Month: April 2020

Weird, but in a good way?

I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t been in a Grocery store since March 14th.  If my Instacart account is correct, we’re averaging groceries every 2 1/2 weeks or so.  And, the results have been mixed (Understandably. This is an observation, not a complaint.).

On the last order there was no fresh garlic or lemons.  But they did have the Pepperidge Farm Frozen Coconut Cake I threw in as a one-off to celebrate our anniversary.  By the way, it was delicious.  Seriously.  Who would have thought?

If your experiences have been similar, now is either a really good–or a really bad–time to post a recipe with an unusual ingredient.

Like, say miso (soybean paste).  When I saw this recipe in the New York Times Food section a while back, my weird, but good spidey sense began to blip.  The combination works really well in savory dishes.  Why not a cookie?

My tried and true critic liked them even when he didn’t know the secret ingredient.  Further beta-testing revealed a generally favorable opinion of these weird-but-in-a-good way treats.  And then the holy grail was discovered by one test subject…I mean friend: a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Cold, creamy and rich, the ice cream is a perfect complement to the earthy, almost spicy flavors of peanut butter and miso.

Bonus these cookies make excellent ice cream sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Miso Cookies

Krysten Chambrot, as posted in the New York Times

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 C (225g) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp  baking powder
  • 1/2 C (115g) unsalted butter at room temp
  • 1 C (220g) light brown sugar
  • 1/3 C (80ml) white miso paste (you are right…I didn’t use white…it was fine)
  • 1/4 C (60 ml) chunky peanut butter
  • 1 large egg
  •  1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 C (105g) Demera sugar (or substitute granulated)

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and baking powder until incorporated. Set aside.
  2. In standing mixer (or hand) fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about five minutes.
  3. Add miso and peanut butter and continue to beat, about one minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for another minute.  Make sure everything is well-incorporated.  Add egg and vanilla, mix until just combined.
  4. Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold-in flour mixture 1/3 at a time.
  5. Place Demera (or granulated) sugar in a bowl.  Scoop-out 2 TBS dough, roll into a ball with hands and then roll in sugar.  Transfer to a parchment lined pan that will fit in your fridge.  Repeat with remainder of dough lining up balls into rows.  Refrigerate two-hours to over night.  I suggest over night…it will optimally mellow out the flavors.
  6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place cookie balls on sheets leaving about three-inches in-between (these will spread).  Bake for about 15 minutes, until crisp at the edges and slightly puffy in the middle.  When you pull them out, rap the baking pan on the counter to help further-flatten the cookies.  Let cool on sheets for a few minutes and the transfer to rack to cool completely.

No AP? No Problem! Oatmeal Cookies

First things first–are ya’ll picking up on some of the amazing daily or weekly live Instagrams from some remarkable chefs?  I’m sure there are a ton out there, but a couple of my favorites are Christina Tosi’s Baking Club and David Lebovitz’s L’Huere d’Apero (cocktail hour).  Follow each of them on Instagram to play along at home.

On to this week’s post.

No TP and No AP?  All I can think is that people are all over the country are doing some kind of bizarre papier mache project.  I mean seriously.

As a practice, I don’t keep a huge supply of AP flour on hand.  It isn’t super duper shelf-stable and it takes up a lot of space.  I generally like to freeze my specialty flours to help keep them fresh, but AP I just buy as I go.  And that’s why I only have 10 lbs on hand (sounds like a lot…it’s only two small bags) (also, I had this before we went on lock down so it isn’t like I’ve been able to find any either).

While I’m not hoarding AP, I am rationing it.

You know what I do have?  A giant container of old fashioned oats.  So I set about finding a cookie recipe that uses only oats.  My strategy was two-fold.  The first is obvious: save the AP (save the AP save the world?).  The second is that I wanted to have a treat around that I wouldn’t eat.  Oatmeal cookies aren’t my favorite, but TD likes them.

I like this recipe because it calls for making oat flour in addition to using whole oats (whole oats need a binder like peanut butter or flour or egg to help keep it all together…kind of like me).  Since hauling out the food processor can be a chore, I made three times the amount and stored the leftovers in a freezer bag in the fridge for next time.

The oatmeal base is a great tableau for any add-ins you have on  hand.  The cookies themselves aren’t too sweet so you can get crazy with the goodies.  I used chocolate chips and dried tart cherries (per TD request…and because I didn’t have any raisins), but I think they’d be great with coconut, pretzels, M&Ms, other kinds of chocolate chips–whatever sounds good.

No AP Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted slightly from Trevor and Jennifer at Show Me the Yummy

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 C ground old fashioned oats (2 C old fashioned oats ground in food processor)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg (if this is your thing…omit if not)
  •  1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp kosher or coarse sea salt
  • 1/2 C (4 ounces) unsalted butter at room temp
  • 3/4 C dark or golden brown sugar
  • 1/2 TBS vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg, room temp
  • 1 1/2 C old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 C chocolate chips
  • 1/2 C your choice dried fruits, nuts or other add-ins

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment (I got 26 cookies out of this using a 2 TBS scooper that I divided between 4 sheets).
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together ground oats, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using) and baking soda.  Set aside.
  3. Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
  4. Beat-in egg and vanilla, another 2 minutes.
  5. By hand, fold-in ground oat mixture.
  6. Gently fold-in whole oats, chocolate chips and other add-ins.
  7. Portion-out dough (I used a 2 TBS scoop).  Cookies will spread so accommodate for size when placing on cookie sheets.
  8. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on dough size, rotating sheets halfway through.
  9. Remove from oven and allow cookies to sit for at least 5-10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely on wire rack.