It took five years and four trips to New York City for me to finally find the time to make it up to the Upper West Side to visit the famous Levain Bakery. There are few “best of” type shows on the Food Network or “best of” NYC lists that don’t mention how amazing and how unique these seemingly ordinary cookies are. The recipe is a secret, of course, and so the frenzy only grows for these softball-sized treasures.

The famous Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut cookie.

Why do people flock to this shoebox of a bakery opened by two friends who aren’t even trained pastry chefs? No cookie I’ve ever tasted has been able to achieve the holy grail of cookie texture the way Levain does: a perfect crisp crust that protects a gooey, chewy middle. When I broke apart my cookie to see if it was true, it was a moment of shock and awe. How did they do this? How can I be eating this entire giant cookie? What will I do without access to the best cookie I’ve ever eaten, hands down?!?!

I do the next best thing. I scour the Internet for a copycat recipe and make do. As you can see, my copycats look nothing like the original. So…yeah, not much of a copycat in the looks department. The taste? Also not the same. BUT, they were pretty darn alright for a chocolate chip cookie. They did have a little of the crisp outside, gooey inside thing going on but nowhere near the perfect crust that Levain achieves. I must also say that I think I preferred Nigella’s cookies. And now I’m really wanting to try to make the also famous New York Times ultimate chocolate chip cookie. In time, in time.

Within the same few days, I had the pleasure of trying the excellent chocolate chip cookies of both Balthazar and Chikalicious, and Levain was definitely the best. (Have I told you yet that it was the best cookie I’ve ever eaten?) So, if you ever find yourself in New York City, don’t be silly and wait like I did. GO. Yes, there’s nothing really around to see except the Museum of Natural History and The Dakota, but it’s worth the trip.  You could also spend a fortune ordering them online, but that wouldn’t be as much fun, now, would it?

Copycat Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Parsley, Sage, Dessert and Line Drives

I halved the recipe below and got four large (roughly a half cup each) and three medium-sized cookies. I also used half dark chocolate and half milk chocolate, which I got by chopping up chocolate bars, not chocolate chips. You might notice that there is no vanilla in this recipe. Strange, but true. I also have learned from cookie-powers-that-be that you should let your dough rest so that the ingredients fully integrate. So, I did that.

1 cups cold and cubed unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1  1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon table or fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated. (I did this in a food processor, you could also do by hand.)
Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cornstarch, and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 10-12 equal portions on a parchment-lined plate or cutting board. Cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and flatten slightly (a step I forgot). Bake in the preheated oven 15-20 minutes depending on how gooey and raw-ish you like the interior, until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat in an airtight container.

These are best eaten on the day they are made. To freshen them at a later time, give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds or a few minutes in a warm oven.

Image courtesy of southbrooklynpost.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

Salty honey pie. You had me at salt.

More salty-sweet goodness: chocolate chip bars with a pretzel crust.

When I think of wild rice, I think of casseroles with mushy broccoli that seemed to be on everyone’s table years ago. Bad broccoli memories aside, this casserole brings on waves of nostalgia and seems perfect for a cold winter’s night.

I always thought those miniature pasta shapes were for soup only. Turns out you can make the ultimate bowl of comfort pasta with them as well.

The food of Andrew Carmellini’s that I tried at The Dutch in NYC was pretty outstanding. Thus, I’m sure these biscuits with honey butter are indeed some of the best you’ll ever try.

Seeing as how I’ve been strongly suggesting pumpkin recipes in my Clippings posts of late, I thought I should finally get around to doing something with pumpkin. Hopefully this won’t be the last foray because I believe you can safely get away with cooking with pumpkin between September and December. Unsafely, I see no problem in pushing it all the way until Spring. I mean, pumpkin usually connotes warm and spicy. Why do those feelings have to end with Thanksgiving? In Canada, we need those feelings to keep us going through months and months of winter.

When I came across this easy easy easy chocolate chip pumpkin loaf, I knew I had the perfect Sunday afternoon task to make my coworkers love me on Monday morning. As I learned last year, pumpkin and chocolate are well-suited for each other. Chocolate gives your cold-weather pumpkin treat a little more engine power. It appears that magic happens when you add something sweet and rich like chocolate to baked goods of the vegetable variety. Think about cream cheese icing and carrot cake or zucchini bread and chocolate. They’re tricks to get us to eat our vegetables, sure, but are you complaining?

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Loaf
Adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can pureed pumpkin (~14-15 oz)
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks or chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder, and soda. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, vanilla, and vegetable oil until thick. Fold the dry ingredients into the beaten mixture until well blended. Stir in the pumpkin, then add the chocolate. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour, until it tests done with a toothpick or cake tester. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack.

I think Halloween candy shows up in stores so early because we all end up eating it well before the end of the month. I mean, for the consideration of lunch boxes, candy dishes and movie nights at home, the fun sizes should be sold all year. But then the candy frenzy of October wouldn’t occur, and that wouldn’t be any fun.

So, here’s a quick little number to whip out when you crave all the base flavours of the ultimate mass-produced chocolate bar (chocolate, caramel, peanuts and peanut butter) but can’t bring yourself to buy one of those un-fun-sized bars—I mean, when WAS the last time you saw someone buy a chocolate bar? As it receives the “no-bake” label,  it’s as easy as can be and perfect for kids to help out with if you have some about. If you don’t, wrangle some. The wrappers on those caramels are a b-tch to get off!

Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Bars
Adapted from Bites Out of Life

The caramel was my addition. I added the cream so that when you pulled the bars out from the cold, you wouldn’t have to contend with a hard, sticky layer. What you have to watch out for is that once the bars start to warm a bit, the caramel gets oozy. This makes the chocolate layer shift, causing a napkin-worthy sweet indulgence. Enjoy.

2 cups graham crackers crumbs
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup + 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1-1/2 cups icing sugar
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
20 caramel candies
1 tablespoon cream
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
1/3 cup roughly crushed and chopped roasted peanuts

Mix the crushed grahams, butter, 1 cup of peanut butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl or in a food processor until smooth and well combined. Pour into an ungreased 9 in x 9 in baking dish and spread evenly. Freeze for 15 minutes.

In a large microwaveable bowl, melt the caramels and cream. It will take about 90 seconds, but stir and check every 30. Spread over the peanut butter layer and sprinkle salt on top. Freeze again for at least 15 minutes.

In a large microwaveable bowl again or over a double boiler, melt the chocolate and remaining peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth again if melting in the microwave. Spread in an even layer over top the hardened caramel and peanut butter layers. Sprinkle roasted peanuts on top. Freeze for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cut into squares. Refrigerate leftovers.

Image courtesy of traceysculinaryadventures.blogspot.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

I know I’m not one for kid-friendly cakes, but something about this root beer bundt cake makes me very happy.

Feeling more myself, I’d gravitate toward a slice of this fig yogurt bundt cake. Get the fresh figs while they’re still around…

I would love to impress some dinner guests with this goat cheese panna cotta appetizer.

I would love to eat a whole pan of these gooey cinnamon biscuits. Especially because they remove the fuss required for proper cinnamon buns.

And, this is the kind of lunch that makes me loathe my brown bag.

A good bar cookie can sometimes run circles around a regular old cookie, especially if you’re like me and enjoy thick, soft cookie middles. A pan of bar cookies can be looked upon as a pan of cookie middles for the most part. The edges, of course, get that crisp edge of a regular cookie, but the middle ones… oh, those middle ones. Dangerous.

These bars are gooey and crumbly and hard to stop eating. They’d stand up well to a strong cup of coffee. Cut large and cradling a large scoop of vanilla ice cream — you’d make your date putty in your hands. Crumbled small and thrown over big bowls of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge or caramel — your kids might just offer to rake the golden leaves. Fall is letting itself be known. Time to turn the oven on again.

Chocolate-Fig Oatmeal Bars
Adapted from Martha Stewart

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped dried figs*
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an eight-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, egg, salt, and orange zest until smooth. Add flour, oats, chocolate chips and figs; fold in just until combined.
Spread batter in prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into ~16 bars (or fewer for bigger bars). Can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for three days.

*If there is time, soak your figs first in hot water to soften. Drain well. I find that softened dried fruit has a much better texture in baked goods.

Image courtesy of www.wednesdaychef.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

A tomato salad sandwich sounds like a perfect solo supper.

Although it’s unlikely that my cherry obsession will allow me to do anything but eat the sweet spheres by the handful, I think these roasted cherry brownies might be worth the effort.

The same thing goes for blackberries, but I could also make the effort for large, buttery blackberry oat scones.

After polishing off the brownies and scones, I should probably lighten up a bit and try this yogurt pasta carbonara.

Completely unrelated, how ’bout we make this beef rendang?

I have no clue why I decided to try this recipe. Ice cream bread. Yes, exactly. WTF.
It sounded like some sort of Frankenfood.  And given that it originated in a Southern Living cookbook, I guess it kind of is. It’s the type of thing you might see Paula Deen whip together; the type of thing you can’t believe she would make but secretly would like to try.

Because when you think about it, ice cream contains many of the ingredients you need for baking: fat, sugar, eggs and flavouring.  All that’s missing is the flour, and that’s all you add to a pint of ice cream to make “ice cream bread.” Still totally weird, I know.

Given that I was going to use my coworkers as guinea pigs, I had to use a crowd-pleasing flavour.  Unsure of the “biscuit-like” texture some bloggers have used to describe the bread, I added some chopped chocolate. I wanted a slice to be a sweet treat rather than…a slice of odd bread.

It still ended up tasting a little like a chocolate biscuit. The flavour of the ice cream really mellows out, and you couldn’t taste the raspberry swirl at all. But I think you could have a lot of fun with this recipe given that it’s so easy. Chocolate ice cream with mini marshmallows and graham chunks for a s’mores bread? Strawberry ice cream with strawberry chunks to form the base of a strawberry shortcake? Surround yourself with some kids (I’m sure they would get a kick out of baking with ice cream), and I think you could take this recipe from weird to fun.

Ice Cream Bread
Adapted from The Hungry Housewife

2 cups/500 mL/1 pint full-fat ice cream, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Add softened ice cream and stir until just combined.  The softer your ice cream is, the easier it will be to mix.
Scoop batter into the loaf pan and and smooth out.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it.
Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

]]> http://creamandsugar.ca/ice-cream-bread-recipe-chocolate/feed/ 0 http://creamandsugar.ca/david-lebovitz-leite-culinaria-best-salt-fudge-brownies/ http://creamandsugar.ca/david-lebovitz-leite-culinaria-best-salt-fudge-brownies/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:56:12 +0000 cream http://creamandsugar.ca/?p=2444

It happened one afternoon.  Not in a moment of hunger. Not in a moment of hormonal upheaval. It just arrived. A deep, dark craving for a super fudgy brownie. My apathy to chocolate was appalled and held on strong for about three days before I gave in and let the itch win. But, I wasn’t going to give in for some hockey puck baked who knows when from a coffee shop. And I wasn’t going to take the easy route and hit up Betty Crocker. I would respect the craving and fulfill it as best I could by searching for the ultimate recipe.

I wanted something fudgy, so all recipes that had anything to do with being light, airy and cake-like were gone. I wanted to bite down on thick, rich softness, the kind that gets stuck in between your teeth and coats your tongue. David Lebovitz by way of David Leite would end up being my baker inspiration of choice, who in turn took his inspiration from Robert Steinberg. My attention was caught when David L. mentioned how crucial the one-minute mixing is to the recipe. Counting out loud as I beat my batter with a wooden spoon, it really was quite amazing how the batter indeed changes over those 60 seconds, resulting in something that would bake into the most perfect fudge brownie. I came across a number of recipes where flaky sea salt was involved at the end, so as I can’t seem to bake anything without a crowning of salt, my brownies would also be adorned.

One salted brownie, completely cooled, alleviated the itch. A few made it to the hands of friends, some more were frozen and later used as a dessert topped with vanilla ice cream and the rest were cut down to the one-bite size, frozen and then eaten straight out of the freezer as an after-work snack. One of the things I love about the generous use of butter and sugar is that it only needs moments on the counter to get fudgy enough again to be able to fill those spaces in your teeth and melt in your mouth.

Robert’s Absolute Best (Fudge) Brownies
Adapted from David Lebovitz

6 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Optional: 1 cup walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped; 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the inside of a 9-inch square pan with 2 lengths of foil, positioning the sheets perpendicular to each other and allowing the excess to extend beyond the edges of the pan, or with a single large sheet of extra wide foil or parchment paper. Lightly butter the foil or parchment.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla until combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and stir energetically for one full minute — time yourself — until the batter loses its graininess, becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away a bit from the sides of the saucepan. Stir in the chopped nuts if using.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle salt over top if using. Bake until the centre feels almost set, about 30 minutes. There should still be a few crumbs stuck to a toothpick when inserted. Do not overbake.

Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before lifting the foil or parchment and the block of brownie out of the pan. Cut the brownie into squares. (The brownies will keep well for up to four days and can be frozen for one month.)

Nigella Lawson is my biggest girl chef crush. I gaze lovingly from afar (my chair is not very close to the television) and both wish to be her, dipping into the leftovers past midnight, and to be sitting across the table from her, staring at her brown locks and eating her gorgeous food. The fact that she’s married to my favourite contemporary art magnate, Charles Saatchi, pushes me over the edge.

But, despite my brown locks, I am nothing like her in the kitchen. And so it was with trepidation that I cracked the spine of Kitchen, her latest cookbook. There are many recipes that sound wonderful, but for solitary, regularly meatless me, a little taxing. A dinner party will have to be centred around a savoury Nigella endeavour one day. In the meantime, I can certainly do cookies. Yes, cookies. A minor cop out. When a superstar like Nigella, however, claims to have an ultimate chocolate chip cookie, I take notice. A cold egg? Interesting. Extra large in size? Keep going. Milk chocolate chips? Let’s go.

I’ve read quite a few posts and articles about how an extra large cookie is the best for exemplifying a cookie’s taste and texture. I had to buy a large scoop especially for this recipe. It was totally worth it. Having a cookie look like you picked it up at a bakery is a nice touch, but having it taste like it too? Extra nice. As you can see, I did make three different sizes because I know that not everyone will eat a giant cookie. I’m pretty sure that those few that got to taste the giant cookies (me included) much preferred them, extra calories and all.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen

Yes, British measurements. Could make for interesting conversions, so use a kitchen scale if possible. Your cookies might look too underbaked when you pull them out of the oven, but the extra 5 minutes on the pan really makes a difference.

150 g soft unsalted butter
125 g light brown sugar
100 g white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg, fridge-cold
1 egg yolk, fridge-cold
300 g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
300 g milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3 — I went with slightly below 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the butter and let it cool a bit. Put the brown and white sugars into a bowl, pour the slightly cooled, melted butter over them and beat together. Beat in the vanilla, the cold egg and cold egg yolk until your mixture is light and creamy. Slowly mix in the flour and the baking soda until just blended, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookie dough into large rounds (about ¼ cup) and drop onto the prepared baking sheet, plopping the cookies down about 3 inches apart. You will need to make these in at least two batches, keeping the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge between batches.

Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly golden. If you decide to make a smaller cookie, they will take less time, you’ll have to watch closely. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks.