LET ME EAT CAKE

I had a rash of bad days recently, and I kept stomping into the kitchen in hopes that food would make me feel better. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? I have a moderate sweet tooth, but my reasoning was that when people feel lousy and turn to food for succor, they don’t go for carrots or lettuce. They go for chocolate. Or ice cream. Or both.

I pulled a recipe for chocolate cake from Food & Wine that’s actually quite fabulous when made in its entirety – it’s very much like a large Snickers or Whatchamacallit candy bar. It’s a bit too tricked out for a weeknight, but would be the perfect thing for a child’s birthday party. Anyway, the cake bit itself is perfection. Please don’t laugh, but in the same way that the Colonel’s KFC biscuits were the role models for my own, so is chocolate cake from a box, be it Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, the muse for all my chocolate cakes. I’ve tried many a recipe throughout the years, all promising to be The Best. Some had mayo, some had espresso powder, others had full cups of coffee, and yet others combined cocoa powder and melted chocolate. None of them ever tasted like Betty’s or Duncan’s. Until this one.

I made half the amount posted below and divided the batter into cupcakes because it would be easier to freeze the leftovers, but aesthetically, it’s not the best decision. The results are squat with square tops and in dire need of some cover-up (ice cream, anyone?), but looks aside, the cake is moist and dark and quite possibly the very cake that Ole Golly used to make for Harriet.

If I like box cake so much, why don’t I buy it, you wonder? Because it’s full of preservatives and unpronounceable additives, silly. Also, this made-from-scratch cake can be pulled together in the amount of time it takes your oven to preheat. You can’t beat that.

This is the adapted version, but for the whole shebang, visit Food & Wine.

CHOCOLATE CAKE
Makes one 9”x13” cake or 24 cupcakes.

2 C. plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 C. plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 C. whole milk
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 TBSP. pure vanilla extract
3/4 C. plus 2 TBSP. boiling water

-Preheat the oven to 350°F.

-Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan or two 12-tin muffin pans – or line with paper cupcake liners and spray with Pam.

-In a large bowl, whisk together sugar + flour + cocoa + baking powder + baking soda + salt.

-In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs + milk + oil + vanilla.

-Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk in the boiling water. Pour the batter (it will be thin) into the prepared pan or muffin tins and bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.

CHIPS AHOY

I had a hankering for chocolate chip cookies the other day so I went online and jotted down the first recipe I came across. The usual ingredients were all present and it looked pretty standard and straightforward, thus giving me no reason to worry. Alas, my blind trustworthiness bit me in the posterior. The cookies were neither chewy nor crunchy, but spongy instead, resembling madeleines more than chocolate chips. Searching for crispness, they went back in the oven, but all I got were cookies that tasted overcooked.

I revisited chocolate chips a few days after the above-mentioned flop, but this time I proceeded with caution and sought a recipe from a more reliable source, Dorie Greenspan, a.k.a. Queen of All Things Baked. For those of you unacquainted with Ms. Greenspan’s work, please, acquaint yourselves! She authored “Baking with Julia” (as in Julia Child), as well as “Baking: From My Home to Yours,” from where I extracted “My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.”

Following please find the adapted version. I opted to use peanuts in lieu of the more traditional walnuts or pecans because A) I’ve never had a chocolate chip cookie with peanuts, B) I had a can sitting in my pantry begging to make itself useful, and C) when I’m really desperate for an after dinner treat, I fill a teacup with bittersweet chocolate chips and peanuts (following a ratio of about 3 chips per peanut), a sort of deconstructed Mr. Goodbar if you will – and decided it would be great in cookie format.

Anyhow, without further ado, here are Dorie’s just-right cookies.

MY BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Adapted from “Baking: From My Home to Yours” by Dorie Greenspan

2 C. all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C. granulated sugar
2/3 C. light brown sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks
1 C. chopped walnuts or pecans (*or peanuts!)

-Preheat oven to 375˚F. Place rack in center.

-Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (not wax paper!).

-Whisk together flour + salt + baking soda.

-In the bowl of a stand mixer beat butter on medium speed one minute till smooth, then add both sugars and beat an additional two minutes, till well blended.

-Beat in vanilla extract, followed by the eggs, one at a time, beating approximately one minute after each addition to ensure complete incorporation.

-Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in three portions.

-Mix in chocolate and nuts.

-Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls on the baking sheets, leaving about 2” between them.

-Bake one sheet at a time, rotating halfway through baking, 10 – 12 minutes.

-Cool on rack.


NOTE: Always start cookies on a completely cool baking sheet. I know, it can be time-consuming if you don’t have stacks of sheets, but c’est la vie.

If you don’t want to bake everything at once, put your bowl of dough into the fridge for about half an hour, then plop it onto a piece of Saran wrap. Shape the dough into a log (à la Pillsbury supermarket cookie dough) and wrap tightly. Next time you want a cookie, simply cut inch-thick slices and bake.

Save extra dough for a rainy day.