I have two new cookie recipes to share with you; however, they are also in M’s Christmas box and since he hasn’t gotten it yet, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Don’t worry the surprise isn’t spoiled now either, he knows if I send something, I’ll include cookies.

I made these nutty peanut butter cookies along with the oatmeal coconut cookie sandwiches in his first box and while they’re different than what you think of as a peanut butter cookie, they’re soft, chewy and moist with a slight crunch from the chopped nuts.

Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies

adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated cane sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

6 oz unsalted peanuts, chopped

sea salt for sprinkling

Directions

1. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (on your hand mixer or with a whisk), cream together the butter and the sugar until it’s lighter in color and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

2. Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the bowl in between additions and making sure one is fully incorporated before the other.

3. Add the vanilla and the peanut butter.

4. On a piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour and baking soda. Fold the ends up to the middle and use as a funnel to add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture until it’s just combined. Fold in the chopped peanuts.

5. Place your bowl of dough into the refrigerator for about 3 hours. Preheat your oven to 375. If your baking sheets are not non-stick, line them with parchment.

6. When the dough is ready, spoon rounded tablespoons onto your baking sheet. Press down slightly to resemble a coin and sprinkle with sea salt.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway though, or until the edges hold their shape. Cool for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

NOTE: If you use a convection oven, you do not need to rotate the baking sheets as the air is constantly moving; however, you will have to adjust your baking time.

If you know me personally, you know my chocolate chip cookies. They’re like my calling card; however, 6 year ago, M gave chocolate up for lent and hasn’t eaten it since. I know, I know, weird, especially for a choco-holic like me, but it’s expanded my cookie repitoire and creativity and for that I am grateful.

A twist on a traditional oatmeal raisin cookie, these replace raisins with coconut and add rum to the flavorings. With a creamy center of dulce de leche, these sandwiches are stable enough for transportation that when I saw him again (hint hint), these were requested by name. That’s how I know they’re a winner

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies with Dulce de Leche

(makes about 2 dozen sandwiches)

8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup granulated cane sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon rum

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2.5 cups rolled oats

1- 1.5 cups of coconut, depending on how much you like coconut

1 jar of store bought (or 8 oz of homemade) dulce de leche

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, don’t fret! Just use a hand mixer or a whisk and be ready for a nice arm workout

3. When it’s fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Creaming allows the sugar to cut through the butter and create air pockets for the egg to get into to create a stable mixture. These two steps are very important for any cookie recipe.

4. Add the vanilla extract and rum.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and oats together. On the lowest speed of the mixer, add the flour mixture to the butter/egg mixture just until incorporated. Don’t overmix or you will start to activate the gluten from the flour which will produce a tough cookie.

6. Fold in your coconut at the very end before dropping rounded tablespoons of dough onto your cookie sheets about 1-2 inches apart.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and hold they’re shape when touched. The centers may look a little underbaked, but as you cool them on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, they’ll set up enough. Move to a cooling rack to cool completely while baking off the rest of the dough.

8. When the cookies are cooled completely, spread a thin layer of dulce de leche, about 2 teaspoons, on half of the cookies and top with another creating a sandwich.

9. Enjoy up to a week in an airtight container… if they last that long

I really wish I had an excuse, some elaborate story about what’s been going on the past month or so and why my blogging has been so sporadic. But I don’t.

I don’t regret my move up to NYC one bit, but finding a job (and frankly figuring out what would be best for me) has been a lot harder than I imagined. However, I will say that everyday has been filled with experiences, meetings with new people and great contacts that I wouldn’t change for the world. NYC is truly an amazing place like that.

We just moved into our apartment on Wednesday (up until now, I’ve been living in Whit’s studio with her, but now this is OUR place) so it’s been hectic. Adding 4 guests to that unorganized apartment and you have chaos. Oh, and a wall is being put up as you read this and my parents come tomorrow…

I can get anxious when things are disorganized and unplanned so yesterday I decided to get myself some fresh air. It was a gray and rainy day, but still very pleasant walking around and exploring. I ended up in the West Village to go to The Meadow. It’s a new store that just open Wednesday and sells all kinds of single origin salts and chocolate bars. It’s owned by the author of Salted, Mark Bitterman and his wife, Jennifer and feels very warm and homey.

I purchased this…

…and using the salt as inspiration and ingredients I had in the refrigerator (ok, I did stop at Chelsea Market and picked up bacon), dinner was created. Apples, brussel sprouts and bacon are a classic fall combination, but had some orecchiette pasta and some cheese and you have one great meal. random note: I steam and roast a bunch of vegetables on Sunday after going to the market on Saturday which makes quick dinners like this very easy during the week.

It’s warm, comforting and an easy dish to make on a busy night. Even though the finishing salt is optional, truffle salt would be great here too or if you’d like the apple flavor, add a half of an apple, chopped, in with the brussel sprouts to get browned and soft. The cheese and sprouts get into the ears of the pasta so if you’re like me, a big bowl ad a spoon is all you need.

Orecchiette with Brussel Sprouts and Bacon

1/4 sweet onion, sliced

1-2 strips of bacon depending on how meaty you’d like it (I used 1, but you can also omit it)

1 small clove of garlic smashed

1 large leaf of sage

2-3 sprigs of thyme

about 1 cup of steamed brussel sprouts, quartered

splash of white wine if you have some on hand (and you should )

2/3 cup fresh orecchiette

salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons brie

grated parmesan and finishing salt to serve

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water up to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente as directed on the box and drain, leaving some pasta water to the side.

2. In a pan turned to medium low heat, add the onion, butter and bacon and cover with a lid until the butter melts and onion is getting soft.

3. Uncover and add your brussel sprouts, letting them brown, about 5 minutes.

4. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine and add your smashed garlic, sage and thyme. Stir to combine evenly. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add your pasta to the vegetable mixture and toss together, adding spoonfuls of pasta water one at a time to loosen if needed.

6. Right before serving, stir in a little bit of brie and grate fresh parmesan all over. Adjust seasonings if needed.

7. If using, sprinkle some finishing salt. Enjoy!

For those of you who don’t know, this week in Delta Delta Delta’s Fat Talk Free Week. As an alumni member of Tri-Delta and also someone who has spoke, studied and wrote about body image issues in association with the beauty, fashion and food industries, I felt like I needed to share this week with you.

Every day, if you’re a part of the mailing list, you are given a daily challenge so to speak. Tuesday’s really made me think and I felt it was appropriate to this blog and my mission. It said,

Go to breakfast, lunch, dinner or coffee with a friend today. While together, make an effort to tell each other something that you appreciate about the other that has nothing to do with the way you look. Ensure that the time you spend together does not include talking about weight, appearance, your size or the size of others.

Dining out with friends or my family to a great restaurant is one of my favorite things. No, really it is. I love to be seated. I love to talk about the menu and what everyone’s going to order. I love waiting for the food. I love it being presented and of course, I love that first bite.

But all of those loves used to be a nightmare for me because it signaled a lack of control for me. What if had a lot of butter? Maybe too much oil or fat? Would it make me fat? What if I eat too much or at least more than the other person. What would that look like? Pasta, breading, starch, sometimes meat, too much cheese were all enemies. I had to always see the menu ahead of time online to figure out what I’d choose so I had a plan. From there, I could also my meals ahead or after it to compensate eating out that one time.

Are you exhausted thinking about all of that? Because trust me, I was too. Even typing that just now, was exhausting… whew!

I’ve been very lucky for the people in my life who saved me and were with me every step along the way when food was the enemy. I was also lucky to go to two amazing places in Europe, a place where I always feel at peace with food, within the past two years.

A summer in Paris was like my in-patient therapy. I won’t get too detailed about why, but in over that summer, I found my heart. Oh and I ate dessert everyday… along with bread, crepes, chicken and marinated vegetables of all kinds. This past summer, I went to Florence and Lake Como with my family. Remember pasta and pizza being enemies? Well those were obviously in abundance and I never missed a day without one of them.

So why am I telling  you all of this? Well, I challenge you to dine with someone you love whether it’s out or in, a meal you cooked or one you didn’t, with a friend or lover and feel it. Feel the texture. Taste the heat, the spice. Slow down. Take time in between bites. Look at the other person. Talk about your day or what’s on your mind. Tell them you love them. Think to yourself that you love you…

…and just live.

So I had this debate with the boy a few weeks ago. I always have put chocolate chips in my blondies even if it might be in addition to toffee or nuts. He said that blondies don’t have chocolate in them because it doesn’t make them blondies anymore. What do you think?

After making toffee, I immediately broke up a half of the pan and added it to the blondie batter I was making along with a few chocolate chips. About 30 minutes later, the kitchen smelled so much like brown sugar, caramel and chocolate… amazing!

Now baked goods don’t stick around my parent’s house or my apartment for very long. I’d give them a week at the absolute most, but 5 days is usually the limit. Yea, I don’t think these lasted that long. Of course I shared them because I did make a whole 9×13 pan…or at least one or two…

toffee chocolate chip blondies

So when I asked Whitney what I should bake this week, she immediately  said blondies. Because of my love of the previous batch, I got out my candy thermometer and decided I wanted to play around and make a pumpkin spiced toffee. I wish I had a recipe for you, but you see, you can’t make toffee from brown sugar. Or at least I couldn’t. It wouldn’t get past 200 degrees before burning and hard crack stage for sugar is 300 degrees. So that went down the drain…literally.

I still wanted something pumpkin spiced and caramel-like, since I’ve been on a huge caramel and nut kick lately in dessert so I decided to make a few addition to the original blondie recipe which is listed below. My pumpkin version isn’t very pronounced in the pumpkin. It just give a sweetness and flavor that you almost don’t know what it is. The spice though… yum!

Have fun with these. Add whatever moves you, much like the toffee recipe I posted earlier and try not to sit and eat the whole pan.

Blondies

adapted from Williams-Sonoma

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

2 teaspoons orange zest

2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

12 oz of chocolate chips, nuts or candies*

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and set aside.

2. With a stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between each addition.

4. Add the vanilla and zest.

5. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated.

6. Fold in your mix-ins before pouring the batter into the baking pan.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until they’re brown on the edges and starting to pull away from the pan.

*Variations I love right now:

Toffee blondies: 8 oz of your favorite toffee + 4 oz milk or dark chocolate chips

Pumpkin spiced: 1/3 cup pumpkin butter+ 2 additional teaspoons of cinnamon+ 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg+ 6 oz white chocolate chips+ 6 oz dark chocolate chips

pumpkin spiced blondies

We had National Dessert Day on Thursday, but did you know that today is the Sweetest Day? One, I don’t really need a reason to have dessert or sweets, but they do make it fun and two, considering the name of this blog, I thought it to be appropriate

What better way to celebrate, but make a homemade sweet yourself. I recently have been on a caramel and toffee kick. As much as I love plain chocolate, the addition of the crunchy toffee bits or the salty savory of caramel has just made me plain happy. At Sweet! I also tried a turtle from Godiva that was creamy caramel with hazelnuts (or almonds, I’m not sure- whoops!) covered in chocolate. It was divine and may I add that normally I’m against huge chunks of nuts in desserts. I’m a girl. I’m allowed to change my mind, right?

So back to the toffee, I really wanted to bake with it, preferably in blondies, but didn’t have any on hand so I made it myself. I didn’t follow the directions completely (because when do I?), but this was the perfect addition to the blondies I will share with you later.

Savory from the salt, crunchy, creamy from the chocolate with the hints of vanilla and orange…perfect! Plus, with this recipe you can really add anything you’d like to it like dried cranberries, cinnamon and white chocolate for the fall or hazelnuts and chocolate for an Italian version. Like a lot of nuts? Go for it! Make it your own and just have fun. That’s what baking is all about

Chocolate Chip Toffee

adapted from Food and Wine’s Chocolate-Almond Toffee

1 stick of unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon honey

splash of vanilla extract

2 teaspoons of orange zest

1 teaspoon of salt

4 oz of chocolate chopped (I used both dark and milk chocolate)

Directions

1. Cover a baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil. If you want to be extra safe, spray a light coating of non-stick spray or brush vegetable oil on the foil.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed (please, you do NOT want this tipping or being knocked over!) pot.

3. After the butter is melted, add the sugar and water. Stir well and bring to a boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the pot at this point.

4. Continue to cook over medium heat, brushing down the sides with a wet pastry brush if needed. Bring the mixture up to 300 degrees on your candy thermometer. The mixture will be a deep caramel color.

5. Remove from the heat and stir in the orange zest, vanilla extract and salt before pouring it onto your baking pan.

6. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate all over the toffee.

7. Freeze for 10-15 minutes.

8. Peel the toffee off of the foil and break into pieces. Enjoy as is, on ice cream or in your favorite cookies or brownie recipe

I know that some of these “national” holidays can seem a little silly especially since most of them are unknown, but it certainly gives us an excuse to eat dessert today… if you needed one that is.

What about making some toffee…

…for toffee blondies?

What about a seven layer chocolate pound cake?

That’s one of my favorites.

But I’m still and always will be a cookie lover. What is it about freshly baked chocolate chip cookies…

…or peanut butter cookies that make you feel like you’re 5 years old in your mother’s kitchen?

Maybe oatmeal coconut caramel sandwiches can be added too, especially when the boy doesn’t like chocolate. I know I know, where did I pick him up?

However you have just savor it. One bite at a time

(and don’t worry, recipes are coming soon!)

Yes, every once in a while I’ll post about the savory things in life because unfortunately, I can’t live off of just desserts.

This, my friends, is the epitome of savory.

Raviolo al Uovo from Maialino

The bursting richness of the egg yolk surrounded by creamy ricotta, all incased in handmade pasta. Did I mention that it had a light brown butter sauce draped over it before being finished of with a crispy sage leaf?

Amazing.

…and don’t worry, I saved room for dessert

I’ll get to that tomorrow after I stop dreaming about this.

While the panel discussion was insightful and very interesting to me, what I was really looking forward to was Saturday night’s event called Sweet! A dessert event presented by Godiva, hosted by Duff Goldman and Sandra Lee and sponsored by Kahlua and Jacob’s Creek.

Over 60 New York City restaurants, bakeries, wineries and food companies were present that night showcasing their creations, whether it be a signature flavor and dessert or one that was portable for attendees to take home. I must say I did like some of them that were to-go because with so many great things to taste, you could never eat all of what they were serving so there was a lot of waste

Here are just some highlights…

Chef Nancy Olson, Gramercy Tavern, and me

one of my favorites from Park Avenue Autumn

a cake by Ron Ben-Israel

Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes

Jean Georges Restaurant

another one of my favorites from Godiva... a layer of chocolate lava? Yes please.

Thank you to all of the restaurants who participated, the sponsors and the hosts. It was truly an amazing night!

Starting on Thursday, last weekend was the Food Network New York City Food and Wine Festival. From talks, discussions and panels to demonstrations to dinners, there were an array of events that people could participate in depending on your interests and price point.

I was lucky enough to go to two events on Saturday: a panel discussion called Marketing and PR from the Restauranteur’s Point of View and Sweet! A Godiva dessert event hosted by Duff Goldman and Sandra Lee and sponsored by Kahlua and Jacob’s Creek.

If you don’t know, I recently graduated with my Bachelor’s in Public Communication with a minor in Business Administration. Between that and my experience with the restaurant industry and pastry, I would love to work with hospitality marketing so when I saw this panel discussion, I knew I wanted to go.

Rounding out the panel were four restauranteurs who understand how marketing plays a role in their business success and what it takes to reach their customers. They were:

Drew Nieporent of the Myriad Restaurant Group (Corton, Tribeca Grill, Nobu)

Laurence Kretchmer, Bobby Flay’s partner (Mesa Grill, Bar Americain, Bolo Bar, Bobby’s Burger Palace)

Michael Stillman of Fourth Wall Restaurants (Park Avenue Seasons, The Hurricane Club)

Marco Canora, the Executive Chef and co-owner of Hearth and Terrior in New York City

…and moderated by Jennifer Baum, the President of Bullfrog & Baum.

It was truly a wonderful and insightful panel about what things work and what do not in the restaurant industry so let’s talk about a few of these points and how evolving media has changed their campaigns.

The main theme was that hospitality is about touching people and establishing a relationship with the customer- one of trust- that ensures they return in the future, but how do they do that? What makes a successful marketing campaign? Simple ideas that have legs to last beyond a short time, giving the customer ownership and participation, giving education to the customer where they learn about your passion, repetition and affordability.

Leading from affordability, a lot of us have participated in Restaurant Week that happens twice a year (once in the winter around January and once in the summer around July). It started in 1992, but once popular and and highly coveted  restaurants started to participate, this marketing strategy skyrocketed. Now about 200 restaurants around the city participate for lunch for $24.01 and dinner for $35.07.

What makes this campaign successful is that it brings people out during the sleepy time of the industry and allows them to experience something they might not normally which in turn, let’s the restaurant reach a more diverse population. However, others, like Marco, do not participate in Restaurant Week because of the opinions that can be formed on a limited menu and an incomplete experience. To make the menu work and still be worth while for the restaurant, things can compensated like smaller portions or ingredients they usually wouldn’t use. That was really interesting to me because I’ve known diners who have gone to a restaurant for the first time during Restaurant Week and have been disappointed so to make this worthwhile for both, a balance between ingredients, quality and price must be met.

But how do they capture information about their customer and make them want to come back? Have you heard about OpenTable? Well that little website holds a lot of information and not only that, but when (and if) the restaurant uses it to it’s fullest potential you can take note about many things. Trust me, I know. I’ve used it myself. When I worked as a host in a restaurant, we would take note of first time diners to make their experience exceptional, which might not sound earth-shattering, but it makes a difference. To go further and make things more personal, you can see how many times a customer comes and note their birthdays, anniversaries, allergies or preferences in drink and foods. This may sound creepy, but it can help the restaurant serve you the may you’d like and you have come to expect from well known places.

What about TV appearances or Twitter? Do they help or hurt the restaurant? With Bobby Flay’s partner in attendance, TV was obviously going to be brought up along with Marco’s participation in The Next Iron Chef, but with Gordon Ramsey declining, is TV a good thing? They agreed that the reach you can have through television appearances is so large that the risk is worth it, but you must be aware of the message and the character you’d like to portray. Like with any marketing outreach, you have to ask yourself if it goes back to your goal and what you’d like to do for the restaurant since it only helps to a certain point. We’re so saturated with media now that you don’t want it to work against you.

Twitter is also generational and the restaurant needs to see if their main target audience works within Twitter. For example, many of them said that when OpenTable started, they were skeptical. Why would someone want to make a reservation online? Why not just call? Now, many do it everyday and Twitter needs to also work like that. Use it, but use it effectively for YOUR goal. It’s not one size fits all. However, as Kretchmer said, it’s interesting to use it and see what your customers are unaware of.

Like any marketing plan or any industry, restauranteurs need to decide which outlets work with their message, their purpose, and the goal of the establishment, but they are willing to adapt as long as it makes them relate to their customer more. If not, the hospitiality is lost and what good is that in the hospitiality industry?

Thank you to all the panelists!

And if that doesn’t sounds interesting enough, just wait until you see the pictures from Sweet! Basically my heaven in 2 amazing hours…