One of the great things about the internet is that you can learn all sorts of interesting new things without ever leaving your desk. For example, you can survey best-chocolate-chip-cookie contests and look for a consistent winner. In this case, the frequent favorite is the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.

I made a batch yesterday to share with friends, and in that process both determined that they are superior in every way to my prior favorite recipe, and that this fabulous recipe can be adapted to make it a bit simpler to prepare.

The adaptations are just two: first, the recipe calls for cake flour (7-8% protein) and bread flour (14-16% protein) used in equal amounts. The average protein content is thus about 10 - 12%...exactly the same as the all-purpose flour that you probably have in your cupboards and canisters...so use that instead. I have not yet done the side-by-side comparison, but I can assure you that just using regular flour tastes great.

The second adaptation concerns shaping the cookies. Let me be clear: making golf-ball sized scoops out of rock-hard dough was not fun. So for subsequent batches, I scooped the freshly made dough, chilled it and then quickly popped my flat-golf-ball-sized cookie dough balls onto the sheet for baking. Bonus: you can store them in your freezer and quickly whip up a batch for a last-minute treat.

One note about the chocolate. I would love to make these cookies with 1-1/4# (20 oz. or about 3-1/3 cups) of artisinal chocolate disks, but frankly I'm just too lazy to order them on-line or make a pilgrimage to a store that carries them. You can now buy high quality dark chocolate chips by Guittard and other manufacturers at your local Marketbasket or other grocery store; even Nestle's Special Dark chips work well. Of course if you would like to buy several bars of high-end chocolate and chop them for this recipe, you should!

The recipe's measures are shown by both weight and volume, and for this recipe and many others, consider is purchasing a scale. The Escali scale that I use costs just $23.50, and weighs everything from a gram of beads to 5 pounds of bread dough (it may weigh more than 5#, but I've never tried it). One reason to use a scale is that it makes baking really speedy - you pour ingredients into the bowl right from their containers (press and hold the on button to reset the weight or "tare" the scale when adding a new ingredient). It's also much more accurate than volume measurement, and - bonus! - results in fewer dishes. I've had my scale for at least 5 years, and it's still accurate to the gram.

One more thing about this chocolate chip cookie recipe: the dough really does need to chill at least overnight. The chilling period causes the flour to break down slightly into it's component parts (one of which is actually sugar) and the water in the dough to evaporate - both of which lead to a cookie that is crisp on the outside and chewy within; in short, the cookie of your dreams.

Here is my (adapted) NY Times cookie recipe.

I also want to include a link to the Butter Flavored Crisco chocolate chip cookie recipe. Butter Flavored Crisco has no dairy (surprise!), and so if you substitute almond or soy milk for the 2Tbs of milk and use non dairy chocolate chips, you can have dairy free chocolate chip cookie that is also extremely good. Trader Joe's regular chocolate chips are also non-dairy, but it should be noted are packaged on machines that also package dairy and so are not safe for those with serious dairy allergies.

Even a simple batch of chocolate chip cookies deserve to taste great. If you buy pre-made dough, it will taste a LOT better than Chips Ahoy, and if you make cookies using the Butter Flavored Crisco recipe, they will be a LOT better than the pre-made dough. But to reach the pinnacle of chocolate chip cookie goodness, try the adapted NYTimes Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe - you may never go back.

For those interested, the plate in the top photo is indeed depression glass, a gift to my grandmother from my grandfather for their very first Christmas in 1932. Here is the note she sent when she gave me the dish:

Next step: fresh popcorn. There is a bit of science to fresh popcorn: the reason it pops is that there is a tiny bit of moisture in every kernel. When that moisture is heated to boiling, the kernel explodes, creating a piece of popcorn. I spend about 50 cents extra to buy Orville Redenbacher popcorn in a plastic jar with a screw-on top. In case you're wondering, that's about $4 for a jar of popcorn that makes at least 20 servings of my favorite snack. No matter what you buy, it's important to store it tightly sealed, so the moisture inside each kernel doesn't evaporate.

Finally oil. Many of us have plastic containers of vegetable oil (Wesson or Canola) in our pantries. Grab that oil, open the top and sniff it. It should not smell of anything, but if it's older than a year, it probably does. Believe it or not, oil does go bad. If your oil has an "off" smell, throw it out and buy new; your food will taste a lot better. If you don't use much of the stuff, buy it in small containers.

If you have only olive oil on hand, go ahead and use it, but it's not ideal. Olive oil breaks down at high heat (it has a low "smoke point") and may scorch your pan and your popcorn. Since I cook on an electric stove, even the hottest burner doesn't usually get hot enough to do this, but if you have natural gas, watch out.

Now that you've assembled your ingredients, put the oil in the pan and turn it on high. After about a minute, pour in your popcorn, cover the pan and shake. Once it starts to pop, shake frequently until the popping stops (or until you hear less than one pop every 5 seconds). If you wait just until the popping has almost stopped, you should have only a handful of unpopped kernels and an unblemished pan: success! Salt and serve.

The first video below explains the recipe, and the second shows you how to tell when the corn is done popping.

Photos of each step in making hot chocolate: sugar and cocoa; added milk; after microwaving and when whisked.

Both of these snacks take under 5 minutes to prepare, taste great (especially compared to their packaged cousins), have no chemicals and are tasty and REAL. Because after all, if you are going to eat "fun food", it should be as delicious as possible!

​​If you would like to see my recipes, tips and adventures in cooking every week go to www.ucancook.net and enter your email on the right side. Alternatively, email me at [email protected] and I will set you up!
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While glazing a torte can in no way be compared to ending Apartheid, I thought that Nelson Mandela's quote was quite apt in this instance.

At a recent class, we were so engaged in making and eating our delicious desserts and dessert sauces, we ran out of time to glaze one of the tortes, a chocolate torte made with almond flour.  So here, in 13 pictures, is how it works.

1.  Start with a fully-baked Queen of Sheeba torte (recipe coming here).

2.  Use your fingers to gently press down the edges of the torte (while it's still in the pan) so it's level across the top.

3.  Remove the outside of the springform pan. See how level it is?  Flip it over and peel off the waxed paper or parchment, and eat the crumbs from the paper.  Delicious!!

4.  Next make your glaze (recipe coming here). It shouldn't be hot, but do you see how liquid it is as it falls from the red spatula?

5.  Pour about 1/4 of the glaze onto your torte.

6 and 7. Use your spatula to spread the glaze all over the torte. It's not meant to look pretty, it just needs to seal in the crumbs. If you need more glaze, use a clean spoon to get it; be careful not to get crumbs in the glaze!  Once it's covered, pop it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the glaze set.

8, 9.  Transfer the torte to a wire rack using a large spatula or cake mover. You may need to re-heat your glaze in the microwave (15-30 seconds on 50% power) to make sure it's still nice and liquid (but not hot)

10. Now pour the glaze on the torte, tilting it carefully so the glaze covers the whole top and drips over the edges. Use a clean spatula to apply glaze to the sides as needed; spoon a bit of glaze onto the spatula and then smooth it over the sides, being careful not to touch the top and top edge.

11  When you are finished, it will look like this! You can't see the slightly imperfect sides, but that's OK - we will cover them with toasted almonds. Transfer your torte to your serving dish, using the same large spatula or cake mover that you used to put it on the rack. Use a slightly damp paper towel to remove any chocolate glaze that becomes smeared on the serving dish.

12.  Apply the toasted almonds. Clearly a job best done with two hands, not one hand while the other tries to take a picture. It took me 8 tries just to get this photo, you should see the others!

13. At last, your masterpiece is complete! Store it at room temperature or slightly cooler; if you place it in the refrigerator, the glaze may discolor upon returning to room temperature. Serve with berries or a fruit sauce.  

A 9" torte serves 12-16, and I'm sure every single one of them will enjoy it.

Just three ingredients will make the best mousse you will ever eat.

It's true:  all you need are 9 ounces (by weight) of chocolate, 5 tablespoons of liquid and 1-1/2 cups of cream. 

That's it.  No gelatin.  No powdered mix.  No eggs.  In fact in it's simplest form, the liquid is just water.

Since you only have three ingredients, choose them with care.  For the chocolate, chose milk, dark, or bittersweet sold in bar form.  No chips, no "candy coating" and nothing molded into shapes.  It's all about the flavor.  Chop your delicious chocolate into chip-sized pieces, and place in a microwave-safe bowl.

For the liquid, chose up to 3 tablespoons of liqueur such as Grand Marnier, Amaretto, Rum, Framboise or Frangelico, and add water to make up 5 tablespoons total liquid.  You can also use strong coffee for your liquid.  Pour the liquid over the chocolate.  I know we are breaking some rules here, but trust me on this.

Put the bowl in the microwave, and cook for 2 minutes on 50% power for dark and milk chocolate, and 20% power for white.  Once heated, stir gently until smooth.  Set aside until a small dab on your upper lip feels cool to the touch.

Measure 1-1/2 cups of the best heavy cream you can find.  It must say "Heavy Cream" on the carton. Don't even THINK of using half and half, creamer or <shudder> Cool Whip.  It's not like you eat this stuff every day, so get the real thing!

Pour the cold heavy cream into a large mixing bowl and put the whisk attachment on your mixer. Beat at high speed until soft peaks form.  A "soft peak" means that when you pull the whisk attachment out of the heavy cream, it will leave behind a pointed whipped cream peak which will then droop over slightly.

Once the cream is whipped, use a silicone spatula to gently fold the chocolate mixture into the cream and put immediately in a serving bowl or smaller bowls for individual servings.  Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.  Excellent with fresh fruit or a very thin cookie.