Snacko Backo

Oh man, are these good. admittedly, slightly more work than your average- say choc chip cookie- but way worth it. They taste pretty much exactly like brownies. The recipe comes from Sofra bakery- which is an outstanding bakery in Belmont, MA. Guess people also call these chocolate crinkle cookies. I will say too, they are quite pretty and fitting for the holiday season.

Call it laziness or efficiency, but I’m just cutting and pasting the recipe from New England.com

MAURA KILPATRICK’S EARTHQUAKE COOKIES

Total time: 1 hour, plus at least 8 hours chilling time
Hands-on time: 40 minutes

Makes: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or kosher salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 8 ounces extra-bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), melted and cooled [snacko backo- i used bittersweet ghirardelli chips]
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

Method

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Combine the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until light and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl. Lower the speed and add the eggs one at a time, scraping between additions. Still on low speed, add the chocolate. Mix until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla to the mix. Staying on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture in three additions, scraping the bowl between additions.

Transfer the dough, which will resemble very wet batter, to a bowl; cover and refrigerate at least overnight, and up to 1 week.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the confectioners’ sugar and the granulated sugar in separate bowls. [ i feel like i only ended up using like a 1/2 cup of each so maybe start there when pouring in bowls]

Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop or portion scoop and shape the cookies into a ball. Roll each ball into the granulated sugar first and then into the confectioners’ sugar, coating completely.

Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet 1/2-inch apart. Bake until puffed and cracked and just set around the edges, 14 to 16 minutes. The centers will still be soft and appear under-baked. Cool completely on the baking sheet. Serve right away or store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

This has been my go-to brownie recipe for a while now. It comes from the amazing Tartine bakery in SF. Sent to me by the lovely Jess P. The merits of this recipe are many. You’ll notice it uses only brown sugar, has a whole pound of melted chocolate and whipped eggs which give it that light and fluffy texture. Serve them warm and they are gooey and delicious. Move them to the fridge, and they’ll transform into a dense fudgy texture. Either way, these are not your cakey brownies and anyone looking those… well I’ll refrain from throwing insults here…

I like to top these with a sprinkle of fleur de sel (a lovely and light sea salt) before putting in the oven. Or with the giant m&m’s that only come out around easter. Because they are so rich, I often cut them into relatively small pieces but follow your heart. And who says your brownies need to be uniform, I like to vary them in size for those who want a little more or a little less.  I’ll also often bake them a day ahead if brining to a party because time in the fridge makes them easier to cut.

3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I use the ghirardelli 60% choc chips)
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
5 large eggs
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9″x13″ glass baking dish with parchment.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate. If the heat from the butter does not fully melt the chocolate, put the pan back over the heat for 10 seconds and stir until melted. Set aside to cool.

This recipe comes from Copicut Farms, the excellent chicken purveyors at my local farmers market. Not only were these delicious, but dare i say, they were beautiful. they really solved the problem i was having with a run of too pale buffalo wings.  The cooking method and soy/honey combos lends a rich brown coloring. By the way, don’t make a second batch without cleaning the pan, because man i did, and the honey got scorched on to my pan, and i ended up taking off a layer of my cast iron in cleaning.

• 6 chicken drumsticks or 6 full wings (12 wing pieces)
• 1/4 soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• juice and zest for 1/2 lime
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon sriracha (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 green onion, slice thinly for garnish
• toasted sesame seeds for topping (optional)

To make

1. Season chick with salt and pepper to taste. if using wings, cut each into wing piece (see diagram below). Keep drumette and wingette, discard tip.
2. whisk together soy sauce, lime juice, zest, balsamic, honey, sriracha, chili flakes, garlic and ginger, set aside.
3. preheat oven to 400.
4. heat cast iron over med heat and add olive oil. Lightly brown chick on all sides. Spoon half sauce over each piece of chick and use tongs to turn the chick pieces so it absorbs the sauce all over. Allow to cook in skillet for another 2 minutes.
5. Place entire skillet into preheated oven, turning chick regularly with tons and adding another spoonful of the reserved half of the sauce over each piece of chicken. bake uncovered for 20-25 mins until chick is cooking through and skin is caramelized
6. Plate. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, chopped green onions and cilantro.

Oh man, never have i ever cooked a steak to such perfection. This method come from Man Made, a DIY site for men, or as they put it “Creativity and the Handmade Life for the Postmodern Male.” That’s right.  And these guys got steak right. They say this works best for a 1.5/2 inch cut of steak. I used a rib-eye.

1. Salt your steak. Do so liberally. With coarse seat salt (I used a smoked maldon). They recommend do this at least a day ahead, or up to three. I did maybe 15 mins ahead and still worked. About an hour before going to cook, take out steak and let get to room temp. Just before cooking, sprinkle with pepper. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Heat oven-proof skillet (i used cast iron) on stove. Lightly coat pan with a neutral oil (like canola, with high smoke point) and heat until just smoking.
3. Lay meat down. Leave for two to three minutes (i did 3) to get a good sear. (resist temptation to pick it up and look before this). Flip over. Cook another 2 mins. Adding in flavoring. For this I used one smashed clove of garlic and a nice pat, maybe 2 tsp of butter. Butter will melt and brown, baste your steak with this. Can also add spring of rosemary or thyme, or leave out aromatics.
4. Then transfer pan to oven. 5-7 min for rare, 7-10 for medium. I did 7 min and it was perfectly pink.
5. Be sure to let it rest 5-10 min before cutting into it.

Didn’t make tonight, but another snackobacko fave trick is after take out of pan, deglaze with some glugs of leftover red wine. Heat on high, until it reduces and thickens slightly, such that if you graze your pan with a wooden spoon it’s leaves a visible path that holds momentarily. Pour on steak and enjoy.

So every time I want to make choc chip cookies, I debate– should i try a new recipe? Or go with my gold standard- the one on the back of the Ghirardelli choc chip bag? I happen to believe that the recipe that you grew up making– forms the archetype of the cookie you are always chasing after. So even when you spend an obscene amount of effort to craft the Jacque Torres recipe, fiddling with cake flour and scales, as good as that might be- it just doesn’t taste like to cookie in my mind’s eye.

Until these. Posted on Food52 by Phyllis Grant, she says it’s her own adaptation of Toll House recipe. But to me- it is just an ever so slightly improved version of my gold standard Ghirardelli. With slightly more brown to white sugar ratio, a few more chips- and two kinds of them. When I made too, did dough a day ahead of time, and let chill in fridge over night. It’s not necessary, but it actually does make a difference in final product and helps too if wanna make ahead.

Link to her original post  A quick note on plagiarism. It seems to me like a bit needless work to retype recipes already online, so i often don’t post. But if I don’t post, the recipe gets lost in my own mental archive. Better to have them gathered here like an old school recipe box. Plus we all need pointing in the right direction, to sift through the billion recipes ccc recipes out there. Special thanks to Jordan for pointing me to this one.  So, with that said, I am copying and pasting her recipe verbatim with my changes in [ ].

Makes 24 cookies (2 ounces each)