87. Baked French Toast (p. 650)

We usually spend Christmas day with my wife's family. This year, my sister came up with the great idea of doing Christmas a little early with my side of the family. So, a little more than a week before Christmas, I had my grandparents and my sister and her family over for a holiday brunch.

On the menu: this recipe for Baked French Toash served with Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup, Tomato, Garlic and Potato Frittata, Homemade Sausage Patties, and Cranberry Coffee Cake. These other dishes will be the subject of the next few posts, but first, the French Toast.

This recipe is tailor-made for brunch for a crowd. I assembled it the night before, stashed it in the refrigerator overnight so the bread could soak up the custard, and then I popped it in the oven a while before my guests arrived. I started by slicing a loaf of soft Italian bread from the supermarket bakery into twelve one-inch slices. (The Book didn't tell me to, but I cut the slices in half so that they'd fit better in the baking dish.) I buttered the bread and arranged them in the baking dish. I whisked together some eggs, milk and salt and poured it over the bread. The bread needs to soak for at least an hour, but overnight is fine, too. Just before baking, I sprinkled a generous amount of sugar over the bread.

The French toast got a bit toastier than I would have liked, but even though the picture above makes it look like it was burned, it wasn't. Everyone really liked this French Toast. It was crispy, buttery and not-too-eggy. I would absolutely make this again if I were making breakfast for a group.

On a personal note, I'm overjoyed to announce the birth of my son, Jack, born yesterday afternoon. He's a big guy - 9 pounds, 3 ounces - and he's sure to have a big appetite. I'm looking forward to cooking all sorts of tasty treats for him, but in the meantime, I'm going to savor every minute of babyhood. (For some reason, Blogger isn't cooperating with me, and not letting me post a picture. Take my word for it, he's just about the handsomest baby ever!)

Date Cooked: December 13 & 14, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: A-

86. Baked Potato Chips (p. 6)

I made these chips a while back to go along with the Turkey Wraps I made with Thanksgiving leftovers. Somehow, I'm just getting around to posting about them.

I was suspicious of this recipe.* I knew that they'd be good, but I didn't believe that they'd taste like real potato chips. Boy, was I wrong.

This recipe has three ingredients: potatoes, olive oil and salt. First, brush two baking sheets with olive oil. Next slice the potatoes as thinly as you can using a mandoline. Then arrange the potato slices on the baking sheets, brush with more oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes until golden and crispy.

When Teena made these, she found that they took longer to cook than indicated in The Book. I agree. Many of the chips tasted like I thought that they would - like oven roasted potato slices. Good, but not potato chips. The chips that I thought looked a little overdone were, much to my surprise, perfect! They tasted just like my favorite potato chips. They were crispy and delicious. Amazing.

I'll keep playing around with this recipe to get the timing and amount of oil just right (I thought that some of these were a little greasy). I'm also looking forward to trying the variations in The Book for Salt and Pepper Potato Chips and Rosemary Potato Chips.

Date Cooked: November 29, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: B+

* I couldn't find this recipe on line.

85. Potato Latkes (p. 567)

Let's stick with the Hanukkah theme from the last post about rugelach. I made this recipe the other night to kick off the Festival of Lights. I've never had latkes before, and I don't know how I've lived without them. These things are great! And they're so easy, there's no need to save them for the holidays.

First, I chopped up an onion. Then I grated one pound of potatoes (one great big Idaho did the trick) using a box grater. I soaked the grated potatoes in cold water for a bit (to get rid of some of the extra starch?). Then I drained them and put them (along with the chopped onions) in a dishtowel and wrung the heck out of them. I was really amazed at how much liquid I was able to squeeze out.

The cooking was very easy, too. I heated some oil in a 12-inch skillet and then I made little mounds of two tablespoons of the potato mixture in the skillet, flattened them out and cooked for a few minutes on each side until they were nice and crispy. Out of the pan and onto some paper towels to drain, and that's it!

The traditional accompaniments for latkes are sour cream and applesauce. Much to my surprise, the only applesauce recipe in The Book is for Calvados applesause that is a component of a dessert recipe. I thought about just buying some Mott's, but I came across this recipe for Rosy Applesauce on the Gourmet website. This applesause was super-easy to make, I just cooked four pounds of Golden Delicious apples with a handful of fresh cranberries, some sugar and a cinammon stick. Once the apples are all soft and broken down, I forced the applesauce through a sieve and let it cool. The cranberry and cinammon kick to this applesauce was excellent with the latkes, and we enjoyed the leftover applesauce swirled in our morning oatmeal. Yum!

Date Cooked: December 20, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: A-

84. Date Walnut Rugelach (p. 682)

I promised three cookie posts. But, I just couldn't resist the urge to make this recipe* for these delicious treats in honor of Hanukka. So, here's a bonus cookie post, at no extra charge.

Essentially, these cookies are tiny little tarts - little triangles of pie dough filled with dates and walnuts and all rolled up. I've always wondered if there was anything better than pie crust. Well, I've got my answer - pie crust made with crem cheese! First, I combined cut up pieces of cold butter and cream cheese, sugar, salt and flour. I pulsed these ingredients in the food processor until it came together as a dough.

I put the dough out onto my baking mat, broke it into six more or less evenly sized pieces. After a little firsage action, I patted each piece of dough into a small disk and put them in the refrigerator to get nice and firm.

Meanwhile, I made the filling. I took a pound of pitted dates and whizzed them in the food processor until they were nice and finely chopped. I did the same with some walnuts. I mixed the dates and walnuts together with some sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract.

Next, working one at a time, I rolled out each dough disk into an eight-inch round (I used a dessert plate as a guide for the size). I sliced the round into eight wedges, keeping the wedges together for the time being. I brushed the wedges with some apricot preserves that I had warmed on the stovetop. The Book calls for apricot jam, but I could only find preserves. It worked out just fine, but I think that The Book had in mind something without chunks of apricot. Then I spread some of the filling around on the wedges, leaving some space around the inside and outside edges. Finally, I rolled each wedge up, and put them on a baking sheet, tucking the loose ends under to keep the filling in. Finally, I baked the rugelach until they were puffed and golden.

You often hear about food being so good that it's "dangerous." But, other then fugu, most food isn't really dangerous. Rugelach just might be an exception. Rugelach is served at Hanukkah to commemorate the bravery of Judith, the biblical heroine who ingratiated herself with an enemy general by feeding him cheesecakes and pancakes. Once he was lulled into a stupor by all that she had fed him, she cut his head off. So, you just might think twice when someone offers you rugelach. But just try and resist them.


Date Cooked: December 21, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Rating: A-

*The recipe in The Book is very similar to the one on epicurious, but some of the proportions are a little different.

83. Pignoli Cookies (p. 683)

My favorite cookies in the whole world come from the little Italian bakery at the end of my street. They are crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, and they have an amazing almond flavor. I've always wanted to make them, but I could never find a recipe. In fact I don't even know what they're called, since I just ask for "those little almond cookies."

Well, thanks to this recipe, I can make "those little almond cookies" whenever I want. The key to these cookies is the almond paste, which, The Book emphasizes, is not marzipan. I'd never seen almond paste before, so when I found it in the store, I was at first surprised by how light the can was for its size. Then when I opened it, I was further surprised that it had the look and texture of those gum erasers that artists use.

I crumbled up two cans of the almond past into my food processor, and combined it with some confectioners sugar, and pulsed it until it was ground into a fine meal. Then I transfered the mixture into a bowl and beat in some egg whites and honey. (Much to my surprise, there is no flour in these cookies.) This is one of those recipes that I really wish I had a stand mixer for. The Book says to beat for five minutes. The dough was pretty thick, and after about the third minute, my handheld mixer was struggling. I called it quits at about four minutes when my mixer started to smell like smoke. In the end, it was all right, although, I think a little more beating at a higer speed (which a stand mixer could have done) would have made the cookies a little airy-er.

I spooned the dough into a pastry bag and piped little rounds onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. I pressed pine nuts into the top of each cookie. (At first I started making a pretty starburst design with the pine nuts, but after the second dozen, I moved on to a more abstract "sprinkle them and press them wherever they land" design.) I cooked them for the full fifteen minutes called for in The Book (some trays took a couple more minutes to turn golden). Then I slid the parchment onto racks to cool, and when the cookies were cool enough to handle, I peeled them off the parchment paper.

I made these cookies as a gift for my grandmother, who also loves "those little almond cookies." She was thrilled. They are exactly the same as the ones from the bakery down the street. The only difference is that the bakery puts slivered almonds on top instead of pine nuts. I like pine nuts, but I prefer the almonds on these cookies, and that's how I'll make them next time. That, and I'll wait until I have a stand mixer to make them again, because I don't think that my electric hand mixer could survive another batch of these. (Are you listening, Santa?)

Date Cooked: December 13, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: A-

82. Spice Sugar Cookies (p. 669)

My dad is one of ten children, and every year, his brothers and sisters and their families have a huge Christmas party. About 100 people come to the party. We rent a hall, and my cousin, who has a catering business, cooks a meal for everyone. But dessert is a pot-luck affair. All of the nieces and nephews bring something for the dessert table.

This year, I made these cookies as my contribution to the array of sweets and treats. I picked this recipe* because it looked easy and tasty. It was both.

To make the dough, I started by sifting together some flour, baking soda, and spices (a hefty amount of cinnamon and ginger, plus some cloves) and a little bit of salt. Then I beat together some vegetable shortening and brown sugar. Then I added an egg and some molasses. Finally, I added the flour mixture, bit by bit, until it was all blended together. Finally, I put the dough in the refrigerator for an hour to firm up.

I made the cookies by rolling tablespoons of dough into little balls and dipping the top half of each ball in sugar. The dough was very dense, but easy to work with. As the dough balls baked, they melted into perfectly rounded cookies with cracked, sparkling tops. They smelled great as the cooked and cooled on racks on the counter.

The Book says that the yield of this recipe is three dozen cookies. But I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to get almost four dozen cookies from one batch of batter. This was great, because after filling up a respectably-sized cookie tray for the party, I was able to save more than a few cookies for myself.

These cookies were great. They are nice little ginger snaps. Sweet and spicy, crisp without being hard or dry. They are exactly what you want to eat with a glass of eggnog.

Date Cooked: December 6, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: B+


*This recipe, under the name "Ginger Sugar Cookies," is the cookie of the year for 1965 in Gourmet's Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008 web feature.

81. Gingerbread Snowflakes (p. 680)

This is the first of three cookie posts. And with Christmas right around the corner, it seems like just about everyone is in a cookie-making mood.

The current issue of Gourmet features an array of stunningly beautiful cookies including some glittering lemon sandwich cookies that I can't wait to make. But the fine folks at Gourmet didn't stop there, the editors and test kitchen cooks went through the archives to compile a web feature of the best cookie recipe from the magazine for each year since 1941. I can't think of a more mouth-watering way to spend a half hour than to scroll through these sixty-plus recipes. Well, it didn't take long for a few intrepid food bloggers to see Gourmet's cookie-of-the-year feature as a challenge. And thus, The 12 Cookies of Christmas: A Gourmet Cookie Extravaganza was born. I'm looking forward to catching up on the efforts of Sandy from At the Baker's Bench and her friends who decided to pick and make their 12 favorite recipes from Gourmet's "best of" collection. (Hat tip to Michelle of What Does Your Body Good? for pointing me to the Extravaganza.)

OK, enough about other people's cookies. I want to talk about my cookies. I volunteered to make some cookies for my church's bake sale. I picked this recipe because I could make the cookies ahead of time, since, according to the Cook's Note, the cookies keep up to three weeks. In theory, this is a pretty easy recipe. The Book says that the start-to-finish time is 2 1/4 hours. But because I tend to make my own problems, and bite off more that I can chew, it took me about eight hours, over the course of three days to make these cookies. My downfall was reading The Book's suggestion of turning the cookies into ornaments and thinking, "That sounds like a good idea!" They came out great, but it took forever to make them.

The cookie dough is pretty easy to make. First, I combined some molasses, brown sugar and spices (ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves) in a saucepan and brought it to a boil. Right from the first step, this recipe fills the house with an instant Christmas aroma. Off to a great start! Next I added the baking soda, and like an elementary school science project, the mixture foamed up furiously. (Good thing The Book warned me that was going to happen.) Then I added butter, an egg and the flour and mixed it right in the pan until I had a big ball of cookie dough.

I turned the dough out onto my baking mat and kneaded it for a little while. Then I put half of the dough into the refrigerator while I worked on the other half of the dough. I rolled the dough out nice and thin, and cut out as many snowflakes as I could. I rerolled the leftover dough to cut out more cookies, and then I rerolled it a few more times until I made all of the cookies I could. The Book says to reroll the dough once, presumably because it could get tough if it's rolled too many times. But I took my chances since I didn't want to waste any dough. All of the cookies I tasted were great, so I don't think that the multiple rollings did any harm.

To make the cookies into ornaments, I poked a hole in each cookie with a drinking straw before I put them in the oven. After the cookies cooled, I threaded a thin red or green ribbon through the hole and tied it in a bow. This was very tedious, and about halfway through the four dozen cookies the recipe yielded, I was rethinking the wisdom of making cookie ornaments.

Next came the decoration. This recipe for decorating icing is a sub-recipe to the cookie recipe. It's pretty easy. Just combine a box of confectioner's sugar, powdered egg whites, water, lemon juice and vanilla extract. I didn't know that powdered egg whites existed, but I'm glad that they do, because the egg whites are necessary to give the icing its structure and stiffness, but I'd be nervous about using uncooked egg whites in cookies destined for a church bake sale. I can see it now: "Parishioner sickens dozens of churchgoers with salmonella-laced snowflake cookies. Film at eleven."

I opted for a pretty simple, less-is-more approach to decorating the cookies. There was more than enough icing to completely cover the cookies. But, I decided that because of my limited time, and my limited skills with a pastry bag, I'd keep it basic. Some might disagree, but I actually thought that the cookies were better for it. The cookies, as cookies, were delicious in their own right. Nice and crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with a really nice mix of holiday spices. Exactly what you'd want in a gingerbread cookie. The icing, on the other hand, while sweet, was pretty blah, even with the lemon juice and vanilla. So, by keeping the decoration to a minimum, the cookies were able to shine whithout being overwhelmed by too much icing.

After the icing hardened, I put each of the cookies in an individual plastic bag fastened with a silver twist-tie. Again, about an hour into this part of the process, I was asking myself exactly why I though that it would be a good idea to do this way. In the end, the cookies were beautiful and delicious, if I do say so myself. I'd make this recipe again, but without all of the unnecessary fuss of making them into ornaments.

Date Cooked: November 30 - December 3, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Medium (but VERY time consuming)
Rating: B