Oui, Chef

Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

 

Do you remember the post a few weeks ago about the favorite holiday cookie we baked this year, the incomparable Chewy Ginger Cookies ?  Well these little lovelies ran a close second in the race for Christmas cookie dominance, so I thought I'd share them with you today.  The good news is that they're not like a bûche de noel, or a gingerbread treat that seem totally out of place once the holidays have passed.  These sugar bombs are a welcome treat regardless of season.

3 Layer Guinness - Chocolate Cake

A page is turned, a chapter ended.

Ever since I was a student at LCB and learned to make a Bûche Pistache, a delicious chocolate-pistachio log shaped cake, it has been Arthas’ choice of birthday cake.  I still clearly remember my initial shock when a few months after he had tasted the one I made and brought home from class, he asked that I make another for his birthday.  

Baked NYC - Sweet and Salty Brownies

In our seemingly endless effort to ferret out the best brownies on the planet, for you, our devoted readers, we come to you today with yet another contender for the title.  Many of you will recall our first foray into "Baked NYC" territory with this post about them back in January.  In it, we put the original "Baked" brownie to the test, and found we really loved it's deep dark flavor, and almost fudge like consistency.  

Well, the guys at Baked Bakery in Brooklyn are back with not only a new cookbook called Baked Explorations , but also a new take on their now famous brownie.  To put it simply, the Sweet and Salty Brownie is their original on steroids, and while we may hold steroids and all those stupid athletes that use them in low regard, in this instance, they are a VERY GOOD THING!

Peanut Butter Honeycomb Pie

This lovely treat of a thing is something the Mrs. whipped up as a going away present for Grid, our recently departed college freshman.  Always a fan of the classic peanut butter and chocolate combination, she was sure that this pie would be a fitting climax to his final dinner at home before leaving for school.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Those of you who have been hanging around here for a while know I am loathe to call any recipe "the best".  There are plenty of great recipes out there, and certainly lots of lousy ones too.  Here at Oui, Chef we try to bring you tons of the former and none of the latter, but the best of anything?  You've never heard me say that a recipe you find here is the best that you'll find anywhere, and you never will.  That's because as much as I love all the dishes we share with you, there is always room for improvement and reinterpretation, and in fact, one of the things I like most about writing this blog is hearing from all of you and learning how you've made our recipes work better for your tastes. 

Chocolate-Caramel Slice

This little ditty is a treat my wife found recently and asked me to make to help feed the crowd that was joining us on the 4th of July.  As it turns out, what with other goodies we had made along with treats that guests brought, we didn't even have to dip into these babies.

Nutella Banana Bread

Fate dealt me a lovely hand last week when I found a bag of chopped hazelnuts in the pantry that were getting a little long in the tooth and needed to be used.  I can't remember why I had bought them in the first place, in fact, I can't remember buying them at all.....dang memory.

My first thought was to toast them and toss them into a grain and veggie based salad to have with some grilled chicken over the weekend, and as I was rifling through the grain bin to find a suitable partner for the nuts, I glanced overhead and found a half-eaten jar of Nutella in the chocolate bin above.

Coffee - Lemon Panna Cotta Parfait

Every now and again it's nice to bring something to the table that makes everyone gasp with delight, don't you think?  And even nicer when that something is a treat that takes no special skill or ingredients to make, just a little love and time.  

I'm one of those guys that would be just as happy eating a tasty, but not particularly beautiful, braised dish most nights of the week.  A solid savory dish, well prepared, and simply presented is just fine with me, thank you very much.  It's a whole different thing though when it comes to dessert.  Nothing gets me giddy like a beautifully composed temptation of sugar, one that looks as much a work of art, as it does a means of sustenance.  

This, my friends, is just such a dish.....

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

When Muppet had a hankerin' for some peanut butter and chocolate action last week, we thought of a couple different ways to satisfy her craving.  First, was to make a batch of Buckeyes, which are always a hit, but to me seemed out of season.  Is it just me, or do you all find Buckeyes to be a winter holiday treat?  It seems that the only time I EVER see them is when they are being served at a holiday cookie swap, or as part of a dessert party spread at a Christmas open house.

Her next thought ran to modifying her world famous ganache filled cupcakes to have a peanut butter ganache filling, which was an idea I was totally getting behind until I looked at the clock and realized that we didn't have the time for such an elaborate undertaking...ugh.  What we settled on were these lovely peanut butter cookies dotted with milk chocolate chunks, that come to us courtesy of the original Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

Lemon and Thyme Ricotta Cheesecake with Lavender Chocolate Drizzle

This is a recipe I whipped up for a recent Food52 competition that asked for my best "Recipe with Fresh Ricotta Cheese" .  To be honest, I don't cook with ricotta that much, and for the life of me I can't figure out why, because I really do love the stuff.  As a good Italian boy, my first exposure to ricotta was in my Mom's fabulous lasagna, and I have used it occasionally as part of a filling for homemade raviolis, but I have to say my favorite way to enjoy ricotta is in a cheesecake.