sunday night dinner

chocolate chip cookies

jalopy — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:50:44 +0000

In my opinion, the ultimate test of an american baker is their chocolate chip cookies. Depending on their cookies, you can really decide whether you might like their other offerings. To me there is nothing more disappointing than a beautiful, bland cookie. I prefer a cookie with a great buttery brown sugar flavor, with a layer of nuttiness from oatmeal, and fabulous chocolate. These cookies are my absolute favorite recipe (I might not be the healthiest eater…), honed over many years of making them. They are not the most beautiful cookies, but they are delicious.
Chocolate chip cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not imitation)
3/4 cup unbleached flour (organic has the best flavor, hands down)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (organic too!)
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup oatmeal (you can grind these in a food processor if you prefer; I prefer them whole.)
6 ounces chocolate chips (semi-sweet Ghirardelli are my favorites)

optional: 6 ounces chopped pecans or walnuts

*Preheat oven to 375˚F.
*Whip together the butter and sugars until well mixed.
*Add in egg, salt, vanilla and mix well.
* Add in flours, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until just incorporated.
* Add in oatmeal, chocolate chips, and nuts (if using).
* Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet. If you prefer a more aesthetically pleasing cookie, you can form them into 1″ balls, then press them gently onto the sheet. (But really, why bother?)
* Bake 10 minutes or so, or until gently golden.
* Let cool on a cooling rack (or paper towels on the counter) for a minute or until no longer about to fall apart.
* Enjoy!

** The dough can be refrigerated for a day or so. Or, you can tightly wrap up enough dough for a batch in plastic wrap and freeze the dough for a few weeks. When you’re ready to bake them, just slice the frozen roll of dough into cookies and bake.

** The cookies are most delicious either right out of the oven or the next day.

** Baked cookies can also be frozen in a tightly sealed container. They’re pretty good a little frozen too.

the first rule of sunday night dinner…

jalopy — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:20:44 +0000

…is that you don’t talk about sunday night dinner. The second rule…

If someone actually tries to plan dinner, generally it doesn’t work out.

Sunday night dinner is a very free-form, unplanned (except that it is always at 7.30, certain people are always late, there is always beer, and someone is guaranteed to rant about something) dinner thing that usually occurs on Sunday nights. People show up with food (prerequisite: cooking ability), beverages, sometimes a movie, sometimes catan, sometimes just an opinion.

Here at sundaynightdinner there will be lots of random recipes, photos, and whatever else seems to need to be here.

brownies “100% americaine”

jalopy — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:18:03 +0000

A fellow blogger from France requested a traditional american recipe for brownies, apparently having suffered through a recipe that resulted in something that was more “to die from” than “to die for”. I happily obliged, sent her the following recipe, and apparently created quite a chain reaction of brownie-making in the French-speaking blogosphere. I do not take any responsibility for weight gain this recipe (or any others posted here, for that matter) may cause; bake these at your own risk!

Visit Lolotte’s blog and read the recipe and reviews in french. If your french is a bit rusty, you can still click on the links to some awesome photos of the brownies.

Brownies “100% americaine”

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup unbleached flour

4 heaping spoons full cocoa powder (my favorite: semi-sweet Ghirardelli)

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract (not imitation)

(optional: heavy pinch cinnamon, smallish pinch ancho chile powder, smallish pinch cayenne)

*Preheat oven to 350˚F.

* Whip together butter and sugar.

* Add in vanilla, eggs, and cocoa powder. (And optional spices, if you’re using them.)

* Add in flour, beat until well-mixed. The batter should be pretty thick.

* Pour into a 9″ x 9″ baking dish, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

* Let cool as long as you can, then slice and enjoy with a nice cold glass of milk!