WORLD'S BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

Today was a domestic affairs day...namely the plumber, AC unit guy and garage door technician working on the house.  In between all of the hullabaloo, I baked a batch of the WORLD'S BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies...of course, I did not yet know that they were the best.  I had developed this recipe, because I love chocolate chip cookies and felt like what I was getting from recipe books and the back of toll house could be better somehow.  Using multiple flours in gluten-free baking to make things work and taste good, led me to..."why not use a couple different flours for regular cookies??" 

After driving a hard bargain with the garage door technician, I sent him away with a napkin of warm cookies to soften him up.  Three minutes later, the phone rang: "Mam, these are the best cookies I've ever had!  I just had to call."  Take 'em round to the neighbors for St. Patty's day--it will make their week!

What you'll need:

All purpose flour                 stick of butter

White whole wheat flour     egg      

flax seed meal                      sugar

baking soda                         brown sugar

salt                                       vanilla

chocolate chips

Crank on the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Loosen up your A.P. flour and measure out 1 cup or...

4.5 ounces on the scale if you want to be exact.

Throw a 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour into the bowl,

a tablespoon of flax seed meal which you can find most anywhere, 

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 

1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Now for the wet stuff...

In another bowl add a stick of cold butter...

a 1/2 cup of sugar and...

a 1/4 cup of brown sugar.

Beat on high until you have thoroughly mixed sugar butter.

Now add one egg...

1/4 cup of pure maple syrup and...

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla.

If using a stand mixer, switch out the paddle for the wire whisk attachment to beat those properly and work some air into the batter.  Beat until everything is thoroughly mixed.

Now add a third of the flour mixture to the sugar butter mixture.

Fit on the paddle attachment again and incorporate the flour. 

Add another third, mix, and another and mix until the flour is completely incorporated.

A cup of beautiful chocolate chips.

Right into our beautiful cookie batter and mix.

Prepare a baking sheet.  Using two spoons, scoop and drop spoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheet.  I then refrigerate the dough for ten minutes.

Into the oven.

In 7 - 9 minutes, pull the cookies out when they are golden on the edges, light golden in middle, and let them stay on the sheet for a couple minutes.  They will continue to cook a bit and firm up.

Pack some to go for neighbors... I had apple green tissue paper left over from a neighbor's birthday and white wedding ribbon left over from my sister-in-law's wedding flowers. My square dancing 92 year-old-neighbor loved it!

Enjoy!

the Good Food Fairy

WORLD'S BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Yields 2 dozen

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon flax seed meal

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flours, flax seed meal, baking soda and salt.

3. In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugars.  Mix on medium high speed until well combined.  Add the egg, maple syrup and vanilla and beat (if using stand mixer, fit on the wire whisk attachment) until it is well combined and then beat a minute more.  

4. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto desired baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes (takes me 9 1/2 minutes) no convection.  Cookies are ready when very lightly golden on top.  Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to continue to cook by leaving them on the baking sheet for a few minutes.

Banana Buttermilk Cream Pie

On  Sunday, I found a blizzard of crumbs at the foot of the cupboard where  I keep all of the baking stuff: ie. chocolate chips, pralines, almonds, cornstarch...you get the idea.  Almost on cue, the Horseman walked through the kitchen and said, "Sorry mom, but those crumbs are good.  What are they for?" As I began to pontificate on the finer uses of Graham Cracker crumbs--say, as a crust in the service of a banana cream pie--a chemical reaction in the brain triggered an inner yearning for banana cream pie.  Of course the desire to educate my son with an object lesson as to the greater culinary purpose of graham cracker crumbs played a key role and soon I was pulling out the ingredients.  This version has a slight twist because we didn't have milk...only buttermilk!  So there's a zing, not to mention maple syrup whipped cream and nutmeg in the crust to complement...

 I drove right out to my mom's on Monday and made one for her, too.  She loved it.  

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

FOR CRUST                                                             

graham cracker crumbs 

sugar                                                                                                   

margarin or butter                                                                

nutmeg                                                        

FOR BANANA PUDDING   

sugar           cornstarch

salt               buttermilk      

5 egg yolks  2 bananas

vanilla          butter

FOR TOPPING

heavy cream & real maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 F. for crust.

In a mixing bowl measure 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs...

1/4 cup sugar and ...

5 tablespoons butter or margarine or a combo of the two.  I had 4 tablespoons of margarine and 1 of butter at my house, so that's what I used.  My mom only had butter, so that's what I used there.

and 2 teaspoons of nutmeg.  You know, until culinary school, I never knew nutmeg was actually a cut nut that you grated very finely.  Grating from the nut lends a more forte nutmeg spiciness, but whether grated fresh or not, will be just fine.

Now whisk it together till everything's moistened.

To form the crust, pour your mixture into the pie plate and moving out from the center, flatten the crust up along the sides.  I used the back of a measuring cup.

Bake at 350 for 6 to 8 minutes.

Mush two bananas with your mixer.  The riper the banana the more banana flavor.

Choose a good pot for making the pudding.  I have here my medium sized stainless steel Costco generic brand I received when we were newlyweds.  They work great.  So add 2/3 cup sugar... 

1/4 cup corn starch and...

1/4 teaspoon salt and whisk it good.

Whisk in the 2 1/2 cups buttermilk really well and then...

the banana mush until smooth.

Ding!  Time to take out that crust and let cool.  Back to the pudding...

Plop plop plop...whisk in those 5 beautiful egg yolks, turn on the burner to medium heat (med heat as the boys would say) and prepare for a pre-arthritic condition!  Wahoo!

Stir stir stir!  But pace yourself, we've got at least 10 minutes before we hit a bare simmer (tiny bubble here and there) and the pudding thickens.  That is what we are doing here...cooking those egg yolks and getting that pudding thick.

The Horseman comes to the rescue...wanted to save his mother's wrists from that pre-arthritic condition...

And my Knight!  Taking over, not wanting his son to catch fire or his wife to end in decrepit hands...He's feelin' the burn...

Ok, I'm back on stir patrol.  You will feel and see it it begin to thicken and a tiny bubble or two will burst.  Take the pot off the heat and whisk real good.  It may look a little lumpy...don't worry.  Stir for about three minutes.  Then put it back on the heat, stirring still and bring it to a boil.  At the first sign of a big bubble/s bursting. Take it off the heat completely.

Stir in a teaspoon of real vanilla.

And 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk it, whisk it good.

Pour the pudding into your crust and...

cover with plastic wrap.  Push the plastic wrap right against the pudding and crust so no condensation forms between the wrap and the pudding.  Then refridgerate it for three hours...or if your in a big hurry, put it in the freezer.

Now clean up all your dishes...this will give the pie time to cool for the topping and inspire your mother to say something in wonder like, "Wow, you've started to clean up after yourself."  And you smile and think, but do not say "Mom, remember, that was when I was 12."

Now start the topping, mixing a cup of heavy cream with a 1/4 cup pure maple syrup...sorry, no Aunt Jamima's here.   Whip until peaks form and hold their shape.  Take the pie out of the fridge or freezer, remove the plastic wrap and smooth the whipped cream layer on top with a rubber spatula and put back in the fridge or freezer uncovered for a couple more hours.  Cover with wrap if you're not going to eat it for a while and keep it in the fridge.

Enjoy!

The Good Food Fairy


P.S. the Horseman LOVED it!  

Banana Buttermilk Cream Pie with Maple Syrup Whipped Cream

Ingredients

for the crust

1 1/4 c.     graham cracker crumbs

5 T.          butter or margarine, melted

1/4 c.        sugar

2 t.            nutmeg

for the pudding

2              bananas

2/3 c.       sugar

1/4 c.       cornstarch

1/4 t.        salt

2 1/2 c.    buttermilk

5              egg yolks

1   t.         vanilla

2  T.        butter

for the topping

1 c.          heavy cream

1/4 c.       maple syrup

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, add the ingredients for the crust and whisk together until moistened. Pour mixture into a pie baking dish and, working from the center out, flatten the crust against the dish up along the edges. Bake at 350 for 6 to 8 minutes.

3. Prepare the pudding: Mash up two bananas with a mixer.  Set aside.

4. Measure sugar, cornstarch and salt into a medium sauce pot.  Whisk together completely.  Whisk in buttermilk and banana mush.

5. Whisk in five egg yolks. Stir constantly over medium heat until the pudding thickens and first signs of simmer (tiny bubble burst here and there).  

6. Remove from heat, stirring for about three minutes.  Return to heat, stirring constantly until first signs of a boil.  Remove from heat completely.

7.  Stir in vanilla and butter until fully incorporated.  Pour pudding into crust and cover with plastic wrap.  Cool in refrigerator for three hours.

8. Prepare topping: Mix the heavy cream and syrup until thick. 

9 When pie has cooled to luke warm, remove pie from refrigerator, remove plastic wrap and smooth topping over the pie with a rubber spatula.  Return to fridge until firmed and ready to eat.