This is good stuff. It’s so easy to make (it’s really just melting, pouring and spreading), but very impressive to look at; if you can actually bring yourself to give any away, your recipients will be sufficiently wowed. Plus now that Christmas is over, I’m guessing that you probably have candy canes lying around (at least the ones hanging on the tree above child-finger height), so why not make some of this divine double-chocolate peppermint bark?

Truth be told, I’m not much of a white chocolate person, seeing as how it’s not actually really chocolate, but it works in this iteration. Next time I make this, though, I think I’m going to reverse the layers, so there are two layers of dark chocolate and one middle layer of white. That’s more my speed. Either way you do it, you’ll end up with chocolatey, creamy, crunchy, minty deliciousness. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Oh, and if you still have left over candy canes, try these. One of my all-time favorites.

We had a lovely Christmas at home and will be doing more of the same for New Year’s with a few friends coming over to ring in 2012. I’m starting to mull over my resolutions for the new year…I like to ruminate over the course of the days leading up to January 1st and try to come up with things I’ll really attempt to do and are also actually worth the effort to attempt to accomplish. I may even write some down this year.

What about you? Any particular resolving going on in your house — besides making this peppermint bark, of course?

Here’s to the end of a wonderful year and the beginning of another new and exciting one. The happiest of happy new years to you and yours. Cheers!

Peppermint Bark

17 oz. white chocolate, such as Callebaut, finely chopped (make sure cocoa butter is listed in the ingredients)
2-3 candy canes or 20-25 peppermint candies, coarsely crushed
7 ounces dark chocolate (I used 70%), finely chopped
6 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Flip a large sheet pan upside down and cover with aluminum foil. Measure out and mark a 9- by 12-inch rectangle on the foil (I used a mechanical pencil keeping the lead inside).

Put the white chocolate in a metal (or other heatproof) bowl, and set it over a saucepan of barely simmering water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.) Melt the chocolate until smooth, stirring occasionally. Remove  from the heat and pour 2/3 cup of the melted chocolate onto the marked rectangle on the foil. Using an icing spatula, spread the chocolate to fill the rectangle. Sprinkle with 1/8-1/4 cup of the crushed peppermints (a little goes a long way, so I used more like 1/8 cup). Chill until set, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the dark chocolate, cream, and peppermint extract in a heavy medium saucepan. Warm over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is just melted and smooth. Cool for about 5 minutes.

Get your cooled baking sheet from the fridge and pour the dark chocolate over the white chocolate, spreading the chocolate to completely cover the white rectangle (make sure your spatula is clean unless you want the marbled look!). Chill until very cold and firm, about 25 minutes.

Rewarm the remaining white chocolate, then pour that over the dark chocolate and spread  to cover completely. Sprinkle more peppermint candy over the top and chill again till firm, about 20 minutes more.

Carefully lift the foil from the baking sheet onto a large cutting board. Trim the uneven edges and eat immediately. Cut the bark crosswise into 2″ strips. Using metal spatula, slip the bark off of the foil and onto the cutting board.  Cut each strip crosswise into 4 sections, and then cut each section diagonally into 2 triangles. Or just cut it however you like.

Put in an airtight container with sheets of wax paper between the layers o prevent them from sticking to each other. Store in the refrigerator (preferably in the back where your husband won’t find it).

Nevertheless, I will carry on with my sporadic posting as that’s about all I can handle right now. Hopefully, I haven’t lost you, my faithful (and for the most part, completely silent) readers. All seven of you.

And now, it’s Christmastime in the city (sing it with me!) and man, do I love it. The city is lit up and bustling, the holiday cheer is spreading and most importantly, I’m on vacation! OK, only two days, but I’ll take ‘em. I get to read, watch this, pick up some last-minute gifts and most importantly, hang with my little man and do some cooking!

We had a little holiday open house last weekend, which was super-fun, but I was a total slacker in the cooking department — thankfully, my mom (and others) came to the rescue with three different kinds of Christmas cookies, including these and a few others which I suppose I now need to post about…especially her pecan balls, which went so fast that I never even got to try one. Humph. I did manage to make an amazing peppermint bark*, which I promptly forgot to serve. Oops. Our last few stragglers were the lucky recipients of little packets of that delicious treat.

We got our beautiful tree a few weeks back and had a great time decorating it with the G-man hanging everything at the same height and my mom directing the placement of the lights with the precision of MacArthur and the cinematic eye of Cecil B. de Mille. It smells great and nothing makes me happier than to come home and see it all lit up, waiting expectantly for all the presents to be nestled underneath (and for me to wrap said mountain of presents currently lurking in the closet).

What are you doing for the holidays…visiting family? Staying home? Snuggling up by a roaring fire? Or (like my amigos down in BsAs) going for a swim? Whatever you do or however you celebrate the season, hold your loved ones tight and be happy. Merry Merry everyone.

* Coming in the next post, which I promise won’t be a month from now…

This is a cookie that I’ve been meaning to make forever and a day. Before we moved to Buenos Aires, we lived in the East Village and before it got all cool and fancy, Momofuku Ssäm Bar was our go-to take spot for Korean burritos. You see, it actually was a Ssäm Bar, as in a place where you could just wander in and order a Korean version of a burrito, but like, a ridiculous one with marinated tofu or Berkshire pork, edamame, kimchi…insanely good. And then, poof! It became the hottest restaurant in town and buh-bye burritos.

But I tried not to hold a grudge because next door to Ssäm Bar was Milk Bar, where take-out of the dessert variety was (and is) still in full swing. Crazy soft-serve ice cream with flavors like cereal milk and olive oil, crack pie (use your imagination) and the infamous star of this post.

The compost cookie is, as the name suggests, a cookie with all kinds of crazy stuff in it (in fact, the original has coffee grounds). What’s great is that it’s up to you to decide what goes in. But let me give you a tip: you need something salty. It can be potato chips, it can be pretzels (both are divine), but you need that saltiness to counterbalance the sweetness of the cookie itself and the other required stuff, like namely, chocolate. It is kind of a revelation as cookies go. It’s chewy, it’s crunchy, it’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s all things that are good and right in this world.

And it’s always nice to have a helper bring along his tools for smashing stuff up.

But I still have yet to make my dream version. I really must do one with the dark chocolate-covered pretzels from Trader Joe’s. Maybe throw in some corn flakes and, of course, bitter chocolate chunks. Am I nutty for thinking about dark chocolate-covered espresso beans? Oh, I’m onto something. This is fun. What would you add?

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookies

recipe by Christina Tosi

1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks or chips
1 1/2 cups savory/salty snacks, crushed (chips, pretzels, chocolate-covered pretzels, corn flakes)

Cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for two to three minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Mix in eggs and vanilla. This part is important. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 10 minutes. Yeah, it’s a long time. But it helps the sugar to dissolve and it makes the mixture super-light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just incorporated.

Stir in chocolate chips, then add the snacks. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop portions onto a Silpat- or parchment-lined cookie sheet, Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a week (as if). Preheat the oven to 400ºF/204ºC shortly before the hour is up. Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes. They’re done when the edges are brown and the top is just starting to brown.

Between finding a couple babysitters for those post-preschool/pre-end of workday hours to attempting to fit all the household/life things that I did before I was out of the house for 9 hours a day to you know, actually using my brain, I’ve been a little busy. Sorry. Really, I am. Plus, I *had* to read the most amazing book for book club (and I’ll tell you one thing I don’t like about Kindles. You don’t realize the book you think you’re breezing through is 784 freaking pages until you’ve been reading for days and days and are still only 33% of the way through said book.). Don’t sweat the 784 pages. Now you know it’s long. Doesn’t matter. Just go read this book. It’s heartbreaking, beautifully written, inspiring and poignant beyond belief.

I’m digressing. Sorry. It’s been a couple weeks; I’m out of blogging practice.

Now that I’ve got a week and half of this “career” thing under my belt, I forsee a return to a semi-normal posting schedule (okay, maybe a little less). But I’m here. Still cooking stuff. Just doing it after we’ve eaten dinner, trying to keep ahead of the next dinner. And the next. And…yeah, you get the idea.

Compost cookie recipe coming later this week! Promise.

Once you have a kid, Halloween goes on for like a week. There are school parties, mommy group parties, and that’s just the warm-up for actual Halloween night. It’s amazing I haven’t overdose on Kit Kats by now (is that even possible?). This year was fun because we had several costume options, so it became just one big dress-up party weekend.

G loves his fireman costume (and I, for one, am partial to fireman), so he sported that this weekend, while I busted out my infamous Princess Leia costume (which my husband is rather partial to himself — aren’t all guys harboring a Princess Leia crush?). The last time I wore that costume, we did not have a child and went to a party where there was no food, but plenty of grain alcohol “blood” shots. Needless to say, it was a far cry from our mommy group’s party where toddlers were tossing back shots of chocolate milk and OJ. The high point was when several children came up to “Princess Leia” to express their admiration for my work destroying the Death Star. Not bad. NOTE: I went looking for photos that my husband claimed to have taken, but they’re nowhere to be found. Hmmm. Probably for the best.

Stand back, Pooh.

We then mixed it up with a Spidey costume for school, then back to the fireman costume for the actual trick-or-treating. I was a cat, which involved putting the (very itchy) head of a child’s lion costume on (I have a small head) and going crazy with the eyeliner for 2 minutes. Yes, readers, New Yorkers do trick-or-treat. Our neighborhood association organizes a huge multi-building thing, but we usually just trick or treat in our building. It’s actually really fun, and I think G enjoyed giving out the candy almost as much as he did getting it.

What were you for Halloween? What’s your favorite treat? Trick? This was last year’s trick. Not good.

[This is a real conversation between my uncomprehending husband and myself.]

Husband: Don’t you get tired of looking at other people’s living rooms?
Me: No. No I don’t.

And…scene.

Some come in and out of favor, but there are a few blogs that are always spot on with what you’re thinking/dreaming/planning. Just really inspirational, you know? That’s what Chez Larsson is. Benita is not only a working mom with a new house, but she is also a blogger. on. FIRE. This woman is so incredibly creative, handy and organized, I don’t know how she does it all. Truth be told, I sometimes read her blog and feel like a complete mess. But most of the time, she makes me want to organize, purge and make everything white! She’s truly amazing. Check out some of these projects (click on images for the link):

It’s all in the details. I hope you’re inspired (and prepared to lose about half of your weekend reading about all of Benita’s projects). I’m off to go buy some white bins and start sorting!

Have a lovely weekend all.

All photos by Chez Larsson

The first thing I did was dissect that sucker. It was so pristine, I only needed to wipe a few spots of dirt off with a wet paper towel. Gorgeous. Then I cut off all the stems, chopped them up and made a nice mushroom stock. Very quick — put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat. Chop up an onion, a couple carrots and celery (if you have it, I didn’t). Cook that in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms, some fresh or dried thyme, whatever herbs you feel like (sage is good and I tossed in some fennel seeds for fun) and cook that up for a few minutes. Add about 8 cups of water, a pinch of salt, a few peppercorns and a couple bay leaves, bring to a boil and then simmer for a couple hours. Drain well through a sieve, pushing down on the veggies to make sure you get all the liquid out. Discard the cooked veggies (or give them to your dog; he will be one happy hound).

The next thing I made was a quick sauté with butter and shallots with a sprinkle of basil (I would’ve preferred thyme or sage, but didn’t have any fresh). Served on homemade honey wheat bread toasted and rubbed with olive oil and garlic, it was a perfect appetizer for our lazy breakfast-for-dinner supper. So so good and the simple preparation really enhanced the gorgeous, earthy flavor of the mushroom.

The next night I finally did what I’d been planning since I procured that delicious specimen. Mushroom risotto. First off, mushrooms in anything are fantastic. Second, butter helps — always. Add creamy, velvety risotto to the mix, along with a generous helping of tangy Parmesan stirred in at the end, and I’m pretty much done and dusted. And very very happy. Contrary to what you might think, risotto is not hard to make, but it does take some time and preparation. This is a dish that shouldn’t (can’t, really) be rushed, but rather approached as a happy little journey in the kitchen. Put on some music (this is always a favorite), pour yourself some white wine (you’ll have to open a bottle anyway for the recipe) and ladle and stir, and ladle and stir, and prepare yourself for something really spectacularly good.

NOTES:
Don’t be too concerned about heading out into the woods to forage your mushrooms — Whole Foods or your local farmers market will do very nicely for you with their selection. Or if you’re in NYC, head over to the New Amsterdam Market on Sunday by the South Street Seaport and get someone to do the foraging for you. Shitake, cremini, porcinis, even portabello will all taste delish. Just don’t get those white button ones (or eek! Remember canned mushrooms? Can you even get those anymore? The horror. The horror.). Here’s some info if you do want to try your hand at foraging for these beauties!

I used my fresh mushroom stock (along with some supplemental mushroom stock from the store), but you can also use an ounce of dried morels or porcinis soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes to make about 2 cups of the cooking liquid. It brings a really nice mushroom flavor to the dish, but it’s not absolutely essential. If you do go this route, make sure to strain the liquid very well (through a coffee filter or paper towel), so you don’t get any gritty stuff in your risotto.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

6 cups mushroom stock, preferably homemade
4 tablespoons/1/2 stick butter
2 shallots, minced
3 cups (or about 2/3 pound) fresh Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or sage, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Herb garnish (optional; fried sage leaves would also be really nice)

Clean your mushrooms gently and discard any stems (or make your own stock). I chopped my mushroom into approximately 1/2″ sized chunks.

In a small saucepan, heat the mushroom stock and bring to a simmer.

In a heavy-bottomed pot dutch-oven over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté shallots for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and herbs and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with butter. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes.

Add 2 full ladles of the mushroom stock to the pan along with the salt and pepper. Stir and simmer over low heat until the stock is almost absorbed (about 5 minutes). Continue to add the stock mixture, 2 ladles at a time, stirring every few minutes. Each time, cook until there’s a bit of liquid left (but not completely absorbed into the rice), then add more of the stock mixture. Keep going until you use up all your stock or until the rice is cooked (I like it al dente). It’s okay if there’s a bit of liquid still not absorbed. Take off the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Serve hot in shallow bowls with extra cheese.

And wait til you see what I did with them. It involves butter. Oh yes it does. And there’s still a bit left, which I may just have to sauté up and make a nice omelet. Is it lunchtime yet?

Aunt Hazel was a lean, mean baking machine. The woman had a serious thing for butter. According to family lore, she died of cirrhosis of the liver without having had a drop of alcohol in her life. We’ve always given my mother a hard time about this claim (“Come on, you know she was swigging from the vanilla extract, Mom!”), but it turns out that it may have been the case after all (nothing like Wikipedia to make you feel really guilty about teenage finger-pointing).

However she passed into the next realm, she left behind a damn good brownie recipe. It’s gooey, and, yes, it is indeed buttery. It has such a small amount of flour as to resemble a flourless chocolate cake in a way, which is a very nice thing to resemble.

However, over the years, I’ve started thinking it could be just a tad chocolatey-er, so I added another ounce of chocolate to the original recipe. A few times, I’ve used cake flour (on the suggestion of Erica Bruce’s recipe in Cooks Illustrated), which actually gives the brownies a nice consistency, but it’s not necessary. I’ve even used cocoa powder* when I was desperate (desperate for instant brownie gratification, that is), and it worked quite well, although it didn’t have the same gooeyness. But one addition that I’m definitely adding to the permanent update is a healthy pinch of Maldon sea salt sprinkled over the top before popping the pan into the oven. I think it adds a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the brownie.

Whatever minor changes have been made, this is still Aunt Hazel’s brownie recipe at its core. And Aunt Hazel, wherever you are, please accept my sincere apologies (and those of my siblings who were complicit in this) for calling you a lush all these years.

Aunt Hazel’s Brownies

1/2 cup butter, cut into tablespoons
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, cut into small pieces
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
A generous 1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Pinch of Maldon sea salt or some other flaky salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 325ºF/163ºC. Line an 8″x 8″ inch baking dish with parchment paper, making sure one layer has an overhang of a couple inches (this overhang will become the handles you use to lift the brownies out of the pan).

Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof dish on top of a simmering pan of water. Stir regularly until everything is melted. Add the sugar and continue to simmer to dissolve the sugar a bit. Take the pan off the heat and let cool until warm. Stir in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour and salt and stir until batter is glossy. Stir in the nuts and pour into pan. Sprinkle top with Maldon sea salt.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. The brownies are done when a toothpick comes out crumbly (not wet — underdone and not completely clean — overdone). Let cool at room temperature (or you can put the pan in the refrigerator or freezer if you’re really impatient). Lift out by the parchment paper and cut into squares.

* 3/4 cup to substitute; also, FYI, the bottom photo is the version made with cocoa (note the smoother top vs. the crackly one made with solid chocolate).

I just saw this video on Anthology magazine’s blog, and it is so inspiring! Makes me want to throw some paint on all these white walls.