Category Archives: baking

baking

Chocolate Coma Cookies

I went through a Diane Mott Davidson phase a few years ago. She writes a series about a mystery-solving caterer in Colorado. The books are peppered with recipes, most of which sound pretty good. The only one I’ve tried, though, is the recipe for Chocolate Coma Cookies from “Tough Cookie.”

The cookie dough in this recipe really only serves to hold the goodies together — my idea of a good cookie. So good, in fact, that I’m surprised that I never tried any of the others. Maybe I’ll have to do something about that.

Chocolate Coma Cookies
Makes six dozen cookies
1 cup blanched slivered almonds
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, such as Godiva Dark or Lindt
1 cup dried tart cherries
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two cookie sheets.
In a nonstick pan, toast almonds over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for five to 10 minutes until they have just begun to brown and emit a nutty aroma. Turn out onto a plate to cool.
Chop bittersweet chocolate into small chunks and set aside
In a large bowl, combine the cherries, chocolate chips and oats and set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about four minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat mixture until well-combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until well-combined.
Add chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, cherries and almonds. Using a sturdy wooden spoon, mix well by hand. Using a 1-tablespoon scoop, measure out cookies onto sheets. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies have set and are slightly flattened and light brown.

baking, recipes

Banana bread

It seems like I’ve been trying to make this banana bread recipe for years. Everytime the bananas were just a day away from being perfect, Rockford would through them away. Maybe he’ll think twice about that now that he’s tried the bread.
The recipe is modified from Cook’s Illustrated (because I didn’t have any walnuts). I used a mini-loaf pan and reduced the bake time to 30 minutes. Next time I’m trying the chocolate version, and I might even use walnuts, too.

Banana bread
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tbl (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
Combine the flour, sugar, salt baking soda in a large bowl with a whisk.
Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lighly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

baking

Tasty cakes

I’m going to make some Ginger Cupcakes for Rockford sometime, but first I’ll need the “cupcake container of the future” to store them in.

I found the cupcake recipe (and quite a few others on my “to make” list) on the 101 Cookbooks site. The Web site is run by a woman who is working her way through her own cookbook collection rather than buying new ones. A novel idea, huh? I should try that myself.