Take That, Tollhouse

I usually halve cookie recipes as I don’t want two or three dozen cookies lying around to A, be consumed at will and B, go stale and end up being tossed.  That is, until now.

Last week I stumbled upon The Pastry Affair’s brilliant suggestion to freeze cookie dough.  Simply make an entire batch of cookies, roll them into balls, freeze them on a plate for about an hour (or more, no worries if you forget about them), and then secure them in a freezer bag with the type of cookie and baking instructions written on the outside.

Next time you’re jonesin’ for a cookie and don’t have the time or desire to whip up an entire batch?  Problem solved.  Simply pop a few of your own pre-made cookies on a cookie sheet and voilá.  Talk about game changer.  Mid-week cookies just became a breeze.

Chewy Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes you need a chocolate chip cookie.  No way around it, it’s the only thing that’ll do.  Perhaps I’m confusing “chocolate chip cookie” with “something sweet.”  All I know is last week we were jonesin’ hard for chocolate chip cookies.

Every night I promised to make them after dinner.  Every night the clock struck 8 and then 9 and then 10 and baking so late lost its appeal.  Until finally, I outsmarted Father Time.  I made the dough before dinner.  Stuck it in the fridge as required and baked them after the dishes were cleared.  Thus, a genius was born.

We’re not talking any old chocolate chip cookies either.  We’re talking Joy the Baker’s Chewy Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The soft vanilla-scented dough is buttery and light, the chocolate chips dark and nostalgic.  They bake up beautifully and are just as scrumptious the following day (and the day after that, should you have the will power not to eat them all in one sitting).

As per usual, I used about 3/4 of the butter and curbed the sugar a bit too.  Which means I also cut back a tad on the flour so they weren’t dry, but not enough that I was simply making 3/4 of the recipe.  I also used about 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips rather than the full 2 cups; I don’t like my cookies overly chocolatey.  Our oven tends to be slower than most, so I baked ours for closer to 12 minutes.

Joy does the recipe best, so rather than botching her perfection I’ll do you one better and simply send you to the source.  These babies are unbeatable.

Dice, Julienne, Brunoise

In other news, I started a cooking class last week.  The class meets on Monday nights and is a ton of fun.  It’s something I promised myself I’d do to further my skills since I decided against culinary school.

In preparation for class I did a little DIY knife skills class with my friends Valerie and Rebecca.  We considered various knife skills classes in town, but they were either too pricey, booked, or didn’t cover everything we wanted.  Hence the DIY.

A trip to the grocery store, a couple of YouTube videos, and Valerie’s tome of a textbook from the Culinary Institute of America and we were good to go.  Onions, carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, and chickens — we decimated them all.

It was fun.  And good to work out some kinks before class.  We’re big time, baby.

Photo credit: Laura from Blogging Over Thyme

The Big Jump

This week has been NUTS.  On Monday evening I got a call asking me to come in for an interview first thing Tuesday morning.  The alarm went off at dark o’clock to give me plenty of time to shower and blow dry my hair and freak out about what to wear and get there with time to spare.  The interview went well and I was really taken with the place.  I left feeling excited and hopeful.

Shortly after arriving home, I got a call asking me to come in for an interview at another place on Wednesday morning.  Two hours after that I got yet another call asking me to come in for an interview at a third.  I was on FIRE.

On Wednesday morning I met the second person and was absolutely smitten.  A very cool, unique space, a fun concept, an array of tools and tasks utterly new to me.  I left both stoked and torn — I didn’t know which to choose.

While the two jobs are in a related industry, the places and tasks themselves couldn’t be more different.  One is a boutique priding itself on attention to detail and fine, delicate products.  The other is easily ten times bigger, offering dozens more products in a bustling rapid-fire environment.  The first is an assistant baker position at a boutique bakery.  The second is a pastry sous position at a hip new restaurant.

I chose the first.  Baking and pastry is my passion.  While the restaurant was exciting, I opted for the opportunity that offered the finer craft and the attention to detail.  I opted for depth over breadth.  As for working conditions, I’m a morning person.  The daytime hours of the bakery appealed to me over the nighttime hours of the restaurant.  It’s a small space with more opportunity to touch more things.  I’m looking forward to learning and growing and developing my skills.  I’m about to be dirt broke but I’m hoping I’ll finally find my niche.  Here’s to diving in head first.

Curry Two Ways

I cracked open a can of coconut milk and attempted to make curry for dinner twice last week.  Both times were pretty meh.  Not bad, not good.  No burst of flavor.

The first time I simmered coconut milk with green curry paste and peanut butter, alongside broccoli and eggplant and mushrooms and bok choy.  I served everything atop garlicky black rice.  The second time I omitted the peanut butter and upped the ratio of coconut milk to curry paste.  Same veggies as the first time but no rice, as lacked the time/desire to cook it.

I assumed there was enough salt between the curry paste and the coconut milk, but next time I’ll probably add some soy sauce to the mix.  A hot chili or two wouldn’t go astray either.  The curries lacked zing.  I should also dig out my recipes from Chiang Mai.  That was error number one.