NoHandle's Two Cookies

Cookies A or Cookies B? And what is the difference between the two kinds of cookies? Read on as Guest Blogger NoHandle explains all.

Myth Busting in the Kitchen
With this blog posting, you will be getting two recipes for the price of one (They pay?). Several years ago I encountered a myth (in an email) that told of a woman who liked the cookies at a Nieman Marcus coffee shop in Dallas so much that she wanted the recipe. They put the charge on her bill, “two fifty”, which turned about to be $250, rather than the $2.50 she expected. As the story was told, she decided to publish the recipe over the then-new Internet as revenge for the charge. Tom, a friend of mine from Dallas assured me that the Nieman Marcus store there had no such coffee shop, so it must be a hoax, and so it was. The recipe however looked like a good one, and I decided to try it out one day. Well, the day is upon us.

There is another little wrinkle; Neiman Marcus decided this was a marketing opportunity, and published their own, somewhat different recipe on the Internet, which they give away for free, as they do all of their recipes. I thought, “Why not try that one too, and see which was better.” So, it's a contest. By the way, the details of this urban myth can be found on snopes.com and several other sites. The old recipe came from my archives, but you can find that online too.

From a baking perspective, there is nothing special about either recipe. You cream the butter, combine the dry ingredients and add the chocolate. They are then drop cookies, although one recipe flattens them (and I consider this optional). Some of the ingredients are the main differentiator.

The $250 Cookie
The original (urban myth, 1980s) recipe is notable for the variety of its chocolate, and perhaps the processing of the oatmeal. Apart from that and the story, it is fairly ordinary.

Processing the oatmeal is simple, just drop it into the blender and turn it on to about medium speed. Let it run for a few minutes, until the consistency is like a very coarse wheat flour.

Grating chocolate, on the other hand, can be a bit challenging, but keeping it chilled in warm weather helps. Wrap the doubled bar in a paper towel, and grate with a box grater. Warmer chocolate will yield long strings; colder chocolate produces small chunks and powder. The latter mixes better in this dough. I also used an extra ounce of chips, since I had them from the later recipe. I'm glad I did.

Here is the grated chocolate, ready for the recipe

I strongly recommend a stand mixer for both the creaming and combining the final dough. I was (barely) able to mix everything together with a strong hand mixer, but I would have used a stand mixer if I had one. I just don't do enough of this kind of cooking to justify one. The other, and cheaper, accessory I would recommend is a scoop for portioning the dough for the individual cookies. I haven't found one I like yet. The next recipe calls for one.

Going back to the mixing, with all the dry ingredients and the relatively small amount of moisture, this is a very stiff dough, even though it spreads in the oven.

Even with a stand mixer you will need to scrape the sides of the bowl a time or two.

Cookie A
(This is the halved recipe; which was plenty for me. The larger size may have been intended to make it appear as a recipe for a larger operation): 


1 cup butter (two sticks), softened

1 cup granulated sugar 

1 cup brown sugar 

2 eggs 

1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour (I favor unbleached)

2½ cups oatmeal, blended 
(see below)
½ tsp. salt 

1 tsp. baking powder 

1 tsp. baking soda 

2 oz. chocolate chips 
(left over from the recipe below)
½ of an 8 oz. Hershey bar (grated) 
(The Extra Large Hershey Milk Chocolate bar is now 4.4 oz.; I used that)
1½ cups chopped nuts (your choice; I used pecans)

Put oatmeal in blender and blend to a fine powder, the consistency of [very] coarse flour.

Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Cream the butter and both sugars.

Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. These should be sifted or mixed together in advance.

Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar shreds and nuts. Roll into sub-golfball sized balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, until browned at the edges. Place on cooling rack.

Makes 56 cookies.

With all that butter, you would think that you wouldn't need to grease the cookie sheet, but we would be wrong. A spritz of cooking spray for each batch helps. At this temperature the sugar sticks to the pan. The cookie coming out of the oven has flattened itself, and is not very cohesive. Wait for a few minutes before removing them from the sheet onto the cooling rack.

Neiman Marcus Strikes Back

The later (Neiman Marcus, 1995) version is even more conventional, and a bit smaller size (I didn't need halve this one). It has fewer, and lighter, ingredients, lacking the oatmeal and with only half the butter and eggs, and a lot less sugar, but adds a bit of instant coffee powder for flavor, and bakes longer in a cooler oven. Espresso coffee powder is less common these days, but is available in your average grocery.

This too is a straightforward recipe to follow. Cream the butter and sugars as usual, if goes very quickly if the butter is soft enough, and a bit slower if it is still somewhat chilled. Then add such wet ingredients as there are, an egg and vanilla extract. Follow with the flour with the baking powder and soda mixed in. You can use a hand mixer for this much with no problems. This mixture is not as stiff as the above recipe. The expresso powder happens to be the contents of one serving, at least for the powder I used. Depending on your taste, you may want to dial this back to one teaspoon of the powder. I found the full amount a bit over the top. At this point, I added a cup of coarsely ground pecans (not in the recipe), to match the earlier recipe, and because I just like the flavor. The mixture is stiff now, but not as bad as above. Finally add the chocolate chips and stir, either with the hand mixer on low, or with a wooden spoon. That's it.

I spritzed the cookie sheet before the first batch, but didn't need subsequent greasing. Now use the cookie scoop, heavily loaded to portion out the cookies. I broke down and bought one at Crate and Barrel, and I was glad I did. It was much easier and faster than using spoons to do this. I did not smash them down, and I am happy with that decision as well. The result is a much prettier cookie than the earlier recipe. They look like chocolate chip cookies are supposed to look. The texture is nice too, with a nice crispy bottom and chewy interior.

 

Cookie B
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1¾ cups all-purpose flour (again, I favor unbleached)
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1½ tsp. Instant espresso coffee powder (I used Folgers Fresh Breaks Black Silk)
1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (9.4 oz.)

Preheat oven to 300 F. Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy using an electric mixer on medium speed (approximately 30 seconds).

Beat in the egg and vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and the chocolate chips.

Using a 1-ounce scoop or 2-tablespoon measure, drop cookies onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2-inch circle.

Bake for about 23 minutes, or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispy cookie.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

And the Winner Is!
This is a tough decision. There are a number of dimensions to the question of which is the better cookie; appearance, texture, mouth feel, and of course taste. Lets call the $250 recipe cookie A, and the Nieman Marcus recipe cookie B.

Cookie B wins on appearance, yielding a fairly fat cookie with a nice distribution of chips visible. Cookie A is thin and almost lace-like, with thin or empty areas among the cookie lumps.

I like the texture of Cookie A a bit better. I think it's the oatmeal. The same goes for the mouth feel.

The taste is harder still. I liked the strong chocolate flavor of Cookie B, but it is almost too strong. Cookie A is more balanced, and brings out the pecan flavors better. The butter flavor is nicer too.

So for me Cookie A is the best, but don't take my word for it, try them both yourself and leave your comments with your choice.

Aye and Begorrah – Corned Beef from Scratch

Welcome, again, Guest Blogger No Handle with a seasonal delight:

Irish Corned Beef

Corned Beef is an iconic Irish dish, and since I am more than half Irish, and have Grandparents who literally came over on “the boat” from Ireland, it is a bit odd that I haven't attempted this before. My (Irish) uncle John made it every year. The recipe I used, and one of the harder-to-find ingredients, comes from a family friend who is more German than anything, and who prepares it for Christmas parties. The Celts passed through German territory on their meandering migration that ended in Ireland, so maybe that's it. She owns the Back Forty bar in Mountain Home, AR where several of my distant relatives also live. Stop by if you are in the area (Branson is just up the road). Thanks Opal!

Aside from obtaining one ingredient, this is not at all a difficult dish to prepare, but it does take some time (about 2 weeks, although another recipe from the Food Channel says it can be done in 10 days). To drop the suspense, the one ingredient is called salt peter, or potassium nitrate. It preserves the color of the meat over its long stay in the corning solution, which is essentially a brine. See my earlier blog on brining a turkey for a shorter brining effort. Where that brine used separate spices, this one calls for Pickling Spices (the salt peter was (inaccurately) labeled Pickling Salt, when I finally found it in a spice store in Boulder, CO had a nice pink color) which includes many of the spices from brining, plus a few more that deliver a wonderful aroma that fills the house when they are being heated. It is a delightful promise of things to come.

There are five ingredients that go into the corning solution, including the Pickling Spices and Salt. While they are heating, chop the garlic cloves into slivers, and insert them at intervals into the beef; puncture the meat with a paring knife to make it easier. I'm not sure that the Irish are that big on garlic, but I am so the recipe suites me fine. Once the solution has cooled somewhat (The Food Channel recipe calls for addition of ice. I am more patient and just let it sit on the counter for a while.) place the beef and solution into a 2-gallon plastic zipper bag or shallow pan.

The recipe calls for weighting down the beef in a shallow container and covering it with muslin, but the plastic bag approach is easier. In either case, the mixture goes into the refrigerator for about two weeks. Since corning is an old method of preserving meat, I suspect it could stay for months with no ill effect.

…. time passes ….

The big day has arrived, so remove the beef from the solution, which you can discard, and rinse it thoroughly. Remove the garlic slivers too. The spices have already been soaked into the meat, and the salt is mostly on the outside. It was needed for osmosis (encouraging the spices to enter the meat tissue), kind of like the way a water softener works. Put the meat in a largish Dutch oven. Le Creuset is nice, but there are good enameled cast iron pots out there for a more reasonable price. Check Macy's and Costco.

Cover it with fresh cold water, and add the vegetables.

I included carrots, even if the recipe doesn't call for them (another did). Put the pot, covered, on the stove on a back burner and bring to a boil, then reducing the heat to medium low to simmer for a few hours. Your patience will be rewarded. After three hours the meat should be falling-apart tender (no bones, so falling-off-the-bone tender doesn't apply), and ready to serve. Slice thinly across the grain and plate.

As the big day approached, I decided to go the distance and cook the full "boiled dinner" of corned beef and cabbage. It meant getting a few more vegetables and adding some pickling spice to the water, to season the vegetables. This requires adding the vegetables in stages, with potatoes, carrots, onion, and celery going in first, followed closely by the cabbage.

I removed the vegetables and cooked the beef a little longer because it didn't seem tender enough. I also transferred the beef and vegetable mixture to a larger pot when the cabbage went in, because my Dutch oven was a bit small (6 quart) and the mixture need a lot more space. Without the cabbage it was just big enough. The end result was delicious, and by adding the pickling spices at the beginning of the boil, the aroma filled the house. Yum! As you can see, adding salt peter did retain a lovely red color throughout the corning and cooking period.  

There seems to be a tradition of rewarding your salt peter provider with a serving, since he or she is a local, and the stuff is so hard to find that you are grateful, and want to show that gratitude. Also, it's just nice to share. So, pass on the green beer and enjoy this Irish (and sometime German) specialty.

Irish Corned Beef - The Recipe

4 quarts water

One half cup kosher salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoon pickling spice [I used McCormick]

One half ounce salt peter

8 bay leaves

5 lb beef brisket

8 cloves garlic

2 onions

2 stalks celery

Combine first 6 ingredients in saucepan (or large kettle). Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Place brisket (trimmed of as much fat as possible) stuffed with the garlic, in a non-metallic container. Cover with cooked broth, and weigh down to keep covered. Cover with muslin (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for 2 weeks. An alternative is a two-gallon plastic zipper freezer bag; press the air out.

To cook: Rinse thoroughly to remove brine. Place in kettle with onions [carrots] and celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook for about 3 hrs until tender. Drain and slice crosswise.

Salt peter maintains the color, and may be gotten at the pharmacy. [If you have a “corner drug store"], else at your local spice shop, or search for Humco Saltpetre granular on the web (more expensive). The Humco product is white. Farm stores are another possibility.

Additions (Corned Beef and Cabbage)

1 Tablespoon pickling spice

2 lbs. Potatoes (I used reds, peeled and cubed)

2 lb head of cabbage (I used about 3/4ths of it; cole slaw anyone?)

3 medium carrots, sliced

3 bay leaves (I cheated and used the ones from the corning solution)

 

After the beef has cooked about 2 1/2 hours, add the onion, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil again, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cabbage, return to a boil, and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and serve immediately.

Thanks No Handle! Will have to try this myself sometime. Dear Reader, it would be so nice if you would comment so that No Handle, our Denver favorite, gets some feedback. I think he did a grand job.

Super Bowl is Coming...Brine a Turkey For It!

Happy New Year y'all! Today we are blessed with a post from Guest Blogger NoHandle.

He is an accomplished cook and often ready to try new things, like this turkey cooking method. I also know that his Mom has reserved her copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking for him, so you know that he has respect for good cooking. Since Superbowl will be here before you know it and since this recipe will work for a smaller turkey or, I suspect, a turkey breast, consider it for those Superbowl sandwiches or platters. You'll have to imagine a lovely turkey with dark brown skin, juicy meat and a hint of spices, because there is no photo this time.

With no further ado, here's NoHandle!:

Brine a turkey?! I had never done that before. So, what does that mean, and why would I do it now? Therein lies the story.

My daugher-in-law Jenifer insisted on a "natural" turkey for our Thanksgiving feast. We were happy to comply, as we too appreciate healthy eating. "But you have to brine it because it is so lean," she said. Well, the good news was that I had recently seen Alton Brown do some brining on "Good Eats" so the concept wasn't completely foreign, but it was an untried technique for me. To paraphrase Alton, brining is a method for introducing spices and moisture into an otherwise dry meat. As the name implies, there is some salt involved as well. It acts as a vehicle to shuttle moisture and flavor between a fluid bath (the brine) and the meat (turkey in this instance, although he speaks highly of it for lean pork, such as pork loin, as well). There seemed to be no advantage in starting small and working up to a 22 pound bird (the size we had to feed a dozen or so), so I figuratively jumped into the deep end and started swimming.

Jennifer had a recipe from somewhere on-line, and I had one from Alton's show, found at foodnetwork.com, and they weren't that different, so I was ready. This is the merged one that I used.

NoHandle's Brined Turkey

1 Cup kosher salt
.5 Cup light brown sugar (or dark brown)
1 Gallon apple cider
1 Tablespoon black peppercorns (slightly crushed; I used a garlic press)
1.5 Tablespoons allspice berries (slightly crushed; garlic press again)
4 Ounces fresh ginger, sliced thin (I peeled mine first)
1 orange, sliced (peel and all)
1 Gallon heavily iced water

Combine the stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, orange slices, and ginger in a large pot over medium-high heat. Except for having about 2 gallons of liquid, the amounts of the ingredients are not critical. I wouldn't change the salt or sugar, but otherwise substitute freely. One version called for vegetable stock instead of the cider. Stir occasionally and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Combine the brine, water and ice in a very large plastic zip-lock bag. (Note: They are called Ziploc Big Bags. It also says heavy duty and XL 4 bags on the box. The size is 2 ft. x 1.7 ft. I think you can get them at Target (if you have Targets out there) and probably Walmart. I even found parchment paper at our "super" Walmart. You may be able to get away with Reynolds roasting bags, but I'm not sure if it can handle that much liquid.)

Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. Ensure the bird is fully immersed, cover and set in a cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through the brining. If you use an insulated container, there will still be a bit of ice remaining at the end of the brining.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove bird from the brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine. (It won't hurt the pipes or city waste water.) Place bird in a roasting pan, and pat dry with paper towels. Roast on lowest rack setting for about 25 minutes per pound, until the disposable thermometer pops up. Keep a close watch after about 1 hour for browning and tent with aluminum foil when is starts to brown. At the 20 minute-per-pound mark, check for early completion. Once complete, rest for about 15 minutes at room temperature to make carving easier, and to let juices re-absorb. Serve immediately.
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Most of the challenge is physical; preparing the ingredients is not at all difficult or critical. I didn't have a stock pot big enough for a turkey of the size we had. I had jokingly suggested that "natural" turkeys might not even come that large, but they did.

Alton Brown had used a water cooler like the ones that hold Gatorade at football games, but I didn't have one of those either. What I had was an old Coleman ice chest, which was a bit large, but would suffice. The other tool required was a very large zip-lock bag (you can get them in four-packs). It needed to be large enough to hold both the turkey and the couple of gallons of brining liquid.

The turkey was placed neck-end down in the bag for the first half of the brining, then turned over, neck-end up for the final few hours. The difficulty was in keeping the bag to a small enough volume that the turkey would be as completely covered in the brine as possible. It was necessary to put a couple of phone books between the long sides of the ice chest and the bag. It is important that the whole package not get too warm, although the salinity prevents any bacterial growth or other spoilage, so a few cups of ice from the kitchen ice maker was added to keep it cool. The large bag has cutouts that form handles, which makes getting it into and out of the ice chest easier, if not easy. This movement must be accomplished at the beginning, in the middle when the turkey is rotated end for end, and at the end when it is removed for roasting.

If you have a problem estimating when the turkey will ready to serve, this process adds considerable time, and you want to schedule the turning in the middle for a reasonable hour, like first thing Thursday morning. That gives you several hours to do the rest of your prep work and get the oven pre-heated.

As a side note, we don't do stuffing, as such, but rather dressing. It is the same recipe, prepared the day before, just wrapped in foil and put in the oven about 30 minutes before the bird is expected to finish, or the time when you expect to serve dinner. It is difficult to get stuffing properly heated while not overcooking the turkey. They are both done sooner too.

I will note that the skin browned earlier than expected, so I tented the bird with foil when I noticed that. It also finished earlier, by nearly an hour. The result was also a darker brown than usual, but the taste was not at all burnt. So how was the taste? With all that salt and sugar, you might expect a salty bird. This was not the case. There was a certain sweetness, and the spices were noticeable, but not overwhelming, deep into the meat. I really liked the ginger notes, but then I like ginger. It was quite juicy, as you would expect from a non-frozen turkey, perhaps a bit more than before, but only a bit.

Would I do this again, or recommend it to others? Yes, but with reservations. I would probably not do this every time I roasted a turkey, natural or not, and I would like to try this technique on pork loin roasts, which can be dry and need extra flavors. I would also take a picture of my next effort, in case I need to explain, and illustrate, it again. Sorry guys, no mouth watering picture this time.