Blueberries!

Summer means berries.

Burnt's Blueberry Vodka

I have been noticing all the blueberries on sale as well as all the great recipes other blogs have been posting.  I usually make blueberry muffins or cobbler but I wanted to try something different.  I saw Bon Appetit's blog, Infuse Your Booze, and I wanted to make blueberry vodka.  In addition to the blueberry vodka, I also made strawberry vodka, pineapple vodka and watermelon vodka.  You have to try this.  It is so tasty and so much better than those infused vodkas you buy at the store (so long Absolut Acai Berry aka vomit inducer)

Bon Appetit also featured Blueberry and Cream Cookies by Christina Tosi of Momofuku.  The same cookie was also the Cookie of the day on Martha Stewart.  I am obsessed with all things David Chang so I had to make these cookies.  They. Are. Awesome. I love chewy, thin cookies and these are exactly that.  The recipe calls for dried blueberries but you can use fresh. 

Hank wants the cookie

Here is a list of my favorite blueberry recipes:
Infuse Your Booze
Blueberry and Cream Cookies
Thomas Keller's Blueberry Cobbler
Banana Muffins with Blueberries -this recipe doesn't call for blueberries but I add them.

Homemade Dog Biscuits

I have been so bored! This lack of weather in my new home is really driving me bonkers. To pass the time in between dog walks on the golf course and Farmville sessions, I have been experimenting with baking in the high altitude (The town of Mammoth Lakes is at an elevation of 7800). For my first experiment I thought I would make dog biscuits because dogs don't care about texture or whether or not the dough has risen properly.

After some Internet research, I found this great website www.bullwrinkle.com. It has a ton of great dog biscuit recipes as well as information and tips about bulldogs and owning dogs. I made the Everyday Dog biscuit and my dogs LOVE them. These dog biscuits are super easy to make and are made with ingredients that are found in any typical pantry. The high altitude didn't affect the recipe too much (I added a little extra of water) and I omitted the garlic because I read somewhere that garlic may not be so great for dogs digestion. Also since I just moved and didn't have any honey I substituted black strap molasses. I've heard of molasses dog treats so I don't think the molasses substitution affected the outcome too much. Hank and George still gobbled up the treats.


Everyday Dog Biscuit
Originally published at www.bullwrinkle.com

2 tsp. dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 TBSP dry parsley
2 TBSP minced garlic (I omitted the garlic)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 TBSP honey ( I used black strap molasses)
1 egg
5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

In a bowl, dissolve yeast into water. After it foams (about 5 minutes), stir in parsley, garlic (if using), honey, egg and chicken broth. Gradually add flour, stirring to combine until a stiff dough forms. If using a stand mixer, using the dough hook, mix until dough pulls away from the side of the ball, forming a ball on the hook. It should be smooth. If mixing by hand, knead on a floured surface, until smooth. Shape dough into a disk and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.

Using dog bone cutters, make biscuits. Gather scraps, re-roll and cut out more biscuits. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven and turn over. Bake for another 15 minutes. After the biscuits are done baking, transfer all the biscuits to a baking sheet and leave in oven overnight to crisp.

Thumbprint Cookies

My neighbor in Costa Mesa gave me two jars of apricot jam she made from her backyard apricot trees. I am a huge fan of the thumbprint cookies with the jam filled centers so I used her apricot jam for my cookie filling. You must try making these cookies. They are far superior to the store bought kind. I used a great recipe from the December 2007 issue of Gourmet magazine. You can find the recipe here at epicurious.com


Jam Thumbprint Cookies
recipe by Gourmet magazine

2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
your favorite jam

To make cookie dough:
Whisk together flour and salt. Beat butter and sugar in bowl with electric mixer until light colored and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. At low speed, add flour in three batches, mixing until dough forms. Divide dough in half and flatten into a disc and chill until firm, at least an hour.

To assemble and bake cookie:
Roll 1 oz (about 1 TBSP) of dough into a ball, then flatten slightly. Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Continue with the rest of dough. When all the cookies are rolled out, using the end of a wooden spoon, make an indentation in the center of each cookie.

Place your favorite jam in a pastry bag or a plastic bag with one of the corners snipped off. Pipe enough jam to fill the indentation in each cookie, about 1/8 tsp. I like to refrigerate the cookies for at least another 45 minutes after assembling the cookie to prevent overspreading.

After cookies have chilled, bake in 350˚F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies are baked through and the edges are golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked but they can be stored for two days in an air tight container.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My roommate Eddie had a huge garage sale over the weekend so I decided to set up an old fashioned lemonade stand with chocolate chip cookies and fresh lemonade. Unfortunately nobody bought my cookies and Eddie and I drank most of the lemonade because it was so hot! I tried a new recipe for my chocolate chip cookies. I prefer a thin, crispy cookie but instead went with a more traditional recipe. These cookies were soft and chewy. The coffee flavoring complimented the chocolate chips nicely. The recipe I used is the (in)famous Neiman Marcus recipe. Rumor has it the store charged a woman $250 for the recipe and she has been giving it away ever since.

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie
yields about 2 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso-coffee powder

Directions

1.	Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)
2.	Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.
3.	In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.
4.	Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for 1 sheet at a time for about 7 minutes and then rotate and bake another 7 minutes (total 14 minutes). Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie. **Note: the original recipe says to bake the cookie for 20 minutes but my first batch burned. So I tried less time and rotating the sheet pan which came produced a more evenly baked cookie.
Yield:	2 dozen cookies

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