a chocolate chip cookie celebration | happy birthday to my husband

Last week I hosted a chocolate chip cookie taste off in honor of Matt's 28th birthday. It was quite possibly the best birthday party I've ever hosted. I got the idea from You Are My Fave and used the invitations from there, too.

We had eight entrants into the taste off and almost all of them were classic versions of the chocolate chip cookie. My favorite part about being the host was the questions I got to answer, like this one from my friend Karissa: So if I bring slice and bakes, should I send you the ingredients list and cooking instructions? That was a joke that I didn't get (Matt is vehemently opposed to any and all forms of store bought cookies and Karissa knows it); thankfully no slice and bake cookies were entered in the contest. Another good question: Are we limited to one batch per couple or can we each enter a recipe? There's a back story to that one - my friends Keri and Josh had a dispute about whose recipe to use (they're married) - Keri's famous "Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies" or Josh's "Sweet and Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies" (or, as Keri called them, "Variation on Toll House Because My Wife Wouldn’t Let Me Copy the Recipe Cookies"). Here's a quote from Keri: "I'm glad there can be spousal competition, because I thought marriage counseling was going to be necessary if we had to narrow it down to one recipe."  This is the kind of dedication our friends brought to the party. It was awesome. And Keri won, by the way. Here's her winning batch of cookies...

I highly recommend having your own chocolate chip cookie taste off. Soon. In fact, I may need to have another one.

P.S. I made this for Matt's birthday cake, but doesn't  this one look incredible?

menu of the week

(image by David Loftus for Jamie Oliver)

Our weekend was much cooler than last week which was kind of a disappointment. I'm sitting huddled under a blanket right now, and hoping the sun comes out this afternoon. As for our dinners last week, I think they were all pretty good. Especially the salmon. Check that one out for sure.

roasted butternut squash quesadillas - Very similar to the sweet potato tacos I made back in January and equally delicious. In fact, Matt didn't even know they were squash, but he tends to get sweet potatoes and squash mixed up often. We used corn tortillas from Trader Joe's and piled on the toppings. Ezra devoured lots of black beans and pepper jack cheese. He was signing 'more' before he had even finished.

17 bean and barley soup - I bought a package of mixed beans, lentils, and other miscellaneous small edible type things (like split peas, chickpeas, and lima beans... the list goes on) at Trader Joe's a while back and decided it was finally time to do something with them. I just made the recipe on the back of the bag, but I added some mezze rigatoni. Note: the recipe I linked to is similar to the one on the bag, but the blog author made some changes.

baked wild salmon with almond lime sauce, basmati rice, and steamed broccoli - This recipe is from the April issue of Whole Living magazine and I bookmarked it immediately because we love salmon around here. As I've said before, I usually prepare it with barbecue sauce and I made it once with an Asian flair, but this version with the almond lime sauce was incredible. Matt and I were both licking our plates. Definitely making this again, and soon!

asparagus and ricotta pizzas - Pizza is always a good thing if you ask me, and spring veggie toppings made  our dinner on Thursday feel quite season appropriate. I added some sliced shallots leftover from the previous night's dinner and grated more than half a cup of Parmigianno over the top of the pizza because I felt like it needed a little more saltiness. They turned out really well, not quite crisp in the center so they slices were a little floppy but still really tasty. Ezra enjoyed the dollops of ricotta best of all. Oh, and like last time we had pizza on the menu, Matt made the dough but he used bread flour instead of all purpose. The flavor was so much better! I couldn't stop exclaiming over the taste. Tonight's dinner wins the award for most improved.

cheeseburgers with oven fries - I had borrowed Jamie's Food Revolution from the library and this was one of the recipes I was dying to try. I had never made my own hamburger patties before and this recipe seemed like a simple classic. Matt and I loved them, especially topped with a heap of monterey jack. Next time I would try to make them a little flatter because they puffed up a bit once they were cooked. As for the oven fries, I just cut a bunch of potatoes into wedges, spread them onto a baking sheet, drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt, and baked them in a 450° oven for about 40 minutes. Toss them and turn the pan about half way through. We also had the leftover arugula from the night before as a salad, dressed with a simple lemon and olive oil dressing. 


P.S. This is only semi related to food, but remember last week when I cleaned my cast iron pan? Well, after I cooked in it and washed it some of the rust came back! I'm going to try the same method but this time with more elbow grease and hopefully it will be gone for good. Anyone else try it? Did it happen to you?

le macaron

Finally I can say that I have conquered the macaron, and I did it before the end of 2011 like I hoped I would. I must confess that I was quite intimidated by macarons but after making them I don't know what all the fuss is about. The process involves quite a lot of steps but overall it isn't difficult at all. I used Martha's recipe and made the chocolate variation with chocolate ganache filling. Of course I'm still only a novice macaron baker but here are my tips if you want to try a batch yourself - 

- Do your homework. I suggest reading this post by Brave Tart, and then read her post on macaron myths and then the one on the ten commandments. Consider yourself prepared. Well, at least I did after I read them. 

- Do yourself a favor and buy almond flour (I bought mine at Stop & Shop in the natural foods section) instead of crushing almonds in a food processor. You'll save a step and some time. 

- Don't have a pastry bag? I didn't either. However, I did have this handy tool that I bought at Target. I had to refill it once but it worked out just great.

- Find a little circle shaped object (I used the lid from a bottle of olive oil) that you can use to trace circles onto the parchment paper with a pencil so you can at least attempt to make the shells all the same size. I flipped the parchment over so the batter wasn't actually touching the pencil circles.

- Most important tip - enjoy them! Even if the tops don't match the bottoms and they're lopsided and the ganache oozes out. Not like any of that happened to mine. Wink.

cookie stars

To kick off the week before Christmas, I'm sharing what I thought was a fantastic idea (if I may say so) for easy and festive cookies. Have any parties to go to this week? Were you pegged to bring a dessert on Christmas Day? These cookies have your name written all over them. They're also delicious, as cookies should be. The process is simple. Whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough (I used this classic recipe) and instead of making drop cookies, spread the dough into a baking pan. Bake as directed. Mine only took about twenty-two minutes in a 375° oven. 

While the giant cookie rectangle is baking, rummage through your kitchen drawers to find your favorite cookie cutters. I selected four stars of different sizes. When the "cookies" come out of the oven, you can do one of two things. Either allow the cookie to cool and cut out your shapes later, or get right to work.

We had plans to go out as soon as my oven timer dinged, so I was forced to let the cookie cool before cutting. I think it would have been easier to cut the star shapes if it hadn't cooled for a couple of hours. Ten to fifteen minutes would have probably been enough. Then I wouldn't have needed to use my entire body weight to press the cookie cutters into the cookie bar and a dishtowel to protect my hands from the sharp edges that were digging into my flesh. Learn from my mistakes, please. 

Anyway, cut out whatever shapes you like from the cookie bar and then enjoy! This is now my official method of making chocolate chip cookies. I know bar cookies aren't new, but I've never really made them before and they're so much easier than drop cookies. One pan makes for much less clean up, and you're not waiting for batch after batch to come out of the oven. So chocolate chip cookie bars it is, and if I'm feeling fancy I'll dig out the cookie cutters. Maybe next time I'll make some wild animals!

Bonus: there are a lot of cookie scraps left over, and you don't even have to share those with your guests.

i heart cookie cutters

(image via amazon

That Martha gets me every time.  I went to Macy's armed with a gift card and intentions to pick up some summer clothes for Ezra.  However, the Martha Stewart Collection was conveniently located on the same floor as the children's department.  I went home with a pile of onesies, a new pastry brush, and the above cookie cutters.  Sugar cookies will be on the menu this week, I'm sure.

better together

My weekend was complete - I made oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies and the entire batch was gone by sundown on Monday.  During the week I had sent Matt an email with the recipe and his response was, "are you trying to kill us?"  I am happy to report that no deaths resulted in the consumption of said cookies.

Now I'm wondering what else I can hide in a cookie.  My first inclination would be a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, or even better, a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg - so festive this time of year!  What treat would you hide in a cookie?

how to make sugar cookies & a mess

A visual guide to making sugar cookies - 

Thanks to Brooke for the recipe.