Recipe: Farm Boy Baker’s Bacon Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A good friend of mine, fondly known as the Farm Boy Baker, shared the following recipe as a way to beat the winter doldrums, which daringly combines oats, chocolate chips and bacon into a cookie that is sure to please.

Ingredients
– butter  – eggs  – brown sugar  – sugar  – vanilla  – salt  – baking soda  – white flour  – whole wheat flour  – bacon  – semi-sweet chocolate chips  – quick-rolled oats

Directions 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer (KitchenAid is my long-standing partner in the kitchen), beat 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 cup butter until well-combined. Beat in 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients – 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup white flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda – stopping the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl several times. Gradually mix in 2 1/2 cups oats, 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 4 slices of bacon, cooked and finely chopped.

Plop 1 1/2″ dollops of the dough – you will find it is quite sticky – onto ungreased baking sheets, baking for 12-14 minutes, and allow to cool on wax paper.

The outside crispy from the butter, and the inside chewy from the oats, smoky from the bacon and delightful dashes of sweetness from the chocolate chips. Incredible. A perfect accompaniment to hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night!

Until next time,
SugarSource

Literary Treat

With summer right around the corner, this passage from Maya Angelou seemed only too appropriate:

           “They were flat round wafers,

                       slightly browned on the edges

                                      and butter-yellow in the center.

                                                      With the cold lemonade

                                                                     they were sufficient

                                                                                      for childhood’s lifelong diet.” 

 

Until next time,
SugarSource

Recipe: Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is slight twist to the first recipe for chocolate chip cookies I ever learned. Convinced it was a family recipe passed down generation to generation, I discovered at an older age that it was essentially the Better Homes and Garden version. As palates evolved and preferences shifted, we recently added coconut to the mix, contributing a subtle, more complex flavor and chewier texture overall to the classic cookie.

Ingredients
– butter  – shortening  – brown sugar  – granulated sugar  – baking soda  – salt  – eggs  – vanilla  – flour  – semi-sweet chocolate chips  – finely shredded coconut  – finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening for 30 seconds on medium speed. Scrape the bowl, and add 1 cup packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Scrape again, and mix in 2 eggs and 1 tsp of vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Gradually add in dry ingredients, mixing completely. I typically don’t take the “separate bowl” step if I’m using my KitchenAid – I will just add in the dry ingredients slowly to the eggy, sugary mixture in the bowl. Fold in 12 ounces (3 cups) of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of coconut (you could replace the coconut with 1/4 cup walnuts if you prefer).

Using a spoon, drop 1-2 inch cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet – I find I can successfully fit about 15 cookies on a standard sheet. Bake for 8-13 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through.

Serve warm (with the chocolate melting as you break apart the cookie), and always with a glass of milk.

Until next time,
SugarSource

Sweet Go-Tos – New York Edition

New York offers a wide variety of traditional as well as atypical confections for enjoyment. Through experimenting and many afternoons of taste-testing, I have found a few to be fail-safe when a hankering for something sweet comes along.

Mellow Days,
Cafe Angelique

Cookies: Levain Bakery is at the top of my list. A small storefront identified by the bright blue awning (and the possible gathering or line out front) on 74th St on the Upper West Side houses delectable cookies. With four flavors to choose from, you can’t go wrong though my personal favorites are the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and the Dark Chocolate Chocolate chip. Warm and gooey, you will quickly have your hands covered in chocolate and your belly will be full of warm cookie. These are large and rich, so I would suggest sharing unless you are willing to suffer the consequences of overindulgence.

Cupcakes: Cafe Angelique. This West Village cafe has some of the best, most balanced cupcakes I’ve tasted in New York. The Mellow Days has a well-balanced, moist and springy vanilla cake topped with a mellow vanilla icing (hence the name) and a few mini marshmallows. The peppermint cupcake was refreshing and had a snap to it similar to that of a candy cane.

Ice Cream Sundae: Farmacy. This Brooklyn Heights tribute to the soda fountains of old will take you back to another time.  Homemade whoopie pies and shakes are available alongside a lengthy list of decadent sundaes. From favorites like a Warm Brownie Sundae to more daring combinations such as The Elvis (chocolate chip ice cream, peanut butter, candied bacon and a pickle slice), Farmacy has something to please anyone. My personal favorite is The Cookie Monster, an ode to the Sesame Street character, complete with a hearty sprinkling of blue sugar.

The Cookie Monster,
Farmacy

Pudding: Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Though Magnolia Bakery and Buttercup Bakeshop have delicious banana puddings, the chocolate chip pudding at Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a cut above the rest. Layers of whipped cream, broken bits of homemade chocolate chip cookies, and butterscotch pudding combine to be absolutely outstanding.

This is not an exhaustive list, by any means, as there are many other forms of dessert that have been left off this list. Perhaps for a post in the future…

Until next time,

SugarSource