Triple-Threat Chocolately Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

No that title does not have any extra "Chocolate" in it...they are all in there I promise. I made these yesterday, and man oh man, they are the best thing I have ever baked...warning! you may not be able to stop eating them!

Thick and Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies
(from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 teasoons instant coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 Tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
16 oz semisweet (~60% cacao) melted and cooled
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 baking sheets
3 bowls (2 med, 1 lrg)

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment (or use a silicone liner which I did and it worked fine)

Whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a med bowl.
Whisk the eggs, coffee, and vanilla in another med bowl, until the coffee is disolved.

In the large bowl cream the butter and sugars with a mixer (set on med-ish speed), until light and fluffy (3-6 min).
Beat in the egg mixture, until just combined, about 30 sec.
Beat in the melted cooled chocolate, until just combined, about 30 sec.

With mixer on low speed slowly add the flour mixture, until just combined.
Stir in the chips (I could not get my mixer through the dough much less get any chips into it at this point so I just added them to inidivdual cookie balls later).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cover the bowl of dough and let stand at room temp, for about 30 minutes, until the dough is the consistency of scoopable fudge.

Working with 3 tbls of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls (and squish in the choc chips), lay them on the baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
(The shape doesn't change much during cooking, so I would recommend flattening them just a bit, and you can lay them a bit closer together.)

Bake for 10-15 min (I needed 15) until the edges of the cookies are set (and a cooked crust is formed on top).
(The cookies will not bake through but remain raw inside until cooled.)

Let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes (moving them will be impossible because they are practically liquid inside).
Eat them!

If you want just a few fresh cookies at a time, spread out over a few days, you can freeze the rolled cookie dough balls and bake them frozen whenever you feel a craving (they just need a few extra minutes in the oven). I did this for breakfast this morning and it was delightful!

Actual Best Movies of 2009

Here are MY picks. These were definitely the best 10, but the order of the list is approximate.

10. Avatar - Yeah, it's kind of dumb. But the experience of watching it is amazing. And you don't realize it's dumb until you've seen the first 2 hours and 15 minutes.

9. Up - I was so moved after just 10 minutes of this movie. Admittedly, the rest was uneven, but it was always either loving told, or dopey but with funny talking dogs.

8. An Education - A very smart story, that pits school learning against life experience, without easy answers. Oh, and it turns out it's a true story--including the most implausible parts.

7. A Serious Man - A Coen Brothers movie that doesn't really have any point or ending, but it was very smart and very very funny.

6. District 9 - Realistic and smart Sci-Fi.

5. Precious - Impressively unmanipulative. Superb acting. You start to feel what it's like to be hopelessly uneducated.

4. Inglourious Basterds - Brilliant script. A real nail-biter, though. Has you cheering (uncomfortably) for vengeful Jews to inflict atrocities on the Nazis.

3. Up In The Air - Very smart script. Sort of romantic comedy. But sort of something deeper, in the spirit of American Beauty.

2. Hurt Locker - Masterfully crafted film about bombs defusing in the Iraq War. The script was written by a guy who was embedded with such a bomb defusing squad. The movie was shot just a few miles from the Iraq border, and the film crew was actually shot at during production. The whole thing is super intense, and incredibly real. One of the movies that tells you its message in the first 4 words of the film, and then makes you forget it completely until the last couple minutes.

1. (500) Days Of Summer - A very enjoyable, very funny, very heartbreaking, insightful look at a troubled relationship. I know it doesn't feel like a best picture, but it's definitely my favorite of the year.


Still haven't seen: A Single Man, Crazy Heart, Invictus, Moon, Good Hair.

Best Movies of 2009

It's awards season once again, beginning with the Golden Globes airing this Sunday on NBC. Dave and I will order the traditional extra-large pizza and settle in for glitzy red carpet pre-show so I can pick apart everyone's outfit, followed by hours of manufactured suspense. I can't wait. :)

I haven't seen a lot of the "best" movies out there, and I've got only a couple more days to complete the best picture nom list for the GG, but I feel compelled to publish my own list of the Best Movies of 2009 while the thought is in my head and the time is available.

10. Adventureland - I'm a sucker for angsty coming-of-age stories set in the 80's.

9. The Hangover - Hilarious bachelor party movie where everything goes horribly wrong in the most spectacular possible way.

8. Food Inc. - This movie was pretty much preaching to the choir with me, but I thought it was a very informative, well edited film in that didn't need to resort to extreme measures to make its point.

7. Star Trek - I was really excited to see the Star Trek franchise resurrected, and this prequel didn't disappoint. OK, so some of the time travel stuff was a bit hokey, but remember it's Star Trek! It's not supposed to be brilliant.

6. Precious - I was afraid to go see this movie. Everything I'd heard about it was that it was so heartrendingly awful to watch what happens to the title character that you'd leave the theater a quivering heap. I thought it was an uplifting story, it feels very real, and there's no tear jerking.

5. Up In The Air - Can emotionally unavailable men mature enough to accept sticky entanglements? Apparently they can, but only for unavailable women.

4. A Serious Man - This movie made me laugh out loud. Louder than I have laughed in years. Several times.

3. Hurt Locker - Think you can handle stress? Not in this job! Amazing cinematography in an extremely realistic setting.

2. District 9 - Gritty, original sci-fi morality tale with aliens and spaceships. woo!

1. (500) Days of Summer - Sexy Zooey Deschanel and all-growed-up Joseph Gordon-Levitt captivate in this fascinating anti-love story. I had to see it twice. I can't wait to see it again. The score and sound track are awesome too.

Honorable Mention (in no particular order):

The Informant - Matt Damon in a 'stache...'nough said.

I Love You Man - Very funny Paul Rudd bro-mance. But I love any movie with over-the-top vomit scenes.

Whip It - Ellen Page is just so adorable. She can do no wrong.

Julie & Julia - I'm a big Julia fan and Meryl Streep captured her perfectly.

An Education - Nick Hornby writes an exceptionally seductive screen play. The true story is even creepier. read about it.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - The Harry Potter franchise gets darker and smarter.

Up - Pixar does it again.

Watchmen - Nicely done comic hero flic.

Avatar - OK, it's dumb, but the flying is way cool.

I realize that this list is missing some "important" films that I just didn't get around to seeing, but really want to catch sometime in the not-too-distant future... The Invention of Lying, Moon, Inglorious Basterds, Invictus, The Road, Sherlock Holmes, but this is as good as it gets for now.

Huge Scary Icicles

These formidable stalactites have formed from the mini melts each afternoon.

Shepard's Pie

In winter I'm a big fan of one pot meals, and this one (adapted from a Shape magazine recipe) fits the comfort food craving without being too heavy.

Turkey Shepard's Pie

Serves 4

2 lbs potatoes (3-4 med size), peeled and cut into small pieces
1/4  c low fat sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 c low fat milk
2 scallions, chopped
4 tsp olive oil
small onion, 2 small carrots, and 2 celery stalks, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey breast
1 tsp each, dried thyme and oregano
28-oz can diced or crushed tomotoes, with juices
salt and pepper


1. boil and mash the potatoes with the sour cream and milk, then blend in the scallions. they should be thin enuogh fo spreading over the top of this dish...if not, add more milk. set aside.

2. heat 2 tsp of the olive oil in a large skillet, and saute the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic until tender. remove and set aside.

3. preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

4. heat the reamining olive oil in the skillet and brown the turkey meat. as it cooks add the seasonings.

5. return the veggies to the skillet, and add the tomatoes and bring to simmer. cook until the liquid is nearly evaporated.

6. pour the turkey mixture into a deep 9-inch pie pan or casserole, spread the mashed potatoes on top, and bake until the top is slightly browned and the filling is bubbly, about 12-15 minutes.

Man and and his tower

Slow-cooked BBQ Brisket and friends

Before I get on to topics in the new year, I need to disgorge some old year items that have been waiting around.

Christmas itself was quiet, and we stuck to our go-to-the-movies/eat-Asian-food tradition. We got ourselves a couple of new Wii games (Sports Resort and Super Mario Brothers). Sports is more enjoyable, and my favorite game is Frisbee golf right now. I would like to appreciate table tennis more, but our TV is too small to handle the split screen in 2 player mode.

Being the Golden Globe nomination season, we saw a bunch of movies toward the end of the year. Among them were Precious, Up in the Air, and Avatar 3D. Precious was bleak but uplifting, and had a realness about it that gave it its power, rather than being emotionally manipulative. Up in the Air was a hope tease but had a great script and great acting. Avatar was visually stunning but sort of dumb (what would you expect from James Cameron).

Before leaving for our NYE vacation we got to cat sit a couple of new furry friends for a few days. They are very cute and friendly, but they move much too fast for photos. However we have many photos of our own guys enjoying the holidays here:

For NYE we met up with my parents and Texas relatives for a couple of days in colonial Williamsburg. I LOVED this place as a kid and I was very excited to see it again. Of course everything seemed much smaller this time, and being winter it was pretty cold and the gardens were not pretty. But with the gray skies and fog you felt like you were transported back in time in a Brigadoon kind of way. Plus, this time around I appreciated the history lectures from the tour guides much more. I'm looking for a fun to read American Revolution history book if anyone has recommendations.

(these swords and hundreds more, and LOADS of guns, decorate the walls in the governor's palace-more pics)

After Williamsburg, Dave and I spent the weekend in Charlottesville, trying our best to be tourists in the bitter cold. Dave was very excited about finding items with my name on them everywhere. Fortunately we had a very nice hotel room, because the morning of our departure I became violently ill and we had to stay an extra day.

On that note, here is some excellent food I made earlier last month:

Slow-cooker BBQ Brisket

1 whole brisket, trimmed of fat
1 cup chicken or beef broth
bay leaf

BBQ sauce ingredients:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp dried basil
fresh ground pepper (about 1/4 tsp)
(liquid smoke and cayenne pepper would be nice additions that were not available to me at the time)

1. Brown the meat on all sides.

2. Pour the broth in the cooker and place the bay leaf and brisket in it (you might have to cut your meat in 1/2 if you have a small cooker).

3. Mix the sauce ingredients and pour on top of the meat, leaving a nice thick coating.

4. Add some cut up potatoes on top if desired (they absorb sauce and taste rather yummy).

5. Cook for 6-8 hours on Low until the smell is driving you mad with desire, and the meat is pull-apart tender.

6. Bribe your mate with BBQ to get him eating sauteed kale on the side.