Our World in Food

In search of sustainable food systems: back home in Seattle, Washington

Brownies August 18, 2010

Filed under: Travel Recipes — Nicole @ 11:42 pm
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As a wise woman once said, “sometimes I just need the whole house to stink like brownies.”

Brownies

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

Brownies

Brownies are great mixed with vanilla ice cream too!

  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 6 ounces dark chocolate (as dark as possible! reduce sugar if not very dark)
  • 12 TB butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 TB vanilla
  1. Oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 13 by 9 inch pan. Toast nuts if desired.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter in a large bowl.
  3. Whisk flour, salt, bake powder in medium bowl.
  4. Whisk sugar into chocolate. Add eggs one at a time then vanilla. Add flour in 3 additions then fold in nuts.
  5. Pour in to pan, bake 30 minutes. DO NOT over bake, their secret is in the fudginess. Bake for less if you have a larger pan.
 

Quick Bread

Filed under: Travel Recipes — Nicole @ 10:07 pm
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This is the basic recipe for banana bread or zucchini bread, add whatever fruit or veg you have on hand.

Quick Bread

zucchini bread

Chocolate chunk zucchini bread, a summer treat!

Makes one loaf. Adapted from Baking Illustrated

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder (if you have it)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 TB lemon juice (for color if desired)
  • 6 TB melted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (if desired)
  • 3 very ripe bananas or 3 zucchini (about the size of bananas)
  • 1 cup walnuts toasted or chocolate chunks
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a  9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
  2. Toast walnuts.
  3. Mash bananas or shred zucchini and set aside.
  4. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, salt, bake powders and sugar.
  5. In another bowl beat eggs and add yogurt, butter, vanilla and then fruit or veg.
  6. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and add nuts or chocolate.
  7. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
 

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies June 2, 2010

Filed under: Travel Recipes — Nicole @ 12:11 am
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Possibly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! Only possibly the best based on your own particular cookie preferences. I prefer the kind of cookie that’s irresistibly soft when you bite in to it, there’s a bit of a crispy edge but the ooey gooey cookie and rich dark chocolate melt in your mouth. Now, if you want these cookies to come out perfectly, follow the recipe exactly! Luckily, it’s a very simple recipe. That’s also why I love it so much!

close up on cookie

Be sure to have a cup of milk on hand!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated. Makes about 18 large cookies

  • 2 cups + 2 TB all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 12 TB unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 cup packed, dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 large egg + 1 yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 generous cups dark chocolate chunks (70% dark)
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place an oven-safe bowl in oven with butter to melt it. Stir often until butter is completely melted. Remove from oven and let cool.
  2. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
  3. Use spatula to mix sugars in a small bowl. Add melted butter until blended. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla.
  4. Add wet ingredients int dry ingredients and stir until just combined with spatula. Stir in chocolate chunks.
  5. Drop hefty, round clumps of batter onto a large baking sheet (about 1.5 inch size balls) 2.5 inches apart. You can fit 6 balls of batter onto each large baking sheet (the kind that’s as long as an oven is wide).
  6. Bake for 7.5 minutes and rotate each sheet from front to back and switch from top to bottom of oven. Bake another 7.5 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on sheet for at least another 7 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then repeat steps 5 and 6 for the last bit of dough on one of the two sheets. (Silpats make baking cookies even easier as nothing sticks to them and they don’t need to be prepared).
 

Chocolate Chip Cookies January 12, 2010

Filed under: Travel Recipes — Nicole @ 7:13 am
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juanpablo with cookies

Cooking up an American tradition in Argentina!

A classic for any American. I swear my sister makes the best homemade chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tasted, but every time I follow her recipe they never turn out as good. Here’s her recipe, good luck!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My sister’s recipe which she adapted from Allrecipes.com

  • 1 cup butter, at room temp
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp hot water
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups broken up high quality dark chocolate bars
  • 1 cup chopped nuts, optional
  1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
  2. Cream butter and sugar.
  3. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
  4. Dissolve baking soda in water and add salt. Add to batter.
  5. Mix in flour, then chocolate, then nuts.
  6. Drop onto a prepared cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes so that they turn out gooey!