Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A New Baby...MFK Fisher...and Cookies!!

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Cookies headed to the oven.

Something out of the oven. Hint: It wasn't COOKIES!!

If you read this blog, you know that baking is not my thing. Too restrictive, too much measuring, father and brothers were bakers, blah,blah,blah. I have a friend however, who has had 'something in the oven' for the last nine months! It turns out on the night my friend was in labour for some strange reason I decided to make Chocolate chip cookies. It's all creation...albeit comparing cookies to babies...let's just say that she worked a bit harder than I did! I took a bag of these cookies with me when I went to see her 'creation', yesterday. Definitely less edible and infinitely more special than my contribution...

Experiences: Gastronomic and otherwise.

"The first time,on our way to Germany, we had sat downstairs while our meal was being made. There were big soft leather chairs,and on the dark table was a bowl of the first potato chips I ever saw in Europe, not the uniformly thin uniformly golden ones that came out of waxed bags at home, but light and dark, thick and paper-thin, fried in real butter and then salted casually with the gros sal served in the country with the pot-au-feu.
They were so good that I ate them with the slow sensuous concentration that pregnant women are supposed to feel for chocolate-cake-at-three-in-the-morning. I suppose I should be ashamed to admit that I drank two or three glasses of red port in the same strange private orgy of enjoyment. It seems impossible, but the fact remains that it was one of the keenest gastronomic moments of my life." MFK Fisher-The Measure of my Powers-1931-32

Cookies: The Recipe.

These cookies turned out better than I EVER expect anything I bake, to. From a Weight Watchers perspective they were a little heavy on:
  • the butter: 1 cup, and
  • the sugar: 2 cups.
When I calculated, 1 oz of cookie worked out to 3 points...completely manageable for a sweet,buttery treat. They were thin,with crispy edges, and golden brown. They cooled quickly,and froze beautifully. The recipe is courtesy of the:
 Harrowsmith Cookbook: Volume#1-Shirley Morrish-Devlin, Ontario

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla ( I used 1.5 tsps)
2.25 cups flour ( I used 1.75 cups of white flour,and .5 cup of whole wheat flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts ( I used 1 cup toasted slivered almonds)
12 oz pkg chocolate chips ( I used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Cream butter,sugars,eggs and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients in order listed. Mix well.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets (I used parchment paper-ungreased) with 2 inches between cookies. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. ( 9 minutes was perfect for my oven)
Makes 6 dozen cookies ( I believe I got 4 dozen)

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