The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

As I mentioned with the Garam Masala cookies, I have never been able to master the classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie. They always come out thick and cakey. That might sound great to you, but for me, I want a thin, chewy, gooey chocolate chip cookie. So while I avoided yelling at my TV over the deficit negotiations, I took up the banner of creating the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I think I've succeeded. I started with the basic Toll House recipe and threw every trick I know at it to make it better. I increased the white sugar to brown sugar ratio; I added some water to the recipe; I not only melted the butter, I browned it; I mixed the dough using only a wooden spoon; and finally I shortened the baking time by two minutes. And voila! Perfection. The browned butter really adds a nutty-buttery flavor and the cinnamon gives the cookie a little more depth in flavor than just sugar and chocolate. I suggest you mix up a batch for yourself to store in your disaster shelter you're going to have to live in once we go into default. They'll sooth your nerves when the roving motorcycle gangs start taking control in the post-default distopia we'll soon be living in...

Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Doesn't "bundt" seem like it should always be followed by an exclamation point? Bundt! cake. It's cake; you should be excited. Anyway, here's another experiment with olive oil as the lipid. It's a pretty basic recipe I found at Food & Wine. A little too basic in my opinion. The flavor was a little flat with just the orange zest. It needed some spice or herb flavoring to it...

Garam Masala Cookies

Whoa....that's a spicy cookie (add generic Italian accent if you wish). I love masala, I even add it to my meatloaf, but I was intrigued when I saw it in cookies. Cumin and coriander aren't exactly baking spices, so I wanted to see how these would taste. I thought they might be similar to spicy Christmas cookies (not chili spicy, like ginger spicy)...

Elderflower-Lime Travel Cakes

I've made these before. They're delicious and incredibly easy. I don't make them more because I don't have a food processor, so I only make them when I go to my parents. And for those avoiding wheat, these are gluten free as they are made with almond paste rather than flour. My icing never turns out as nice as the ones in the professional picture, but they taste incredible.

Ginger Peach Bread

I've been trying to use up the things in my cabinet that have been sitting there for too long, and I discovered a can of peach halves. I don't like canned peaches, and I can't remember why I bought them...maybe another attempt to recreate a strawberry-peach pie? I don't know. I also have this giant jar of apple sauce that I was suppose to use as a vegetable oil substitute, but not having made anything which required vegetable oil lately, I still have a giant jar of apple sauce hogging a large section of my refrigerator. I figured the best thing to use the peaches and sauce was a quick bread. I started with this recipe for a basic peach bread and then added my own twist to it...