pressing the tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden and the bottoms are slighly brown and easily lift from the tray.
Cool on the tray for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.
cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!
That’s the sound of me, in hot pursuit of that sometimes evasive beast, inspiration.
Several weeks ago I’d gotten it into my curly-mopped head that I wanted to bake birthday treats for My Most Marvellous Manager. Normally such adventures start out with me having a very clear picture in my mind’s eye. It can be a flavour, a texture, or a colour--anything that allows me to springboard into something, if not wondrous, then hopefully edible. This time…apart from the idea of baking something, I was at a total and utter loss.
I must admit, it’s rare that I find myself like this, itching to make something, but without a clue as to what. If it were just for me or a few, select souls, I’d just start weighing and pouring and grating and tearing open packets of fruits or nuts or candy. But it wasn’t just for me…t’would be bad form to give the person who approves your paycheque something indescribably experimental for his birthday…even though he is on my guinea pig list.
Off from my teetering shelves came the faithful tomes of inspiration: Nigella, Dorie, Edna, Julia…
Flickaflicka flick flick.
Magazines, newspaper clippings, printouts from online recipes.
Flickaflicka flick flick.
Nothing.
Favourite and talented foodbloggers.
Clickaclicka click click.
Gosh, you’d think I was searching for the a map to the world’s tastiest and ever-renewing truffle patch.
It’s not that I had some unreasonable self-imposed expectation that whatever it was, it had to be “perfect.” All I wanted it to be was tasty …and sortakinda pretty... How easy it is for me to spiral into a tizzy of mammoth proportions...all for want of a simple baked good.
What made me remember a skinny little spine, I don’t know. But I’m glad I did. Was it desperation or true enthusiasm that made me decide on Anna Olson’s Cocoa Cupcakes? I don’t know. And I don’t know if in such cases a) it matters or b) there’s a difference.
All I know is these little cakelets, with a softly chocolate flavour and a sweet and slightly sticky glaze, studded with silvery balls were exactly what needed to be made…along side an equal number of softly flavoured vanilla cupcakes.
cheers!
jasmine
...cuppycakes!
This week my kitchen was a little cuppycake-making factory. Well...okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I did make many little cakelettes...all destined for the office.
This week a very wonderful person decided, after 30 years at the company, it was time to retire. We'll miss her wisdom, sense of humour and down-to-earth nature--any woman (of a certain age) who still harbours lusty thoughts for men in uniform (specifically motorcycle cops' jodhpurs and "fantasy boots") is a gem.
As a special thank you for everything she's done, I whipped up a bunch of my vanilla cupcakes, topped them with pastel-tinted royal icing (pale rose, blue and lavender) and sprinkled rose petals, sugary flowers lavender on top.
The other cupcake event was my sixth anniversary at my current company. Our tradition is that we bring in the treats (unless it's a surprise or a major milestone). Given the recent warm weather, light and sunshiney lemon poppyseed cakes came into fruition.
The texture is a cross between an angel cake, a regular cake, and a meringue. It's almost snow-white crumb was light and refreshingly lemony. One of my colleagues said it was the perfect after-lunch sweet because it wasn't too sweet nor too heavy. After the cakes cooled, I spread some blueberry butter (akin to jam) on each one, and then topped them with cream cheese icing.
Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakesadapted from an Anna Olson recipeYield: 24 cakelettes
6 large eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
225g vanilla sugar
200g cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
125ml lemon juice
3 Tbsp poppyseeds
Preheat oven to 325F/170C and line cupcake pans.
Whip egg whites, cream of tartar and 75g sugar to a glossy, soft peak stage and set aside; in a second bowl mix the yolks and lemon juice. Whisk together the sugar, flour and salt, then mix in the lemony-yolky mixture and beat until thick. Stir in the poppyseeds. Fold in the whites, being careful not to deflate the mixture. Spoon into cupcake liners and bake for 40 minutes or until done (a skewer will come out cleanly and the tops will be a pale golden).
cheers!
jasmine
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