Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
found on Smitten Kitchen
From Retro Desserts

Ingredients:
1.25 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups sugar (the cookies end up pretty sweet, so maybe a little bit less)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1.25 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg

Preheat to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using either a food processor or an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Keeping the mixer on at low speed, cream in the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together.

Take two rounded teaspoons of batter at a time and place on baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

I burnt my second batch a little (look, it's hard to tell, the cookies are brown already), but I actually preferred them a little overdone. They're less sweet and more Oreo-like.

Chewy Tortilla Chips & Guacamole

Have you ever considered chewy tortilla chips? I recently went with a friend to try out a restaurant called Malo (not malo at all) in Silverlake. Besides boasting a tequila bar with 150 tequilas and spicy cucumber martinis, they've got a whole set of really delicious (okay, one was delicious, the others were really delicious-sounding) salsas and, more importantly, chewy tortilla chips. I knew immediately that I was going to love these. It's like those fresh homemade tortilla chips that they serve at real Mexican restaurants, only this wasn't a real Mexican restaurant and these chips were so much more than chips. They were piping hot and salty, crunchy in parts and chewy in others, and the perfect balance to a cool and spicy seasonal salsa. The food was quite good, but frankly, I didn't have much time for it.
More chips, please.

So the point is, I went home and of course tried to recreate these the next day. And found, to my surprise, that homemade tortilla chips are every bit as easy as one would guess. This is rarely my experience in cooking adventures and misadventures.

Ingredients for Chewy Chips:
10-12 white corn tortillas
2 cups of oil
salt and cumin for seasoning
a twist of lime

Cut a stack of tortillas into 8 wedges round. In a large heavy saucepan, heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil over medium high. You can check whether or not the oil is hot enough by dipping a piece of the tortilla in the pan: it's ready when the oil begins to bubble around the tortilla. Be careful to keep an eye on your oil and make sure you get to it before it gets to you. Once it begins to pop... you lose, and it hurts.

Add the tortilla wedges in the oil in batches without overcrowding them. Cook until desired crunchiness (or chewiness) and drain on paper towel. Add seasoning, and serve while hot with a cool side of salsa or guacamole [recipe to follow].


Ingredients for Guacamole:
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
1 large roma tomato, seeded and diced
2 tsp cilantro, chopped
1/2 a small white onion, chopped
1 tsp of lemon or lime juice (fresh is best, but the the stuff that comes in those weird squeeze bottles that are supposed to look like a lemon and a lime, respectively, works just fine too)
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocados in a bowl with a fork until a little before desired chunkiness (Adding the other ingredients and the lime juice smooths it other a little more). Add everything else in and season to taste. Try not to eat the whole bowl.

Chocolate & Toffee Chip Cookies

Be warned: I am not an avid chocolate lover. I know, it's embarrassing, but I feel like it's only fair to immediately admit this for your consideration. What I really love is the chewiness of the cookie when it's fresh and warm, and the perfect crunchiness of the cookie with those toffee chips the day after. They're thin and buttery and remind me of Brussels cookies, which I adore. So... that said, adjust chocolate to cookie ratio accordingly.


(adapted from allrecipes after a Google of "fat, chewy cookies")

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup toffee bits

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla and the egg until the mixture is light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips and toffee bits by hand using a wooden spoon. Gather balls of cookie dough sized about 2 tablespoons and slightly flatten them before pressing them one at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Shrimp-Stuffed Baby Portobellos

I love stuffed mushrooms, but I never order them in restaurants because, well, five is simply not enough and when you're out in public, you have to play nice and share. The thought of eating only one stuffed mushroom makes me immensely sad. But LOOK, if you make them yourself, you can eat twenty of them, drink a bottle of wine, and then roll straight into bed. It's a win-win...winwinwin situation. Granted, you'll feel like a sack of melty potatoes for the rest of the evening, but it's a pleasurable pain and perfect for a special occasion.
Like a Wednesday.

Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Bon Appetit

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
6 ounces cooked bay shrimp [chopped shrimp works just great as well]
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs from French bread
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
24 baby portobello mushrooms, stems & gills removed

(Breadcrumbs can be made easily by cutting the crust off a few slices of slightly stale or aired-out bread and popping them in the food processor. I thought I could be clever and shorten the process by grating the bread on a cheese grater. This, I promise you, is most definitely not easier or quicker.)

Heat the oil in heavy skillet over medium-high heat.

Add in the onion, basil, garlic, and rosemary. Sauté until onion softens (approximately 5 minutes), and transfer to medium-sized bowl.

Mix in the shrimp, breadcrumbs, cheese, and mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange the mushrooms, top down, on lighoiled baking sheet. Mound shrimp filling in mushrooms, pressing filling to compact slightly. Bake mushrooms until tender and filling begins to brown, about 35 minutes. Serve hot. (Not a problem because they're so delicious you'll want to eat them all before you even get them onto a plate.)

[These can be made 6 hours ahead of time, just cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. MAGIC.]

Grilled Gruyere and Sweet Onions

The new and improved grilled cheese.

Grilled Gruyere and Sweet Onions
(As found on Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Food & Wine)

makes four sandwiches...

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced crosswise (4 cups)
salt and freshly ground pepper
8 1/2-inch-thick slices of whole-grain bread (substituted sourdough)
Dijon mustard
8 ounces imported Gruyère cheese, thinly sliced
2 dill pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise

In a deep skillet, melt the butter in the oil. Add the onion, cover and cook over high heat, stirring once or twice, until softened, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is very tender and caramelized, about 25 minutes longer. Add water to the skillet as necessary, 1/4 cup at a time, to prevent the onion from scorching. Season the caramelized onion with salt and pepper.

Arrange the bread on a work surface. Spread a thin layer of mustard on each slice. Top half of the slices with the onion, Gruyère and pickles and close the sandwiches.

Preheat a grill pan or panini press. Grill the sandwiches over low heat until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted, 5-6 minutes. If using a grill pan, press the sandwiches with a spatula and flip them halfway through. Cut in half and serve right away.