Spicy Asian Slaw

More cabbage from the farm this week and I finally have figured out how to not destroy it in my food processor. You'd think it'd take less than a year to figure out which blades to use for what, but not so. My deteriorated mental state (baby brain) doesn't help, of course, but now that I've got it down, more slaw! I took the sweetheart cabbage, a couple of carrots and a cucumber for a shred and came up with this. Plain old cole slaw is boring and this is reminiscent of some of my favorite sushi rolls.

1/2 head cabbage, shredded
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 medium cucumber, shredded (squeeze out excess water)
1 1/2 cups snow peas, chopped in one-inch pieces
Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbls spicy Asian mustard or dijion
1 tbls low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbls Sirracha Sauce
1 tbls rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbls toasted sesame seeds
Sesame chili oil to taste (I used a lot as I like it hot!)

(NOTE: Use Kewpie Mayo if you've got it, which is a Japanese mayonnaise made with rice wine vinegar, otherwise regular Hellman's. There is never a good time for Miracle Whip, which is NOT mayonnaise, but a bastardization that they even refer to as "salad dressing." Ick. But, I digress.)

Meanwhile, back at the cookie chapter...

I had given up baking for the summer, but then today its only 67 degrees in July and, well, it feels like cookie baking weather. So! Back to the Cooks Illustrated cookie chapter. What haven't I tried yet? Turns out, a lot of things. My god, that chapter is long. The next chapter I tackle will have to be shorter. Anyhoo, I decided to give the Hermits a try. Weird name for what is essentially a molasses cookie. According to the book, the name is derived from the fact that these are even better after they've been tucked away for a few days. They're kind of like molasses biscotti and good for dunking in coffee. They use the same spices as the Molasses with Rum Glaze that are devoured around here in seconds. And, they are easy since they are baked in a log and then cut apart. The verdict? Delicious!

Spring Goodies from the Farm

Hooray! Our first box from our CSA farm arrived yesterday full of spring goodies including ramps or wild leeks, overwintered spinach and parsnips, black radish, chives, sunchokes and burdock root. AND the season's first rhubarb! So, as required by my marriage vows, I have to make Nathan's favorite cookies. Here is his Grandma's Rhubarb Filled Cookie recipe:

Rubarb Filled Cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Filling:
1/4 cup water
3 cups chopped fresh rubarb (if you use frozen, thaw and drain it first!)
1 cup sugar

Dough:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
Cook filling in heavy saucepan until thick, then cool
Cream butter and sugar together
Add milk, eggs and vanilla
Blend dry ingredients and add
Roll out dough on floured board
Cut out circles with a 2 1/2 inch diameter cookie cutter
Place one teaspoon of filling the center of each circle
Dampen edge with water or eggwash, place a second circle on top and seal.
Pinch edge with fork and prick top to let steam out
Place circles on parchment paper lined cookie sheet
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until lightly browned

*Use parchment paper if you've got it as the filling might seep out and burn
*Alternately, you can cut 4 inch circles and fold them in half over the filling

Oatmeal Raisin

Here's the latest cookie I've made. I started with the Cook's Illustrated recipe but deviated. A lot.
I added three ingredients and changed another one. I think that makes it my own, don't you? They turned out chewy and oatmeal-y and nutmeg-a-licous. I really should be adding up my daily butter consumption. I have a feeling its very, very high.

Wet Stuff:
2 sticks butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract (the real stuff, imitation vanilla extract should be outlawed)

Dry stuff:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (store bought ground nutmeg sucks)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

The goods:
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raisins

Beat the butter, add the sugar, beat some more, add the eggs one at a time, beat some more, add the vanilla. Whisk the dry stuff together for even distribution, reserving one tablespoon. Mix the dry with the wet. Toss the raisins with the reserved tablespoon of dry stuff so they don't stick together. Add the oats and raisins to the dough and mix just until combined. Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoon balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. The need about 12 minutes or so at 350 degrees or until just starting to get a little brown around the edges. Take them out even if they still look a little underbaked. If you leave them in too long, they will get hard and hard cookies suck. These should be chewy.

Lovely with a glass of milk, unless you're lactose intolerant in which case they are also lovely with a Surly Bender :)

Cookie Baking Jag

The Magic Cookie Jar full of Pecan Sandies

On of the many strange quests I've been on since finding myself unemployed is the overwhelming desire to bake every single cookie recipe in the 1000 page Cook's Illustrated recipe tome. I've also been cooking A LOT - everything from Morrocan lamb tagine to traditional jambalaya for Fat Tuesday to pork country ribs and roast chicken. But, lets focus on the cookies, for now.

I have a love/hate relationship with Cook's Illustrated. I've been a recipe tester for them in the past and I understand the systematic thinking of testing every detail, ingredient and method to find THE best way to make something. Often, when they publish a recipe, you should follow it precisely to get the best results. However, sometimes I feel like this rigorous testing leads their recipes to be overly complicated or, alternately, dumbed down to the most pedestrian tastes. There are 23 base recipes in the cookie section that includes both cookies and bars plus variations on each. I have made ten so far. Here are my reviews:

Pecan Sandies
Excellent texture and taste, but add vanilla. Cook's omitted it citing tasters that found it overwhelming. I disagree.

Almond Sandies
Very good. Be sure to grind the almonds very fine. I made them too coarse. Also, I upped the amount of almond extract. Cook's called for a teeny 1/4 teaspoon. I would add a whole teaspoon especially since I found really nice tasting organic extract.

Molasses with Rum Glaze
These are AWESOME. Seriously, I ate most of the batch myself. Cook's found blackstrap molasses to be too strong, but I loved it. I used Pusser's Rum in the glaze. Killer. I'm make them again and again.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
I flat out don't like Cook's version of these. They got very hard and needed vanilla.
I am on a quest to find the most perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. In my opinion they need to be big and chewy with lots of brown sugar and really good chocolate flavor. The Cook's recipe turned out to be far below my expectations for this particular cookie. So, I branched out and tried 3 other oatmeal-chocolate chip recipes from various sources. One randomly from the internet which was so-so and needed an extra cup of flour. One from the family archives which turned out hard and curiously flavorless and then... a really good one from an unexpected source. I have a chocolate-lovers cookbook put out by the Hershey company. The recipes are good, but honestly, are even better if you use *good* chocolate/cocoa and NOT Hershey's. The best chocolate chips I've found are Callabeaut and are available in bulk at my co-op. As far as cocoa powder, get a high quality dutch processed.

Thick and Chewy Double Chocolate
Yes!! Chocolate and Espresso. Good god, these are good, but the Triples are even better.

Thick and Chewy Triple Chocolate
Nathan and my favorite so far. Use really good chocolate - dutch processed cocoa and good chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter
Hands down the best peanut butter cookies. The secret is to grind up whole peanuts yourself.

Classic Brownies
These did not turn out so well. I cooked them a long time, much longer than called for and they were still gooey to the point of being doughy in the middle. We ate all the way around the outside and three the rest out.

Lemon Bars (Key Lime Bar variation not in the book, but on their website)
Very good. Using fresh citrus and zest is the key to really good flavor.

Up Next:
I plan to try the oatmeal raisin variation today despite my dislike for the oatmeal chocolate chip variation in this book. I'm likely to doctor it as I see fit. I also plan to try the Hermits and Pecan Squares soon. Cook's doesn't have a recipe for homemade fig newtons, but there must be one out there somewhere and that intrigues me. I'll let you know what I find.