|
|
Favorite Cookbooks -
|
The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball (Little, Brown and Company, 2000)
|
|
|
Have you ever bought a cookbook on the strength of the cover photograph? I did when I bought this book. It’s a simple photograph of a stack of four oatmeal cookies, the top two broken in half so you can see the beautiful texture of the cookies, the moistness of the raisins (or are they dates? Hold on — omigosh, they’re dates), the individual flakes of whole oats. You can hardly find a more humble dessert than an oatmeal cookie, but these cookies looked so perfect. I immediately skimmed the copy on the jacket flaps, hoping there’d be a line that said, "Cover: Oatmeal-date cookies, page whatever." No mention of the photo. So I delved into the book and finally found the recipe for "Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies, Date Variation."
Not only is there a recipe, there’s a long discussion about the author’s search for the perfect oatmeal cookie, and even a chart (!) showing his experiments with a basic recipe en route to the Holy Grail recipe he offers in the book.
You might find this either charming or annoyingly obsessive. I thought it was probably a little of each, but any author so ready to devote days of his life to an oatmeal cookie recipe probably has done his homework. The 300-plus recipes in this book (accompanied by no less than 62 charts) are well-researched to the point of occasionally drowning in trivia. But it’s a classic, valuable, eccentric book, and one well worth adding to your bookshelf. The sections on pie crust and on basic yellow cake with its many variations are particularly helpful.
The author is the founder and editor of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, which has made so many fine contributions to our understanding of food and cooking. If Mr. Kimball turned his obsession with the details of baking into something like solving the political crisis in the Middle East, I predict he’d win the Nobel Prize. Come to think of it, a plateful of those oatmeal cookies would help any peace negotiation!
|
 |
Sample Recipes:
|
The Afore-Mentioned Master Recipe for
Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies, Date Variation
|
| The author counsels that the most common mistake in baking these cookies is to take them out of the oven too late. They should appear undercooked when you take them out. (He bakes his cookies on parchment paper, but they turned out fine on an ungreased, nonstick cookie sheet.) |
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups rolled (not quick-cooking) oats
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1-1/2 cups chopped dates
Heat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars by hand with a wooden spoon until pale yellow and very light. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add oats and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients except the dates and fold them into the oatmeal mixture using a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Stir in dates.
Place the dough in heaping tablespoons on the cookie sheets and bake for about 15 minutes, or until edges are brown. The cookies will still feel slightly undercooked and soft. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 24 large cookies.
|
Chocolate Pudding
|
| You will need a thermometer to make this pudding, which should be brought up to 180°F before chilling. The batter will seem thin but will thicken as it cools. |
2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped or grated
2 cups half-and-half or 1-1/3 cups whole milk plus 2/3 cup heavy cream
Sift cocoa, salt, sugar, and cornstarch onto a piece of waxed paper. Place the vanilla and chopped chocolate into a small bowl and set aside.
Pour sifted ingredients into a medium saucepan over low heat. Whisk in half-and-half. Increase heat to medium and whisk for 2 minutes. Stir constantly but gently with a wooden spoon for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until mixture starts to bubble and thicken. At this point, the mixture will be thin.
Add the chopped chocolate and vanilla and cook for 1 additional minute, stirring very gently but constantly. If all of the chocolate has not melted, take pan off heat and continue to stir. Pudding should reach 180°F on an instant-read thermometer. Pour into individual ramekins or into a bowl. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Serves 4.
|
Butterscotch Brownies
|
Use only an 8" square pan for these bars.
|
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup pecans, broken or coarsely chopped
Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a 8" square baking pan. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and molasses with an electric mixer on high speed for about 1 minute. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the egg mixture. Fold gently with a large rubber spatula until flour is about half incorporated. Stir in nuts and continue mixing until flour is fully combined. Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. When brownies are done, the center top will be firm and the sides will start to pull away from the pan. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Makes about 16 squares.
|
|
|
|
|
