Taking a Break from Baking - Green Chile Pork Stew

Green Chile Pork Stew with All the Sides

I saw that New Mexico green chiles were going to be coming to Berkeley Bowl as a special. Apparently, New Mexico is famous for these green chiles and it is hard to find them outside of New Mexico except for this time a year when some stores have them shipped in. I decided that I wanted to make something with these chiles even though I had never used them before. After doing some research I decided on Green Chile Pork Stew. I found that there are few variations including New Mexico as well as Mexican versions. I chose the New Mexican style because they were New Mexico chiles. The main difference I found in the recipes was the inclusion of tomatillos in most Mexican variations of green chile stew/chile verde.

Here is the recipe I came up with. I combined a couple of recipes' ingredients and procedures and this was the result:

New Mexico Green Chile Pork Stew

Ingredients:

18 New Mexico green chile peppers (I used 8 Anaheim, 5 Big Jim, and 5 Sandia peppers) 

3 jalapenos 

2 tbs vegetable oil 

2 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder or butt, cut into 1 inch cubes 

salt 

1 medium onion, chopped 

5 cloves garlic 

1 tbs minced, seeded jalapeno 

1 tsp oregano 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1 tsp ground cumin 

2 tbs all-purpose flour 

3 cups low sodium chicken stock 

Directions: 

1. Roast the peppers by placing them on a baking sheet and putting them under the broiler. Turn them frequently to get an even char all over the peppers. Alternately, roast on an open gas flame, turning them frequently with tongs until all sides are charred black, about 7 to 10 minutes (you can also roast peppers on an outside grill).
2. Place the blackened peppers in a large bowl or plastic bag (s), and let rest until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. This will loosen the skins.
3. Peel the skin off the peppers, and remove most of the seeds and the stems. Chop the peppers and set aside.
4. In a dutch oven or large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
5. Lightly season the cubes of pork with salt and, in batches, add them to the pot, cooking until browned, about 8-10 minutes. Once browned, remove pork from the pot and set aside. If there is a lot of fat left in the pot, pour off excess and leave about1/4 cup.
6. Lower the heat slightly, and add the onions, garlic and jalapenos to the pot and cook, stirring, until tender, about 3 minutes.
7. Add the oregano, salt, and cumin, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
8. Add the flour and cook, stirring, without allowing to color, for 2 minutes.
9. Add the reserved, chopped peppers, and stir well to combine. Add the chicken stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45 to 60 minutes or until the pork is tender.

*We made cilantro-lime rice to eat with the Green Chile Pork Stew. Cook white rice as directed and mix in handful of chopped cilantro, juice of 1-2 limes and salt to taste.

Store bought tortillas, homemade guacamole and canned refried beans rounded out the meal.

Nothing Beats Homemade - Mint Milanos

Homemade Mint Milanos

I love Pepperidge Farms Mint Milanos. I used to buy them whenever I saw them on sale at the grocery store, but haven't bought them for awhile now. I saw this recipe and I knew that I wanted to make them. The original recipe is for orange-chocolate filled Milanos so I substituted peppermint extract in the filling. 

It was difficult to get the correct size of the cookies. The recipe said to make them 1 inch long and that resulted in very small, bite-size cookies....not exactly what I was looking for.  When Ryan and I were making them we experimented with different lengths and widths. If you are going to make these I would make them about 2 inches long. They spread out, but I would try to get the cookies to be about 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide before baking. Next time I will try using a bigger piping tip. Lastly, because we made them larger than the original recipe 10 minutes was not long enough and the cookies came out too soft and pliable. Next time I will make sure they get a darker golden brown.

Here is the recipe with my changes:

Homemade Mint Milanos

adapted from Gale Gand's Milan Cookies

Ingredients:

12 tbs (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)

2 tbs vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

Cookie filling, recipe follows

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place silpats on baking sheets and set aside (I tried one baking sheet with parchment paper and my cookies came out very mishapen).
2. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer fitted to cream the butter. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the egg whites and mix in the vanilla extract.
4. Slowly add the flour and mix until just incorporated. 
5. Fill a piping bag with a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 2 inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. When cookies are cool, match cookies up by size. Spread filling on one cookie and sandwich together with the other. Repeat with the rest of the cookies.

Cookie Filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 tsp peppermint extract

Directions: 

1. Pour heavy cream into a small saucepan and heat, but do not boil.
2. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl. Let sit for a couple minutes.
3. Whisk to melt chocolate, add peppermint extract and blend well. Set aside to cool (put in the fridge to speed this up).

Just About Perfect!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think everyone has their favorite type of chocolate chip cookie - thick and chewy, thin and crispy and everything in between. I've been searching for my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe - super thin, crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle. I had made cookies that fit this description before, but I couldn't find the recipe I used. So my previous post about chocolate chip cookies was not the right recipe so I continued to search. This recipe looked like it could be it...and IT WAS! I had to tweak it slightly because the first few sheets I baked came out very thin and inedible. So I added a little bit of flour and put the dough in the fridge to harden a bit. I also added a few more chocolate chips because it made a giant batch of cookies and I didn't think there was enough in the original recipe.

Next time I use this recipe I think I will either reduce the butter (there is A LOT) or add some flour to the dough. Hopefully, this will result in the perfect chocolate chip cookie. The original recipe comes from Martha Stewart's daughter Alexis. Here's the recipe I would use next time:

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Lexi's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

3 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. 
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or handheld mixer) use the paddle attachment to beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. 
3. Add both sugars, and beat until combined and fluffy. 
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time and add vanilla and mix until well blended.
5. Slowly add flour mixture, and beat on low speed until combined. 
6. Add the chocolate chips, and mixuntil combined.
7. Drop 2 tablespoons of batter at a time onto baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. These cookies spread A LOT (I only put 6 cookies per sheet).
8. Bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove the cookies and the parchment paper from the baking sheets, and let cool on a rack.

* If the first cookie sheet of cookies spreads to much mix in a few tablespoons of flour into the remaining dough. Adjust as necessary. I think that the butter temperature as well as outside temp changes the outcome of the cookies drastically. I think its necessary to adapt as needed.

Macarons vs. Macaroons

So I was researching macarons today and I learned something new =) The main reason people get "macaron" and "macaroon" confused is because they can be used to describe the same cookie. Macaron is the French spelling and macaroon is the English spelling of similar meringue almond cookies. Because the English spelling, macaroon, can also mean the coconut ball cookie, the French spelling, macaron, has been adopted by many. Apparently, macarons are a type of macaroons. But macaroons (the coconut cookie) are not macarons. So either macaron or macaroon is technically correct when describing the meringue almond cookies.

Still very confusing.

Baking Trends - Macarons

Chocolate Macarons with Espresso Ganache

It seems like colorful macarons are a big trend right now. Shops sell beautifully colored cookies stacked up in pretty boxes. Note: these are macarOns not macarOOns (the coconut cookies)...people seem to get the names confused calling both macaroons.

Before baking this recipe I had never had a macaron let alone baked them. It takes a while to make macarons (you have to let them sit for an hour on the baking sheet before going into the oven) but the process isn't that difficult. It is important to pay attention to all the instructions because the cookies are very sensitive. This meant using a scale to weigh out the ingredients instead of just using measuring cups. This ensures that you get the exact right amount of each ingredient. Another weird aspect of making macarons is that you need to "age" your egg whites. This kind of grossed me out, but after you separate the eggs you let the whites sit at room temperature anywhere from 12 to 48 hours. I let mine sit about 16-18 hours. Apparently, this helps the egg whites become more liquidy, yet they will still be safe to eat. Lastly, I used parchment paper to baking my cookies on, but I think I need to invest in silicone baking mats because a lot of my cookies stuck to the parchment and I lost a lot of cookies =(

Chocolate Macarons

Ingredients:

110 gm blanched slivered almonds
200 gm minus 2 tbs confectioners’ sugar
2 tbs cocoa powder
100 gm egg whites (about 4 eggs), aged at room temperature for 12-24 hours
50 gm granulated sugar

Espresso Ganache (see below)

Directions:

1. Put the almonds in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder and process until well blended. 
2. In a large bowl use a hand mixer with whisk attachments (you could use a stand mixer), beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. The egg whites should be smooth and shiny.
3. Add the ground almond mixture to the bowl with the meringue and using a rubber spatula, gently fold mixture until there are no streaks. The mixture should be thick, but should be able to fall in ribbons off your spatula.
4. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats (or parchment paper). Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round tip (I used a #12 tip). Pipe into small rounds onto the baking sheets (1 or 1 1/4 inches in diameter) leaving about 1 inch inbetween. 
5. Let cookies sit at room temperature for about an hour to develop a hard shell.
6. Preheat the oven to 300˚F. Bake for 9-11 minutes, depending on size. Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before moving the cookies.
7. Match all the cookies into pairs of equal size. Pipe a layer of ganache onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair. Carefully, sandwich the two cookies together. Continue with the rest of the cookie pairs. Store in an airtight container (can be stored in the fridge for about a week).

Espresso Ganache

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs granulated sugar
  1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  3 tsp espresso powder

Directions:

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl.
2. Combine the cream, butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer and pour over the chocolate. 
3. Let stand 2 minutes, then whisk gently until chocolate is melted and mixed in. 
4. Add espresso powder and mix until combined. 
5. Let the mixture cool (place in refrigerator to speed cooling) until it is thick enough to pipe.

Quick and Easy Cookies - Snickerdoodles

Cookies!

Snickerdoodles are a quick and easy cookie. I used to make them when I was little. It was always fun to roll the little balls of dough around in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. This recipe is from a cookie recipe book called Cookies Galore. The cookies came out pretty tasty, but I think I prefer mine a little flatter and thinner (I think this is my preference in general for cookies...). I used a tablespoon to measure out the cookies and I think I needed more sugar and cinnamon for the coating.

Snickerdoodles

from Cookies Galore by Jacqueline Bellefontaine

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 scant cups flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp baking soda

Coating:

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift the flour, cream of tarta, and baking soda together and blend into butter mixture to form a soft dough.
3. Break off pieces of the dough about the size of a small walnut and roll into balls. Mix the 1 tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon together and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar. Arrange on baking sheets, allowing room for the cookies to spread.
4. Baking until pale golden, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.