Chocolate Cherry Scones

I do love pastries but have never cared for scones.  Until a few years ago I believed that scones were too dry, too large, and not worth eating.  It was not until pastry school that I realized that I could modify them to my liking: i.e. use pastry flour, add cream, add maple syrup + golden raisins.  These were delicious.

Last year, though, I found a wonderful recipe on King Arthur's website (which is fantastic, by the way, the website and the flour) that I have made over and over again much to the approval of my co-workers.

I add dried cherries and dark chocolate but you could include raisins, pistachios, walnuts, ginger, or cranberries.  I plan on making a savory version next time with green onions and cheese.

---

Chocolate Cherry Scones
adapted from King Arthur Flour

Make the scones: Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.  Either with a pastry cutter or your hands, work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly (it is okay if some larger chunks remain).  Mix in the dried cherries and chocolate.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and half and half.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter comes together (but do not over mix).

Scoop batter onto a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet (I used a #20 scoop).  Brush scones with milk, and sprinkle with sugar.

This is an odd step but place the scones in the freezer for 30 minutes while oven is heating to 375.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Scones
11 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 3/8 oz sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
4 oz cold unsalted butter (cut into smaller pieces)
1 - 2 cups combination of dried cherries and dark chocolate
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract 
6 oz half and half

Topping
milk
sugar

---

Hamantashen

A common joke among Jews is that many holidays can be summarized with the following phrase:

"They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat."

Purim fits this phrase quite well. 

The holiday of Purim just ended and for those of you not familiar with its significance, it recognizes the “salvation” of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot to destroy, kill, and annihilate them.

This holiday is celebrated with a carnival-like party AND delicious cookies called hamantashen. The cookies are triangle in shape and filled with a variety of flavors. 

The recipe that I use comes from my mother. To be quite honest, the way that this dough comes together is unusual. That said, it works perfectly and tastes delicious so I feel no need to modify it.

---

Hamantashen
makes 45-50 cookies

Make the cookies: Combine eggs and butter in a small bowl.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl then add the eggs and butter mixture.

Mix until combined and chill for a few hours; when ready to use, let dough soften at room temperature.

Using a decent amount of flour, roll out dough to roughly 1/8" thick; using a round cookie cutter, cut 3" circles.

Fill with 2/3 teaspoon of desired filling and fold to create triangle (note: this takes practice!)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

1 cup melted butter (cooled)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh orange juice
Grated rind of orange
Grated rind of lemon

Desired fillings (apricot, poppy seed, cherry, chocolate ganache, fig, etc.)

---

Apricot

Chocolate Ganache with Almonds

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a firm believer that a chocolate chip cookie is the best dessert.  This means that my goal in life (yes, this is arguably a sad life goal) is to develop the best chocolate chip cookie recipe...ever.  The cookie must be thick, chewy in the center, and slightly crunchy on the outside.  Good chocolate also makes any cookie exponentially better.  Valrhona is fantastic but can get pricey and can be difficult to find.  E. Guittard is a great grocery store substitute but I am partial to Ghiradelli.  It is a great grocery store brand that is priced well and tastes delicious...that, and I may be biased because they awarded me a ribbon for one of my cookie sandwiches at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010 [insert reader's gasp].  If you are not from Minnesota you may not be able to fully understand the magnitude of this achievement...

The winning cookies

I was on the local news!

Luckily, someone else, i.e. NY Times and Jacques Torres, already did all of the work for me. This recipe is perfect:

---

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Jacques Torres & NY Times, 2008

Make the cookies: Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 

Cream butter and sugars together until very light. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add chocolate and incorporate without breaking pieces. Refrigerate for 24 hours. 

Using a size 50 scoop (1 1/4 tbsp), scoop the dough onto a silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9.5 minutes. They will look undercooked but will harden while cooling.

8 1/2 ounces cake flour
8 1/2 ounces bread flour (I use King Arthur All Purpose Flour)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 1/2 tsp salt 
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter 
10 ounces light brown sugar 
8 ounces granulated sugar 
2 eggs 
2 tsp natural vanilla extract 
13 ounces bittersweet chocolate 

---