Pregnancy Craving: Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

This has got to be pregnancy cravings in the works. I can’t say chocolate chip cookie bars are usually my thing. Not that I don’t like them. I just historically haven’t loved them. Un-pregnant me would not have made these over the thousands of other recipes I have flagged.

So let’s chalk it up to pregnancy cravings. Which miraculously haven’t taken over my life. Sure there have been a few (anything salty during the first couple of months, then a love affair with Skittles in months 3-4, a Papa Johns pizza at 10pm last week). But that ain’t so bad if you ask me. I’m convinced non-pregnant Sarah actually has eating habits similar to someone who is pregnant.

I’ve always had strong cravings. I’ve always had a really good appetite.

Thank god this hasn’t intensified with Baby Girl Cohen.

But here is what has changed with my eating habits thanks to BGC:

No more raw batter. Before being pregnant, I was (probably not so smartly) very unphased by the threat of salmonella. I had no problem eating raw dough, raw batter, raw eggs. But now I am completely totally paranoid and wouldn’t dare sneak a taste of anything raw that I’m baking up. And I am compulsive about washing my hands whenever I even look at raw eggs.

No more mayo. It hasn’t been hard to avoid unpasteurized cheeses. But it has been hard to avoid homemade mayonnaise with all of its raw egg glory. (Side note: it shocks me how many people tell me the raw eggs are usually pasteurized and probably fine. Maybe they are right. It sounds so wrong though.) So many of my beloved eating establishments make their own mayonnaise. And I can’t eat it right now. And it kills me. Lucia’s. Broder’s Pasta Bar. Smack Shack. So many others. This wasn’t immediately on my radar, so poor BGC has probably come into contact with raw eggs in her 25 week old fetus life. But if it didn’t make me sick, I’m guessing it didn’t make her sick. Sorry BGC. I’ve been trying to be better about the mayo.

A lot of chewing. I have never loved whole grains. Fruit and veggies, I can do no sweat. The whole grains, I just don’t love. And I’m supposed to be eating 6 servings of them a day. SIX. That is 6 slices of whole wheat bread or 12 rice cakes—take your pick. Either way, that is a lot of chewing. Zach has already asked if we can go back to regular pasta after BGC arrives. Yes, is the answer. Right away. Until she starts eating pasta of course. And then the good mama in me will have the Cohens back on whole wheat pasta.

No more wine. I naively thought my body would know I shouldn’t have it and would therefore not want it. So not the case. I take an occasional sip and let it sit in my mouth for as long as possible trying to enjoy every little drop. I miss wine. A lot.

A lot of burning. I haven’t felt sick in the slightest, but I have been spacy. I have pregnancy brain. It has manifested itself in the burning of many things. There were the cocktail nuts a few Fridays ago that I was hoping to serve to friends coming over for dinner. There was the tartine I forgot about in the oven that was just charred. And then last Sunday there was the granola, which I didn’t forget about, but just for some reason decided to burn. And I smelled it burning. And for whatever reason (pregnancy brain), it didn’t occur to me to get up and check on it.

But back to the bars. These were really good. If you like chocolate chip cookie bars, you will love these. The Baked cookbook very rarely lets me down. “That book is a winner,” said Zach enthusiastically the other day when he found out both these chocolate chip bars and some pumpkin whoopee pies I’ve made before are both from the book.

They are moist and comforting and chewy and best eaten in large squares. Don’t skimp on the portions. They are the perfect thing to eat after dinner during the work week. They will make you insanely happy and grateful that you have them especially if you are pregnant and chocolate chip cookie bars are sounding good to you. J

Brewer’s Blondies, Adapted slightly from Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

2 1/3 c flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp malted milk powder

14 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 ¾ c firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

¾ c malted milk balls, coarsely chopped in food processor

¾ c semisweet chocolate chips

¾ c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and malted milk powder.

In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar until completely combined, scraping down bowl as needed. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add malted milk balls, chocolate chips, walnuts and mix until just combined.

Spread mixture into baking pan, smoothing out evenly.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Pizza with Broccolini = Amazing.

I only have one photo to prove my point.

I only have one photo because I never expected to love this pizza so much. I didn’t expect it to be something I would end up talking about.

But, oh, how I did. And boy, how I have.

I was intrigued enough to make it because the recipe came from a restaurant Zach and I went to in San Francisco last year, Delfina. And the broccoli rabe it called for made it feel healthy-ish. And, for more practical reasons, we had some fresh pizza dough to use up.

So, I made it.

It was interesting. After sautéing the broccolini (I used broccolini instead of broccoli rabe) in lots of garlic and crushed red pepper, I made the white sauce. You pulverize half of the fresh mozzarella the recipe calls for. You chop the other half, and mix it in with the pulverized moz. Then you add little splashes of heavy cream and buttermilk, some freshly grated parmesan, and some salt and pepper. The recipe didn’t say to do so, but when you top the pizza dough with the cheese mixture, you do have to drain it off a bit. It’s pretty liquid-y. You have to be very cognizant of how much liquid you’re putting on the dough. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a run-off mess. Use your judgment; you’ll see what I mean.

Okay, so this pizza came out of the oven and I started to suspect that it could be amazing (at which point, I ran to get my camera). And it was.

It was creamy, salty, tangy, spicy, doughy and comforting.

It was so good that I made it again the next night. And loved it even more than I had the first night.

It’s amazing.

Really.

Truly amazing.

You need to make it.

Soon.

Here is the recipe: Delfina’s Broccoli Rabe Pizza

Today's Brunch: Ugly Donuts + Pretty Quiche

My winning streak with dough ended today with some really ugly donuts.

I’ve made donuts before to great success, remember? Well, I used a different recipe today to make some Vanilla Custard Filled Donuts. And I’ll say it again. I made some really ugly donuts.

I suspected last night when the dough was incredibly sticky that trouble might be in sight. But I decided to have a little faith in the recipe (plus it was 9 pm and I was losing steam fast). This morning I thought I was in the clear. With the help of a well-floured surface, I was able to roll the dough out and stamp out my circles and o’s. The circles and o’s rose nicely. They were quite nice until I tried to pick them up off the baking sheet and place them in the frying oil. At that point, the second I touched them, they shrank back into shriveled messes, only to be more malformed when I actually picked them up. See? I’m not lying.

The only saving grace was that they tasted good (or at least that is what hubs and my kind friends told me). And I have to admit, rolling some in sugar and dipping others in chocolate helped them out a bit. Just a bit. The whole experience made me start pondering how an ugly donut shop would do in Minneapolis. I would eat an ugly donut. And I did. 2 actually.

But anyway.

I also made this quiche, and luckily it treated me better than my donut dough. This has become one of my favorite things to make for brunch. It’s delicious, it’s easy, and it seems to be a crowd-pleaser.

It’s a Leek, Asparagus, and Corn Tart. It starts with leeks and corn sautéed in butter (yum). It has some nice snappy asparagus in it. It gets sprinkled with Gruyere not once, but twice. And over it goes a silky custard made of eggs, egg yolks, cream, nutmeg, and lots and lots of freshly chopped chives.

Mmm. I’m wanting a piece as I type.

Leek, Asparagus, and Corn Tart

Adapted slightly from The Sono Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli

1 refrigerated pie crust

½ bunch asparagus, top third one, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 leeks (dark green parts and root ends discarded), sliced in half lengthwise, cut into ½ inch slices, and cleaned

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 cup frozen corn kernels

4 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

1/3 cup chopped chives

Grated nutmeg

2/3 cup grated Gruyere

Cook asparagus in small pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove from water and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Heat butter and olive oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add leeks; season with salt and pepper; sauté covered for 10 minutes. Add corn; sauté for another 3 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425. Place pie crust in glass pie dish.

Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream, chives, nutmeg, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper.

Sprinkle half of the Gruyere over pie crust. Spread leek mixture across pie crust in an even layer. Add asparagus. Pour egg mixture over the filling. Sprinkle with remaining Gruyere.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until crust and top are golden brown and custard is set.

Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Raisin Swirl Bread, Minus the Raisins

The kneading continued this weekend.

I made this Raisin Swirl Bread, minus the raisins. So I guess I made Swirl Bread. I have decided that I really don’t like raisins, especially in baked goods. And I had a sort of revelation about it this weekend when I pulled the raisins out of my cabinet. Guess what, I thought to myself? I’m an adult and I don’t have to put raisins in my Raisin Swirl Bread if I don’t want to.

So, I skipped them. Zach ended up being really sad about this, it turned out (I never would have guessed).

I was dying to make something from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking book, and I knew I best not make cookies or cake or anything like that. Because I get weighed every four weeks now. And I have an even healthier appetite now than I did before I got pregnant. And I didn’t spend my first trimester sick and losing weight. My baby is getting plenty of calories. And so am I.

Bread felt like a happy compromise. It would give me something to bake. But I’m a little less tempted by bread than I am by cake and cookies. And the second I saw this recipe, it reminded me of the Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Raisin Bread that my mom used to buy once in a while when I was growing up. I loved that bread toasted and buttered.

And I loved this bread even more toasted and buttered. And the best part? I didn’t have to pick out the raisins from the swirl.

It was a satisfying recipe to make. The dough came together easily. It rose like it was supposed to. It smelled all yeasty and homemade bread-y. It was fun to roll out, smear with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon, and roll up. It puffed up when baked just like a loaf of bread should.

I was surprised at how tender the bread turned out. It was almost falling apart at the swirl when I ate it this morning. But in a good way. Not in a messy way, I promise.

If I had been looking to consume more calories, I would have used it to make the Sugar-Crusted French Toast that Dorie also includes a recipe for next to this recipe. But it’s all about moderation, my friend Dorie. At least for now.

Raisin Swirl Bread, Adapted slightly from Baking by Dorie Greenspan

For the bread:

1 packet active dry yeast

¼ c sugar, plus a pinch

1 ¼ c warm whole milk

4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

¾ tsp salt

1 large egg

¼ tsp vanilla

Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

3 ¾ to 4 cups all-purpose flour

For the swirl:

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

Put yeast in small bowl; add pinch of sugar; stir in ¼ c of the warm milk. Let rest for 3 minutes; stir.

With stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine remaining 1 cup of milk, butter, remaining ¼ c sugar and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add salt, egg, vanilla, and nutmeg. Mix for another minute. Add the yeast mixture and beat on medium-low for 1 minute. (I was relieved when Dorie said in the book that the mixture will look curdly at this point.)

Add 2 ¾ c flour. Mix on low just until combined. Swap the paddle attachment for the dough hook. Add another cup of flour; beat the dough on medium for 2 minutes. If the dough doesn’t come away clean from the sides of the bowl, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time, until you have added an additional ¼ cup. Knead the dough for 3 minutes in the mixer. Dough will still be very soft.

Place dough in large buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and place bowl in warm place to let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.

Wrap ball of dough in plastic wrap; place in freezer for 30 minutes.

Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa.

Roll dough out on large surface dusted with flour until it’s a 12x18 inch slab.

Smear the dough with 2 tbsp butter; then sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture evenly. Starting with the short side, roll the dough up fairly tightly.

Tucking the ends under, place the dough into the pan. Cover loosely with wax paper; let rise in warm spot for 45 minutes.

Brush the top of the loaf with the remaining 1 tbsp butter, melted.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Cover loosely with foil tent. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

Let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes in pan. Then remove from pan and continue to let cool.

Bonne Annee!

I remembered something funny today as I was making this Pissaladiere as part of our New Year’s snackies.

Every time I knead dough, I can’t help but think about the pottery classes I used to love in high school. My junior year, there was a kid named Michael in my class (he was a freshman) who was one of those kids who pretended like he was too cool for school. And because of this, he never mastered how to center the ball of clay. Which means you can't get very far in pottery. So, he obviously had great difficulty getting any assignments complete. But what made me laugh was that he used to dig around in the huge slip buckets for other peoples’ rejects, take them out, and try to clean them off an pass them off as his own. I am quite sure our teacher was totally on to this. But to this day, it makes me laugh when I think about it.

But back to food…

I haven’t cooked in a while since we were out East for a week and at our friends’ house for dinner last night, so I decided today that I’d make Zach and I some tasty apps for dinner. We had some roasted shrimp cocktail (why do people only eat shrimp cocktail for New Year’s?). And then I made this Pissaladiere.

A Pissaladiere is a French pizza of sorts. It's basically fresh dough rolled out, topped with lots of caramelized onions, anchovies if you're into them, and good black olives.

I have a passion for caramelized onions. I think they are good in so many different contexts. On top of hamburgers. In quiches. Mixed with pasta. On dough, like they are for this Pissaladiere.

And I love making caramelized onions. Once you get past the peeling and slicing of the onions (I made the mistake of using a bag of small onions…which made the process take too long), the actual cooking of them is totally satisfying. They smell good. You visually see them changing. They are pretty much fool proof; they always turn out perfectly. These particular ones were jazzed up just a bit with some fresh thyme.

Once they are done doing their caramelizing thing, you put them on top of some fresh rolled out dough. You “artfully” arrange some good Provencal black olives on the top as Ina tells you to do, and you bake.

And what you end up with is a delicious addictive appetizer that is all of the following:

Different from the normal apps you always see

So yummy

Easy (albeit time consuming)

And cheap!

It’s actually pretty perfect. And a great way to ring in the New Year.

Pissaladiere (Recipe adapted slightly from Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris)

Topping:

¼ c olive oil

2 lbs yellow onions, halfed and sliced into ¼ inch slices

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 ¼ tsp salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

2 garlic cloves

Dough:

1 ¼ c warm water (100-110 degrees)

2 envelopes rapid rise dry yeast

1 tbsp honey

3 tbsp olive oil

4 c flour

2 tsp salt

Assembling:

Corn meal

12 Provencal black olives, pitted

For the topping, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the rest of the topping ingredients and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn heat down if onions begin to begin to brown a lot. Take garlic out, chop it, and add it back in. Continue cooking mixture for 15 minutes. Set aside.

For the dough, combine the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Add 3 cups of the flour and the salt; mix on low speed. Add in the remaining cup of flour, and mix the dough on low-medium for 10 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and knead it 12 times by hand. Form it into a ball; place in a well oiled bowl. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Dough will double in size.

After 30 minutes, divide dough in half. Roll both pieces into balls. Place the one you’ll use on a sheet pan; cover with the towel; let sit for 10 minutes. (You will have an extra round of dough that you can freeze.)

Preheat oven to 450.

Roll out the dough into a 10 x 14 inch rectangle. Place on baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Top with onions. Scatter the olives aross the top. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

White Carby Doughy Yum: Sun Street Breads

It’s been quite a while since we tried a new restaurant. And it’s been even longer since I took my camera along when we tried a new restaurant. But alas, we have a new one to add to the repertoire. I think we’ll add this one to the casual Friday night repertoire. Sun Street Breads.

It’s been on my list for a while. After picking up their baguettes on many a Saturday morning at the Fulton Farmer’s Market (and deeming it best baguette in town), I’ve been wanting to try their bricks and mortar location. A bite of their uber comforting and creamy Biscuits & Gravy (also) at the market, upped the urgency.

I knew I liked it the second I walked in on Friday night. It was full enough of patrons to give it life, but not full enough to require a wait (so rare on a Friday night and so fantastic). It was also cozy and dimly lit and easy to be in, if that makes sense.

Let’s just say if white carby doughy stuff is your thing (and it is for me), then you’ll love this place.

We started out with the Challabacitas, pumpkin stuffed challah dough that came with a green onion sour cream for dipping. Mmm. The Challabacitas themselves were rich doughy fried pieces of goodness that paired so nicely with the cool sour cream.

We also tried the Fry Bread Tacos with porketta, which were fine. But I’d leave ‘em next time and try the Tostones & Mojo instead.

I had scoped out the menu ahead of time as I always do and had a hard time deciding what I wanted. While they have regular entrees, they have a pretty fab lineup of sandwiches. And when you’re in a place known for its bread, it feels like the required thing to do. The Latin Cowboy (sandwich) was calling my name with its baguette, beef, peppers, and chimichurri sauce, but I was pretty sure the beef would be rare, and this pregnant foodie can’t eat rare beef for the next six months. So no go on that.

The Breaker 19 was also enticing—green onion sausage, fried eggs, and cheese on challah. I think I will have to try that next time.

I ultimately ended up picking for the Shorewich because of the “fluffy white bun” it came on. It was delicious. And huge. A monstrous piece of cornmeal crusted cod with tartar sauce and coleslaw and fresh lemon slices. On a bun. A fluffy white bun. I love fluffy white buns.

(And now that I’m typing this, I’m wondering if the tartar sauce had raw eggs in it since everything there is homemade. Crap. Pregnant foodie paranoia.)

My seat unfortunately had a clear view of the desserts. There weren’t many—but they also looked delicious. I saved room.

My friend Wendy and I shared the Vanilla Malt Ice Cream Sundae which we politely didn’t polish off. Zach had the Chocolate Cake which was rockstar and rich. And our other friend Ben held out for the last piece of homemade Tres Leches Cake he had at home. Cruel.

Other must-haves (especially if you can’t imbibe) are the homemade sodas. I had the pineapple one and I loved it because it wasn’t too sweet. Syrups made in house too, of course.

Any place that overindexes on white carby doughy things will always win in my book.

Thanksgiving Prep Under Way!

We have finalized the menu for Thanksgiving, folks!

There is actually less creative license here than I’m leading you to believe. Don’t be fooled. People like what they like for Thanksgiving. And my people are no different. So, by the time we make sure we’ve included everyone’s must-have, there’s not a whole lot left to experiment with. This is hard for a girl with a gagillion cookbooks and food magazines. Sigh.

My brother has to have creamed spinach.

My dad needs to have regular mashed potatoes.

I refuse to swap out our cranberry sauce for any alternate recipe.

Stuffing is pretty sacred, and my mom’s is pretty rockstar. So when I want to experiment, I make a second version. Because you just can't risk having sub-par stuffing for Thanskgiving. 

Pumpkin pie. Maybe another one of my must-haves.

I’m wondering what my mom’s must-have is as I type this. I think she’d say gravy. But she’s generally more open-minded and flexible than the rest of us.

For Zach, it’s chocolate pie. Weird.

So, we’re having most of the regulars this year with a couple of new additions. To be safe, most of these are being added vs swapped. Phew.

Ina’s Perfect Roast Turkey & Gravy (my dad is always in charge of the turkey)

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes with Blue Cheese & Pecans—NEW for 2011, being swapped for the usual Sweet Potatoes with Glazed Apples

Cornbread Stuffing

Italian Sausage & Bread Stuffing—NEW for 2011

Creamed Spinach

Corn Pudding

Cranberry Pear Relish

Herb and Cheese Poppers—NEW for 2011

Cranberry Nut Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Great Grandma Vermeer’s Apple Pie (this is a recipe from my best friend’s family)

Upside Down Cranberry Cake—NEW for 2011

Chocolate Pie (b/c Zach insists this is Thanksgiving-ish)

Pecan Pie (that John-Paul always makes at a pie-making pre-Thanksgiving party)

Despite the fact that it's not largely comprised of new and creative recipes from the pages of Bon Appetit or the like, it still sounds delicious.

And I’m almost full just typing it.

This weekend I did all of the necessary prep. I made my shopping list, organized by store. Did you know this menu will require almost 20 onions, 3 cloves of garlic, and 3 lbs of butter?! Gulp.

I lined up all of my baking dishes and labeled them according to what will go in what.

I bought my favorite Crane napkins—they look like cloth napkins, but are disposable. This year I picked some that have a silver bark-ish pattern on them. Love those napkins for entertaining.

I researched which bottles of wine we’ll be buying tomorrow night.

We already have our friends’ card table from last year to add on to our dining room table. So, I guess it’s good we didn’t ever return it. They’ll actually be sitting around it this year eating with us!

I added a reminder on my calendar to pick up the turkey at Clancey’s on Wednesday.

I made the Herb & Cheese Poppers, and froze the dough. Also baked off a couple to try.

I already decided what we’ll have for dinner Wednesday with everyone in town after a day of cooking and baking (pizza from Broder’s).

I took a nap today in an effort to rest up for the marathon of cooking on Wednesday.

And speaking of the cooking that is taking place on Wednesday, I also looked at the weather forecast to see if it’ll be cold enough to use our porch as a second refrigerator this year. Questionable.

Food, I love you. This year, among other things, I’m thankful for you. J