Archive for August, 2008
August 17, 2008 at 4:12 pm · Filed under In the Kitchen and Foodstuff
On July 7th Eric emailed me this blog post detailing an experiment in mixing two delicious things: bacon and chocolate chip cookies. In the subject line he asked, “wanna bake some cookies?”. Yes, of course I did. Various summer going-ons delayed our cookie date but yesterday we finally got the chance to try this experiment ourselves.
Muffin was so great at documenting her experience so I’ll try to give the recipe without too many embellishments. We started with your standard chocolate chip cookie dough recipe:
3/4 cup butter (She suggests trying 1 cup because her cookies may have been a bit dry. I only had 3/4 of a cup in the fridge and did find the dough a bit too dry so added a smidgen of vegetable oil.)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (She uses 1/2 tsp as well as 1 tsp of hazelnut extract. I didn’t want to introduce other complicated flavours and only used vanilla.)
2 1/2 cups flour (If you are only using 3/4 cup of butter, I would reduce the flour to maybe 2 cups…?)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (She uses 1 cup of white chocolate and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate but Eric and I both agreed the white chocolate would be a bit too festive.)
2 cups of bacon bits – the real-deal bacon bits, not simulated
We bought two jars of these bacon bits at Stong’s, each having just under 1 cup of bits:
The cookie dough was assembled like any other cookie dough and the bacon bits were mixed in at the end (at the same time as the chocolate chips):
This is the finished dough:
Doesn’t it look wonderful? A taste test left me drunk with cookie anticipation while we rolled the dough into small balls:
Each pan went into the oven at 350 F for 10-11 minutes. In the meantime, we fried the topping bacon. We used a whole package, I don’t know how many pounds it was, but your standard package size of bacon:
Baking cookies in the oven and frying bacon on the stove might not be the most comfortable activity for a hot, humid day in August. Luckily the sun was going down and we were gifted with a beautiful, calm and cooling sunset sky:
While the cookies and bacon cooled a little, we prepared the maple glaze. Muffin was so smart to include the maple glaze. It acts as both a adhesive for the bacon topping and a bridge between salty savory bacon and the sweeter cookie. The glaze was made with:
2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon maple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
some cinnamon
milk to make a thicker glaze (She uses water but I didn’t feel right about that.)
We spread the glaze on each cookie and topped with a piece (or a few) of the fried bacon. The results:
The conclusion: these are some of the most incredible cookies that I have ever eaten. The salty bacon compliments the cookie and chocolate so well. The layers of flavour leave you feeling like you have just eaten a delicious breakfast meal in cookie form. I have never had such satisfaction out of a cookie as I do with these. I can’t imagine anyone who is not a vegetarian not liking these cookies. Make them. Eat them.
August 17, 2008 at 8:20 am · Filed under Creatures
This summer we’ve continuously have had visitors on our kitchen window. Both inside and out. Yesterday it was this guy:
For a sense of his size, he was a bit longer than a wasp.
I don’t know what he is but he didn’t mind his photograph being taken. I spent a substantial amount of time at the sink and he stayed there all afternoon. It wasn’t until later in the evening that he took flight and danced around the ceiling light in the dining room.
The sad thing is that he probably spent all day wanting to get outside. The kitchen window was the closest thing – did he get stuck there? Or was he sleeping? Should I relocate my kitchen friends or are they happy where they are?
August 13, 2008 at 9:35 am · Filed under Experiences
On Sunday I hiked up Alouette Mountain in Golden Ears Provincial Park.
I made the mistake of thinking that since it was sunny and clear in Vancouver, it would be the same 50km away from Vancouver and on a mountain no less. Ha. Luckily I was with some generous people who knew what was going on and had rain jackets to spare.
Actually, it didn’t rain too much. It was never pouring. But at times the path was narrow and low hemlock branches were waiting with lots of water to slap you with. It kind of felt like walking through a car wash.
The bright side (heh heh) of being soaked was that the bugs for which the trail is notorious were not too much of a bother. They only started swarming a few times when we stopped to admire murky ponds and tall tall trees spooky in the fog:
I heard there was an amazing view at the top. We were far from being rewarded with that but the atmosphere had its own sort of beauty:
It felt movie set surreal and cut off from the rest of the world.
August 12, 2008 at 2:32 am · Filed under Thinking
I was just outside to see if I could catch a glimpse of any the Perseids meteors. I didn’t go very far from my home but waited in a spot where a relatively large number of stars were visible in the clear sky. I waited until my neck got sore and my eyes watery, burning, and seeing white dots that are most distracting on this type of occasion. Now that I’m back, I feel directed to mention my lack of food holiday celebrations.
Have you ever made s’mores without the open fire? It’s very posssible, there are instructions on the graham cracker box to do so but…still. Over the weekend both the weather and my schedule were not conducive to a bonfire on the beach or sitting around a coal BBQ. Not to say it wasn’t a highly enjoyable weekend and I didn’t get my BBQ fill.
But roasting marshmallows over the mini Coleman gas BBQ? (Coal BBQs are acceptable as it brings back childhood memories.) The spirit was not there and honestly, my spirit for food in general has been waning with this project. Over the weekend I stopped looking forward to the Raspberry Bombe, Filet Mignon, and Lemon Meringue Pie that were to be celebrated this week. I did make rice pudding on Saturday but couldn’t bring myself to draw the frozen custard. So I’m wrapping the project up, ditching the schedule of occasion and from here on I will celebrate the desserts and food I want to when I want to. Of course if you’re ever in the mood to celebrate a specific food day, I would be an enthusiastic participant :)
August 7, 2008 at 8:52 pm · Filed under Food Holidays, In the Kitchen and Foodstuff
Not much to be said here. Raspberries and cream, whipped cream. The perfect compliment to raspberry tartness.
Raspberries and cream day is like a finishing nod to the raspberry season so it’s a little sad. I’ve eaten pints and pints of berries and cherries in the past few months and will miss them come fall.
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