Apple, Bacon, and Brie Galette

Apple, Bacon, and Brie Galette

April 1, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

 

Someone once told me that if you don’t like the weather in Michigan wait five minutes. Oh how true that has turned out to be. Last week I was in shorts, tank top, and flip-flops basking in 87-degree weather and this week I’m in a puffer coat and a scarf. Luckily, I follow the weather/news as if I were getting paid to and was sufficiently warned to bring my precious basil plant indoors, saving it from the frost, for now anyways.  Of course, I took the flannel sheets off my bed over the weekend because I was sweating like a freshman on the first day of high school.  I am fully regretting that choice seeing as last night I think we hit a low of 17 degrees with wind chill. One last strike of irony I got a pedicure on Saturday in the event I should be wearing sandals as I had been for the proceeding week. Ha! Thankfully, I was in the right mind not to jump the gun and unpack my summer tote of clothing and pack up all the winter clothes. I am looking forward to the day when the puffer can safely live in the hall closet and the scarves can be cleaned, folded, and put away until next year, which in this state probably means September but you know what I mean.

 

Michigan produces about 8% of the apples in the United States. A drop in a bucket compared to Washington (58%) but substantial nonetheless. Apple growers are having quite a fit, as all of the orchards started budding last week with our incredibly warm temperatures. This is a major problem because once an apple tree begins to blossom there is no turning back and furthermore frost kills apple blossoms. History has shown that with every full moon until June there is an accompanying frost or freeze. Guess how many full moons there are until June? Two. This means many apple farmers could lose up to three quarters of their entire crop.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed our orchards aren’t completely ruined I’m sending good vibes by creating an apple, bacon, and brie galette! If you’ve been on the site more than once you probably figured out by now that I freaking love the sweet and salty combination. The galette is incredibly easy to whip up and is decadent and rich. It’s perfect for an appetizer to share or a love thy self kind of night. By the way the love thy self rules state that there are no calories in anything consumed on such an evening and that you are fantastic in which case it is perfectly okay to consume an apple, bacon, and brie galette in entirety.

Apple, Bacon, Brie Galette

 

|Gather

1 puff pastry sheet

1 large apple thinly sliced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 pinch cinnamon

1 pinch nutmeg

1 pinch salt

1/3 c brown sugar

1/3 c water

½ small wheel of brie thinly sliced

2 slices of bacon, fried and roughly chopped

 

|Create

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large skillet heat sugar, water, lemon juice, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon, once bubbling add thinly sliced apples. Cover and cook at simmer until apples are soft and sauce is mostly reduced. Place puff pastry on baking sheet and spread the first bacon slice and layer with brie and apples then sprinkle final bacon pieces. Fold puff pastry in a circular shape over mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake until puff pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 20 minutes.

 

|Enjoy

Best enjoyed warm.

 

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In N Out vs. Five Guys: A Sensory Evaluation of Two Primo Burger Joints

In N Out vs. Five Guys: A Sensory Evaluation of Two Primo Burger Joints

March 9, 2012 by · 1 Comment

In N Out vs. Five Guys

Disclosure: Crummy iPhone pictures are stand ins for the I-wish-I-brought-my-DSLR-with-me but what are you gonna do? Deal with it. Also, I have a feeling you might want a burger after you read this so be prepared.

 

Typically I maintain a healthy diet. But every now and again the fat kid in me needs a little junk food. You know what I mean right? I’m sure there is a little fast food that hits that junk food craving spot for you.

 

In N Out Burger in CA is so bomb. I would like some right now. In the Midwest people claim that Five Guys is awesome and comparable or better then In N Out Burger. So of course I had to taste for myself. A true scientist would say the sensory evaluation could not be properly carried out because I don’t have an In N Out Burger to directly compare to my Five Guys burger. Thankfully, I’ve eaten many In N Out Burgers and have a good idea of the taste, texture, and amazing-ness of the burger. But to maintain a highly rigorous sensory testing atmosphere I have decided to compare a 1 burger patty cheeseburger which is what I would order at In N Out and regular French fries.

I am just gonna break it down:

Five Guys Cheeseburger:

Pro:

  • Larger patty
  • Sandwich with toppings much larger volume
  • Add-on’s are all free
  • Peanuts available for consumption while waiting in line
  • Thicker cut french fries with more skin left on, homestyle ( a pro in some books not mine, but some)

Con:

  • Super greasy French fries
  • French fry portion too large for one person (small serves 1-2)
  • Burger patty dry
  • Grilled onions- not so grilled
  • No special sauce
  • Cheese not completely melted
  • Burger toppings flavor-less (lettuce, tomato, etc)
  • Served in a greasy paper bag even when dinning in
  • Cheeseburger has 840 Calories and 55g of fat

In N out Cheeseburger:

Pro:

  • Moist patty
  • Fresher toppings (tomatoe, lettuce, etc.)
  • Special Sauce
  • Fresh French fries, thin cut. Processed in front of you.
  • Real grilled onions
  • Cheeseburger has 480 Calories and 27g of fat.
  • You can add “animal style” to any order

Con:

  • Limited menu selection
  • Thinner patty
  • Few locations outside of California

The following conclusion may be drawn from the above information: In N Out stomps on Five Guys. Period. End of story. I think what happened here is five guys, literally five dudes, traveled to California had In N Out and were like wow this is bomb lets start a restaurant like this. Oaky, that’s not really what happened, but it sounds better then some family had five kids and started a restaurant.  That being said I did eat my entire burger although as aforementioned it was hella dry. If you’re going to make a larger patty it’s crucial that it’s moist and juicy and finger licking good. Not the case. However, the fries were another story, I was fully disgusted in the grease bath that was the French fries. One of a couple of things can happen to create disgustingly greasy French fries; I suspect that the oil was not hot enough when the potatoes were fried thus resulting in extra oil logged fries as they soak up large amounts of oil when the oil is not properly heated to the correct temperature.

(even this crummy photo can show the grease soaked fires)

The calorie and grams of fat difference between the two burgers is substantial Five Guys coming in at almost double the calories of its In N Out counter part, totally not worth it in my opinion. All in all my experience at Five Guys would deter me from a return trip to the restaurant, in other words I’ll wait till I visit California again for a nice fresh In N Out burger!

 

Discolusre: The opinions of this article are my opinions, I was not paid or offered any compensation in the reviewing of these restaurants.

 

The In N Out and Five Guys logos are registered trademarks of the respective restaurants and have been used from their respective corporate websites.

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Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

March 7, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

 

Love bugs!!!! Howdy, hola, ciao! I promise I haven’t forgotten about you. I have so much to share. The move went fantastic but as you can imagine it was quite a task unpacking and getting organized. But now that’s all behind us and we can move on to the more important things like cupcakes filled with two types of booze and hearing about life in West Michigan.

 

I know you’d rather cut to the booze filled cupcakes and if you were here I’d give you one to get you to your happy warm place so you shut up and listen to me tell the stories I wanna tell. Unfortunately, you’ll just have to stick with me to get to good stuff.

 

If you visit my site regularly you’ll see that the “hire me” tab is now gone. (for those of you who aren’t familiar it was a shameless pitch to find a job, resume included) anyways…. I have begun my new job working as a product developer for a dope company. I work primarily on the meals platform, such a great fit considering my love for all things cooking!

 

Let’s talk about the working world for a minute. Uhm I freaking love my anti-student budget ie. I can grab drinks on nights when they aren’t having two for one deals, haha I am not really that cheap. Oh wait yes I WAS (see that past tense, oh yeah baby). College is expensive and I am definitely not missing that part!  Afternoon naps and I have had a rather rough breakup it was messy, I was mostly mad, aggravated, and dead tired when dinnertime rolled around. We still see each other on the weekends and I cherish that special afternoon hour of pure napping bliss. But it’s just not the same.

 

This past weekend, Saturday was my dear friend Kelly’s Birthday so naturally I felt it was the perfect time to get back in my old sheriff saddle. I made one of my favorite cupcakes Guinness Gasm from SF Food Wars. It’s freaking bomb. It’s an Irish car bomb in a cupcake in your mouth. A Guinness chocolate cake stuffed with chocolate ganache, topped with bailey’s buttercream frosting. Perfect for celebrating St. Patty’s day!!

Original Recipe from SF Food Wars the following modifications have been made:

ganache drizzle over frosting for extra sugary rush just the way I know you like it and because its so good so why not? I also used ¾ of the fat and “light” sour cream. Cooking time was slightly modified as I did not create the mini version I made the real deal party in your mouth sized one.

 

Warning: this is a cupcake labor of love. Many steps but well worth it, consequently its not going to be done in 60 minutes. I plan the whole day and do a little every couple of hours so I can catch up on dishes. Although the recipe only requires 1 cup of beer, I’m sure you can come up with a creative use for the rest…

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Makes 24 cup cakes or 50 Mini ones

 

|Gather

For the cupcakes:

1 C Guinness

3/4 C unsalted butter

3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

2 C all purpose flour

2 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs (room temp)

2/3 C “light” sour cream

 

For the gancahe:

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

2/3 C heavy cream

2 tbs room temperature, unsalted butter

 

For the frosting:

3 to 4 C confectioners’ sugar

1/2 C room-temperature, unsalted butter

3 to 4 tbs Baileys Irish Cream (depending on how crazy you wanna get)

 

|Create

For cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butter into large chunks In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, bring the butter and Guinness to a simmer. While the butter melts, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. The butter and Guinness should be simmering by now; remove them from the heat, add the cocoa and whisk together until smooth. Allow this mixture to cool for a few minutes. While you wait for the beer butter mixture to cool, mix the eggs and sour cream with an electric beater until smooth. Pour in the butter-Guinness-chocolate mixture, and mix until just combined.
 Pour wet mix into the previously whisked dry ingredients bowl. Stir until just combined. Place paper liners in two cupcake trays. Fill the cups 3/4 full of batter and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan half way through for even baking.
 After the cupcakes have cooled, poke a hole in the middle I used a little plastic spatula but if you have one of those fancy cup cake corers, well then do ya thang!

For the filling:

Put the bittersweet chocolate in a bowl, a medium-sized pan bring the heavy cream to a simmer then pour the cream over the chocolate, add the butter and stir until smooth and combined. Refrigerate, stirring every 10 minutes, until it’s pourable but not too runny. To fill the cupcakes, spoon the ganache into a frosting bag or a plastic ziplock with the one corner cut off. Gently squeeze the ganache into the holes in the cupcakes.
 You should have plenty left over for the drizzle.

 

Now make the frosting:

Put your room temperature butter into a large bowl. With an electric beater, whip the butter until it’s light and fluffy.
 Slowly add 3 cups of the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time. This keeps the frosting from getting grainy. Add 3-4 tablespoons of the Baileys.

 

|Enjoy

Frost cup cakes then drizzle ganache over the top. Eat.

 

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Nutella Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps

Nutella Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps

January 11, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Have you ever had one of those times in your life where you’re neither really here nor there? For example, the summer in between high school and college, your not in high school but you certainly haven’t been through the trials of being a college freshmen yet either. Graduating college but haven’t started a full time job, your done with school but not officially initiated into the working world. I suspect being engaged is somewhat like this as well, your not exactly single but you aren’t married yet either. Did you have one of these moments recently in your life? I’m there, I’m in the college to real world working middle ground. At first it was kinda cool, everyone was going back to school and I was sleeping in, working out when the gym was least crowded, and relishing the no homework side of life.

 

That wore off far too fast. Not to mention I think I have fully credited my sleep debt for the all-nighter’s I pulled throughout my college years. Now I’ve taken to stressing over moving and walking Dakota the dog for 5 miles to enjoy the unbelievable California weather before its gone. Oh, I guess I’ve been packing too.

The holidays may be gone but that doesn’t mean hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps have to go with it. Here is what I’m thinking so you might be on a diet but just swap this drink for dessert and you will be more then satisfied. Its rich and creamy with a zing of peppermint to finish it off. Not to mention non-fat milk is a part of a healthy diet right? And nuetella too? Oh no…not nutella? Hmmm that’s weird, I wonder how that made it on to my food pyramid.

Nutella Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps

Serves 2

 

|Gather

For the Hot Chocolate

1.5 C Low Fat or Non-Fat Milk

1.5 Tablespoon Nutella

1.5 Oz Peppermint Schnapps

 

For the Garnish

1 can Whipped Cream

 

|Create

Heat the milk to steaming either in the microwave or on the stovetop. If using the stove heat milk over medium heat until steaming then whisk in the Nutella. When combined slowly poor in the Peppermint Schnapps and whisk. Pour into mugs and enjoy.

 

|Enjoy

If you’re looking to spruce it up a bit garnish with whipped cream, although the drink is a bit rich to begin with so I’d say try it first before garnishing.

 

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The Sheriff Graduates from Cal Poly

The Sheriff Graduates from Cal Poly

January 10, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Some of my favorite people: Ali, Me, Grace, Amy- post graduation ceremony 

As some of you may know I graduated from Cal Poly last month. It is such a weird feeling to finally be done with school. The reality of the change hasen’t completely sunk in yet. Half of my brain is still expecting to return to San Luis Obispo to begin winter quarter. My experience at Cal Poly was wonderful and although there have been ups and downs I will miss the school, the town, and the lifestyle very much.

 

Graduation weekend was INSANE. I think I slept all of 6 hours for Friday and Saturday combined. That being said, some of my post ceremony pictures show this lack of sleep and maybe a bit of a dazed look. The graduation ceremony was really special and completely surreal. The fall ceremony is much different from the spring one. It’s held in the school gym as opposed to the stadium, its far more personal, and much more intimate graduating a couple colleges at a time.

Each graduates name was called after making the walk across the stage we got to shake the president of the Universities hand and had our picture taken with him. I’d say its pretty cool that your family can actually see your face when your name is called.

 

 

My almost to tears moment came when I was driving on to campus and started to think this was the very last time I was driving on to campus as a student of Cal Poly. It made me so sad to know that when I left I would be an alumni. I know i’m ready to go, Cal Poly has prepared me for this moment but there is just something so assuring and predictable about school, for the most part you know what’s coming next. Consequently for the first time in seventeen years of academic life I did not know what was coming next and it was terrifying.

My brother and I!

 

I’ve been in the job hunt/ search/ grind for months. Between my blog and looking for a job I was working full time! Just before Christmas great, wonderful, give-you-wings-without-the-redbull, news came my way. I was offered a position at one of the largest food corporations in the world. After the happy dance to the song slight work by Wale. I madly began texting and calling my friends. Being mindful of confidentiality I can share that my position is science based and will follow my passion, food. I’m extremely excited about this opportunity. It will push my personal and professional limits, I’m ready for the challenge! My job will take me to Michigan…yes as in the Michigan 2,000+ miles away from my Northern California stomping grounds Michigan. Oh, what a culture shock this is going to be…luckily I’ve got a friend who goes to Michigan State so he is going to try and help me out and has been more then amazing in answering my tireless questions. I mean, hey, I NEED to know if there is going to be Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods (there is not), what type of tires to put on my car, and whether all the girls wear uggs.

 Cameron, Me, and Momma

As I prepare to move across the country sheriffofthekitchen has taken a bit of a backseat. I’ve been ultra bad about posting. I promise it’s temporary and hope that as soon as I get settled in my new place I’ll have plenty of new tasty posts to come.

 

 

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Freaking Awesome French Onion Soup

Freaking Awesome French Onion Soup

January 5, 2012 by · 2 Comments

Question: So why is it when one wants to make soup it’s 70F degrees and sunny out? I mean I’m not complaining or anything but, California you’re really out doing yourself with this too good to be true winter time “weather”.

 

Lately I’ve been swamped with a million and five things to do and my site has unfortunately, taken a backseat. I promise to share the news and cause of my stress soon. Actually, I’ve been stressed over the fact that I haven’t written that post yet. Stress over stress go figure//story of my life.

 

I freaking love French onion soup and never really discovered it until college. I never ate it growing up because one of my family members can’t eat onions. LAME. This stuff is a warm hug in a bowl, like really, what could be better then savory soup with a big cheesey crouton on top.

Do tell. I’ll wait.

Here, I’ll take it one step further, a crock pot French onion soup recipe that cooks all day, and fills your house with an aroma that will take you straight from the front door when you walk in the house after work to the kitchen. Not impressed yet?

Fine, by the way, you’re really hard to please.

RED WINE.

There happy? Yep, I said it. Red wine is the crucial life-changing ingredient to make this soup truly irresistible.

 

My French friend, Xavier (pronounced zaw-vee-yay) confirmed that French onion soup is from France. Some of you may say well duh, its French onion soup. But! There are many dishes that we American’s think are native of a respective country but a trip to that nation would highlight this lack of correct information. For example, chicken Parmesan, is an American created dish…you won’t find it in Italy.

Freaking Awesome French Onion Soup

Serves 6

 

|Gather

For the Soup:

2 Quarts Beef Broth

4 Large White Onions, Sliced

4 Tbsp butter

¾ C Red Wine

2 cloves garlic minced

¼ tsp. thyme

2 bay leaves

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

For the Crouton:

1 Loaf Sourdough or other artisan bread, sliced

8 oz. Gruyere Cheese, Shredded*

 

*Chefs Tip: Do not shred with a microplaner use a cheese grader. The cheese has a high moisture content and the microplane shreds the cheese too fine, a cheese grader works much better.

|Create

For the Soup:

Slice onions and mince garlic and brown in a large frying pan with butter until onions are soft. Add bay leaves and red wine. Bring to a boil and then simmer to reduce the wine. Once the wine has mostly evaporated remove the bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the beef broth into the crock pot and add onions and  thyme. Combine and cook for 6 hours.

For the Crouton:

Preheat broiler, for my oven I did it on the medium setting. Slice bread, then toast it on oven racks for a few minutes to get bread crispy. Shred cheese. Ladle soup into bowls and place toasted bread on top and sprinkle with cheese then place soup bowls on a baking sheet and melt cheese under broiler 2-5 minutes then remove and serve.

 

 

|Enjoy

As with most soup recipes it’s delicious the day it’s made but spectacular the next day. So make enough for leftovers.

 

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A New Year with the Sheriff of the Kitchen

A New Year with the Sheriff of the Kitchen

January 2, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Ready to start 2012 off with a bang! Lots of new things to come and exciting news!

The Sheriff is ready, are you?

I look forward to a wonderful year!

Filed Under: POV Tagged With: ,

Whole Foods Parking Lot

December 26, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Because you need a break from food.

Here is my better late then never Christmas present to you.

A hilarious music video and song.

Watch it.

So true and so funny. It’s getting real in the whole foods parking lot.

 

Be back Wednesday with something tasty!

Filed Under: Cooking, POV Tagged With:
Persimmon Spice Cookies

Persimmon Spice Cookies

December 24, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

As I shared in my last post about my visit to Michigan I have three unique stories that, in my mind, were eye opening.

 

The first story, I was walking out of Panera where I had lunch on Monday just outside of Grand Rapids. Unlike California, every store or restaurant has two sets of doors at the entrance. I was passing through the first set of doors and a couple, a guy and a girl, were passing through the second set. I’m used to getting myself through doors, traffic jams, sticky situations etc. and don’t assume someone is around to lend a helping hand. Translation= I was ready to get myself through the door. The guy goes the hold the door for me (what a gentleman) and it slips out of his hand I catch it since I was ready to deal with the door from the beginning. Immediately he starts gushing apologies and explaining how the door slipped out and he was so sorry. My reply, “no worries dude”.

 

The next incident occurred as I continued my journey to Fremont. I began driving on the freeway in this comical Chevy Cruze I felt like it was a toy car. Since I didn’t really know where I was going, and was on four and a half hours of sleep, I cut some people off on the freeway to make my exit. Here in CA, that would have been a solid five-second-horn minimum perhaps the middle finger or at least a quick check in the rearview mirror would yield the angry driver mouthing not such nice things in my direction. When this happened in Michigan do you know what happened? The driver simply slowed and let me in…no horn, no finger, no screaming.

 

The final story, I drop my car off at the airport rental car garage. It was pretty dark in there and so I was having trouble double-checking that I had all of my stuff. Side note- when I lived in Italy I made it a pass time to shop the outdoor markets for all sorts of amazing winter accessories. I have quite a collection of hats, scarfs, and gloves which in my mind not replaceable considering I live hella far from Italy and I bought them at an outdoor market. Anyways so off I go to the airport and I’m checking in at United and this woman comes running into the terminal and she’s looking all around. She rushes up to me and says, “did you just return a rental car at Avis?” me, “uhm yeah” “I think you left this hat” Indeed, I had left my very favorite black knit hat which I wear regularly in the winter, again, an Italy accessory. If that would have happen here in cali, had I remembered and ran back to Avis the hat would have been gone, even 30 seconds later. I kid you not I would have been very sad to have lost that trusty hat.

 

These situations made me stop to think. People are actually nice in this world. I know it sounds weird but I feel like I spend so much time and energy in a true survival of the faddist here that I never really see human, kindness, or compassion. I mean have you driven on a freeway in LA or taken the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train at rush hour. Point proven. People aren’t nice here and they are looking out for themselves. Growing up in California my whole life I’ve never really noticed it until now. Got me thinking…might be time for a change of scenery.

 

Today, I’ve got some Persimmon Christmas Cookies. These are perfect if you’re feeling sugar, frosting, and candied out. They have got ripe juicy persimmon fruit and raisins, and some wonderful complementing spices.

 

Merry Christmas!

Persimmon Spice Cookies

 

|Gather

For Cookies:

1 C Sugar

½ C Oil

1 C Persimmon pulp

1 Egg beaten

1 tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. Baking soda

2 C flour

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg

1 tbsp vanilla

1 C walnuts

½ C raisins

½ C dates

 

For Glaze:

½ C Powdered sugar

1 tbsp Fresh lemon juice

 

|Create

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Mix sugar and oil. Add persimmon pulp and egg to mixture. Sift together baking powder and baking soda, flour, salt, spices and then add to mix. Add vanilla walnuts, raisins, dates and stir. Drop on cookie sheet and bake approximately 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice together. Drizzle over cookies.

 

|Enjoy

Store cookies in an airtight container in the fridge, they have a fairly high moisture content so refrigeration is a must. Serve at room temperature.

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Peppermint Bark Cookie Bars

Peppermint Bark Cookie Bars

December 23, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Michigan is HELLA cold. For those of you who aren’t from California let me translate, Hell of = Hella. Uhm, can you say culture shock? They say it’s a mild winter because there is no snow on the ground, many locals say it’s the first green Christmas they have had in many years. Hmmm I don’t think I’ve ever had a white Christmas come to think of it.

 

Wanna hear something funny? I brought my sunglasses to Michigan. What was I thinking? Apparently, its silly to assume all states have sunshine in the winter. California reasoning would have that since its not raining or snowing, by default the sun would be out. Wrong. Its gray just gray no blue no sun just gray. Aside from the weather and the temperature, they have a lot of trees here. In my 48 hours in the state these are the only assessments I can make.

Photo: California meets Michigan. Mind you, while I was at lunch wearing this get up, a girl walked by in a skirt no leggings!! And another one in a t-shirt!! In my defense, it was 36F that’s cold in my book, but what I do I know, I’m from California.

 

Christmas baking continues now that feeling has fully returned to all parts of my body. Check out these Peppermint bark cookie bars. They are awesome you know you want some. If you live near me and your reading this, holla and you can come swoop some.

Peppermint Bark Cookie Bars

Makes approximately 36 bars

Adapted from Bon Appetite. I used slightly less butter because I noticed that the chocolate was separating from the cookie bar because of the large amount of fat in the shortbread.

|Gather

  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4/3 Cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup peppermint candie pieces
  • 2 ounces high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina)

|Create

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with long strip of 9-inch-wide parchment paper, leaving overhang on both short sides of pan. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just to blend.
  • Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into prepared baking pan, spacing evenly. Using moistened fingertips, press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan. Pierce dough all over with fork.
  • Bake cookie base until light golden brown and slightly puffed and edges begin to come away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Place pan on rack; immediately sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes. Using small offset spatula, spread bittersweet chocolate over top of cookie in thin even layer. Immediately sprinkle chopped peppermint candies over.
  • Stir white chocolate in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies. Chill until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.
  • Using paper overhang as aid, lift cookie from pan and transfer to work surface. Using large knife, cut cookie into irregular pieces. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in refrigerator in airtight containers between layers of waxed paper or parchment paper.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2009/12/chocolate_peppermint_bark_cookies#ixzz1hOgnblpI

|Enjoy

Serve at room temperature and with a large cup of coffee, or a cold glass of milk and enjoy christmas in your mouth.

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