The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

All over the internet this month you will find Christmas cookie and candy recipes. Everyone is gushing about the traditional sweets that have been made in their families for years, and about how they're frantically finishing their Christmas baking.

I'm so not interested in Christmas cookies. Especially those sugar ones that have frosting and sprinkles on them. Or gingersnaps. Or pfeffernusse (I don't even know what the hell that is!). Or anything with candy canes. Those chocolate-less cookies do nothing for me. I'm a simple girl. When I want a cookie, all I want is a perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Oh, relax. I'm not trying to start any big fights here. I realize that "perfect" is absolutely subjective and what's perfect to me could be average to you. Some people like their chocolate chip cookies chewy-soft (me!). This is the kind of cookie my mom has made for years and my gold standard for the ideal cookie texture. But Mom says she prefers Grandma's cookies which are crispy and crumbly. The difference? Grandma uses butter, Mom uses butter-flavored Crisco.

Not wanting any butter-flavored anything added into my body, but also not wanting to forsake that yummy chewiness, I used a mixture of butter and olive oil for my shortening. It worked like a charm. The cookies came out of the oven delicately crispy on the outside, ooey gooey on the inside, rich with the caramel flavor of extra brown sugar, and studded with good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips. In my humble opinion, absolutely perfect.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, melted and cooled

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 1/4 cups flour

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together one at a time in the order listed. Ideally, but not necessary, you can chill or freeze the dough before baking. Roll into golf-ball size, smoosh down gently, and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Best enjoyed warm and fresh out of the oven.

ONE YEAR AGO: Creamed Mushroom and Artichoke Pasta

Mixed Vegetable Hash

A couple of angels on my block named Joe and Gary saved the day (and my biceps) by snowblowing behind my garage. They would have done all my sidewalks, too, but I had already done it. Amazing, friendly, wonderful neighbors. I'm so lucky.

They say it's bitterly cold today, and it is. However, it's beautiful too! The sun is shining and neighbors are helping each other up and down the street. It warms my cold, cold heart! It's official - I'm now in the Christmas spirit!

I am also in the midst of an egg-stravaganza it seems. I can't get enough incredible, edible eggs in my system this weekend! I put this morning's egg on top of the prettiest breakfast I've ever enjoyed! All it took was a carrot, a parsnip, a handful of Brussels sprouts, a half potato, and a quarter of an onion.

I seriously thought I was making a single portion. Oops, actually I got a huge bowl of shredded vegetables after a quick pass through my food processor that I'm certain would feed four. Then I simply fried some of them up in a non-stick skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Once the veggies get some color on them, flip and shape into a nice round form. Once they're all cooked down and browned, they will slide right out of your pan ready for your egg.

To all my fellow Twin Citians, I hope you have neighbors as wonderful as mine. Enjoy the beautiful weather today but stay warm and cozy if possible!

Mixed Vegetable Hash, makes 4 servings

1 carrot

1 parsnip

1 cup Brussels sprouts

1/2 russet potato

1/4 yellow onion

olive oil, salt, pepper to taste

eggs

Feed all your vegetables through the grater attachment on your food processor. Alternatively, you could use a box grater, or the julienne blade on a mandoline, or just chop finely.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add a couple big handsful of your grated veggies to the skillet and push down with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with salt, pepper, and drizzle more olive oil over.

Let cook 2-3 minutes or until veggies start to brown. Flip as best you can and cook the other side. Keep using spatula to press veggies down and into a round shape. Slide onto a plate and top with eggs cooked to your preference.

Sunny Side Up Pizza

I needed this super filling, protein-packed pizza today in order to shovel the 16+ inches of snow that is trying to bury me. I was going to call this Breakfast Pizza but that's silly since I actually ate it for lunch and wouldn't hesitate to make it for dinner either.

I happened to have some leftover sauteed balsamic kale in the fridge from making my favorite meal ever, and I figured it would be fun to make that meal into a pizza. It worked beautifully!

In theory, you could make your own pizza dough, but I'm lazy today and just used a whole wheat pita as my crust. I started my pizza with the pita drenched in olive oil, garlic, fresh chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Then I layered on the sauteed kale (you could substitute mushrooms, bacon, or any other breakfast meats or veggies you like) and some sliced cherry tomatoes. Some grated cheese is crucial for this pizza, and I used a delicious cave aged gruyere and also a little parmesan.

Crack your egg into the center (you could use scrambled eggs if runny yolks aren't your thing) and bake. The yolk becomes a rich sauce for the pizza when you cut into it.

This was definitely muscle-building food, which was needed for the first round of shoveling! Now it's couch potato time as I build up motivation for round two!

Sunny Side Up Pizza

1 whole wheat pita (or homemade pizza dough)

olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 sprig rosemary, chopped

salt and pepper

sauteed kale and onions with balsamic vinegar (or cooked bacon, sauteed mushrooms, etc)

sliced grape tomatoes

grated cheese

1 egg

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Assemble pizza according to your tastes. Crack an egg into the center. Bake for 12 minutes or until egg white is set and yolk is still runny.

Sweet Onion and Mushroom Galette

I know there are many people don't like mushrooms and/or stinky cheese and there is nothing I can do to change your mind. These pictures surely won't convince you, what with all the brownness and such. So, this post isn't for you. You might want to look away and go read some celebrity gossip blogs for awhile (I recommend this one!).

But, for the rest of you. Yeah, you - the ones who think stinky cheese is the bee's knees, and who think mushrooms are the cat's meow. To you lovely readers, all I can say is WOW. Wow, wow, wow. This galette is one of my favorite things I've ever made. It is bursting with the flavors of mushrooms, sweet onions, balsamic vinegar, creamy pungent taleggio cheese, and a flaky crust that's loaded with butter. I ate 3 pieces, and after writing that last sentence I'm tempted to go back for another. It is THAT GOOD.

A galette is a type of pie, with a free-form crust - which you load up with sweet or savory fillings. My version is kind of like a pizza, but with more of a pastryish crust and way more toppings than you'd find on a flimsy slice of pizza.

You could easily simplify this recipe by using store bought pie crust or puff pastry and I'm sure it would still be awesome. However, this simple crust blew my mind with how light and flaky it was. An absolutely perfect complement to those rich and juicy mushrooms. The sauteed onions and splash of balsamic vinegar added just the right sweet and acidic balance to the galette.

You can't tell because it all melted into the mushrooms, but I also added knobs of a super ripe soft taleggio cheese. I wanted a stinky cheese tonight, but you could radically change the personality of this dish if you used a light, fresh goat cheese instead. Ah hell, who am I kidding? ANY cheese would be good on this! But I think especially brie, gruyere, mozzarella, parmesan, or provolone would taste great.

Sweet Onion and Mushroom Galette

For the crust: (from Deborah Madison via Nirmala's Cooking Blog)

2 cups flour

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into smaller chunks

3/4 cup ice water

For the filling:

2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp butter

1 sweet yellow onion, diced

A whole bunch of mixed mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (I used one package wild mushrooms, 1 package criminis, and 1 package button mushrooms)

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp dried thyme (or 2-3 Tbsp fresh)

salt and pepper

Ripe soft cheese, like taleggio

1 egg, beaten

1. First, make the crust.

Put first four ingredients in a bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. You want to keep the dough as cold as possible until you put it in the oven, because that will make it puff up and get flaky.

Remove the bowl from the freezer and put the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to combine, then add ice water a little at a time until it holds together when you pinch it.

Remove dough from food processor, work the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for another 15 minutes.

2. Then make the filling.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil and butter. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes or until soft, but not browned. Add all your mushrooms and thyme and cook for another 8-10 minutes until they're nice and brown and the liquid has cooked out. Add balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until liquid has again been absorbed.

3. Finally, assemble your galette.

Remove dough from freezer and roll out on floured counter to a large circle about 1/8 inch thick. Fold in four and transfer to a baking stone or parchment covered baking sheet. Pour your filling into the middle and spread it out, leaving 1.5 - 2 inches around the edge.

Fold up all the edges and pinch to hold. Dot the top with knobs of your ripe cheese and brush the edges of your dough with the egg wash.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

ENJOY!

Banana, Chocolate, and Pumpkin Waffles

About a week before Thanksgiving, I somehow got it into my head that I needed to make waffles. I've never made waffles before so I'm not sure where this idea came from. But I couldn't shake the thought of biting into a fresh hot crispy waffle doused in pure maple syrup.

Being thrifty, I didn't want to go buy a waffle maker so I thought I should borrow one instead. My mom didn't have one anymore and I thought I was out of luck until I asked my 93-year-old Grandpa Art on a whim if he had one. Well, wouldn't you know....a two ton monstrosity that must date back to the 1960's was all mine for the taking. Note the super safe fabric-covered cord.

Needless to say, I was THRILLED with my new toy. My grandma, who died over 20 years ago, used to make waffles on this thing! It's got history, AND it makes delicious waffles!

I may have gone a bit overboard and have made several different versions of waffles a couple times a week since then, with all kinds of different toppings. I remember around the time I was in kindergarten, my daycare provider Dorothy would make waffles for lunch and she'd serve them spread with homemade strawberry jam and heavy whipping cream poured on top. YUM.

First I made pumpkin waffles with the last of the roasted squash puree in my fridge. The recipe I found asked you to whip the egg whites separately - similar to a souffle recipe - so the waffles puff up nice and fluffy. It was a good recipe and the waffles were yummy.

A few nights later I made a batch of Alton Brown's Chocolate Waffles. These were SO easy and even tastier. I actually split his recipe in two and put cocoa powder in one half, and mashed ripe bananas in the other half.

The best part about making all these waffles is that I have several big ziploc bags in the freezer filled with waffles that cook up in a toaster (homemade Eggos!) in just a few minutes.

I think the crispy edges you get from the toaster almost make them taste better as leftovers! Also, because these waffles are crammed with fresh ingredients instead of artificial flavorings or preservatives, you can eat them straight from the toaster and they're so flavorful they don't even need syrup or other sugary toppings.

Pumpkin Waffles, adapted from the Pumpkin Waffles Blog

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 large eggs, separated

1 cup milk

1 cup roasted pureed squash (or canned pumpkin)

4 Tbsp butter, melted

Mix all the dry ingredients together. In separate bowl, mix together egg yolks, milk, pumpkin, and melted butter. In a third bowl, whip the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

Fold dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture, then fold in egg whites but try to not overmix.

Heat your waffle iron and grease it with some olive oil or butter cooking spray. Add a ladle of waffle batter, close and cook approx 3 minutes or until waffles are golden and crispy.

Chocolate and/or Banana Waffles, from Alton Brown

1 1/2 cups flour

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 whole eggs, beaten

4 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups buttermilk, well shaken

First mix your dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix all your wet ingredients in another bowl. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined.

Split this batter into 2 equal servings (or just leave as one full batch of either kind and double the amounts that follow). Into one serving, add 1/4 cup cocoa powder. Into the other serving, add 2 very ripe mashed bananas.

Cook as described above in your greased hot waffle iron for 2-3 minutes.

HANDY TIP: Don't overfill your waffle maker.

ONE YEAR AGO: Green and Lean Loaf

Roasted Vegetable Mac-n-Cheese

My biggest and most humiliating cooking failure occurred the one and only time I tried to make homemade macaroni and cheese. I didn't cook the roux long enough and I used only one type of cheese, which was a much too sharp white cheddar. It tasted like raw flour on top of a bitter cheese. Alicia and Marney tried to spare my feelings but neither of them could eat it.

That experience was probably 5 or 6 years ago and I've been haunted by it ever since and have never attempted it again. Until last night, when I arrived home after a 2 hour commute and decided to hibernate while the heavens dumped 8+ inches of beautiful fluffy white snow on me.

I've since learned how to properly cook a roux to make a tasty bechamel sauce. That's simply a fancy French word for the white sauce that's created when you cook butter and flour together for at least 2 minutes, then whisk in milk or stock and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

My roasted vegetable version of mac-n-cheese has 1 cup of roasted pureed squash added to the bechamel. I also added a combination of fontina, gruyere, and parmesan. I had leftover roasted broccoli, grape tomatoes, and button mushrooms that I threw in there with a half box of cooked whole wheat penne.

Continuing to use up what I had on hand, I toasted up some thick slices of whole wheat artisan bread in the oven, then blitzed them up in the food processor to make some hearty bread crumbs. These got sprinkled on top of the mac-n-cheese, then a drizzle of olive oil to help it brown, and a trip into a hot oven for 20 minutes.

This macaroni and cheese is SO GOOD. Seriously, if these photos don't make you drool on to your keyboard, there is something wrong with you! The cheese flavor is mild, the squash flavor shines through, and the occasional bite into a sweet grape tomato or earthy mushroom will keep you eating and eating till you can't stop. I'm not usually one to go for seconds, but I actually had thirds of this dish!

Roasted Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese

1/2 package whole wheat pasta (I used penne)

2 cups roasted vegetables (I used broccoli, grape tomatoes, and button mushrooms)

1 cup squash puree (I had pre-roasted and frozen my own, but you can buy frozen squash or use canned pumpkin)

2 1/2 cups shredded cheese - any combo (I used 1 1/2 cups fontina, 1/2 cup gruyere, 1/2 cup parmesan)

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

2 cups whole milk (you could use lighter milk)

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp dried ground mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (either store bought, or homemade)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil pasta in accordance with package instructions. Roast your veggies and puree your squash if you haven't done so in advance. Grate your cheese.

In a medium pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add flour and whisk together. Let it cook at least 2 minutes but don't burn it. Slowly whisk in your milk and raise the heat a little bit. Add nutmeg, mustard, salt and pepper and cook and continue whisking until sauce is thickened (it should coat a spoon).

Whisk in all your grated cheese and your pureed squash. It should be a bright orange thick sauce that tastes amazing. Add your roasted veggies and cooked pasta. Mix well.

Pour your cheesy mixture into a greased casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs and drizzle with olive oil or melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are a toasty golden brown.

ONE YEAR AGO: Nothing, I was too busy selling Coach handbags at Macy's.

Lemon Panko Salmon

I am so burnt out on Thanksgiving. No more hot and mushy bland food, please! Time for something totally different - like a bright lemony flavored crunchy crusty piece of salmon!

We are so lucky to have Coastal Seafoods in the Twin Cities. If you like fish and/or seafood, there is no better source for the freshest stuff around. Plus, the workers are always super helpful (and as I've mentioned, smoking hot). And if that isn't enough to entice you to stop by, then you should at least peruse the awesome treasure trove of recipes on their website.

Alicia introduced me to the Coastal Seafoods recipe site and I've gotten lost browsing there. She emailed me this recipe and I was very excited to try it because of it's simplicity and because it sounded absolutely delicious. And, it was both - super simple and very good! I like that I didn't have to try to dredge the fish in the breading. Instead you just pour the buttery bread crumbs over the top of the fish and throw the whole pan in the oven.

The smell of the garlic and lemon was intoxicating (or maybe that was the big glass of wine?). Too intoxicating I guess, because I forgot to take a photo of my beautiful food until most of it was in my belly. Served with some buttered wheat artisan bread and roasted broccoli and grape tomatoes, this was one of the best meals I've had in a long time.

There was a LOT of salmon leftover, so I flaked up the remainder and made beautiful salmon cakes with the addition of a couple beaten eggs and a few more bread crumbs. I froze the salmon cakes for future use. What a great way to put some closure to Thanksgiving for another year.

Lemon Panko Salmon, from Coastal Seafoods

1.5 - 2 lb salmon filet

1 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced (I substituted 1 tsp dried parsley)

1 Tbsp dried basil (I omitted this because I didn't have any)

3 Tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese

1 lemon, zested

2 Tbsp melted butter

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and lightly oil or butter a baking sheet. Place salmon on sheet, skin side down. Lightly coat salmon with 1 Tbsp olive oil or melted butter.

Combine panko, garlic, parsley, basil, cheese, zest, salt, and melted butter. Mix well. Pour over fish and pat into place.

Bake 8 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

ONE YEAR AGO: More Vegetable Than Egg Frittata