Life is better with cookies.

I don't know about you, but my life is insane. But it's so much better with cookies. Or, really, any homemade treat, but right now it' I'm competing in The LAMP's Best Desserts benefit tonight. All bakers were asked to make something whose recipe is from media, be it a television show, magazine, newspaper or website. I am bringing my Not Yo Mama's Chocolate Chip Cookies, which are an Alton Brown and Smitten Kitchen inspired creation.

Hosted by the lovely Alejandra Ramos of Always Order Dessert, it looks to be a great evening.

Want to know more? Alejandra says it best:


Hello lovely readers!

Just a reminder today about the Best Desserts charity food blogger bake-off that I'm co-hosting with The LAMP tomorrow night. The event is from 7PM to 9PM at Double Windsor bar in Brooklyn.

Tickets are just $20 (in advance; $25 at the door if you procrastinate) and get you entrance to the event, entry into all the raffles, exclusive drink specials, and--wait for it!--a tasting plate of all the delicious desserts! Check out the list below so you can see for yourself what delicious treats you'll be partaking of.

And for all you Throwdown/Chopped/Top Chef fans out there: this is YOUR chance to play snooty food judge! In addition to the winner selected by the panel of foodie-celeb judges, we are also opening up the vote to all the attendees who will get to taste and vote for their audience favorite.

So come to support The LAMP. Come to cheer on your favorite blogger. Come to eat delicious desserts!

Buy your ticket here (tax deductible and full amount goes to support The LAMP's programs in underserved NY communities).

What: Best Desserts: A Benefit for The LAMP
When: Wednesday, June 9 from 7PM – 9PM
Where: Double Windsor Bar, 210 Prospect Park W. at 16th Street, Brooklyn
Admission: $20 at http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=1837 or $25 at the door (price tax deductible and all proceeds benefit http://thelampnyc.org)

Admission gets you entrance to the event, a tasting plate of all the competing desserts (details below!), exclusive drink specials, automatic entry into the raffles featuring prizes from Flip Video, Whisk, Bowery Kitchen, The Hip Hostess, and many more!

Bloggers (and their competing dishes that you’ll get to taste!!) featured are:
Mocha Brownies by Katy Atlas of Sugarlaws 
Seasonal strawberry cheesecake by Jen Bernstein of Local Appetite NY 
Chocolate chip cookies by Esther Chai of AmbitiousDelicious(ness) 
Salty butterscotch chocolate chip cookies by Emily Hanhan from (non) adventures of an amateur
Salted turtle cashew cupcakes by Anna Markow of Very Small Anna
Asian rice crispy treats by Rachel Mount from Best Part of the Day

Judges are:
Chef James Briscione: 2-time Food Network Chopped! Champion and cookbook author (also major hottie, just sayin’)
Giulia Melucci: Author of I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti
Divya Gugnani: Behind the Burner host & NBC personality

DC Vito, the executive director of The LAMP, and I will be the MCs for the night.

Hope to see you there!

xoxo

I truly hope to see all my dessert loving friends there tonight. I think the format of this event will be a nice change from the typical chaos of other food competitions (which I still love). We will be plating desserts so that each person just has to get one plate with all the competitors on it. Less finagling through lines and more ability for each cook to show their love in each bite.

Yes, I'm corny and sweet. That's why you're reading, right?

Cookie Takedown 2009 Verdict: Madness!

Pure and simply, that is what last night was… Or, more appropriately, that is what this weekend was. 1 small Brooklyn kitchen, 1 woman, 300 cookies.

And the verdict? Well, guess who FINALLY won! I tied for FIRST PLACE for the People’s Choice! Dude… excitement is totally an understatement. I’ll be honest, these food competitions are straight up fun for me. Stressful as all hell at times, but thoroughly enjoyable. Matt Timms’ Takedowns are practically comical because the dude is just that. He’s goofy, funny and he likes having a good time, eating damn good food and embracing the amateurs. (Same for Cathy Erway and the Food Obstructions!)

But, now that I’ve won, well, hah, I get why it’s important and so damn fun to win. I still would have loved to win straight up, no splitting of the money, but, alas, the cookie gods did not allow for such to happen. Still, no shame in $50 and a fancy bottle of rum. (Yay!)

Funniest part about it was that the other winners not only had similar named cookies as mine but I knew one. Lee and I volunteered together at Twestival and he and his buddy were standing in for the cookie maker, their friend and fellow nacho fan. So, he was representing Nacho Mama’s Cookies, cute little nacho-esque butter cookies with orange buttercream. To be honest, I thought they looked more like grilled cheese halves, but still, adorable. Totally melt in your mouth like meringue. A bit of an unexpected win, to me, but I think the room was full of fellow nacho lovers.

And, guess what I just happened to name my cookies? Not Yo Mama’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yeah, how about that. And we were 3 spots away from each other. Our cookies were vastly different, which made life easier. My name came about out of the urge to name it something besides “Salted Brown Butter Pecan Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies” Which is what they were. I stand by my name, because dammit, these are Not Yo Mama’s Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I mean, look at that deliciousness. (Picture thanks to Metromix New York)

I know the only reason you’re here is for the recipe, so here we go.

Part II: The creation - How it all falls into place

So, technically, part ii should be recipe testing. That's probably where I would have realized how to degrease the potstickers OR where i would have realized how quickly the things cool down. But, you know, this is an amateur speaking. For someone that's not working, I surprisingly don't have time to test. Or maybe I'm lazy and just refuse to spend  the money to do so, haha. I mean, who needs to test a recipe, anyway? I've made potstickers before, I've roasted veggies before, I've pureed stuff before.

So in order to stretch a buck, include a Brooklyn product and make a very tasty filling, I created the merguez mix. I was inspired mostly by a random charcuterie blog I found upon Googling, which was quite helpful. So, inspired by Charcuterista and my general knowledge of Moroccan flavors, here's my homemade merguez mix.

Homemade Merguez
1/2 lb merguez sausage - 2 links of tasty stuff
1 lb 'meatball mix' - 1/3 beef, 1/3 pork, 1/3 veal
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoon harissa (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2-1 tablespoon spanish paprika
1 teaspoon ras el hanout (or to taste)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
2-4 turkish dried apricots, fine diced
2 medjool dates, fine diced
1/8 cup dry red wine, chilled

Remove the merguez meat from the sausage casing, and mix with the other meats. Add everything except for the wine and work together thoroughly. You want the fruits, garlic, spices and meats to combine together as best as possible. Add the wine  and finish combining. Let the mix marinate together for 12 hours minimal.
If you worry about erring on the side of too spicy, you can go light on the ras el hanout and harissa. Once the meat has marinated, I recommend taking a bite of the raw meat and cook it. At that point, you can up the spices and heat. I didn't take it light when originally seasoning, because I feel like more flavor is better. I ended up adding more harissa and the tomato paste, so tweak as need be. Don't be afraid!
This merguez is really damn tasty and can be used any way you could imagine!

Warning: this sauce is highly addictive. I recommend making it today, as it could really be used on, well, anything. really freakin tasty. This recipe is giant scale - feel free to scale down to use only like half of a squash.

Butternut Squash Saffron Sauce
1 giant butternut squash and 1/2  of a small squash, peeled and cubed
2 onions, chunked up
a handful of carrots (as much or as little as you want, really) (small cut)
olive oil, salt, pepper, stems of rosemary, thyme
1 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream
pinch of saffron threads

Preheat oven to, um, 400?

Spread the vegetables on one or two cookie sheets and toss with the olive oil salt and pepper. Add the stems of herb and stick in oven. stir every 10-15, cook until fork tender.

Put your tiniest pot on the stovetop on as low as possible. Add 2 tbsp of heavy cream (basically just enough to cover the bottom of the pot). You don't really want to boil/cook the cream, that's not tasty, you just want it to warm up. once warm, take it off the eye and throw the saffron threads in. What I did was let it infuse for 15 minutes or so at room temp in a ramekin and then put it in the fridge.

Once the veggies are done, get out an immersion blender/food processor/blender. Depending on the size and power of your machine, put a little bit of liquid in (additional cream or high quality broth or water) and blend until as smooth as possible.

Push the blended veggies through a fine mesh strainer/sieve. This helps catch the herb stems, any onion skins and any chunks that didn't get pureed. (For me, the carrots weren't as tender as the squash so they had more trouble pureeing in my baby magic bullet.)

Depending on how much liquid you put in the puree, I  highly recommend throwing it back into a low temperature pot on the stove and cooking it lightly for five minutes.

Ok, so here's the thing - I whipped the saffron infused cream with the rest of the heavy cream until soft peaks, just to barely get it whipped up. but, once i added it to the hot squash, it collapsed. but i then used the hand mixer to whip the entire sauce lightly. A cup of cream with the puree makes it quite a loose yet thick sauce. So, really, whipping the cream may not be necessary, but I did it. It took just a minute. Whatever.

The saffron paired with the sweet yet savory butternut squash is so tasty. Seriously. it's tasty on a soft boiled egg. it's tasty as a cream replacement in mashed sweet potatoes. I bet it's tasty with the homemade butternut squash gnocchi sitting in my freezer.

Mo-Rockin Merguez Dumplings

Take 1/2 tsp merguez filling and place it in one wonton wrapper. wet the edges of the wonton with water and fold over to make a triangle. Keep both the wonton wrappers and the made dumplings covered with a damp cloth.

To cook: Heat a pan to medium, and I highly recommend using spray oil OR a pastry brush with veg oil. You do not want a lot of oil! Spray/brush bottom of pan, add a comfortable amount of dumplings to your pan (if it's a large pan, you can probably fit 6-8 easily). Cook for 1-2 minutes without touching, until brown. Turn down to low, add 1/3 cup water or broth and cover with a lid and let steam for 1-2 minutes.

To compose as an appetizer: place dumpling on a tray, squirt a dollop of butternut squash sauce on top of the dumpling, and top with a pinch of grated kohlrabi and apple, and a few toasted pinenuts.

Part I: Ideation - Where the heck does it all come from?

When time comes to serve the food to the crowd of hungry people, it always seems my food is far more complex than I ever expected. As you can see from the name, I had lots of flavors and stuff happening. With it being cold out, my brain gets stuck on roasted vegetables. root vegetables, winter squash, high heat, caramelization and deliciousness. Between last Food Obstructions and this one, I tried that amazing simple recipe that is butternut squash soup. I would have just as happily made butternut squash soup for FOII, but, uh, one of the winners last time had a thai butternut squash soup. So, yeah, I dunno, I knew if I was going to come in with soup, it had to be different...

Ok, so no thai curry, not really feeling indian curry, what's another tasty spicy region of the world? Well, of course there is the Middle East. and then, voila, merguez! Delicious Moroccan lamb sausage! So, yeah, at first, I was thinking of rendering merguez down in small bits to create sort of bacon bit style merguez bits, and adding a fresh little raw topping too, to add to the crunch and help with the richness of the soup. But, my brain can't keep simple enough alone. Soup and a little topping seemed ho-hum still. Brain started tinkering with a crouton, crostini, cigar, something... Something to expand upon the merguez part. Except, well, one of the obstructions this round is no butter. My brain kept focusing on phyllo, but without butter, phyllo is useless. Tinker, tinker, tinker, ooh, what about pie dough? But, that requires lard and rolling and, ugh, No. Oooh, the glory of dumpling wrappers. Maybe butternut squash soup with a merguez dumpling?

Once I finally started playing with the squash, and seeing how rich a simple squash puree is, I thought that if I do a flat, triangular merguez potsticker, it would be a great serving plate for the puree and, again, a fresh topping.

The same time I'm trying to come up with an idea, the obstructions keep my brain bouncing around. the obstructions were:
 1.Must contain an ingredient beginning with the letter “K”
2. Must not contain butter
3. Must contain an ingredient grown or produced in Brooklyn
4. Must contain rosemary
5. Must contain an ingredient with seeds

The "K" ingredient was going to be kohlrabi - because I had it from my CSA sitting in my fridge. An ingredient I've never eaten before but knew it could be roasted and thrown in the soup or eaten fresh. Obviously, the butter played a big part in the carbohydrate choice. The Brooklyn produced food was a bit more difficult for my wallet, but that's the merguez - made at Brooklyn Fare. Delicioso! The rosemary was just a flavor I wasn't going to play up madly, but would include. And the seeds, well duh, squash. That's one thing I enjoy about Food Obstructions - the guidelines are little walls for the atoms of my brain to bounce around in!

Diary of a Food Competition

As not to overwhelm with one gigantic post (where's the fun of that?), I am splitting up the process of ideation and creation for my most recent competition, Food Obstructions II, which was last Sunday.

My final product, which was no winner but it's damn solid eatin', was the "Mo-Rockin Merguez Dumpling", with butternut squash saffron sauce and kohlrabi and apple slaw. what i realized is my technique wasn't strong - the dumplings, which were really pot stickers, got far too greasy while cooking and got far too cold too quickly. Simply not transportable food, ya know?

Crrrazy for Casseroles!

So, I'm sort of back... [My brother] Omar has a computer now, so I'm now bumming off of his computer, which makes for generally shitty times all around, really. But, I have a little quiet time around here and a special request from a cooking competition and Twitter buddy. Another awesome Emily asked me if a recipe of mine was available online. So here I am.

What of casseroles, say you? Well, in mid-October, right before my lovely computer went kaput, I cooked for two different competitions, the Food Obstructions and the Casserole Crazy Party. Both were equally fun and interesting, with different vibes at both. [I do plan on posting my FO creation, but I think one recipe for tonight.] But, they ended up being three days apart from each other! Casseroles are a stretch for me, actually, but I signed up on a whim. So, after I recovered from Food Obstructions, it was time to put on my casserole thinking cap.

Casseroles are a tricky animal... I'm not really a cream of blahblahblah soup person, but I felt like going a bit trashy, unhealthy, and fun are necessary for this kind of shindig. So, my brain came up with this hybrid frito pie-chili cornbread casserole thing. Because it was a cheesy, fun, heart and stomach warming guilty pleasure type of casserole, I deemed it The Full House. Also known as 1990s' cheesiest sitcom.

Worst Timing Ever.

My computer bit the dust on Sunday. And I am le sad. To make it worse, not only am I job-hunting (or failing at doing so), but Omar is too. He left Centro, and went home for a bit last week. He's back here as is my older brother Easa and two cousins, Maher and (another) Isa. Once they leave, today, it's going to be sort of tough. Not only do we need the computer, but I'm not really looking forward to being home with my brother 24/7. While I am keeping busy, and still helping with that small part-time job, still... It's all sort of fail...

Wait, it's October?

Wait, wait, wait, can someone slow down the clock? Seriously, I've been unemployed for three months now (ugh) and the time is flying. This partially comes from all the good and awesome shit I've been doing, but then again, dude, I want a job. I want to be even busier than I am now. The past few weeks has just been insane, with the Soup Kitchen, the Vendys, and then the second half of this week was jam packed. I've been keeping up with Unemployed Brooklyn, and we had another get together on Wednesday in Greenpoint. It was a surprisingly small turnout, but just a nice afternoon with a cheap beer. Briana (UB) is just a sweet girl, so it makes any event worthwhile. Because I'm crazy, I bought a ticket to the Brooklyn Meatup that was happening Wednesday evening. Briana's friend had surprised her with a ticket (after she sort of made fun of the whole thing) so we ended up going down to the Bell House together. We spent most of the time chilling together with her friend; to be honest, there was a ton of people there. Lots of people + me doesn't = lots of success.

But, I did meet a cute guy towards the end of the night (I was lame and went home around 11:30). It happened actually away from the craziness, outside in the hallway by the 'post-it note personals. I was reading some, and another few girls were as well and we were sort of chatting. A guy was standing by the table and joined the convo, and was like "Hah, yeah I put one up. Pretty corny." While it was, I was intrigued, and we started talking. We probably talked for 15-30 minutes (I didn't keep track of time) and at the end, exchanged numbers. I had a total foot-in-mouth, I'm an awkward motherfucker moment at the end, but oh well, I am an awkward motherfucker. It seems pretty obviously platonic (on his end) but dude, I got a number. Now, um, where to go from here?! (Seriously, this chick is clueless.)

Today!

Today was exhausting. In that crazy, invigorating way. I found out when I got to the event that it was outside. Yes, out. Side. In direct sun, for four+ hours. Great for a chilled soup, no?

To cut to the chase, I did not win/place. There were three honorable mentions, 3rd, 2nd, first, and popular vote. And there were 12 competitors total. I definitely made way too much food, spent way too much money, blah blah blah. But, the day just.... well, it sorta rocked. Seriously awesome people competing and tasting, a general vibe of a strong community, love for food, and admiration and respect for each other.

But, as I'm vegging out tonight, supposed to be washing dishes and such, I just wanted to throw up a few memorable quotes/moments from the day.

"Do you do this professionally?" To hear this question not once but at least a few times was sort of surprising. I feel like SUCH an amateur, so that just felt like a huge compliment.

"I've got to tell you, the sandwich is good. But the soup? It kicks ass!" Yes, that soup kicked ass. It really did.

And, a summary of a conversation I had with Matt Timms, who does these awesome food "takedowns" that I've never heard about. And that I will probably start doing. We were talking, and he asked me if anyone helped me, or came with me today. As I started telling him nope, I just sort of leaped in head first, etc, his response was so... positive? So much like "Damn, girl, you rock to do this solo, first time around." He's basically really encouraging, and that's an awesome type of personality to be around.

And that's the thing... Everyone there was encouraging, warm, and it seems like a true community. It wasn't that overbearing welcome, that smothering effect. Just a happy, cool crew of (mostly) Brooklynites and food enthusiasts. Yes, twas a fine day in Greenpoint.

it's 1am

soup is a little over halfway done - berries are pureed, vinegar is added, a bit of watermelon has been added. gotta zest a few lemons and oranges, maybe juice an orange or two, add sugar, and maybe puree some more watermelon. (i need to have at least 150oz, preferably a bit more. right now with the berries, watermelon, vinegar, i'm at about 138oz. but i would rather err on the side of more than enough soup.)

i made a mint simple syrup that i'm gonna mix into yogurt and put just a teensy bit on top of the soup (hopefully) to add some creaminess, body, and another nice flavor to go along with the vinegar and fruit.

all the bacon is baked. i'm worried that it's way too greasy, (basically, i don't have enough cooking vessels to properly lay slices out to drain.) EIGHT packs of bacon.

so i'm gonna finish up the soup tonight, for sure. i'm afraid to put together any sandwiches too soon for grease factor. basically, i need 21 sandwiches - 20 to cut into eights for the general public, and i'd prefer to give the judges fourths. if they get eighths though, not the end of the world.

the other concern, besides finishing, is getting there. because of the sheer amount of food, i have a feeling i'm going to have to call a car. which is the last thing i want to do. blah.

i'm tired, and i feel like i need coffee and a gallon of ice cold water. (which i don't want to drink.) gotta get back to the soup, and hope that all comes together by 12pm tomorrow!

...I think I'm crazy.

I'm not sure what has gotten into me today. Really. But all of a sudden, I just had to, HAD. TO., sign up for this cooking competition: the Souperdouper Soup Kitchen Sandwich Special.

Do I make sandwiches at home often? No, not really at all. Maybe a quesadilla every once in a while. Do I make soups at home? Not in the summer, and in general, it just depends. I read about this a few days ago, and it piqued my interest. But then, today, I was reading about the prizes, and all of a sudden, I had to do it. But it's not even about the prizes. Yes, they kick ass, but it was just this uncontrollable urge.

And then, the brain started churning. Ideas... ideas... Sweet and savory combinations are sort of ruling my palate lately, and the idea of a hot soup now that summer has finally smacked us in the face didn't seem right. I just recently had saba, a sweet, balsamic-y vinegar, and blueberries, and adored it. I also just bought a (ok, inexpensive) bottle of balsamic vinegar. Strawberry balsamic soup? But what to pair it with... I wanted to keep with the sweet and savory theme because I don't think an all-sweet or all-savory sandwich would work with a fairly sweet soup.

And, of course, the same person that introduced me to saba and berries once again popped into my head... The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck.... His choinkwich ice cream sandwich (chocolate cookie, chocolate ice cream, caramelized bacon 'wheel'). What about a bacon and nutella sandwich on sourdough bread?

So... decadent, yes. Yummy? I hope so. Since the competition is Saturday afternoon, I don't have much time to test it. (And don't really want to overly do so.) But, I think the sandwich needs a little something else along with the bacon and nutella to make it perfect... I'm thinking of possibly rubbing the bacon with a little chili powder to give it just a teeny bit of heat. I'll probably bake it, and hopefully get it nice and crispy/chewy. What does the culinary world out there think about just a teensy smear of a mild goat cheese on the sandwich? I think it needs something in there to pick up the flavors, and to go along with the soup. Thin slices of tart apple?

Suggestions and recipes are totally welcome!!!

Now, how to estimate how much food to buy. (Yes, this is silly, since I am unemployed, but I just. Gah. Had to do it.) Basically I need a bite of food for 150 people - 2oz of soup each and somewhere between 1/4-1/8 of a regular size sandwich. Christ. I just realized... That's still about two GALLONS of soup. About 19 sandwiches... Um.... what did I get myself into?!