Dark Chocolate Espresso Cookies

It is a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon here in Berkeley. We have just returned from our Sunday routine, broken only for really rainy weather. Lucia and I get up, lounge around for a couple of hours, we both are notoriously early risers. Me with my Four Barrel coffee and her with her warm chocolate milk....watching Curious George or Olivia, reading the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times. This am, the dappled sun shining warmly in the window of our West Berkeley home, we were more inspired that others.

We awoke Troy finally at about 8am and by 9am we were out of the house and on our way to Mama's Royal Cafe on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland for breakfast. The kitchen was a little slow this am, but we had little to complain about with the temps in the mid 60s (yes....it is January folks!) and (gasp!) no line at all out front. True, we had to wait nearly 20 minutes for our food to arrive, but the wonderfully diverse, tatood servers were in amazingly friendly form and the coffee strong and good. We also, never go out to breakfast without Lucia's bag of tricks. For those of you without little folks in your everyday life, this is kid-code for color books, reams of drawing paper and several sets of washable markers. I ordered a version of eggs benedict (their hollandaise is light and lovely tarty lemony creamy goodness) with smoked salmon in place of the ham. Perfect eggs, really nicely brown and crisp potatoes with caramelized onions and of course the light yellow heaven on top.

As is our Sunday am tradition, we always go for a long, brisk walk after our Sunday breakfast out, and today, we found our way up to Lake Temescal in the hills approaching the Caldecott Tunnel. We parked the car in the shade, got our dog Bella out of the car and headed up the gentle rolling hills around the lake. It seemed that everyone was smiling today, happy for the sunshine and mild temperatures, bicyclists, kids, dogs, families playing soccer. It was lovely. After a stop at a playground for Lucia to cavort and burn off some energy and Bella to stare longingly at a handsome chocolate nosed would be boyfriend canine across the way, we headed home.

Daddy and daughter landed at the computer to play games and I.....who had been craving chocolate like crazy for several days on end, headed into the kitchen.

Having bookmarked several appealing recipes for chocolate cookies lately, I quickly read over several and landed on David Lebovitz's version of Cotilde's Very Chocolate Cookies. As I am a chef, and not a pastry person, I never (NEVER) follow a recipe to the letter. I should (sometimes) but alas, I don't. Today was no different. But in keeping with one of my vows for the new year, I actually wrote down the changes that I made.

The cookies, are delicious and as David plainly posts, you may not get to the baking of the cookies as the dough is soooo dense and chocolaty. The texture is slightly dry, but the lack of eggs in the formula quickly made me think that this recipe would easily and deliciously be made vegan by subbing out vegan chocolate and vegan margarine.

So, the next time the chocolate bug strikes, try these little gems. Use the best butter and the best chocolate that you can afford, and even if you think a little salt is weird with your chocolate, try a few sprinkled with Fleur de Sel. I am absolutely addicted to the combination. Also, make sure to cool the little disks completely before moving them as the dry texture firms up quite a bit when cool and they crumble easily when warm.

½ cup (70 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (55 g) whole-wheat flour
¼ cup (25 g) unsweetened Ghiradelli cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
5 ounces (140 g) Guittard 60% dark chocolate chips
1/8 cup (30 g) espresso powder
½ cup, plus 1 tablespoon (125 g) salted butter, at room temperature
½ cup (100 g) (packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
optional: fleur de sel

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

1. In a small bowl, sift both flours, cocoa powder and baking soda together.

2. In a clean, dry bowl, microwave melt of the chocolate (2½ oz, 70g) to melt, then let cool to room temperature, (in my microwave it was 1 minute).

3. Beat the butter with a standing electric mixer just until smooth. Beat in the sugar and vanilla extract. Stir to incorporate.

4. Stir in the melted chocolate, then the flour-cocoa mixture. Then finally the chocolate chunks and espresso.

5. Scoop the dough with a teaspoon and roll into little balls. Place evenly-spaced on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten into disks with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle with fleur de sel, if desired, then bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies take on a slightly dry sheen to the top. Tap each cookie lightly with the flat part of a spatula about 2 minutes before removing from the oven. Cool completely before removing from the parchment.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Recipe adapted from:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/

Mmmmmm.....What is that Delicious Smell?

The power of good baked products is like magic. People come together following the heady scent of butter and flour coming together in the oven to make something delicious to eat. My Dad was a baker for the Merchant Marines, baking bread and pies for over 5000 captive sailors...and as you can imagine, providing these swarthy guys with the sweet smell of home for months at a time at sea, my Dad was a pretty popular guy on the ship. So I guess my appreciation for a well made baked product is in my blood.

Lately I have been obsessed with a local place that hands down, turns out some of the best bread and pastry that the Bay currently has to offer on it's already full menu of culinary marvels. Tartine Bakery is on the corner of 18th Street and Guerrero in the Mission District of San Francisco. Elisabeth Prueitt, turns out flaky buttery tarts, cookies, croissants and beautifully simple but decadent cakes and pastry using local and seasonal ingredients. Her partner in crime and husband (lucky man) is Chad Robertson is the reigning king of the dark crusty loaves (available by calling and reserving one by 3pm Weds- Sun) and the smell of the fresh bread wafts down the Mission like a beacon.

Tartine is not hard to find. Just follow the line outside of the black store front always adorned with a huge lovely bouquet of flowers and of course, follow your nose. This is where Troy and I were first introduced to Four Barrel Coffee and I must admit, I like it just a teeny bit better than the much more popular Blue Bottle Coffee. It seems, after waiting in the queue of grungy posh and hungry folk from all over the neighborhood, everything in the case looks good and it is very easy to over do it here at Tartine.

From the savory Croque Monsier done with spicy turkey or ham, to the Banana Creme Cream Pie with Caramel and Chocolate or seasonal fresh fruit Bread Pudding, literally everything screams fresh and delicious.

What has caught my eye lately is the tiny crisp Chocolate-Oatmeal-Walnut Cookies and the Buttermilk Scones. This amazing crisp and buttery cookie also comes in a huge size, but I prefer the small ones. This way I am able to have one and not break the calorie bank......but of course, you should leave such thoughts on 18th Street and come back to them after your pastry party.

At home, I have been methodically working through Elisabeth and Chad's book called of course, Tartine (Chronicle Books, 2006). The pictures, recipes are all impeccable and amazingly, they seem to be the exact recipes from the bakery. I still cannot seem to get my favorite cookies just crisp enough, but that may be because I don't have convection oven at home. For me, what is most agreeable about their cookbook is the addition of kitchen notes. For each recipe, Elisabeth give a paragraph of ideas that will bring each recipe to her exacting professional standard....an addition that as a professional myself, I am extremely grateful for.

This Sunday morning, focusing on an impending visit to Troy's grandma Nelba in the South Bay, I decided to make the scones from the book. Amazingly easy and delicious with a substitute of Callebut chocolate chips instead of currents and lemon zest. The recipe below does not include the weight measurements, as I used the standard American volume measurements that most home cooks will use, and it also omits the directions for using an electric mixer, as I made the dough by hand.

Tartine Bakery Buttermilk Scones

Yield 12 scones

Zante currants (or as I used today, chocolate chips).... 3/4 cup

All purpose flour........................................................... 4 3/4 cups

Baking powder.................................................................... 1 TBSP

Baking soda..........................................................................3/4 tsp

Granulated sugar................................................................1/2 cup

Salt.......................................................................................1 1/4 tsp

Unsalted butter, very cold.................................1 cup and 1 TBSP

Buttermilk.......................................................................1 1/2 cups

Lemon zest, grated..................................................................1 tsp

Unsalted butter, melted......................................................3TBSP

Sugar, for sprinkling......................................................as needed

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a baking sheet.

Combine the currants with warm water to cover in a small bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes until currants are plumped. Drain well.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt and stir with a wooden spoon. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and scatter the cubes over the dry ingredients. Using a pasty blender or two table knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You want to end up with a coarse mixture with pea size lumps of butter visible.

Add the buttermilk all at once and the drained currents and lemon zest (chocolate chips) and mix gently with the spoon or by hand. Continue to mix just until you have a dough that just holds together. If the mixture seems dry, a little more buttermilk. You still want to see some of the butter pieces at this point, which will add to the flakiness of the scones once they are baked.

Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Using your hands, pat the dough into a rectangle about 18 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches thick. Brush the top with the melted butter and then sprinkle with sugar. Using a chef's knife, cut the dough into 12 (I cut 14) triangles. Transfer the triangles to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the scones until the tops are lightly browned, 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Rainy Day Fantasy

Saturday morning, Lucia and I awoke to the unthinkable in the Bay Area in September.

Rain!  Wow!  My heart automatically started yearning for the crunch of Fall colors beneath

my feet and the smell of Autumn coming on.

I love the rain.  Especially when I don't have to drive in it! Though it was no where close to 

being cold or even "brisk", we quickly decided to dress quickly and hop on Bart to go to the

Ferry Plaza Farmer's market.  As Lucia commented on the Oakland roof tops and the other 

Bart trains whizzing by, I let my mind wander, thinking that our trip to the market today 

might be blessed with less tourists because of the rain, and that after my business was done,

we might be able to endulge the moody day by sitting under the eaves, watching the grey

clouds dart around the newly reopened Bay Bridge, and sip the amazingly thick, and not 

too sweet warm chocolate from a cup, dolluped with just whipped, not to sweet cream.

Happy Rainy Day!!

Note:  There were less tourists, but the Ferry Plaza is always crowded, and after actually getting

our warm chocolate and watching the clouds, we met up with our friend Alice Waters.  Lucia and

Alice love each other and hugged ardently and with great enthusiasm!  Truly great day!

PS.....Boulette's larder also makes AMAZING English Muffins on Saturday!