Thanksgiving Vacation Cookies!

I made 2 kinds of cookies during Thanksgiving vacation this year. The first kind of cookie I made was called "Thumbprint cookies," which I decided to make for my Mom, because they are egg-less. The other kind of cookie I made was based on a recipe I got from one of my graduate school interviewers! They're based on a recipe published by Neiman Marcus, and they are a variation of chocolate chip cookies! It's an urban legend that a woman accidentally paid $250 for the cookie recipe from Neiman Marcus, and after paying such a large sum of money for a cookie recipe, decided to spread the recipe to everyone she knew! I dont know if the story is true, but I do know that my friends and family loved them!

Cookie #1: Thumbprint cookies


¼ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk
¼ cup cornstarch
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
Jam (I used raspberry jam with seeds from Trader Joe's)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cream together butter, sugar and salt. Beat in vanilla, milk and cornstarch. Stir in flour until just combined.
Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in coarse sugar. Place on baking sheet and make a shallow indentation with your thumb. Fill indentation with a bit of lime curd or jam.
Bake tarts for 12-13 minutes, until cookies just start to brown.
Cool on a wire rack.

Note: I also used a tablespoon of apple sauce because the dough felt dry to me

Cookie #2: Neiman Marcus cookies

1 cups butter
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal (Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder)
12 oz. chocolate chips
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 - 4 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1. Cream the butter and both sugars.
2. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts.
3. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 48 cookies.

Thanks for the recipe, April! (This is where I got the recipe- http://community.livejournal.com/cooking/265929.html)

cakelove

I went to Washington DC to visit my friend, Kate, and I visited cakelove bakery while I was there! I have been dying to go there since I first heard about its owner, Warren Brown, and his baking journey. To read the full story, go to http://cakelove.com! So, in honor of the bakery, and because I'm a huge dork, here are some pictures!!!!

I tried a slice of the New German chocolate cake, which was absolutely divine! It's a chocolate cream cake with coconut-vanilla buttercream frosting. Amaaaaazing. I gobbled it up before I had a chance to take a picture of it! Kate had the vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting, and she liked it (pic below!) My friend Nisha tried the chocolate cupcake with amaretto frosting and nuts, which she also liked!


My sister tried the crunchy feet, which was really good too! I think they were lemon flavored, which reminded me of these really tasty lemon cookies my sister and I used to buy in the Italian bakeries in the North End of Boston.

I also tried a few really good restaurants in DC and Baltimore. The first night I was in DC, Kate and I went to Neyla, this really good Lebanese place near Georgetown. The restaurant was really tasty- we got a dish with grape leaves and a lovely salad with bread. The starters were also really good! I would def recommend this place! We also went to a really good Mexican place called Lauriol Plaza in Dupont Circle. I got a really good vegetable fajita, which had plaintains (yum!) and asparagus, which I thought was unusual and fantastic! Nisha and I went to Helmand, an Afghan restaurant in Baltimore, which is actually the "brother" restaurant of the Helmand restaurant in Boston that I love! Apparently, the Helmand restaurants are owned by Hamid Karzai's 2 brothers! We also went to a hookah bar, where the owner proceeded to call me "New York" all night, lol!

PS Thank you Kate and Nisha for taking such good care of me in Washington DC and Baltimore!

PPS My first picture is of the t-shirt that I bought at CakeLove! I am such a groupie!

Mini break

I will be traveling to Washington DC, Baltimore, Cleveland, CT in the next two weeks, so I might not have any new posts until I return to NYC. But I'll be back with my mini-frittata recipe, and restaurant reviews from DC!