With the garden being more or less ready for winter my attention is shifting to the kitchen again.
December is also the time when I need to have a jar full of cookies in the drawer. Preferably chocolate chip cookies or “sable chocolat au fleur de sel“.
Whenever I come across a good looking chocolate chip cookie I give it a try. This caught my attention right away. It’s called “the only chocolate chip cookie I need to know for the rest of my life” Had to try it and I’m glad I did. They are really great. The only down side is the dough needs to rest for 36 hours. So no instant thing.
Nothing better than sitting on the sofa on a cold winter morning, a pale sun coming through the mist, drinking coffee eating these cookies and listening to dub music.
So here we go. Recipe curtesy of Katie from fromeme for you.
1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, preferably
about 60% cacao content,
Sea salt or kosher salt for garnishing
If you can’t find decent chocolate chips just buy a good quality dark chocolate and cut it into small pieces.
Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well and then set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly to incorporate. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 180°. Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator, and allow it to soften slightly.
Don’t make the cookies to small otherwise they won’t be so chewy. I recommend making them the size of a ping pong ball.
Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool a bit more.
The cookies are pictured on one of my favorite music books: Culture Clash; Dread meets punk rockers by Don Letts. A must read when you are into dub ( and punk ) music.
No baking without music – so here comes another recommendation: There’s a series called “London is the place for me ” out on Honest Jon’s records, one of my favourite labels by the way. Lovely Calypso music to accompany any baking session.
‘Vibrant and beautiful almost beyond words, the fifty year old recordings being collected on Honest Jons’ London Is The Place For Me series are giant and precious treasures of early black British music. Exquisite artistic achievements in their own right, they also throw light on the early development of post bop jazz in the UK.
Volume one in the series, released in ’02 and subtitled Trinidadian Calypso In London, 1950-1956, features all-but-forgotten masterpieces of reportage, social commentary and louche wit from Lord Kitchener, Lord Beginner, the Lion, and other recently arrived young calypsonians. This second volume, subtitled Calypso And Kwela, Highlife And Jazz From Young Black London, concentrates on the same period but widens the geo-stylistic net”
With the garden being more or less ready for winter my attention is shifting to the kitchen again.
December is also the time when I need to have a jar full of cookies in the drawer. Preferably chocolate chip cookies or “sable chocolat au fleur de sel“.
Whenever I come across a good looking chocolate chip cookie I give it a try. This caught my attention right away. It’s called “the only chocolate chip cookie I need to know for the rest of my life” Had to try it and I’m glad I did. They are really great. The only down side is the dough needs to rest for 36 hours. So no instant thing.
Nothing better than sitting on the sofa on a cold winter morning, a pale sun coming through the mist, drinking coffee eating these cookies and listening to dub music.
So here we go. Recipe curtesy of Katie from fromeme for you.
You’ll need:
about 60% cacao content,
If you can’t find decent chocolate chips just buy a good quality dark chocolate and cut it into small pieces.
Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well and then set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly to incorporate. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 180°. Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator, and allow it to soften slightly.
Don’t make the cookies to small otherwise they won’t be so chewy. I recommend making them the size of a ping pong ball.
Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool a bit more.
The cookies are pictured on one of my favorite music books: Culture Clash; Dread meets punk rockers by Don Letts. A must read when you are into dub ( and punk ) music.
No baking without music – so here comes another recommendation: There’s a series called “London is the place for me ” out on Honest Jon’s records, one of my favourite labels by the way. Lovely Calypso music to accompany any baking session.
‘Vibrant and beautiful almost beyond words, the fifty year old recordings being collected on Honest Jons’ London Is The Place For Me series are giant and precious treasures of early black British music. Exquisite artistic achievements in their own right, they also throw light on the early development of post bop jazz in the UK.
Volume one in the series, released in ’02 and subtitled Trinidadian Calypso In London, 1950-1956, features all-but-forgotten masterpieces of reportage, social commentary and louche wit from Lord Kitchener, Lord Beginner, the Lion, and other recently arrived young calypsonians. This second volume, subtitled Calypso And Kwela, Highlife And Jazz From Young Black London, concentrates on the same period but widens the geo-stylistic net”
Listen here