L'shana tova 5776!

A blessed and sweet new year to all!

Happy birthday Julia Child!!!

To the queen of all kitchens...
Thank you for all the yummy food and memories you brought to us.

Elijah's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies - Yes, they're kosher for Passover!

This year i'm in charge of desserts!
First i started out with a chocolate chip cookie recipe that i got from Facebook!
You'll see i modified it - adding mint chocolate chips for Jessica, and then i made a dozen rocky road style -- adding marshmallows, almonds and more chocolate chips.  I loved the gooey marshmallows that remained on the cookie sheet after they came out of the oven!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup matzoh cake meal
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1 package vanilla pudding mix (either instant or regular is fine)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (although i used chocolate-mint chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined.
With the mixer on low speed, add the matzoh cake meal, potato starch, vanilla pudding, baking soda and salt.
Mix until combined.
Add the vanilla and chocolate chips.
Using a small cookie scoop, drop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are slightly brown for a soft and chewy cookie.  Or bake 12-15 minutes for a crispy and crunchy cookie.
Elijah's easy going -- he'll take them any way you make them.

Chag Sameach!
Happy Passover!

Delicious dark chocolate bark

I've been making dark chocolate bark for a few years, and it's always a winner!  Although keep in mind, as most cooks and bakers will tell you, you can't skimp when it comes to the quality of your ingredients.  Inna Garten say you have to use a good bottle of red wine even if you're just cooking with it.  And legendary chef and restauranteur Daniel Baloud will tell you that you must use a high-quality bread and butter when making a croque monsier.  So with this bark, i've used both Scharffen Berger's 70% bittersweet chocolate, and Valrhona's 70% Guanaja chocolate.  And then everything else was the best quality i could find, from the sea salt to the marcona almonds and even the dried organic blueberries.  The only "run of the mill" item i used was Trader Joe's roasted coconut chips, but i must say they were delicious and not too sweet.

I imagine you can top the bark with anything, but adding some sea salt to the top seems to be a winner.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of dark chocolate (or whatever kind of chocolate you like), finely chopped
• 1-1/2 c. roasted marcona almonds (not in oil)
• 1/2 c. dried blueberries
• 1 c. roasted coconut chips
• coarse sea salt - for sprinkling

If you need to temper the chocolate, please start here.  Otherwise, melt your chocolate slowly, and you should use chips, which are not meant to temper.  I melt the chocolate on a make-shift double-boiler, or in the microwave oven.

Once it melts, remove it and using a silicone spatula, spread it onto a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with sea salt and whatever other ingredients you decide to use.  I've done it with just chocolate and sea salt and it's absolutely delicious and decadent.  Refrigerate for at least an hour so that it sets.  You can then break it up into whatever size you want.

Bon appetit!

Happy Valentine'SaturDay

How will you celebrate the day? 
This isn't necessarily that silly Hallmark holiday ... but it's Saturday!
A terrific day to treasure and celebrate.

I've never been crazy about this holiday, but i can still have fun with it...

This looks like a good way of starting the day.

Yes... i'll have to add this to my origami repertoire. 

And don't forget...