My Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Sweet Treats

Like most people on this planet, I love chocolate chip cookies. But not everyone likes their cookies the same way - chewy, crunchy, extra-chocolatey, warm, cold, dipped in milk...So, I embarked on a mission to find the best chocolate chip cookie of all time.

My mission was successful.

In 2008, the New York Times went on a similar mission: Perfection? Hint: It's Warm and Has a Secret.

...and they came up with a world class cookie..."The result was a recipe for a consummate cookie, if you will: one built upon decades of acquired knowledge, experience and secrets." The recipe is adapted from Jacques Torres's classic cookie, but was perfected by discoveries and insights of other bakers. I made the mistake of baking these immaculate cookies on Friday afternoon because my diet last weekend consisted of cookies and milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They were perfect - chewy in the middle, crunchy on the edges, and filled with melty, gourmet chocolate chunks. I ate them hot, I ate them cold, I ate them soaked in milk, I ate them before 10am, I ate the raw dough. Without further ado...

Ingredients:

*This makes about 20 large cookies

**NOTE: Do not substitute these flours for all-purpose flour. The pastry and bread flour are what make the cookies so perfect.

***NOTE: Leave enough time to chill the dough for 24-36 hours before baking.

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
• 1 & 2/3 cups bread flour
• 1 & 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 & 1/2 sticks (1 & 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
• 1 & 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 & 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate, at least 60% cacao content (I used Ghiradelli)

Recipe:

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl:

2. Cream butter and sugars together until very light (roughly 5 minutes):

3. Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients. Mix until just combined (roughly 10 seconds):

4. Chop up the chocolate:

5. Drop in chocolate pieces and incorporate without breaking them:

6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24-36 hours:

WARNING: The dough is addictive and delicious, so don't eat it all raw!

7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop and shape balls of dough (about the size of golf balls) onto the baking sheet:

8. Bake until golden brown but still soft (roughly 18-20 minutes):

Then, according to the New York Time's article, "Eat warm, with a big napkin." It's my recommendation to pour a large glass of milk.

Quinoa and Feta-Stuffed Peppers

Savory Eats

"Fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City" is Deb's slogan (she is the cook and writer of Smitten Kitchen). I can thoroughly relate to those words...which gives me more reason to be obsessed with the Smitten Kitchen food blog. Last night I whipped up yet another fantastic Smitten Kitchen inspired recipe. In addition, I've been reading up on some food photography lessons and my photos are looking progressively more appetizing! The recipe I am going to share with you today was SO flavorful, SO colorful, SO healthy, and SO easy...

Quinoa and Feta-Stuffed Bell Peppers

Photos taken by yours truly!

What's great about this dish is the portions are perfect. You can quarter the recipe and make one delicious stuffed pepper (a meal in itself) or you can double the recipe and make 8 peppers for a hungry crowd!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
• 2/3 cup red quinoa
• 4 extra-large bell peppers
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
• 15 oz. canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 oz. crumbled light feta cheese (about 1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• Salt and pepper

Recipe:

*Preheat the oven to 350F

Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a saucepan, add quinoa, cover, and cook for 15 minutes (or as directed on the package).

While the quinoa is cooking, cut the tops off of the peppers and scoop out the seeds.

Place peppers upright in a baking dish and roast them at 350F for 15 minutes (until they soften up). Remove from the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop up your veggies.

Heat oil in a skillet and add onions, zucchini/squash, fennel seeds, oregano, and salt. Cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are softened.

Remove from heat and add in the tomatoes, chickpeas, and tomato paste.

Mix it up well. 

Add your cooked quinoa. Mix it up well.

Mix in your crumbled feta.

Fill your peppers with the quinoa mixture. Bake in the oven for 15 more minutes at 350F.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

How To Roast Garlic...

Savory Eats

Roasted garlic is so delicious that I could squeeze the cloves out and eat them plain.

The best part about roasted garlic? It's so easy to make and very hard to mess up. Mine came out perfect and golden brown even as a first timer.

Ingredients:

• 2 heads of fresh garlic
• 4 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper (I used some white truffle salt)

Recipe:

*Thanks for the pictures Angela (my pics didn't come out as great)

**Preheat the oven to 400F.

Peel off the loose skin.

Cut the head so every clove is exposed.

Drizzle 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil on each head of garlic.

Wrap each head of garlic in tin foil and roast in the oven at 400F for about 45 minutes until the cloves are golden brown.

The roasted cloves should look like this!

And they pop out very easily.

Now comes the fun part...what should we do with our perfectly roasted garlic? Here are some ideas that I have tried (and loved!):

1. Spread on toasted and oiled baguette slices.

2. Mix in with some roasted vegetables.

3. Sprinkle on top of a homemade pizza.

4. Mash up in some hummus or baba ghanoush (P.S. my dad's famous baba ghanoush recipe is soon to be revealed).

Salt.

Savory Eats & Big Apple Bites

Salt...something that I sprinkle on my food far too frequently.

Smoked Paprika Sea Salt, Truffle Sea Salt, Smoked Alderwood Sea Salt, Hickory Sea Salt...

If it's salty, I love it - salted caramel, salted kettle corn, extra-salty soft pretzels, salty pickles, dark chocolate with sea salt. I could go on forever. So when my friend Aleksa took me to The Filling Station on Saturday, I died and went to heaven. The Filling Station is a unique shop in Chelsea Market that specializes in infused oils, vinegars, and rare salts.

Yes...those labels say bacon, espresso, and white truffle salt.

I splurged and went for an $11.00 jar of the white truffle salt. It was worth every penny. I left the store eating white truffle salt straight out of the palm of my hand. You could sprinkle this little jar of heaven on plain spaghetti with olive oil and it will taste immaculate.

Luckily, my mom has a great recipe to make Citrus Salt so I can avoid spending my life savings at The Filling Station.

It is great sprinkled on vegetables or a salad (or on the rim of a margarita??)

Ingredients:

• Flaky sea salt (ie. Maldon Sea Salt Flakes)
• Fresh lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit zest (or whatever flavor you want!)

Recipe:

-Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.

-Combine the sea salt and citrus zest in a bowl and mix well...for every 1/2 cup of sea salt there should be 1 tablespoon of zest. Make sure you really work the zest and salt together to avoid clumps of zest.

-Spread across a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake the salt for 70 minutes (until the citrus is fully dried out).

-Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

-Then, if you want your salt a bit more fine, you can pulse the salt a few times in a food processor.

-Store in an air-tight jar for a few months and ENJOY!

It can be gifted in cute jars too!

BYOB Sushi: A Twentysomething's Dream

Big Apple Bites

NaNa Sushi. I knew I would write about this restaurant sooner or later. No, it is not on any sort of Zagat or foodies restaurant list, but it has made it's way into my heart for many reasons:

1. It's BYOB (bring your own ANYTHING...wine, beer, liquor...)

2. It's BYOB

3. If you don't bring your own alcohol, the cocktails are $6.

4. The prices are SO reasonable...

5. AND, the sushi will exceed your expectations. From my experience, the fish is fresh and the extensive selection of sushi rolls is delicious.

6. There is a "Sex in the Lobby" roll on their menu...and I've ordered it.

7. It's in my neighborhood and there is always a fun crowd eating there.

8. It's BYOB

A restaurant front I am too familiar with.

It is a favorite among my friends before going out on the weekends and is centrally located between 34th and 35th St on 3rd Avenue. In case you forget to bring your own booze, there is a liquor store across the street...how convenient!

Cheap and easy restaurant with good quality sushi? Go to NaNa.

Zucchini Faux-ghetti

Savory Eats

I made the zucchini "faux-ghetti" (previous post) again with my amazing spiral slicer, but altered it a little bit. I added some angel hair spaghetti to the zucchini to make the dish heartier.

Half zucchini, half angel hair spaghetti!

It was delicious, healthy, filling, and easy! I've made it about five times in the last two weeks.

First, I whipped out the vegetable spiral slicer...

Spiral-sliced the zucchini.

Spiral-sliced the yellow squash.

Stick this raw zucchini "faux-ghetti" in the microwave for a little less than a minute just to soften it up. Then season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Now, put a lil' zucchini "faux-ghetti" and a lil' angel hair in a bowl...add some sauce...and voila!

Gramercy Park Hotel: Brunch on the Terrace

Big Apple Bites

My experience at the Gramercy Park Hotel felt like Christmas morning. My mom was in town and the Gramercy Park Hotel Terrace had been highly recommended for brunch. Little did I know that upon entering the hotel I would be greeted by a gigantic Damien Hirst piece from his butterfly collection. Being that I was an art history minor at Georgetown (and in love with all of Damien Hirst's work), this was the highlight of my experience.

Damien Hirst

Posterity-The Holy Place

Another notable piece in the lobby...

Dan Colen

(untitled)

...this is made of chewing gum!

After ogling at the butterfly piece, we made our way up to the terrace. Stepping out of the elevator, I felt like I was walking into a modern art museum. It was heaven...

Andy Warhol

Sylvester Stallone, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Henry Geldzahler

Damien Hirst

Beautiful Sick and Jealous of What You've Got

...of the spin art collection

Damien Hirst

Oral Cancer, Light Micrograph

Onto the food (which was good, but out-shined by the art)...The menu was small, but decadent. To start, we all split the Bread Pudding French Toast topped with berries and sweet cream. The waitress described the dish as, "french toast made from an assortment of fresh baked pastries in our kitchen." TO DIE FOR...

Mmmmmm.

I ordered...

Soft Baked Eggs

with squash, tarragon, and goat cheese

Kait ordered...

Two Eggs Skillet

with crispy potatoes, bacon, and toast

Mom and Anja ordered smoked salmon on an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, and onions (simple but still delicious).

The food was good, the art was great. A definite recommendation for art lovers and foodies!