Meringue Cookies

Since we are so close, I will tell you that I spent most of Tuesday throwing up. It started mid-jog, thus allowing me to puke all over Cambridge and Boston, and lasted all day and night, thus allowing me to question the meaning of life, the perils of the human body, the coldness of the bathroom floor, and how many times one's entire digestive tract can seize and expel before one simply gives up and dies right there on the spot.

But then Wednesday came, and there were crackers and ginger ale. Limited nausea. A good book. Suddenly it was 4:00 in the afternoon and I hadn't ralphed all day. I didn't even feel like ralphing. In fact, I felt more like making something delicate that my stomach wouldn't repel and that would restore some of my energy--since even rolling over on the couch left me breathless. Plus, there had to be dessert.

Not really knowing the best thing to eat after, ahem, performing a self-cleanse, I followed my dad's advice and decided to "Call it out," as he put it. If I was still sick, there was only one way to find out. I tested the waters with a cup of coffee. No problem. Dessert should be fiiiiiiiine.

But maybe a simple dessert, with limited butter. Maybe one with no butter at all! Yes! And one that only requires me to stand up for about five minutes! Yes! This is it!

Meringue Cookies

makes 7-8 cookies; takes 3 hours total, but only about 5 minutes active time

1 large egg white (preferably room temperature)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

(*optional, 1/2 tsp cornstarch, see note below)

First, preheat oven to 200º.

Now, Step 1: With electric mixer, beat egg white and vanilla on medium-low speed until frothy. Like so:

Step 1: Add cream of tartar, increase speed, and beat until soft peaks form. Like so:

Step 3: Add sugar (and cornstarch, if using) in 3 additions, beating well after each time. Let the mixture go until whites are very stiff and glossy. Like so:

Step 4: Quickly spoon meringue mixture into a ziplock back and snip one corner off. Pipe into whatever shapes you like--I happen to like wide, flat meringues. Alternately, just get a spoon and slop them onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, then turn off the oven and leave the oven door slightly ajar. Allow the meringues to cool completely in the oven (could take 45 minutes or so), so they fully dry out. If you try to cool them too fast, they'll likely crack. Store in an airtight container for a couple days.

*About the cornstarch: some people say cornstarch helps the meringues keep their shape. This is probably true. If you're going for beauty, maybe go with the cornstarch. I didn't feel like fishing out my box and was pretty sure neither David nor I were going to care what these babies looked like, so I skipped it.

the CHOCOLATIEST cookies in existence

These are brownies masquerading in cookie form. They are ri-di-cu-lous (slow, emphatic syllables necessary), but be forewarned: the batter is a little strange. It comes together pretty runny, then must sit for 20 minutes -- during which time its microscopic magical chocolate bits unite into a fudgy mass. It continues to harden as it sits, so go ahead and dole out all the cookies at one time. You can keep the pre-formed cookies in the fridge if you don't want to bake them all, but don't wait to scoop; you'll end up with a rock of dough (which I may or may not have hacked at with a sharp knife, then eaten without baking).

Super Fudge Cookies

adapted from Cook's Illustrated; makes about 10 cookies; takes about 45 minutes

1/2 cup flour

2 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecan pieces (optional)

1. First, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Then, in a small bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave, working in 20 second increments until you can stir it smooth. (Alternately, melt over very low heat on the stovetop.) In a third bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla together.
2. In a medium bowl (yes, a fourth one, sorry), beat butter with sugars until well incorporated and smooth, 30 seconds. Add egg mixture and mix for another 30 seconds. Now the melted chocolate, another 30 seconds. Stir in dry ingredients as well as chips and pecans until incorporated; batter will be thin. Cover with plastic wrap and walk away for 20 minutes.
3. Return to discover your dough has undergone a mysterious yet wonderful transformation. Preheat your oven to 350º and scoop out about 2 Tbsp pieces of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. When oven is ready, bake 11-12 minutes. Cookie should seem under done, but it will continue to cook as it cools. Don't overbake! You want this baby to be gooey!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

What a surprise! I have made dessert! And it combines peanut butter with chocolate! I swear I make other things sometimes. Sometimes.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

makes 6 cookies; takes about 30 minutes with optional chill time; 15 without

1/4 cup flour

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp peanut butter (preferably crunchy; if not, add chopped peanuts)

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Coarse salt (optional)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, soda, powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Stir melted butter with sugar until sugar is nice and wet. Add yolk and vanilla, mix well, then add peanut butter. Mix until smooth. Stir in flour mixture, then chocolate chips (and optional chopped peanuts). Form into 6 balls, place them on a plate and press down to flatten slightly. Sprinkle tops with a little bit of coarse salt. Stash in the freezer for 15 minutes. (Or go ahead and bake if you must, you impatient fool.)
3. Preheat oven to 350º. Bake for 10 minutes and remove to cool slightly before enjoying.

What's up with the salt? Well, I'll tell you. Do you know why you love chocolate chip cookies so much? It's because the dough is nice and salty while the chips are nice and sweet. Your mouth really loves the play of those two tastes together. So up the ante a little by sprinkling coarse sea or kosher salt on top of your cookies right before baking. If you're skeptical, just sprinkle one or two and do a taste test with the non-salted ones. Betcha you'll be doing it a lot more from now on.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I am physically unable to skip dessert after almost every meal (with breakfast being the occasional exception), sometimes I find myself trying to sneak some nutrition into my sweets. Does it make a difference? Probably not. No amount of fiber is going to cancel out butter and chocolate. BUT, while we eat these whole wheat cookies, we can glare from beneath our whole grain highbrows, scoffing at the philistines and their refined white flour. Ha! Eat your inferior sweets with their deliciousness and their moisture and their irreplicably delicate textures. We will all live longer and laugh at you after you are dead.

Meanwhile, here's what you should know about baked goods with whole grain flours, as gleaned from a masterpiece of nutritional experimentation, King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking: in many, many cases, whole grain flours can be used in place of white flour in (specially designed) recipes. But the secret to achieving a palatable texture is often to let your dough, or your baked creation, sit at least overnight. This gives the denser flours time to absorb some liquid from the batter and soften up a bit, resulting in a more delicate chewing experience.

All this having been said, this cookie is good, but you can definitely taste the whole wheat. More precisely, I should say, you can feel the whole wheat lingering on your tongue. The ungodly proportion of chocolate chips to dough in this recipe goes a long way toward disguising the texture, but if you're a purist, you may be disappointed.

Let me also say, I was not disappointed. I really liked these cookies and will be making them again. If you make them, be sure to allow a FULL 24-hours' chill time for the dough.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 9 small cookies; adapted from KA's Whole Grain Baking (see above); start to finish 1 day + 20 minutes

3 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/16 tsp (yes, just use half of your 1/8th) baking powder

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp agave nectar or corn syrup

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 beaten egg (eat the rest for breakfast tomorrow)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and then stir in brown sugar. Cook until beginning to bubble (only took about 30 seconds in my microwave--work in small increments). Stash in the freezer 10 minutes to cool to lukewarm.
2. Stir in vanilla, salt, soda, powder, agave/syrup, and vinegar; mix well. Add egg and stir until combined. Next, add flour and chips and mix until nice and blended. Cover and stash in the fridge until tomorrow. Batter will be very runny.
3. On day 2, your batter will have magically become more of a dough. At this point, heat your oven to 375º and drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Because they are whole wheat, the cookies will already be a little dark, so don't rely solely on color for determining doneness; give them a little poke with your finger. They shouldn't be raw but they shouldn't be too firm either. They'll continue to cook a bit out of the oven.

Choco-Peanut Butter S'mores!

Got a few homemade marshmallows leftover? Only a few days before they start tasting like store-bought? Well now is the time to toast them! But you're all Hersheys-and-Honeymaided out. I know, I know. So I got to thinking: instead of smearing chocolate on a cracker, why not start with a chocolate cracker? Kill two birds, eh? Besides, somewhere down the line, my palette stopped craving milk chocolate, preferring instead its darker, sexier cousin.

Let's make a thin, dark chocolate cookie then, shall we? We'll spread just a layer of melted chocolate over it, and maybe a little peanut butter too--for good measure. Our mallows will never know what hit 'em.

Here's what's great about this dough, what's great about any cookie dough, really--SECRET ALERT--anything butter based does beautifully in the fridge and/or freezer. So make this already downsized recipe, roll it up in plastic, throw it in the icebox, and just slice off a little as needed. You can play this game with almost any cookie recipe.

Thin Chocolate Cookies

(c/o Bon Appetit, Dec '07; makes 10-15 super thin cookies; start-to-finish, about 3 hours: must chill!)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/8 tsp each baking powder, soda, and salt

1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

4 Tbsp butter, soft

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp beaten egg (or egg sub)

1/8 tsp vanilla

1. Stir together dry ingredients and set aside. Slowly melt chopped chocolate, either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Go slow and be gentle with the chocolate, it can burn easily.
2. Next, beat butter in a medium bowl until creamy, about a minute. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, 1-2 min more. Add egg and beat again. What next? Vanilla and chocolate (beat). Then dry mix, beat on low--just until combined.
3. Press the dough into a cube as best you can (this makes for good cracker slicing later) and wrap tightly with plastic. You may want to let it sit in the fridge for a bit, then press again into cube shape--it will hold better chilled. Stick it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or the freezer for 1.
4. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350º. You have two options here: either roll thin and cut into squares, or take a big knife and slice off very thin (1/8 inch) cookies. Place them on a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet. Cook about 7-8 minutes.
5. If you want to get fancy, melt a little more dark chocolate with a touch of butter, shortening, or corn syrup in a small bowl. Brush undersides of warm cookies with a thin layer of chocolate and let cool together.

To eat some s'mores:

Get out those marshmallows and toast them up. Slather a layer of peanut butter (preferably natural) on your cooled cookies. Squeeze perfectly browned mallow between.

Thanks to Max for hand modeling!

Double Chocolate Biscotti

Tooth-breakingly dense, mildly sweet, and perfect with coffee, biscotti is yet another Italian innovation that I like to partake of on occasion. I made a full batch of this recipe from a 1994 Gourmet, and it was every bit as good as all 240 reviews (not exaggerating) said it was. BUT, if I were to downsize it, I think it would look a little something like this:

Dark Chocolate Biscotti

(makes 6-7?)

1/2 c flour
1 Tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp butter, soft
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 beaten egg or 2 Tbsp egg sub
1/4 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or almonds are probably best)
3 Tbsp chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, soda and salt. Set aside.


2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy, 2ish minutes. Add egg and fully incorporate. Now add flower slowly, beating to incorporate each time. It will be really thick. Stir in nuts and chips.


3. On a parchment-lined cookie sheet, shape dough into a 6-by-2 inch log and pat down to flatten. Wet hands help with this. Bake for 35 minutes.


4. Take out and immediately but carefully slice into (6ish) 1-inch strips. Turn pieces on their sides and bake for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

Alright, fair warning, these are cookies, but they also taste healthy. So if you are like me and you like to pretend like your desserts sometimes boost your nutritional morality, make these cookies. But don't try to pass them off as "oatmeal chocolate chip" to your friends, neighbors, or children.

Feel free to be creative with the add-ins (i.e. dried cranberries, dark chocolate, and toasted walnuts). I think almost any dried fruit -- chopped appropriately -- would be great in these. Switch out your chocolates, toast up different nuts, whatever you're feeling.

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

(scaled down from BH&G -- makes 6-7 cookies)

1 Tbsp butter, soft

2 Tbsp brown sugar

4 tsp white sugar

pinch each of cinnamon and salt

1/8 tsp soda

1 Tbsp egg substitute

1/4 tsp vanilla

4 Tbsp flour

3 Tbsp rolled oats

1 Tbsp flax seeds

1 Tbsp wheat germ

1/2 oz chopped dark chocolate (or choc chips)

1 Tbsp dried cranberries

1 Tbsp chopped walnuts

1. Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugars, cinnamon, salt, and soda. Beat until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined, then flour. Stir in oats, flax, wheat germ, chocolate, cranberries, and walnuts (dough will be crumbly).
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased or parchment-lined cookies sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. Don't overbake: part of the trick to healthy cookies is supplementing them with that less healthy-tasting gooey cookieness.