How To Make A Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Few things are for sure in this world.

Chocolate chip cookies are a sure thing. And let’s be sure we are talking about the same cookie.

I make a cookie that is the love child of butter lace cookies and Toll House chocolate chip cookies.

In my book, the perfect chocolate chip cookie to have after an early morning bicycle ride on Saint Patrick’s Day,

to look forward to as I am running the last quarter mile of my half marathon run along the beach,

to delight Seth who is allergic to nuts, is a thin, crispy, round cookie an even golden brown, slightly darker around the edges, erupting with semi sweet chocolate chips.

I frowned at the handbrake on Sky’s Rockaway Cruiser. It was dangling uselessly from the left handle refusing to stay put in its clip. This would clearly be a difficult thing to manage especially while drinking coffee which was the plan.

Fortunately, our friend Paul, who we call The Bike Guy, was nice enough to swing by, toss the Cruiser on his bike rack to take back to his shop to fix. “I’ll just tighten the cable for you and it’ll be fine.”

In the meantime, I was in the kitchen wondering how to make my chocolate chip cookies thinner and crunchier. This has been a work in progress and two weeks ago I came fairly close by making a few adjustments. Today, purely by accident and process of elimination which are my two favorite ways of figuring out most things in life, I made a cookie that I was happy with. So happy that I sent over a plateful of them to Paul who wouldn’t let us give him any money for fixing our bicycle.

About twelve miles later in the afternoon, Seth told me Paul wanted to know if I could give him the recipe for the cookies. “I want a copy too,” said my mom who was helping me with the baking. “I really like the crispiness.”

Here it is.

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Notes: If you have a temperamental hot oven like mine, I suggest you use aluminum baking sheets lined with parchment paper. The bottoms of the cookies will not burn as quickly.

Regarding flour, my friend Katherine, who writes cookbooks so she should really know about this, has always sung the praises of cake flour. I have yet to try this in my cookies but should you have the chance to do so, please let me know how they taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 4 aluminum baking sheets with parchment paper. If you don’t have a sifter, go and get yourself one. It is God’s gift to lumpless cookie dough!

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cups sifted sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cup sifted flour

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter adding the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

Add the flour, salt and baking soda.

Mix in chocolate chips.

Place no more than half a teaspoon of dough for each cookie on the cookie sheet spacing them apart to allow them to spread. You should get a dozen on each sheet. Place two cookie sheets in the oven for 8 – 9 minutes.

Remove and let cool on racks.

About 6 – 8 dozen small delightfully crispy thin chocolate chip cookies!

Perfect for riding around on your beach bicycle and munching on.

Daniel Boulud’s Secret Recipe For Success

On the first Saturday night at Boulud Sud, we descended with an unexpected crowd of eight.

Mais sans doute, it was a typically magnifique!  Here we are, moi, Daniel and Mikki.

It is tres difficile for me to imagine the life of a successful restauranter as he continues to build his empire without wondering what the secret sauce is.

What is it about Daniel Boulud that brings him success, the three star Michelin rating, his restaurant’s ranking among the best in the world?

The vodka gimlet elegantly served in a slender carafe?

The Lamb Cleopatra that was simply delicious?  The accompanying roasted beets in pistachio yogurt?

How about that Turkish pudding surrounded by some kind of rhubarb swirl?

The edgy grapefruit sorbet?  The mint chocolate pave with pine nuts, jasmine flower and chocolate sorbet?  Yum!

The smartly attentive staff?

All that, and Daniel himself, working the room and making all of us feel extremely especiale and enchantee. Of course, the food and the service are exemplary.  The ambience is chic and inviting.  But I think that intuitive ability to connect with with his guests is the cherry on the cake.  It is what makes an evening out with friends memorable and it is what makes us his best word of mouth warriors.

Boulud Sud.  The new star in the empire.  Ask for Michael, the guy with the cool tie and glasses.  He will make sure your evening is heavenly.

Bon appetit.

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Mildred’s Marinade

photo by  Thoth, God of Knowledge

You can’t be good in every room.

Isn’t that a great saying?  I wish I could say that I made it up but I didn’t.

Where did I here it from?

Mae West?  No.  Madonna?  No.

Mildred Phyllis Krakauer?  Yes.

No one was better in the kitchen, thank you very much.

“And don’t forget about the room upstairs, darling.”  Irvin would add with a wink.

“Irvin!”  Mildred’s cheeks would go pink but her eyes would light up.

I am telling you this for a reason.  Tomorrow I am going down to Washington, D.C. for a day of meetings and what I am most concerned about is what Seth and Sky are going to have for dinner.  Concerned, but not worried.  Why?  Because I, too,  thanks to my Jewish mother in law, am good in the kitchen.

How to Be Good in the Kitchen

In a word, marinades.

In Mildred’s kitchen, where there was a Ziploc bag, there was a marinade.  One of the secrets of being good in the kitchen is always having the right ingredients around to marinate the cuts of meat you bring home.  I have inherited Mildred’s kitchen and her must-have list of items which I keep in stock faithfully.  And it is amazing how something as simple as a Mildred marinade can transform a steak dinner from why bother to wow!

For economy and taste,  I prefer flank or hanger steak.  When I first became Mrs. Krakauer, Mildred – THE Mrs. Krakauer – and I went to Curran’s on Beach 129th Street where she introduced me to the other man in her life, Bernie, the butcher.

“This is my daughter-in-law and she needs to know from steak.  Give her a nice piece, enough for four.  Nice and lean.”  When I came back later to pick up the meat, he handed it to me wrapped neatly in butcher paper with cooking directions written on it.

“When you are ready to make a brisket, you come back to me the day after you cook it and I’ll slice it for you nice, Mrs. Krakauer.”  Bernie boomed politely.  The line of customers looked at me suspiciously.  You’re no Mrs. Krakauer!  You’re just trying to cut in the line.

By the time I got home, Mildred was crushing garlic.  She never put away a cut of meat without marinating it.   Like chicken soup and brisket, this marinade was a prized secret.  I may never make chicken soup or brisket as wonderfully as she did, but I can follow the recipe for her marinade.  Here it is:

Mildred’s Marinade

Smoosh 4 – 6 cloves of garlic with 4 sprigs of rosemary that you pick from Andrea’s garden, 1 heaping teaspoon of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  Add 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and 1 teaspoon brown sugar.

Pour into a large Ziploc bag and marinate steak in the refrigerator overnight.

To Cook

Preheat broiler or grill.  Cook steak, turn over, until done.  Total cooking time ranges from 6 – 12 minutes.  Let the meat rest about 5 minutes before slicing.  Cut across the grain into thin slices.

There is a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator with marinated steaks.  Seth can grill and serve the steak with some salad greens and a fresh crusty baguette.  Simply delicious!

It’s true you can’t be good in every room.  But you can marinate your way into being marvelous in the kitchen.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Apples

photo by Ali QJo

“Two girls.  Three months and three years.”

One clearly surprised mother. Her eyes widened as I instinctively twitched.  An inevitable reflex that I acquired over years of being around small children.  Especially that small.  I shuddered and forced myself to sit up straight and smile brightly which is hard to do if you are clenching your teeth.  Think back, think back to those times, immersed in babyness and singsong one syllable conversations – how sweetly wonderful they were.

OK, I am remembering packing up the car with blankets, toys, snacks and heading up to Masker Orchards on Yom Kippur with my kids and their friends to hold them up to pick apples, drink apple cider, take them up and down the mountain to the bathroom all day, and drive home  in time for dinner with the Krakauer family – that would be Mildred and Irvin, my mother and father in law, Aunt Lillian and Aunt Florence.

- and try to figure out how to eat all of these apples.

Crispy, fragrant, tree sweet apples.

I loved the tasty apples we picked and the yearly pilgrimages we made to the orchard.  Luckily, Mildred had a great recipe for an Apple Betty and we made a lot of them.  It was simply Wow! and wonderful with freshly picked apples.

There are many apple picking outings to come for the three year old and the three month old children of the world.  Are you planning to go to an apple orchard?  You may find yourself wondering about what to do with all of the apples you pick.

Here’s a recipe for you.

Wow!

Mildred Phyllis Krakauer’s Apple Betty

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Crumb mixture:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

Apple mixture:

2 1/2 cups apples peeled and sliced

Sugar mixture:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, cloves, and kosher salt

2 teaspoons lemon zest.  Hang on to that lemon for later.

Optional topping mix:

1/4 cup of raisins or currants.  Mildred used golden raisins.  Diced apricots are also fabulous.

To make:

1. Line the bottom of a baking dish with one third of the crumb mixture.

2. Place half of the apples in the dish.  Cover the layer with half of the sugar mixture.

3. Spread second third of the crumb mixture over the apples.

4. Add second half of the apples and cover with second half of the sugar mixture.

5. Shpritz.  That’s right.  Mildred said to shpritz (Yiddish for squeeze and spray) the apples with the juice of one lemon and a bissel (Yiddish for a little) water, about 1/4 cup.

6. Place the last third of the crumb mixture on top.  Cover and bake for 40 minutes until apples are almost tender.  Take cover off, increase heat to 400 degrees and let brown for 15 minutes.

Makes 6 servings that look wonderful on Grandma Anna’s dinner plates.  Wow!

My children are not so small anymore and I get my apples from the local farmers market.  They, too, make an awesome Apple Betty which brings back the sweet, tart, crispy memories of those times.

Guaranteed to take away the twitch.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

A Twelve Step Plan for Restless Creatives #9

site of my temptation

It looks like late afternoon on a Tuesday.  My attention span is diminishing with the sunset over the Gantries in Long Island City.  A slight hunger mingled with fatigue sent me searching up and down Vernon Boulevard in search of – what?

Under the awning of the farmers’ market, a cascade of red radishes tumbled over the edge of the table.  On the side, the tops of crispy lettuces tousled like the tops of a forest.  I walk past a young farmer was offering samples of cheeses and instinctively pick up the reggiano parmigiano, sliced paper thin.

As soon as I tasted it, I knew.

It was time for the next step of the Twelve Step Plan for Restless Creatives and, by the way, my personal favorite:

9 Thank yourself

We work very hard – you, me and everybody who gives a thousand percent effort to what they do.  I have spent over a decade in the nonprofit arts world and the days where you are giving your all can fly by until suddenly something inside of you digs their heels in and demands to be fed.

I am not talking about your stomach and your prolific ability to consume chocolate.  I am talking about you and your inner underappreciated soul.

It is time to take a moment to show yourself some appreciation.  To say thank you in a way that is personally meaningful.

For those of you Restless Creatives just joining us, here are steps 1-8:

1 Get over yourself

2 Get off the grid

3 Get local

4 Bring on color

5 Avoid vampires

6 Read like a writer

7 Stop the frenzy

8 Live artfully

Getting back to those radishes.  And the lettuce, the  garlic, the fragrant lemons.  Slowly the vision of a glorious Caesar salad to reward myself presented itself.

It was the beginning of a beautiful affair.  Just what I needed.

I picked up some farm fresh eggs, so important to my divina (Italian for fabulous) gift to myself.  I balanced them carefully in my bag with the crunchy romaine lettuce and those divine radishes that got me started in the first place.

The whole experience was a gift.  A gift of exhilarated expectation, of time spent working with the aromatic fresh greens, of delighting in the stolen tastes tau sic (Cantonese for noshing while cooking).

One deep whiff promised me a fragrant salad that would satisfy my expectations.  And one bite delivered the tasteful thank you my soul hungered for in an ideal Caesar.

Here’s my recipe adapted from Melissa Clark’s Green Garlic Caesar salad with Anchovy Croutons:

Wow! Caesar Salad

You will need:

1/2 cup olive oil

6-8 finely chopped anchovy fillets

3 finely chopped garlic cloves

2 cups day old crusty bread cut into cubes

kosher salt and pepper to taste

1 lemon to shpritz into the salad and to cut into slices for your seltzer

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I like the one with the seeds)

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs

2 large heads romaine lettuce torn into pieces

2 large rosy red radishes sliced thin

1 cup grated Reggiano Parmigiano cheese

To make:

1. Croutons – Coat the bottom of a skillet with oil over medium heat and add half of the anchovies.  Cook 2 minutes.  Add half the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add bread cubes, toss frequently until golden and crispy.  Season with salt and pepper.

2. Dressing – Whisk together remaining anchovies, garlic, add mustard, Worcestershire sauce, drizzle lemon juice and whisk in remaining olive oil.

3. Softboil 2 eggs, about 4 minutes in boiling water.  Rinse under cool water.

4. Place lettuce, radish slices and croutons in a serving bowl.  Add dressing and toss well.  Crack eggs into salad, toss well.  Sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheese.

Serves 2 – 4 or 1 tired executive director for 2 days.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?