Friday, May 6, 2011

chocolate fudge cookies


All I can say is uuuuuuhhhhhhhh, oh my gosh.

Which is probably why they are the first result that comes up when you Google 'choc fudge cookies.' Thank the lord for that because it was a bit of a gamble when running around Woolworths to decide that I didn't want to make jam swirl cookies, I wanted to make something fudgey and delicious. Thank you, iphone! This recipe if from www.joyofbaking.com which I had never been to, but if every recipe is an Americany Awesome as this, it's my new favourite place. They also have a really comprehensive ingredient substitution page which is worth a look.

Ingredients:
1 cup (115 grams) pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup (55 grams) cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder (optional)
1 pound (450 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated white sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (170 grams) semisweet dark chocolate chips
1 cup (170 grams) white chocolate chips

First of all, I didn't use any nuts because I didn't have enough money. Secondly, I used milk chocolate chips instead of dark so we could have a triple-awesome-every-kind-of-chocolate cookie. Thirdly, I take weird American ingredients to mean:

Baking flour=plain flour
Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate=dark cooking chocolate

I haven't checked this, but it worked out fine. Also, I was about 50g short of dark chocolate. Got that? Okay, let's press on.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Let nuts cool and then chop coarsely. 
2. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder.  
Melt the chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. 


Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. I was in too much of a hurry for that bit, so I left it about 10 mins (and it's freezing here) and that was plenty.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs until pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) 

Go Mixmaster, go!
4. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla extract.  Fold in the dry ingredients to the chocolate batter and mix only until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Cover with plastic wrap and 
refrigerate the batter until firm, about 30 minutes (or overnight).

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls (60 ml) onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing evenly.
With moist fingers, press batter to form 3 1/2 to 4 inch (9 - 10 cm) rounds. 


Bake cookies about 12 - 14 minutes or until the tops of the cookies become dry and cracked, but are still shiny. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and place baking pan on a wire rack to cool.  When cookies are firm, remove from baking pan and let completely cool on rack.

Don't try and put them on a wire rack--if you haven't overcooked them they should be too floppy when hot to move.

Funny thing is, first batch looked like this:

Oh yeahhh.
  Second batch looked like this:

Oh.

It was either cookie aliens or batch #2's baking tray was too small. That tin was voted off the island for the rest of the batches. Make sure your cookies have plenty of room to move in the oven, because they become quite enormous (have I mentioned they're American?)
 
These cookies are best the day they are baked but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.
Makes about 24 large (giant) cookies.

Verdict: These cookies are the shiznit. I took half the batch to my parents' house and half to my friend's, who was puppysitting for me. Even my mum, who doesn't particularly like cookies, ate two. My friend, I'm fairly sure, has eaten all twelve.



almond pear tart


Every May we have lunch with my parents' ex-commune hippie friends at their house in Bilpin. They have a bed and breakfast and lots of land covered in golden trees and a ride-on lawnmower now. So I make something warming and autumny.

Ingredients:
145g butter
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tbsp iced water

Poached pears:
3 cups water
1 ½ cups sugar
3 brown pears, peeled, halved and cored

Almond filling:
75g butter
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cups almond meal
2 tbsp plain flour
1 ½ tbsp brandy

Method:
1. Place the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, add enough iced water to form a soft dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min. 

I find with Donna Hay's shortcrust that it takes a teeny bit more water than she says. But maybe that's because my food processor is a bit of a weakling. 


2. To make the poached pears, place the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until the water is dissolved, then simmer for 5 min. Add the pears and simmer for 15 min or until tender. Remove from water and allow to cool on absorbent paper. 


3. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Roll out the paper between sheets of non-stick backing paper to 3mm (1/2 inch) thick and line a 22cm (9in) tart ring. Another thing about Donna Hay's shortcrust is, although delicious, it is very short, which makes it an a-hole to roll out. Just a warning.


Trim the edge, line the pastry with non-stick baking paper and fill with baking weights or rice. I use dried peas because they aren't as messy as rice. And who wants to buy pastry weights.

Bake for 10-12 min, remove the weights and paper and bake for 10 min or until light golden. Cool.

(I forked it so it didn't bubble)

 4. To make the almond filling, place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until light and creamy. Beat in the egg, then fold in the almond meal, flour and brandy. Spread the filling over the pastry.

I didn't want to buy a bottle of brandy so I used 1 tbsp vanilla extract instead.


My almond filling didn't fill the pastry shell very high. It looks like a shallow pool, which makes me feel a bit sad.

Slice the pears, keeping the stem-ends intact, then arrange them over the filling. 


Bake the tart for 50 min or until golden. Serve at room temperature with (single or pouring) cream. Serves 6. 

Verdict: I was quite disappointed that it didn't look like it did in the picture, but I think that had something to do with the size of the tin I used. The almond filling is quite rich so you wouldn't want to pack the thing full, but I feel like it could have done with a bit more. Maybe that's the lack of brandy talking though. Or maybe it's because instead of being cut into 6 slices, it was cut into 17. The pastry was yummy, but a little overcooked, so keep an eye on it. It still looked the part though, with its 'rustic' edges, so I can't complain.