Messing with Martha Stewart

I love changing recipes and making them my own once I'm familiar with them - especially cookie recipes. It's rare that I'll add or take away from a cookie recipe on the first try though - especially if it's by MARTHA STEWART (insert echo here). After all, she's the grand dame of cooking. Who am I to question the greatness of her words?(And to be honest, if I ever met her in an alley, I'd run the other way).

But I did...and I'm lucky. I've been meaning to try her Outrageous Chocolate Cookies recipe for awhile now...it looked relatively easy-to-make, plus there are quite a few people in my life who are, quite frankly, chocolate freaks.

To be honest, I find working with oodles of chocolate quite overwhelming. It gets everywhere, plus I find melting chocolate quite a tedious process (this particular recipe calls for using the microwave to melt the chocolate and butter together...let's just say butter EXPLODES).

But this particular recipe was...interesting. This recipe calls for very little flour, which had me questioning whether or not the cookie would ever solidify, or if I'm just making a very expensive chocolate pudding (luckily I wasn't). I also didn't like using semisweet chocolate chunks twice, so I substituted with bitter sweet chocolate. Plus, I added walnuts, changed cooking times and temperatures (my oven tends to run a little hotter).

All I can say is that it turned out really well. I'd love to say it was because I'm an amazing cookie chef, but to be honest, I think it was just dumb luck.

The full recipe can be found below. I placed asterisks where I made changes. Happy baking.

Ingredients

Makes 2 dozen (I actually made 30)
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar (*I only used 1/3 cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks (*substitute with bitter sweet chocolate)
- 700 grams chopped walnuts

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until almost melted; do not overheat.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate.
- Mix in flour mixture until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chunks * and walnuts.
- Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets.
- Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Cool on sheets 10 minutes (*20 minutes)
- With a thin metal spatula, transfer to racks to cool completely.

Easter eggs...

...it's been awhile since I coloured eggs for Easter...but eggs are still an important part of the holiday for me. Instead of using food dye, I decided to use my hard-boiled eggs and make an appetizer.

For my family's Easter celebration, I made smoked salmon stuffed eggs. Here's how.

Ingredients
- plain cream cheese
- mayonnaise
- dill
- scallions / green onions
- hard-boiled eggs
- smoked salmon
- freshly ground pepper

I purposely left off quantity in the ingredients - the amount you use really does depend on what kind of texture (creamy versus lumpy) and flavour you like (heavy on the dill/scallions).

Directions
- Peel the hardboiled eggs
- Cut them in half length-wise
- Carefully remove the yolks and set aside (you'll use this in the stuffing mixture later on)
- chop the scallions + dill and add to the egg yolks
- add cream cheese and mayonnaise
- chop up the smoked salmon into mini pieces and add to the mixture
- add freshly ground pepper to taste
- take a fork or a big spoon and mash everything together
- restuff egg whites
- refrigerate for 2 hours before serving

Easter weekend...and cooking for an actual chef!

Holiday weekends are the best, and can mean many different things. To most, it's a chance to relax, enjoy the weather, grab a beer, maybe. For me, it's cooking for an army - and in today's case: an army of 15.

Turkey is always the easiest choice - get a 20 lb bird, brine it, shove it in the oven and come back in 5 hours. Simple, huh? Sure. Except if you're cooking for a chef. One of my cousins is a chef (as in, he must cook well for others or he starves) and today, I found out that he would be sitting down to dinner at my table. No pressure.

So to impress (and because I'm just anal enough to do this), I prepped a meal with appetizers, a zillion side dishes, the main (mmmm...turkey) and a small dessert.

I won't bore you with the details of my day (except that it's now past midnight and I'm still super wired), but I will say the meal turned out well. And was enjoyed by all - even my chef cousin.

I can't take all the credit - Martha Stewart had a hand in it too. After all, it was her turkey brining recipe that I used. An amazing recipe - though I've tried it a few times and tinker every time.

Instead of thyme, I used savoury herbs (I find thyme a little too strong for the Asian palate). And for the wine, I used a Trius Dry Riesling (Hillebrand). Of the different wines I've used, this has worked out the best. I also skipped the juniper berries (used to flavour gin...it has a citrus flavour, which pairs well with the riesling).

Here are the directions (with my tinkered notes)
Makes enough brine for one 18- to 20-pound turkey
- 7 quarts (28 cups) water
- 1 1/2 cups coarse salt
- 6 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon dried juniper berries - I couldn't find these so skipped it altogether
- 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds
- 1 fresh whole turkey (18 to 20 pounds), patted dry, neck and giblets reserved for stock, liver reserved for stuffing
- 1 bottle dry Riesling
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 bunch fresh thyme/savoury

Directions

- Bring 1 quart water, the salt, bay leaves, and spices to a simmer, stirring until salt has dissolved.
- Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Line a 5-gallon container with a large brining or oven-roasting bag.
- Place turkey in bag.
- Add salt mixture, remaining 6 quarts (24 cups) water, and the other ingredients.
- Tie bag; if turkey is not submerged, weight it with a plate.
- Refrigerate for 24 hours, flipping turkey once.



Believe it or not, the turkey was the easy part. Brine the day before, rinse the day of, shove it into the oven and forget about it.

It's everything else that took time. I won't get into it today (since I'm now exhausted), but eggs are an important part of Easter. Tomorrow, I'll post my recipes for the appetizers served today. Stay-tuned...and Happy Easter, everyone!

P.S. My cousin the chef ate with gusto. No compliment better than that!