Tag: midwest made
Candy or Cookie? You Be the Judge (Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle)

Candy or Cookie? You Be the Judge (Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle)

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Hello? Why didn’t someone tell me it was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day…a couple of days ago? Yep, I missed it. Well, I almost missed it. As I was doing my late-night perusal of Instagram, what should pop up on my feed? A luscious-looking pic of chocolate chip cookies with the banner shouting out “Happy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!”.

WHAAT?

Damn it. If I had just gone to sleep instead of taking that last look at my feed. So there I was at midnight, guilted into making chocolate chip cookies. I envisioned myself staying up another couple of hours, baking off sheets of cookies one at a time (yes, I can’t bring myself to bake two sheets at once). UGH.

Then I remembered a recipe I had been wanting to try from Shauna Sever’s Midwest Made. Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle. It starts with melted butter, yay, no waiting for butter to come to room temp. The batter can be made in one bowl with a wooden spoon (ok, and a whisk), the finished dough is then spread on a baking sheet and popped in the oven. ONE SHEET, that’s it.

I Am So Making Them

Surprisingly, the recipe calls for granulated sugar and no eggs. I double-checked the recipe, yep, no eggs, and no brown sugar. Hmmm, interesting, I apprehensively plowed on.  It also started with melted butter, yay, no creaming.

I gathered the dry ingredients as the butter cooled and got out my 12×17 sided cookie sheet (classic 1/2 sheet pan).  Added sugar to the cooled melted butter and beat until it formed a loose paste.  Poured in the flour and vanilla, stirred to combine and followed with the toasted nuts (don’t skip toasting, 5-6 minutes in a 350-degree oven) and chocolate.

Not Gonna Lie

The worse part was spreading the dough in the pan.  Don’t do what I did, which was plop all the dough in the center of the sheet pan.  Spread it out a little so it is easier to cover the pan.  You want the dough to be as even and thin as possible.  The dough will be approximately the same thickness as the chips.  I used Guittard’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate (ginormous) chips but almost any chip would work in this cookie, bittersweet, milk chocolate, or a combination.  Likewise, walnuts would work in place of pecans.

The cookie baked in 22 minutes.  Be extra vigilant towards the end as they brown pretty quickly.  The recipe does not have brown sugar and calls for only granulated sugar.  It’s important to bake it to nice toasty brown which results in a crisp, toffee flavored cookie.  It’s addictive.  Crunchy cookie base, oozy chocolate, and toasted nuts.  It straddles the line between cookie and candy, another winner from Shauna Sever.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle

Is it a cookie? Is it a candy? You decide! Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle is delicious.
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
  • 1 cup (170 g) chopped pecans lightly toasted, can sub walnuts
  • 1 cup (170 g) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips 60% cacao

Instructions

  • Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 350°F Have ready a 12 x 17-inch rimmed baking sheet. You do not need to grease or cover with parchment.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and vanilla. Add the sugar and salt and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and appears pastelike. Switch to a wooden spoon or spatula and mix in the flour. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.
  • Press the mixture into the ungreased pan in a thin, even layer (use the chocolate chips as your height barometer—try to get them in as close to a single layer as possible throughout the dough, and you’ll have the right thickness). Alternatively, spread the dough in the pan, scatter chocolate chips and nuts on top and press into dough, leaing someexposed on top.
  • Bake for 23 to 25 minutes (start checking at 20 minutes), or until light golden brown and the edges a bit darker than the center (mine were pretty uniformly brown ), rotate the pan 180 degrees every 7 to 8 minutes during baking. Let cool completely before breaking into irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Midwest Made Banana Bread

Midwest Made Banana Bread

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Yes, I tried yet another banana bread recipe.  Unlike biscuits, I am not in search of the best banana bread in the universe.  I LIKE the recipe I have for banana bread.  AND yet, like Pavlov’s Dogs, I see a banana bread recipe and I get an overwhelming urge to try it.  Go figure.  Such was the case with Shauna Sever’s banana bread recipe from her book Midwest Made.

In my defense, her BB (please, can I just abbreviate for expedience) was getting rave reviews on Food52 and I did have overripe bananas. I have baked a couple of goodies from the book and all were pretty darn good.  Her Donut Loaf was a big hit with family and friends as were the jam bars.  The book is filled with recipes that are familiar, comforting, and delicious. Treats we have all grown up with, brownies, cookie jar gems, cobblers, and pies-desserts with roots in the Heartland. Right now that’s what it is all about…

Comfort in the Time of COVID-19

The book is a gem and perfect for the times.  If you would like a copy, I have links to Indie Bookstores that could really use your patronage.  In Los Angeles please order from Now Serving LA, and in the Bay Area, Books Inc. (Free delivery!).  A little further away, the iconic institution, Powells City of Books is also delivering (free shipping).  I’m not sure if Omnivore Books in the City has it in stock, but they have a fantastic selection of cookbooks, check it out.  They are also taking orders, shipping, or curbside pick-up.

Back to Banana Bread

What sets Midwest Made’s BB is a crunchy, sweet, coat of sugar on the top of the bread.  Novel.  You wet your fingers and rub the sugar around until it gets clumpy and scatter them on the BB batter.  This creates the crunchy top of the bread, genius.

The loaf comes out of the oven picture-perfect.  The bread has a nice texture with the added crunch of sweet topping.  My bottle of rum was missing in action, a victim of Shelter In Place perhaps, too bad,  the Rum might have cut some of the sweetness or made the flavor a little more complex.  Next time I would add Rum or nuts to the recipe to balance the sweetness.

The recipe uses oil as the fat which makes it super easy and quick to throw together.  The dry ingredients are combined and folded into the wet.  Try not to overmix (mantra), the batter will be lumpy and pourable.  This is essentially a one-bowl, one spoon or spatula, recipe.  How easy is that?

Pour the batter into a 9×5 loaf pan and make the sugar topping.

I would add chopped pecans or walnuts to the batter or the sugar topping.  The sugar is the kicker.

I was amazed that the sugar didn’t melt into the batter but remained formed and crunchy.

I liked this recipe and would make it again but does it replace my Best Damn Banana Bread recipe, probably not.

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The Only Banana Bread You’ll Ever Need from Midwest Made

Course quick breads
Cuisine American
Keyword Banana Bread
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups mashed very ripe bananas
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon dark rum optional
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour spooned and leveled
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar for sprinkling
  • 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts chopped

Instructions

  • Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 325-degrees F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper with a couple of inches overhang on 2 opposite sides.
  • In a large bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, eggs, rum (if using) and vanilla.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold until just blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  • Place the granulated sugar in a small bowl. Dampen your fingertips with water and work them into the sugar until it just begins to look like snow-if you pinch some, it should just barely hold together. Sprinkle the dampened sugar over the batter, aiming to get it clumped up together in spots.
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Let cool for twenty minutes in the pan, then use the parchment paper to help lift the loaf out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.