Fare for the family table
When I was growing up there were only two kinds of Girl Scout Cookies I really liked, the Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies and the Thin Mints. I could still eat a box of the peanut butter ones at a single go, but over time I've grown away from the Thin Mints, in fact, if I'm to be totally honest here I'm not a big fan of many combinations of mint and chocolate.
I know….I'm a weirdo.
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.
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!
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.
I had my three-deep stack of beautiful cast iron skillets pulled out the other night, and while I was grabbing my monster-large 18″ one to make a braised sausages and balsamic onions dish (stay tuned for this one), I pulled my 11″ one aside to try this skillet cookie recipe that I found on Heidi Swanson’s site, 101 Cookbooks a few weeks back. I was looking for an easy dinner – dessert combo as we were all packing for school vacation week ski trips, and we didn’t have a lot of time to be futzing in the kitchen.
Every night before dinner we pause for a moment and take turns giving “gratitudes” for things we are grateful for each day, it is our non-denominational spin on a meal-time prayer. A few weeks ago my gratitude went something like this….
“I am grateful that Sarabeth Levine decided to name our dessert treat tonight Chocolate Chubbies, because their name will give me pause each time I am fighting my crack addict urge to eat six of these at a sitting. Were it not for their name, I’ve no doubt that I’d eat enough of these in short order to soon be looking like the Hindenburg.”
Thank you Sarabeth.
There are days when I feel that I am just seconds away from renaming this blog “Oui, Chef – The Chronicle of Teaching My Kids How to Fuel Their Chocolate Addictions”, what with all the attention we’ve given brownies, bouchons, cakes, meringues, ice creams, cupcakes, sauces, and cookies that feature the freakin’ stuff.
In our never ending quest to discover the ultimate brownie (see Ad Hoc, and Killer KA), and with the help of a tip from one of our readers, Lauren, we’re here today to talk about these most fabulous “Baked” Brownies. Here, “Baked” is not a reference as to how the brownies are cooked, but rather the name of the world renowned bakery in Brooklyn that gave birth to these lovelies. After Lauren had tried the Ad Hoc brownies that we posted, and given them high marks, she asked if I had ever tried the “Baked” brownies, and was kind enough to forward a link to a story about them.
I don’t have a lot of time today, but did want to wish everyone out there a joyous holiday season! As another year wraps to a close, we at Oui, Chef are grateful for the friends we’ve made here, and look forward to cooking more great food with you in the new year.
This buche de noel is one that Boris and I whipped up over the past few days, and will be enjoyed after our Christmas Eve dinner tonight. It is a combination of a few different recipes we found, inspiring a whole new holiday treat. It has a chocolate genoise cake layer, a filling of white chocolate mousse, and a coffee buttercream frosting….a few meringue mushrooms for decoration and you have a festive dessert worthy of any holiday table. This is not a difficult cake to make, but it does take some time. It would be a great holiday school vacation week project to tackle with your kids…serve it at your New Year’s party and thrill the crowd!
Wishing you all holidays full of love, laughter and lots of DELICIOUS food! Thank you so much for being such an important part of our little blog, we’ll see you next year!
Cheers – Steve and the Mrs., Grid, Boris, Arthas, Peyton and Muppet
No…… your eyes are not deceiving you, the title of this post is “Chocolate Tofu Pudding”.
Yes…..you are visiting “Oui, Chef”, the VERY last place where you would expect to see tofu at all, let alone in a dessert!
For those of you who’s jaws have dropped to the floor, we’ll pause here a moment for you to pull yourself together.
Feeling better now? OK, let’s proceed.
