hungry poodle

My father-in-law loves chocolate chip cookies. (Who doesn’t?) So, for Father’s Day, I made him a batch from a new cookbook, “Good to the Grain,” which as I’ve written before won this year’s James Beard award for best baking book. It contains recipes using whole grains of all kinds. The author, Kim Boyce, really knows her stuff.

Her recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour, which usually results in coarse, grainy baked goods. These are an amazing exception.

What a delicious cookie! No, what a fabulous cookie! Oops, there I go slinging superlatives again.  But no kidding, these cookies have joined the recently posted bran mini-muffins on my short list of all-time favorites.

They are not low-fat; indeed, they contain the usual cookie amount of butter. But let’s think about this: if you are going to eat a cookie, it might as well be a great one, and if by some fluke of nature it’s slightly healthier than the bakery version, so much the better.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Kim describes them thusly: “These cookies are the size of your palm, with thick, chewy edges, soft centers and big chocolate chunks. “

I couldn’t have said it better. BTW, I didn’t have fancy bittersweet chocolate on hand to chop up for the recipe, so I defaulted to Nestle’s Toll House Morsels, with apologies to Kim for going the easy, cheap route.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dry Mix
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. kosher salt

Wet Mix

8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into 1/4- and 1/2-inch pieces (I used Nestle’s Toll House Morsels, which I must admit did a fine job as stand-in.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl.

Mix butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric stand mixer for 2 minutes, until just blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix in the vanilla. Add flour mixture and blend on low until barely combined, about 30 seconds. Add the chocolate all at once and mix on low speed until the chocolate is evenly combined.

Scrape the batter out onto a work surface (I used a piece of parchment paper) and use your hands to fully incorporate all of the ingredients.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons each (I used a 3 T. ice-cream scoop that I bought at Sur La Table) onto the baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between them. You will have 6 to 8 cookies per sheet.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking, until the cookies are evenly brown. Transfer cookies, still on the parchment paper, to the counter to cool and repeat with remaining dough.

These cookies will keep well for several days in an airtight container; both the cookies and the dough can be frozen.

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Peanut butter is one of the 30 most healthful foods, according to an article in the latest issue of Real Simple Magazine. And we all know that dark chocolate has its own heart-healthy benefits.

So, when I saw the following recipe on the smitten kitchen blog, it was easy for me to put two-and-two together and conclude that this must be health food!

Right out of the fridge, smeared on a graham cracker

It’s a less decadent, peanutty version of Nutella, the wildly delicious but ultra-rich hazelnut-chocolate spread that I don’t keep in the house for fear that I’ll overindulge.

How is this healthier than Nutella? Well, let me see (in other words, give me a few seconds to come up with a believable excuse). Just kidding.

Here goes: it’s made of just five simple, real ingredients: roasted peanuts, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, a bit of salt and a splash of peanut oil. I like to think of it as grown-up peanut butter.

I’ve been spreading a tablespoon on a graham cracker for an afternoon snack; you can also put it on a banana. How virtuous is that?

Warning: for my money, this stuff is better than a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. If they’re your Achilles heel, you’d better forego making this. But remember, it’s a good idea to treat yourself in moderation every now and then, and if you like peanut butter and chocolate, I can’t think of a better treat!

The original recipe calls for raw peanuts which you roast in a 400 degree oven until browned, but I took the easy route and used dry roasted, unsalted peanuts.

Two cups dry roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (use the best quality you can find)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt plus additional to taste
2 tablespoons peanut oil

Process peanuts in a food processor for several minutes. At first they’ll turn to a paste but eventually they’ll become almost liquid. Stop and add cocoa, powdered sugar, salt and peanut oil. Continue to process about one minute longer, or until the mixture is smooth. You can add another tablespoon of peanut oil if the mixture is too thick.

Makes a bit less than 2 cups

This is fairly runny when you first make it, but it sets up in the refrigerator, where it will keep for at least a week.

per Tablespoon

My girlfriend Audrey recently asked me if I had any good fruit desserts. I immediately thought of cobblers (peach, berry, or apple, depending upon the season). However, you need time and extra available calories to enjoy a baked fruit dessert.

I do have a great low fat cobbler recipe that I’ll get to soon, but in the meantime, here’s a really speedy way to make a delicious, elegant berry compote that you can serve on low fat ice cream or angel food cake. (OK, pound cake as well, but why do you think they call it “pound” cake?)

This is so easy I don’t know why I don’t make it more often. Frozen berries microwaved for a few minutes with just a bit of sugar. Voila.

I have other compote recipes that call for fresh fruit and different flavorings such as white wine, lemon and butter. I’ll include one of them later on. The beauty of this one is that you can keep bags of frozen berries on hand for last-minute, healthy indulgences. Speaking of which, want to add liqueur to this? Go ahead, I did. I poured Chambord (black raspberry) liqueur atop the berries and ice cream. Nothing wrong with gilding the lily.

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 cup frozen blackberries
3 T. sugar
2 t. cornstarch

In a large bowl, stir together the frozen berries with the sugar and cornstarch. Cover and microwave for two minutes. Stir and microwave again for about 2 to 3 minutes, until fruit is beginning to bubble and is slightly thickened.

Serves: 8

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When our son Corbett was in high school my girlfriend Marguerite occasionally baked cookies for him. He loved those home made treats and often lamented, “I wish I had a mother like Marguerite who baked cookies for me.”

It’s true, I didn’t bake a lot when the kids were young. Why? My selfish, bad-mother reason is simple: I love cookies as much, if not more, than Corbett, and if they were around, I’d eat them.

Like many Americans, my all-time favorite cookie is chocolate chip. They are irresistible if freshly home made. Great dunked in coffee or tea, or even gobbled as one heads out the door. (Notice how I euphemistically refer to active on-the-run gobbling rather than the sitting-on-the-couch-in-front-of-the-TV kind? It’s a Catholic-guilt thing.)

But I’ve found that you actually can have your cookies and eat them too. While these biscotti aren’t exactly diet fare, they don’t contain any butter, they’re impossible to consume quickly (too hard and crunchy) and they satisfy that chocolate craving quite nicely in just a few bites. They’re best when dunked in either coffee, tea, or as the Italians do, wine.

This recipe is from Maida Heatter, who has been called America’s queen of desserts. Her original recipe calls for two large eggs, but I found that the dough was much too dry (perhaps my flour was less hydrated due of our dry, cold winter) so I added three eggs and the dough was still pretty stiff but workable.

These take the cake, or should I say, cookie?

Chocolate Chip and Almond Biscotti

6 oz. (1 1/4 cups) whole almonds
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/8 t. salt
1 cup minus 2 T. sugar
12 oz. (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
2 T. brandy

Toast the almonds in a single layer at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, shaking the pan a few times. Allow them to cool.

Change oven temperature to 375 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and stir to mix. Place about 1/2 cup of these ingredients into a food processor, add 1/2 cup of the almonds and process until the almonds are fine and powdery, about 30 seconds. Add the processed mixture to the rest of the dry ingredients and stir in the chocolate chips and the remaining almonds.

In a small bowl beat the eggs with the vanilla and brandy, just enough to mix. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until the ingredients are moistened. (Maida says to be patient, which you will have to be. This is a stiff dough.)

Turn dough out onto a piece of parchment or waxed paper. Wet your hands and shape the dough into a round mound and cut with a sharp knife into four even pieces. Continue to wet your hands and shape each piece into a log about 9 inches long, 2 inches wide and about 1/2 inch high. (Press, don’t roll, the dough.)

Prepare two baking sheets by layering them with parchment paper, and place two logs on each sheet. Place both pans into a 375 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes, reversing the sheets midway through baking time.

Remove the sheets and slide logs onto a cutting board to cool for 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees.

With a long serrated knife, carefully slice each log diagonally into slices about 1/2 inch wide. This can be tricky, so go slowly and cut with a sawing motion. Place the slices cut side down back onto the baking sheets, which at this point can be unlined.

Return to a 275 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes, turning the slices over midway through baking. Turn the oven heat off, open the oven door, and let the biscotti cool in the oven.

When cool, store in an airtight container. They’ll keep indefinitely!

Makes about 40 biscotti

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This is my first attempt at making biscotti. Until now I thought that baking them twice was too cumbersome a process. However, I do like a crunchy cookie to dip into coffee or tea, and this is the best way to get that crunch. The recipe is from Weight Watchers, not my first source for baking recipes (C’mon, when you’re in the mood to bake, are you going to turn to a diet cookbook?). In this case, however, as the Olympic hockey commentator shouts, “Score!”

Two chocolate biscotti with a home made latte. Can't beat that!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried cherries (I used Craisins)
1 oz. semisweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. (I line my pan with parchment paper.)

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer. Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour mixture until well combined. The dough will be fairly stiff. Stir in the cherries or Craisins by hand and knead dough a few times to combine all.

Sprinkle work surface lightly with flour and turn dough onto surface. Divide in half. Roll each half into a long cylinder about 14″ long by 1 1/2″ wide. Place side by side on baking sheet and bake until firm and a toothpick inserted into center of each log comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Slide out onto a cutting board and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F. With a serrated knife, slice each log crosswise into about 30 (1/2″) slices. Place slices onto baking sheet and bake until fairly dry, about 10 minutes on each side. Cool completely on wire rack.

Place semisweet chocolate into a small microwavable bowl and microwave on High, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted and smooth, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer chocolate to a small zip-lock plastic bag. Cut off a tiny corner of the bag and drizzle chocolate over cookies. Allow to harden before serving.

Notes: The logs may crack during the first baking. That’s OK. And when you slice the logs, some of the slices will break apart at the ends. I just pinched them back together or left them as-is. Apparently, this is a natural consequence of biscotti-making. As I bake more recipes, I’ll get back to you on this. Also, my chocolate didn’t become thin enough to drizzle lightly over the biscotti, so I used more and made fatter drizzles. What’s not to love?

Makes: about 60 cookies

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