(Pastry Fairy’s) Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe so basic and essential that I don’t even remember where my version is from. I know that when I was a kid, the very first cookbook I owned was an old copy (from the 1960s!) of Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. I still own it, although it’s falling to pieces, and I learned how to bake from it. So it may be that this recipe is from there, or it may be an amalgamation of the countless chocolate chip cookie recipes I’ve read over the years. Either way, it’s delicious and easily multiplied. And no, I’ve never gotten salmonella from eating raw cookie dough, and I don’t know anyone who ever has. Go ahead and eat it.

For twenty cookies

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened but not melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars well by hand or using the paddle attachment on the KitchenAid. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Dump in the rest of the ingredients and beat it more. The more beating, the better, I’ve found. Drop by tablespoonfuls on a greased or paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. They will look undercooked. This is good. They will keep cooking once you take them out of the oven, since they’re still on the hot baking sheet. If you absolutely must have them crisper, bake for no more than 5 minutes longer. But I prefer my cookies almost gooey, so I don’t do that.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

• Replace some or all of the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips.
• Add chopped, toasted nuts, about a half a cup.
• Add dried cranberries. I particularly like cookies with chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts. Fabulous!

(Pastry Fairy’s) Cheeseboard Chocolate Cake

This is not your typical chocolate layer cake; it is best baked in loaf pans, and it is one of the most sinful things I have ever tasted. Do not skimp on ingredients or try to substitute lower-fat variations; this is what it is, unbelievably bad for you and unbelievably delicious. Eat warm with a cold glass of milk, or chilled and sliced with a raspberry sauce for an elegant dessert. Above all, consume in moderation. And even if you don’t like the taste of coffee, use the coffee. I hate coffee myself but it is essential to the depth of flavor this cake has. You won’t be able to taste it independently. The recipe is, as the title says, from the Cheeseboard cookbook, and if you don’t feel like making it yourself you can go and buy it at the Cheeseboard.

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee (there is usually some just hanging around in the coffeemaker. It is okay if it is cold.)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk eggs, sour cream, heavy cream, coffee, and vanilla together in a small bowl (or yogurt container!). In the bowl of the KitchenAid, mix the flour, cocoa, powder, soda, salt, and sugar. Add the butter in one small slice at a time while the mixer is running on low speed – use the white paddle attachment. It may spew some flour at you from time to time. Once all the butter has been cut in and looks like peas, toss in the chocolate chips and mix briefly. Add in the wet ingredients and again mix briefly until the batter comes together. Pour into two greased loaf pans, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the loaves are firm and springy. Let cool for 10 minutes, and invert onto a serving plate.

(Pastry Fairy’s) Basic Chocolate Layer Cake

This is the perfect birthday cake, or for any occasion when you want fluffiness, chocolate flavor, and tenderness. The secret is the cup of boiling water added at the end. It will make the batter quite thin, but this is nothing to worry about. The recipe is from the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box! It is a wonderful dump-and-stir cake, very easy to make. Recipes from product packages can actually be really good, since they were developed to make you want to buy more of the product. Except for this one time that my mum made this thing called Neptune Pasta Salad, and it was really horrible. But that’s neither here nor there.

Makes 2 8 or 9 inch layers, or one 13 by 9 inch sheet cake

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients with a fork. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat for at least 2 minutes, or use the KitchenAid to whip the hell out of it. You want a very smooth batter. Now beat in the boiling water, slowly to avoid splattering yourself. Pour the batter into the greased pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes (longer for sheet cake).

(Pastry Fairy’s) Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

These are the less-sinful relatives of the Cheeseboard Chocolate Cake. Ricotta cheese is the secret ingredient, which provides richness, fluffiness, and tenderness. The chocolate flavor is intense, and they aren’t overly sweet. Cold milk is essential. This recipe is from the delightful Sunlight Café, by Mollie Katzen, from which I get all of my brunch menus.

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups milk (lowfat, nonfat, any kind)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the dry ingredients, including chocolate chips, well. Whisk milk, ricotta, eggs, and vanilla until well beaten. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, along with the melted butter, and mix just until incorporated – a little flour in the bottom of the bowl is fine. Above all, don’t overmix. Scoop into greased muffin tins; I like using an ice cream scoop for this. It makes twelve muffins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes; let cool slightly.

Pastry Fairy’s Recipes

Most bakers in the house have probably noticed a well put together, well used binder of recipes on our cookbook shelf, written by someone called The Pastry Fairy. Jessica Grist (that’s her real name, though she actually was referred to as Pastry Fairy while she lived here) compiled that binder of her favorite baked goods to make for us Shermanites. She was infamous for her Pear Polenta Upside Down Cake and Chocolate Ricotta Muffins, among other things. Since so many of us are leaving, I thought I’d post these recipes on the Sherman Bakes blog so we can make them from our new (or old) homes. These are the same recipes that appear in the binder, complete with her notes.

Outrageous Triple Chocolate Cookies

When we have white chocolate chips in the house, I know it’s time to pull out this recipe. If it seems at all familiar, it has been stuck on the cupboard by the mixer for about a year and a half- I think I was making them for a football game once and it has been there ever since. I first found it in a Betty Crocker cookbook my first semester in Sherman (Fall 05!) That’s Ketti, the former maintenance manager, bowing to me, holding one of these very cookies. Yeah, they’re that good.

Ingredients

• 4 cups chocolate chips
• 2 sticks softened butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat is fine- woo! slight amount of healthiness!)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts. Or substitute 1 cup dried cranberries.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 trays with parchment paper.
• Melt 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips. Allow to cool, but not harden.
• Cream butter, brown sugar, vanilla in electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, melted chocolate until light and fluffy.
• Add flour, baking soda, salt.
• Mix in remaining 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips, 1 cup white chocolate chips, and nuts/cranberries.
• Drop onto baking sheet, bake for 12-14 minutes (or more, depending on size of cookie.) Centers will appear soft and moist. Cool for 2-3 minutes, remove to wire rack.

Walnut Orange Olive Oil Spice Cake

Phew! That’s a mouthful! I found this on “Luvin Spoonfuls” and made it a couple of days ago, and it turned out quite well. The olive oil disappears into the background; the spices have a more prominent role. Very coffee-cakey;  perfect for breakfast.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups olive oil
• 1 cup milk or plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (3 small oranges)
• zest of 2 oranges
• 1/4 cup cognac (optional)
• 2 cups flour (or 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup semolina, if we have it)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt

(for the cinnamon walnut topping)

• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts for topping (optional)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 350 and lightly oil either the 12 inch round pan or 13x9 rectangular pan.
• Mix the dry ingredients and make a well in the center
• In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar. Add remaining wet ingredients and the zest. Whisk together
• Add the wet into the dry ingredients and fold to combine. Pour into prepared pan.
• Pour the walnut, sugar, cinnamon mixture onto the cake batter.
• Bake for about 40 minutes to an hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown