Infamous Chocolate Chip Cookies aka Ricardo's Fitness Sabotage

It's official, I've made it to 100 posts. Thanks to those of you who've checked in from time to time to read my writings. To celebrate, I've posted below a recipe for absurdly delicious cookies. I got this recipe from a friend of mine awhile back. These are officially known as Infamous Chocolate Chip Cookies, however I've made a few slight adjustments to the recipe, which makes me feel somewhat justified in renaming them. From here on out, this recipe shall be called Ricardo's Fitness Sabotage.



Ingredients
3 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (coarse, if possible)
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
10 to 16oz* of your preferred type of chocolate** in your preferred format***
sea salt for sprinkling
1/5 cup water (optional)

* This depends on how dense you want the chocolate in the cookies. I would suggest starting towards the upper end of your first time making these and then see how you like it. Go even higher than 16oz if you want.
** I have made this recipe with semisweet, bittersweet, white and milk chocolate. All are good, though my personal favorite is semisweet chocolate. Try to go for higher cacao percentages when using semisweet and bittersweet chocolate.
*** I have made this recipe with chocolate chips, discs and chunks. All work, though chunks can be a bit trickier just because of their shape.

Equipment
2 large bowls (and maybe one or two other smaller bowls)
Mixing spoon
Measuring cup(s)
Measuring spoons
Large plate
Plastic wrap
Baking sheet
Oven mitts
Cooling rack(s)
Tupperware or something else airtight to store the cookies in
Small ice cream scooper (optional)
Electric mixer (optional)

The ingredients and most of the equipment.

Let's get started

In one of your large bowls, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix it all together for a minute until you have everything combined as best you can.

The flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt mixed together.

In another large bowl, cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. If you have an electric mixer you can use it here to speed things up, but be sure to either use the lowest or second lowest setting. If you don't have an electric mixer, then a regular cooking spoon will work too; it will just take you a few extra minutes to make sure everything is mixed together evenly. One thing that I find helps with this is to have the butter warm and partially melted. Be sure to scrape down the bowl as needed while you mix.

The butter by itself.

Butter + regular sugar.

Butter + regular sugar + brown sugar.

A electric mixer can be helpful in combining the butter and sugar, but it's not necessary.

Now add in the eggs into the bowl with the sugar and butter. You can either crack the shells and add them in one at a time, mixing in between, or you can ready the eggs in a separate bowl beforehand and then pour the eggs slowly into the sugar and butter. Both methods work just fine and using one method over the other has no significant impact on the final product.

I usually prepare the eggs in a separate bowl.

With the eggs added in.

Next add in the vanilla extract and mix. Here is where you can also add in the optional 1/5 cup of water. You don't really need it but it can help keep the dough from getting overly dry. If you can, try making these cookies once with the water and once without and see which you prefer.

Now start to slowly add in the dry ingredients from your other bowl (the flour, baking power, baking soda and salt combination). I prefer to pour in the dry ingredients in thirds, mixing in between. You could potentially use the electric mixer again at this point, but it can make the dough flaky if you're not careful.

Adding in the dry ingredients.

After all the dry ingredients have been mixed in.

Fold in your chocolate gradually, trying to get as even a concentration as possible throughout the dough. This is easier said than done, and will probably take you a few minutes. It is here that you'll make your decision as to how much chocolate you add in.

This is about 14oz of chocolate.

After a few minutes of mixing.

After you're satisfied with the distribution of the chocolate throughout the dough, you now have the most difficult part of the recipe; resisting the temptation to eat the cookie dough right now. DON'T GIVE IN! Instead, wrap the dough air-tight in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 to 3 days. I usually refrigerate mine for just over 2 days.

Wrapped up.

There's a bit a chemistry behind letting the dough sit. Allowing the dough to rest lets the gluten in the flour relax, which results in more tender cookies. The flour should also more fully and evenly hydrate and some of the sugar will break down into smaller molecules which improves browning and depth of flavor.

A few hours before you bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature. When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If needed, grease your baking sheet.

Start putting small balls of dough on the baking sheet. If you have a small ice cream scooper or a well-rounded spoon that can help. I've read a few people who insist that you should not mold the dough before baking and you should just scoop the dough out with an ice cream scooper or a spoon, but I've not noticed a significant difference in the end product (other than the shape of the cookies). For your first sheet of cookies I would suggest trying out different sizes of cookies to see how they turn out and what you like. I personally prefer to make balls of dough that are about 1 to 1.25 inches in diameter. These will result in cookies that are about 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter.

Dough balls on the baking sheet.

With regards applying the sea salt, there are several ways to go about it. You can apply the salt before, during, or after baking. I normally salt the cookies during or after baking because I have a hard time getting an even salting on the dough prior to baking. By "during" I mean that I sometimes bake for about seven minutes, briefly remove the cookies from the oven to sprinkle on the sea salt and then put the cookies back in the oven for the remainder of the baking. As you might expect, the cookies tend to rise in the center while baking, which means some of the sea salt will just roll right off the cookies when you sprinkle it on. The adjust for this, I oftentimes take a spoon and very gently press down on the cookies to flatten them and make the application of sea salt easier.

Depending on how large your cookies are and how you like them, you can bake the cookies for about 10 minutes for smaller cookies and 15 or so minutes for larger cookies. Again, this is where you experiment to see how things turn out and what you like. The cookies I prefer to make are on the smaller side and I like to slightly under bake them (about 8 to 9 minutes).

When the cookies are done baking, remove them from the oven and place them on a cooling rack or something else and allow them to cool a minute or two.

Right out of the oven.

These cookies can either be served right away after cooling or stored for a later time. If you store them be sure to that they are in some sort of air-tight container.

Enjoy

Tejeringos

It's only taken me a full year, but I finally have another recipe to add to the blog. This one is for tejeringos, which are more or less the same thing as churros, but perhaps a bit smaller than your average churro. I learned this recipe from a book about a culinary journey through Spain, though I've slightly modified the recipe.

Ingredients/Equipment needed for this recipe:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar, plus about 1/3 cup for dusting
Pinch of salt
1 & 1/3 cup flour
3 large eggs
1 cup water
Approximately 50 Fl Oz or about 1,500 mL oil for frying*
Pastry bag with large star-shaped tip**
Tongs
Bowl
Saucepan
Large pot
Paper towels
Stove top

Optional items for this recipe:
Latex/non-latex gloves (for protection against hot oil)
Funnel (for cleanup)
Strainer (for cleanup)

* I have made this recipe with both extra virgin olive oil and canola oil and have not noticed a significant difference in the resulting flavor of the Tejeringos. At some point in the future I will make this recipe again with other types of oil and will then update this post. As for the amount of oil, the important thing is that you have enough for the oil in your pot to be at least 2.5'' deep.
** The star-shaped tip I used was about 1.4'' in diameter at the base, about 0.75'' in diameter at the opening and 2'' tall. It was an Aetco Pastry Tube - Star - Size 9. I bought it on Amazon at the following web address: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000VLEFE/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item


Below is a photo of most of the required items.

One more note on this recipe: while this can be done by a single person, there are a few points where it is helpful to have a second person assisting. If you have a friend or family member who is willing to help you out it will make this recipe a bit easier.

Ready? Let's get started.


Cut the stick of butter into about 7 or 8 pieces. Then combine the water, butter, the tablespoon of sugar and the salt into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir the mixture occasionally until the butter has melted and everything has combined into a single substance.

The butter in the saucepan.

The butter, salt, water and sugar all together.

Starting to boil.

Reduce the heat to low, add the flour (in one shot), and stir vigorously until the mixture solidifies into a single mass.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, but don't turn the heat off. In fact, I would suggest turning the heat back up to medium (you'll see why later). Add the eggs to the batter and stir vigorously. You can either add them one at a time, or you can mix them beforehand and add them all at once; I haven't noticed a significant effect on the final product between using either method. When you add in the eggs you'll notice that the batter will break up into lots of small pieces. Don't worry about this and just keep stirring. After a minute or two, as the batter slowly absorbs the eggs, the batter will come back together into a single mass of dough.

The dough after it has completely absorbed the eggs.

Once the dough is back to a single solid mass, transfer it into a bowl and place it in your refrigerator for 10 or so minutes.

Meanwhile, pour your oil into the large pot and place it on the stove top. If you kept the heat on as I suggested earlier, the burner will still be warm/hot and it will take less time to heat up the oil. Heat the oil to about 365 degrees. I do not have a cooking thermometer, so I set the burner to 7, which on my stove is at about the 4 o'clock position. I have also successfully made this recipe on the 6 setting, so if you don't have a cooking thermometer set the stove top to somewhere around there.

The oil heats up. In this case it is extra virgin olive oil.

While the dough is cooling in the refrigerator and the oil is heating up, get your pastry bag and fit the star-shaped tip into it. You'll need to cut a small amount of the end of the bag off in order to fit the star-shaped tip into. If you're not sure how much to cut just take a small amount off and then see if you can push the star-shaped tip into it (from the inside of the bag). Keep cutting small slivers off the end of the bag until you can get the star-shaped tip to fit snugly into it. Also set out some paper towels, which you'll need later to drain the tejeringos when you take them out of the frying oil.

In this photo I am using a large, industrial pastry bag. Feel free to use another type.

A closeup of the star-shaped tip.

The pastry bag with the star-shaped tip fitted into the bottom.

After the dough's time in the refrigerator is done, bring it out and transfer it into the pastry bag. You'll find this is one of the times where it is easier if you have a second person holding the bag open while you move the dough into it. Though not required, I like to knead the dough just a little bit while it is in the bag before I start to pipe it out into the frying oil. I really don't know if this does anything, but I like to do it.

The pastry bag with the dough loaded into it.

If your frying oil is hot enough, you can now start frying the dough and making tejeringos. Judging how hot the oil is without a thermometer can be tricky, but you'll find out very quickly if it's hot enough when you start to pipe the dough into it. If the oil becomes very bubbly when the dough goes into it, then it is hot enough. If it's only a little bubbly then wait a few more minutes for the oil to heat up.

Now, before you start adding the dough, I would suggest putting on a pair of latex or non-latex gloves. This is just to protect your hands from drops of hot oil that might splash up when you are adding the dough to the oil. This is not mandatory and if you're allergic to latex don't feel compelled to do this.

Pipe 4-inch-long strips of dough into the hot oil. The strips will tend to crowd together, so don't put too many in at the same time. Use your tongs to keep the strips from bunching up as they fry. Cook the tejeringos for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown. The longer you cook them, the crispier they will be. The less you cook them, the more doughy they will be. If you're going to make this recipe more than once, try frying one group of tejeringos for longer and another for less and see which ones you like more.

The tejeringos tend to bunch up if left unattended in the oil.

Use your tongs to keep them separated.

When the tejeringos are done frying, use your tongs to remove them from the oil and place them on paper towels to let the excess oil drain off. Pipe more dough into the oil and continue the frying process until you've used up as much dough as you can. When you're completely done frying, turn off the heat on the stove top and move the pot off the burner so the oil can start cooling.

A batch of tejeringos draining on some paper towels.

Lastly, take your sugar and dust the tejeringos with as much or as little sugar as you like. If you have someone helping you, they can start dusting the tejeringos as you're taking them out of the oil (of course, give them a few seconds to drain on the paper towels). I used 1/3 cup of sugar for dusting, but you can use more or less to suit your personal tastes.

I used a plate to help with the dusting. Feel free to use whatever works for you.

Place the finished tejeringos on a plate or in a bowl, and then serve them as soon as possible. These little guys are delicious, but will go floppy (like microwaved bread) after a few hours, so no leftovers allowed!

ENJOY!

Cleanup
Since we're working with oil, I thought it would be good to add a little section on the cleanup you'll need to do for this recipe. While most of your equipment can be cleaned like normal, the leftover oil requires some special consideration. DO NOT DUMP THE OIL IN YOUR SINK! You are likely to clog it as the oil solidifies and hardens as it sits in your pipes (in case you didn't notice, oil does not flow like water). Below are your two main options for dealing with the leftover oil:

* Storage and Reuse
Depending on what type of oil you used for frying, you may be able to store and reuse it for future cooking. To store the oil, first let it cool completely. Then carefully pour it into a container for storage (a funnel helps). If you have a strainer, be sure to use it to filter out any food particles that may have gotten into the oil while you were frying. The container you use can be a jar, bottle, the original container the oil came in or whatever you want to use. Store the oil in a cool, dark place (light will accelerate the oil going bad). Extra virgin olive oil tends to become rancid faster than other oils, while Canola oil can last awhile if stored properly. Before you reuse any oil be sure to give it a smell test (and taste test if you're willing). If it smells nasty, then it's gone bad. When reusing oil, be sure to use it on similar foods that it was originally used to fry. For example, you can reuse the oil you used to fry the tejeringos on pastries, but don't use it on vegetables or meats. Oils often take on flavors from the foods they cook, so using the same oil for different types of foods can mess up your cooking.

* Disposal
If your oil has gone bad or you're just not going to use it again, you need to properly dispose of it. Again, do not dump the oil in your sink. After the oil has cooled, pour it into a disposable container (such as a milk carton) and close/seal the container so it does not leak. Some towns have an oil disposal program/service, and if you have access to one try to take advantage of it. Otherwise, place the sealed container in your dumpster, and perhaps label it so your local dumpster-diver doesn't make a mess.

White Chocolate Brownies with White Chocolate Chips

In my first, and possibly only, cooking entry to the blog, I present to you a recipe I recently used to make white chocolate brownies with white chocolate chips. I jokingly refer to these brownies as White Kryptonite. Do you like white chocolate?

Below are the ingredients and equipment you'll need:
* A 9x13 metal baking pan (8x8 can be made to work, but I find the 9x13 works better for this particular recipe. An 8x8 pan may result in the outer section of the brownies being overcooked while the inner section gets undercooked)
* Mixing bowl
* Large pot
* 6 tablespoons of butter
* 14oz of white chocolate
* 3 eggs
* 1/2 cup of white sugar
* 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
* 2 cups of white chocolate chips (I used an 11oz bag of white chocolate chips, which is not quite 2 cups, but was close enough)
* 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (optional - supposedly this is to regulate the flavor and keep the brownies from getting too sweet, but it's not mandatory)
* 1 and 3/4 cups of flour
* Dash of water (optional)
* Spoon, spatula and/or whatever you want to use to mix things together

Here is a picture of all the ingredients assembled prior to starting:

Let the battle begin!

If you have the time, let the butter and eggs warm up to room temperature before starting, but if you don't have the time, it's no big deal. The brownies will still be absurdly tasty.

Preheat your oven to 355 degrees, Fahrenheit.

Chop the 14oz of white chocolate into small pieces. This is not totally necessary, but it will make melting it a lot easier. Below is a photo of the chopped chocolate:

No need to use a serrated knife - it just happened to be the sharpest one I had

After you've chopped up the white chocolate, put it into a large pot along with the butter. It will look something like this:

Slowly melt the chocolate and butter on a stove top, stirring regularly once you can see them starting to melt (after turning on the heat, you can jump ahead a step and work on the eggs and sugar while the chocolate and butter start to melt). On my stove I used heat setting #3, but your stove may necessitate a different setting. The thing to remember is that you want to melt the chocolate and butter, not burn it, so be careful not to turn up the heat too much. Once the chocolate and butter is melted and thoroughly mixed together, turn off the heat. Your melted chocolate and butter will look something like this:

In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. It will look close to this:

Then add the melted chocolate. Mix it up a bit and then add the vanilla extract and lemon juice and mix a little more. The resulting batter will look something like this:

Now mix in the flour. Here's where the optional dash of water can come in. You might notice that when you add in the flour the batter may appear fairly dry. If you want to make the batter easier to mix and pour into the pan, add in the slight touch of water, which will help with that (but you'll probably need to bake an extra minute or two). Either way, the brownies will turn out fine.

Now, gently mix in the white chocolate chips. Try to get them evenly distributed in the batter. Below is a photo of the batter with chocolate chips mixed in:

When finished, pour the batter into the baking pan. If you don't have a non-stick pan, you may want to grease your pan before pouring the batter in. The batter might be a bit drier than you're used to working with, (if you didn't add the water) and you may need to use your spoon or spatula to spread the batter around the pan. Below is a photo of the batter in the pan (this photo has batter that had the optional water added):

Put the pan with the batter into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes. Use a knife/fork/toothpick to see if the brownies are ready by sticking it into the brownies. If it comes out clean, then the brownies are done, if not, give them another minute or two in the oven and then test again. Below is a photo of a finished brownie batch in the pan:

When the brownies are finished, remove them from the oven and let them cool for twenty or so minutes. When ready, remove the brownies from the pan. Be warned: these brownies are very soft, which on one hand makes them extra tasty, but on the other hands it means they will break easily, so be really careful when removing the brownies from the pan.

Last, cut the brownies into the desired pieces, and enjoy. Below is a photo I took after I had cut up the brownies and put them on a plate:

Yum.