Perfection in cookie form

On July 9, 2009 David Leite of the New York Times published an article that begins as follows:

"Too bad sainthood is not generally conferred on bakers, for there is one who is a possible candidate for canonization. She fulfills most of the requirements: (1) She’s dead. (2) She demonstrated heroic virtue. (3) Cults have been formed around her work. (4) Her invention is considered by many to be a miracle. The woman: Ruth Graves Wakefield. Her contribution to the world: the chocolate chip cookie."

What a great opening to a food article, right?? How can you not be intrigued by that introduction? Leite follows this prelude with a brief overview of the history of the chocolate cookie, and then proceeds to summarize tidbits of knowledge that he gathered through interviews with a number of bakers across the City, to answer the question: what makes a good chocolate chip cookie a truly good chocolate chip cookie?

Here are some rules of thumb that he learned, and that he shares:
1.) Most argue that one should serve the cookie warm,
2.) Let the dough rest for 36 hrs. ("They just taste better," said Maury Rubin of City Bakery),

Note: later it's revealed that this method is thought to allow the ingredients to better absorb the egg and thus cook into a better consistency...

3.) Make your cookies six inches in diameter in order to achieve the appropriate texture,
4.) Use good chocolate (with at least 60% cocoa),
5.) Don't underestimate the value of salt on a chocolate chip cookie


After gathering and presenting these facts, Leite concludes his article:

"After weeks of investigating, testing and retesting, the time had come to assemble a new archetypal cookie recipe, one to suit today’s tastes and to integrate what bakers have learned since that fateful day in Whitman, Mass. The recipe included here is adapted from Mr. Torres’s classic cookie, but relies on the discoveries and insights of the other bakers and authors. So, in effect, it’s all of theirs — the consummate chocolate chip cookie."

Now this introduction might seem as if I am teasingly dangling a cookie in front of your face and not giving you any reward. No, don't whimper and cry. I have good news! Leite published his recipe. And I tested it. And I'm reproducing it here, on this blog. (Or you can retrieve the original in the NY Times itself, just in case I make some typos during the transfer).


This recipe produces a lot of cookie dough. Therefore, I was able to test the effects of different dough waiting times on cookie flavor. First, I baked a batch after letting the dough sit for 24 hours. After this first baking, I thought "Okay, these cookies are good, but they're not necessarily the best cookie ever." I was too busy to bake another batch after 36 hours, but I did bake another after 48 hours of waiting time. And WOW. This second batch was incredibly delicious. Maybe I was just hungry, maybe I was especially in need of a chocolate chip cookie that day, I dunno. This was a really good cookie. Chewy in just the right way, with a slight caramel flavor when biting in, and I love the flavor enhancing property of the salt. I've never had my very own go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. But now I do. This is it. Maybe it will turn out to be yours as well. Might as well try it, right? Oh you know you're intrigued.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, from the NY Times

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note from the NY Times article: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

Turkish Coffee

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After a delicious thanksgiving dinner, our gracious host posed the usual pre-dessert/post-dinner question: tea or coffee? Only one of about 15 guests requested tea. All others asked for coffee. Why, you might ask, was coffee such a hit that evening? Well, it's because the coffee in question was not your run of the mill American style coffee. Rather, it was Turkish coffee that would be served that evening.

G.'s mom was up for the task of preparing mass quantities of Turkish coffee (she's a pro!) and I, opportunist that i am, jumped at the chance to get a lesson. Turns out the process of turkish coffee preparation isn't tooooo terribly difficult (of course I say that after having only observed the process), but it does seem to require a great deal of patience. Preparing Turkish coffee is not a simple matter of grinding coffee beans, placing those in a filter, and hitting "start" on an automatic machine. Nope. Turkish coffee prep requires standing over the stove and waiting for water to boil not once, not twice, but about six times! The process is well worth it though, because Turkish coffee is a treat to drink. It's dark and rich, and could easily stand in as a dessert substitute. There is also something extremely ceremonial and communal about drinking Turkish coffee. And it comes with fortune telling (i'll get to that later)!!

The following is what I learned about the preparation of the coffee:

To prepare Turkish coffee, you must begin with very finely ground coffee beans--they should be ground to the point of being powder-like. You can purchase finely ground coffee for this purpose at your local Arabic food market. I'll bet you will find one hiding in your area if you search. If you are in the triangle area, you can try Jerusalem Grocery or Almadina Supermarket, both of which are in Raleigh, or the Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill.


Next, place your water to boil on the stove top. Turkish coffee is prepared using a special pot that looks like the one picture below. If you want to purchase one, again, I'd check the local middle eastern food store in your area.

Before the water is boiling, you can add a bit (1-2 tablespoons) of sugar if you like your coffee to be sweet (G's mom does this, and I love how it comes out). Once the water begins to boil, add the coffee: approximately 1 heaping teaspoon of coffee for each cup of Turkish coffee.

Note here that a traditional cup of Turkish coffee is about the size of one shot of espresso for us: small. The coffee pots that are intended for Turkish coffee preparation generally have a marking to indicate the number of cups that the pot will prepare.


Now is the fun part. After you have added the coffee to the boiling water, quickly remove the pot from the burner and stir the mixture briskly. At the start the mixture will appear very dark and sludge-y. You are aiming to reduce the sludge and end up with a very smooth looking liquid (having the appearance of dark but clear coffee).


Once you have stirred the liquid (a long teaspoon is preferred for mixing), return the pot to the burner and bring the mixture to a boil again. Then, once it begins boiling, quickly remove the pot and mix once again. Repeat this process about 6 times until the liquid becomes lighter (it will still be very dark) and clear of residue.

Once you are satisfied with the consistency of your coffee, pour into small mugs. Note that the coffee is generally served black, and G.'s mom says that adding milk/cream will distort the flavor.

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After the coffee has been drunk, there will tend to be dark grounds left over at the bottom of the cup. Now comes the fortune telling part! You can turn your mug over and allow the residue to drip out, into your saucer. There will be images left over in the cup. Once these have dried, they can be used to tell your fortune.


G's mom told us our fortunes. Apparently I have a very big, positive event, and an accomplishment in my future! I hope that the coffee grinds are right.

Cinnamon Bread

Hey! Remember me? Yeah, I'm that person who used to post on here occasionally, before school became insane and took over my life.


These past few weeks have been so busy that I really haven't had much energy to cook. Instead, I've come home most evenings and either begged G. to cook something, resorted to eating restaurant food, or thrown together scraps of food that were lingering in the dark alcoves of my cabinets and/or refrigerator.


But enough whining already, right? Yeah, I know... Even though my life has been busy, I still live on a student's schedule. And that means that for the most part I make my own schedule.


Some days I have no reason to go to campus and I can work from home for the entire day. Such days are great days for cooking experiments that involve long waiting periods, since I'm home and the oven can be left on for long periods of time.


I had one such day recently. I was working, and I thought, "why not bake some bread?" The bread baking process was nice because it was a great excuse to step away from my computer to take breaks, and once the dough was in the oven I enjoyed the drool-enducing aromas of baking bread.


I baked Peter Reinhart's cinnamon raisin walnut bread, except we didn't have any raisins or walnuts in the house, and so the recipe devolved into cinnamon bread.

Overall I was really pleased with how this bread came out! After I'd started the process I read about the cinnamon swirl method, in which cinnamon is sprinkled on top of the dough before it's rolled up into a loaf. I really want to try that method next time, because the cinnamon flavor was relatively mild in the loaves that I baked.


Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread,
From Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice*, page 147

*note: THis is an awesome book, by the way! If you're interested in bread baking, I highly recommend it

Makes 2 1.5 pound loaves

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg slightly beaten
2 tablespoons shortening, melted or at room temp.
1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk at room temp.
3/4 cup water, at room temp
1 1/2 cup raisins, rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl Add egg, shortening, buttermilk, and water. Stir together until ingredients  form a ball. If dough is too sticky add some more flour, if too dry add more water.

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter. Transfer dough to the counter and begin kneading (or mixing on medium speed, switching to the dough hook). Dough should be soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. Add flour as you knead (or mix), if necessary, to achieve this texture. Knead by hand for approximately 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the raisins and walnuts during final 2 minutes of kneading (or mixing) to distribute them evenly and to avoid crushing them too much.

Dough should pass water Peter Reinhert describes as the "window pane test," which is performed by cutting off a small piece of dough and gently stretching, pulling and turning it to see if it will hold a pater-thin translucent membrane. If dough falls apart before it makes the windowpane, continue kneading/mixing for another minute or so.
The dough should also register at 77 to 81 degrees, F.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer dough to the bowl, rolling it to coat it with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Let rise for about 2 hours at room temperature until dough doubles in size.

4. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, form them into loaves. Place each loaf in a lightly oiled 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch pan, mist the tops with spray oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

5. Proof at room temperature 60 to 90 minutes, until dough crests above lips of pans and is nearly doubled in size.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Place the loaf pans on a sheet pan, making sure they are not touching each other.

7. Bake loaves for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees so that it bakes evenly and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the oven. The finished breads should be 190 degrees F in the center and golden brown on top and lightly golden on the sides and bottom. They should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.

8. Immediately remove breads from their pans and cool on a rack for at least 1 hour.

Yeasted sweet potato rolls

About a month ago I excitedly bought an entire bushel of sweet potatoes; we now have an overabundance. As a result, I have been seeking varied and creative ways to incorporate sweet potatoes into our daily eating. Sweet potato pie, sweet potato soup, sweet potato stew...there are so many possibilities.

When we needed a starch to accompany the soup that we cooked for ourselves and some friends this cold and rainy past Thursday, I thought I'd try my hand at incorporating the sweet potatoes into a bread of some sort.


After doing some research I settled on a sweet potato rolls recipe that I found here, on group recipes.com. Honestly, I chose this rolls recipe over the many others that I saw largely because it called for substantially less butter. I wasn't sure if the relative healthfulness of this recipe would negatively affect the taste of the rolls. Turns out it seemed not to, or at least not too severely from the perspective of my naive tasters, because these rolls were absolutely delicious. Each of us ate at least 2 that evening.



One thing that I feel inclined to mention is that these rolls are not heavy in sweet potato flavor. We didn't complain though since the rolls were light, airy, beautifully golden in color, and tasty. I am putting this recipe on my "prepare for thanksgiving" list for sure. The rolls are certainly worth remaking.



The recipe calls for regular milk. As I so often do these days, I substituted buttermilk, and the rolls came out nicely, indeed. I used all purpose flour and that worked nicely as well.

Mississippi Sweet Potato rolls, from "Group Recipes."

1 1/2 cups cooked sweet potato (reserve 1 cup potato water from cooking)
1 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup dry milk
2 pks dry yeast
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1tsp salt
5 1/2 cups flour

Wash and chunk unpeeled sweet potato and simmer until tender. Remove and peel immediately. Cool. Reserve potato water for later use. Mash potato meat.
Add salt, nutmeg, sugar and cinnamon.
Add one cup reserved potato water and milk and puree.
Add yeast to puree. It should be warm, about 100 degrees.
Let yeast proof.
Add melted butter and beaten egg.
Add dry milk and about 5 cups flour.
Knead until silver dollar pinch of dough stretches without breaking. Add additional flour if necessary to get right consistency. If using mixer, it should pull away cleanly from mixer bowl. Or if by hand, it should be elastic. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down and form into rolls. Size and shape is your choice. Place on greased backing sheet and let rise until almost doubled. Remember dough will rise again in oven. bake at 325 until lightly browned.

The cookie monster strikes again

I was a Sesame Street fanatic growing up. Every afternoon I sat in front of the television to watch the show while I munched on my usual orange-colored snack (a carrot and an orange). Grover, Big Bird, Oscar, they were all great, but my favorite character was Cookie Monster. I didn't live in a garbage can like Oscar, and I didn't have an imaginary friend like Big Bird, and so it was Cookie Monster with whom I most related. Because yes, even though my mom, well meaning as she was, gave me an orange and a carrot to eat as a snack, I really wished that I were gobbling cookies like my blue fuzzy friend.


Well, now I have a kitchen of my own and I get to feed myself anything that I choose. And yet I barely ever think to bake cookies. But tonight was one of those rainy evenings on which I was feeling restless and tired but still itching to bake something comforting and sweet.



I had mentally bookmarked the recipe for "Very Chocolate Cookies" when I saw it on David Lebovitz's blog a few months ago. Tonight seemed like the perfect time to try it out.

If you're a chocolaholic like I am, then these are the cookies for you. This recipe does not mess around, either, because it calls for *three* forms of chocolate (powdered, chunk, and chip/nib). The cookies are buttery and rich. They contain no eggs and so they do not come out puffy and smooshy as many homemade cookies typically do. Rather, this recipe produces a cookie that is more crumbly and concentrated with chocolate flavor. Imagine droplets of delicious buttery and rich chocolate entering your mouth. Cookie Monster would be so proud (or maybe just jealous).

Very chocolate cookies, available at the David Lebovitz food blog; the recipe is originally by Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini

Apples atop pancakes makes for a delicious Sunday brunch

And yes, we are still working through the bushels of apples that we acquired in Asheville. This Sunday, we made regular pancakes, with regular milk rather than buttermilk to make a lighter pancake.


Then we peeled and chopped a few apples, threw them in a buttered saucepan, which we placed on medium heat, sprinkled in a bit of cinnamon for spice effect, and PRESTO: delicious topping for delicious pancakes.

YUM!


PS: That's whipped cream on top of the pancakes in the first picture. Double YUM.

Melt-in-your-mouth cakes

Variety is the spice of life, or so they say. Whether or not this aphorism holds true in the kitchen is a matter that remains up for debate. Nonetheless we played by that rule when we planned and prepared our pancake brunch this past Sunday.

Earlier, I wrote about about our favorite buttermilk pancake recipe, from the Joy of Cooking. That recipe is so pancake-flippin' good (couldn't resist the pun, sorry) that it's hard to even consider deviating from the standard. But last Sunday morning, my eyes wandered to our Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook that has been gathering dust at the bottom of our shelf, and I thought I'd see what they had to offer in terms of pancake ideas.

Considering the 2 bushels worth of apples that we had (and still have) sitting on our kitchen floor, and then the nearly past due container of cottage cheese that was becoming dangerously close to growing a green mold on its surface, I thought that the cottage cheese apple pancake recipe seemed appropriate.

As it turns out, venturing into the great unknown of the pancake world was a really good thing. These pancakes were delicious. And perhaps I already ruined the punchline with my "melt in your mouth cakes" title, but really, these pancakes do melt in your mouth. I think that this has to do with the fact that there is very little flour in the recipe, and the batter consists mainly of egg and cottage cheese. At the same time, they're not very heavy because, again, they are made mainly of egg and cottage cheese.

Don't get me wrong. I'll definitely return to my buttermilk pancake recipe. But I will also try this one again too. Guess maybe there is something to the adage: variety can add some spice.

Cottage cheese apple pancakes, adapted from Moosewood cooks at home

Note: This recipe only makes enough pancakes for 2 people. I might consider doubling this recipe next time around. I suggest you do the same if you're planning to feed 2 or more hungry people.

1-2 apples, grated
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
(Note: You could probably experiment with the spices in this recipe, ginger might be good)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon butter

Peel, core, and grate the apples into a mixing bowl. Mix in the cottage cheese, eggs, spices, maple syrup, and salt. Sprinkle in the flour and sifted baking powder and stir well.

Butter a heavy griddle or nonstick skillet and place on medium heat. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto hot skillet to make each pancake. When bubbles form on the tops and the bottoms are browned, flip pancakes over and brown them on other side.

Serve immediately topped with your favorite jam or syrup and enjoy the melt in your mouth not in your hand sensation.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Happy Halloween, a day or 2 belated!

Yesterday, a friend had a day-after-halloween pumpkin party: bring your favorite pumpkin dish. The menu consisted of pumpkin soup, a black bean and pumpkin stew, pumpkin seeds atop a green salad, pumpkin brownies for dessert, a carved pumpkin for decoration, and...pumpkin lasagna!

Okay, now let's focus on the last food item that I mentioned. Close your eyes. Now, when I say the words "pumpkin lasagna", what comes to mind? Well, when the chef of said food item said pumpkin lasagna, what came to my mind was the following: "Okay, he layered chunks of pumpkin between lasagna noodles, then covered the noodles with cheese and sauce, and there ya go! Pumpkin lasagna!"

Well imagine my and everyone else's surprise when what emerged from the oven was not your usual casserole dish holding neat layers of noodles and sauce, but rather one half of a carved out pumpkin with noodles, meat and sauce on the inside.


After recovering from our initial shock at this new development and piece of culinary ingenuity, we all circled around the pumpkin lasagna to have a better look. We then tentatively shoveled the contents of the pumpkin onto our respective plates. And guess what. The contents basically tasted like lasagna. Now, place this idea on reserve in your head for next halloween. You, too, can delight your friends and impress your loved ones. Cook a lasagna in a pumpkin.

Almost like stone soup

In the fairy tale Stone Soup, a stranger (or maybe it was a group of strangers?) visits a village and tricks the residents into providing the ingredients for a soup. I guess there are some morals that one should take from this story, such as the values and merits of sharing, generosity, and cooperation, but what always fascinated me in this story was the idea that they had created a luscious soup out of the most simple of ingredients.



Recently I saw a recipe for saffron tomato soup on the food blog, Confessions of a Tart . The recipe immediately caught my eye because it seemed pretty simple in terms of implementation, plus I didn't have to leave my house to buy ingredients because I had everything that I needed on hand.


In my opinion, the product of this recipe is a stone soup. I say this not because I tricked anyone into donating ingredients to my dinner cause, but rather because the recipe is so simple, requires minimal ingredients and time, and yet the soup comes out tasting so damn good.

The recipe calls for chicken broth and drumsticks. I didn't use drumsticks and used vegetable instead of chicken broth, and the soup came out nicely. Whatever you do, though, don't skimp on the saffron. That's the special ingredient that makes this soup special and not your run of the mill tomato soup.




Tomato Saffron soup, available at Confessions of a Tart

The Dripolator - Asheville's finest

So, being a coffee connoisseur (snob?) can be a burden more than a blessing. I can no longer handle the inadequacy of a 'quick' cup of coffee from some lesser company/roastery/coffee shop. No, it has to be Counter Culture, Stumptown, Gimme!, and it has to be done right (though it's pretty hard to mess up good beans, unless you just make really weak coffee). For that reason, I was very excited to discover the Dripolator.

When you walk into a good coffee shop, you can judge the quality of the place almost immediately. The smell of a fresh pot brewing, the striped down, no frills coffee menu (if you see 'frappucino' you're in the wrong place), and the respect the establishment shows to the company who provides their beans. In this case, the Dripolator serves Counter Culture coffee (no surprise, given the existence of a training center in downtown Asheville), and their appreciation for their beans is pretty obvious throughout the storefront.

Being an appreciator of good coffee means you probably have a thing for well made espresso drinks. I like to judge the quality of a place by their Cappuccino (double, of course. I ain't no light weight). Unfortunately, I failed to capture an image of their cappuccino, but suffice to say it was smooth, rich, and did justice to the company from whom they depend on their beans. And, being a good coffee shop, the barista art was definitely present in the milky-foam that topped my cappuccino.

Now, since we were in Asheville for more than one day, we just had to go back for another round. But this time, I decided to try something different: a Chai (pictured above, set to a background of a soon-to-be completely massacred slice of pie). I asked the waitress if it was house made. Check. I asked her opinion of it. She said, without hesitation, "We are pretty damn proud of our Chai." Well, hell, what choice did I have?

Of course, being a coffee fiend, i had to get The Dirty Chai, which includes two shots of espresso. Note: there was no article in front of the name on the menu, but I feel that its inclusion here emphasizes the singularity of this particular Chai. I can easily say that this is the best enhanced/dirty/red-eye/'whatever you want to call it' Chai I have had the pleasure of consuming. A nice hint of spice and a strong hit of espresso, neither of which was overpowering.

I suggest you try it, or just about anything else they have to offer.

Challah french toast

There's no better Sunday morning than one on which you sleep late, stumble out of bed, make yourself some good strong coffee, and then follow those first sips of coffee by cooking brunch in the kitchen. That's precisely what we did this morning, and it was fantastic.





One of our favorite things to make for brunch--now-- is french toast. I must say "now" because, growing up, I wasn't a french toast fan.


But I think that I know what the problem was: the bread. The trick to making really good french toast is to find yourself some really good, fresh bread.



We've experimented with many types: multi-grain, sourdough loaf, plain ol' white bread...and today we used a nice loaf of challah. I think that this was my favorite, or at least it makes it to the top of my list. It's not so much the flavor of the bread as it is the texture.


You see, many loaf breads are just too wimpy. You dip them in that nice eggy mixture and they just dissolve. Challah on the other hand, well, there's a bread that is up to the challenge.



For our recipe, we generally adapt the Joy of Cooking recipe for french toast:

Whisk together in a shallow bowl:
-2/3 cup milk or half and half (Note: I actually like to use butter milk)
-4 eggs
-2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup (go for the maple syrup if you can!)
-1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 tablespoon of rum
-1/4 teaspoon salt

One at a time, soak both sides in the egg mixture:

-8 slices white sandwich bread (um...try challah instead!)
-Butter as needed

Brown the bread on each side in a hot well buttered skillet. Serve hot sprinkled with confectioners sugar (or affectionately smothered in maple syrup and topped with a dollop og whipped cream)

Asheville's best kept secret? Sunny Point Cafe

If you have been searching for comfort food that is made with a nearly perfect blend of creativity, fun, and quality, then we may have found the source. Fair warning though; what I'm about to reveal might inspire you to pretend that you are sick, play hooky from work, get in your car, and drive a few (or more) hours. But the drive just might be worth it.

Sunny Point Cafe is a diner-esque restaurant located in West Asheville that features breakfast items that you can order all day long, as well as lunch, dinner, and dessert menus. The food that they serve might be described as southern inspired mexican mixed with diner comfort and just a sprinkling of granola, organic hippy style, and all of this with a twist (they leave off the patchuli extract thank goodness). Looking at the menu and then eating the food, you truly get the sense that the cooks had fun dreaming up and then preparing the dishes. And this feeling transforms itself into an exciting and tasty food experience that comes packaged in a casual and affordable atmosphere.


Take, for example, the juevos rancheros from the breakfast menu: House prepared black bean cakes, plus chorizo, sprinkled with feta cheese and cilantro, topped with a light sour cream, and not smothered by mounds of cheddar cheese, as this dish can so often be.



Or the dish that I ordered, called the Ol' fashioned. Lightly simmered pinto beans and mixed vegetables atop rice, flavored by a nice citrus ginger dressing that comes on the side. All of this served with what might be the best cornbread I've ever eaten, with maple butter.




And finally, our personal favorite of the evening: A savory dish off of the dinner menu that consisted of a waffle (they describe it as yeast risen) and fried chicken; all of this topped with vegetable gravy. I don't even need to describe the dish any further. Don't you just want to try it for yourself?

Unfortunately we were too full to sample dessert but I have definite plans to return to Sunny Point. And you? Why are you still in front of your computer? Okay you might as well fill up your gas tank.

Mississippi 'Meh' Pie

After our recent, and positive, trip to Elmo's diner for peanut butter pie, a friend suggested we give their Mud Pie a shot. Now, judging by the title of this post, you probably have a fairly good idea about where I'm going with this... simply put, it was mediocre.

There really isn't much to a MMP. Chocolate + ice cream (or whip cream, depending on your fancy) + chocolate*more chocolate (this is a synergistic term that indicates our belief that the whole can and should be greater than the sum of its parts); and were success simply left to the first two components of this equation, this pie would have been top notch. However, the synergy hoped for in the last term of our model for successful pie just wasn't there, and the pie was lacking a... how you say... "je ne sais quoi." I think the word I'm looking for is 'flavour'

Of course, this isn't to say it wasn't good. Chocolate is rarely bad, and for going out for a quick sweet tooth fix, I suppose it did the trick. Nonetheless, I doubt ording the MMP will be a repeat event.

Move over Elmo's: My Peanut Butter Pie

This is an all time favorite and one of the first pies that I tried baking. My first attempt was inspired by a request from a picky eater who said that, of the few desserts that he liked, the Elmo's peanut butter pie was at the top of his list. I love a challenge, and so I made it my personal goal to appeal to said picky-eater's sweet tooth, and to make him rave about my peanut butter pie with even greater enthusiasm than that with which he spoke about Elmo's.

At the time, I had not tried Elmo's peanut butter pie. However, I'd eaten on many occasions the peanut butter pie at our local food coop, Weaver Street Market. The creamy chocolatey goodness of their pie appealed to my chocolate sweet tooth. This was the period in my life when I was still sadly and utterly ignorant of the wonders of heavy cream and butter. Therefore, I had no idea how I might bake the pie myself. So one day I worked up the nerve to ask the woman who was working behind the Weaver Street pastry counter if they might give me their recipe. I was expecting her to respond with a scornful nod, "sorry dear, but no..." I was wrong though; the kind woman immediately walked to the back of the kitchen and retrieved the recipe for me! The black box of the chocolate peanut butter pie had been opened, and oh what a revelation this was.

But what, you ask, ever happened to the picky eater? Ah, yes, I must conclude my story of the picky eater and his peanut butter pie. The story has a bit of a sad ending, because it turns out, we lost touch, the picky eater and I. Consequently, he never tried my version of chocolate peanut butter pie, although in my heart I believe that he would have preferred mine to Elmo's. The happy part of this story's end is that his request caused me to discover this recipe, which I now get to share with you.



Finally, I should say that the Weaver Street Market recipe that the woman gave me was written for bulk pie preparation (with ingredient measurements for either 2, 4, or 6 pies). It was also rather cryptic (For example, for 2 pies the recipe calls for 1 unit of cream cheese at room temperature. What does that mean?? 1 cup? 1 tablespoon?). As a result, I had to finagle the ingredient measurements but I finally have a recipe that I feel comfortable sharing.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, or Peanut Butter Silk Pie,

adapted from the Weaver Street Market recipe (which, I've noticed, might be adapted from the Joy of Cooking recipe )

Ingredients:

1 single pie crust, pre-baked

For the ganache:
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream

For the filling:
1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (use creamy for a smooth consistency, chunky for more texture)
1 tablespoon vanilla or almond extract
1 cup heavy cream

To prepare:

1.) Allow the prebaked pie crust to cool to room temperature.

2.) Now, prepare the ganache. Place your chocolate in a sauce pan on medium-low temperature. Stir the chocolate with a wooden spoon, and slowly add the 1/2 cup of heavy cream. The mixture will become smooth and thick.

3.) Once your ganache has become a nice, thick consistency, pour it into the bottom of your pie shell and place in the fridge until it is solid.


4.) While your ganache is chillin' in the fridge (haha) prepare your filling. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter, and extract until it is well combined and creamy.


Place that mixture in a bowl and set aside for later.

5.) Now whip the 3/4 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks are formed. Then, gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter/cream cheese mixture.


6.) Place your peanut butter/whipped cream mixture in your pie dish on top of the chilled chocolate ganache. Top with chocolate shavings if you wish, and then chill in the fridge.

Enjoy and share with friends. This is a rich and filling pie but so good that people still come back for seconds!