Last night, we rung in the summer solstice (aka the longest day of the year) in proper Portlandian style. Together with our neighbors and friends, Dan and I enjoyed the long lasting sunshine and the mild temperatures over some great conversation, drinks and of course food. The whole celebration was lovely and so bountiful, as everyone brought a little something for others to enjoy. I decided to go with dessert - making these crunchy chocolate chip sea salt cookies, inspired by NY's famous Momofuku Milk Bar.
Getting the recipe for these from my Luxurious Eats Pinterest board, I was glad to see that they didn't take too long to assemble and there was no need for any sort of special equipment. As is usually the case with yummy things, it's important to use good quality ingredients such as nice semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks and some delicate sea salt. Actually using something I had on hand from my sister-in-law Diana, I sprinkled some smoked bacon sea salt on top and watched as the cookies quickly disappeared from the serving platter.
Here's the recipe I used, courtesy of Foodie Crush blog. Hope you enjoy it too and bring these yummies to your next party. They'll be a hit with adults and kids alike - I promise you.
This past weekend, Dan and I covered the Bacon & Beer Classic event at Citi Field. By "covered," I mean that we were "on duty" to taste all the craft beer and bacon that our bellies can handle and report back to you on the result. Acting as my official photographer for the night, Dan took one for the team so to speak and worked Citi Field with both the camera and his beer and bacon appetite. My appetite didn't disappoint either.
About the Bacon & Beer Classic:Hosted in a few locations around the country including Houston, Seattle and now New York, the Bacon and Beer Classic is meant to channel our American spirit by exemplifying the best of these all-time American treats. Taking place in iconic ballparks around the country, including our very own City Field, the event offers up a casual, playful vibe and grants some visitors the opportunity to get up close and personal to the stadium's awesome facilities.
Fortunate enough to get the VIP experience, Dan and I went down to the field, walked around and checked around the bullpen. Other visitors got their shot at practicing at the batting cages and pretending to catch some foul balls as well.
Food & Drinks Highlights:
Bacon wrapped bacon – The Certe booth served up this delicious sin on a stick that Dan and I devoured. Made up of tender pieces of pork belly, wrapped in thin sliced bacon, it was the ultimate treat, served up ever so elegantly with pretty micro greens on the side.
Sweet Dreams bacon donuts – Excited by the look of this donut operation, it was great to see these babies being made right on the spot. Small enough to not feel guilty about them, they were light as air, further jazzed up with some bacon glaze.
Make My Cake Chocolate chip bacon cookies – This is one of my all time favorite combinations, as I’ve also made them first-hand. Enjoying this version, it was both chewy and a little crunchy on the outside. The amount of bacon inside was perfect, as it wasn’t overpowering and adequately satisfied our savory tooth.
Brooklyn Brewery Limited Edition Brews – Part of the VIP tasting, which was located right on the field, Dan and I were impressed by the limited edition brew varieties such as the Silver Anniversary Lager and the GreenMarket Wheat. Rich in flavor and a tad smoky, a little sip went a long way when imbibing these unique beers.
Overall, the evening was a lot of fun and I liked how the festival utilized the ballpark for this cheery summer event. It was great to see lots of people out and about, enjoying the atmosphere, the cool weather and of course copious amounts of bacon and beer.
Looking forward to the Superbowl last week, I planned on making something special for dessert. Since I don't really dabble in making desserts much, given my frequent gluten free bouts, I was excited to try something new, and thought to recreate my favorite cookie at Momofuku Milk Bar, which is of course the Compost Cookie.
For those of you not too familiar with this treat, it's truly a compost of sorts, as it combines a bevy of different sweet and savory ingredients such as chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, rolled oats, potato chips (yes, actual potato chips) and pretzels. I love how chunky and rustic they are, as the recipe encourages you not to break up the savory ingredients so they're fully on display.
Happy to find the original recipe right on Momofuku Milk Bar's website, I took to making these for Josh and Diana's Superbowl party. They were quite tasty out of the oven but I botched them up a bit by burning the bottoms unfortunately. Dan loved them from the get go, and gobbled up a few even before they made it to the Superbowl.
Compost Cookie recipe, courtesy of Momofuku Milk Bar
As the weather gets chillier this week, there's no sense in avoiding comforting, rich foods to keep us warm. So in the spirit of keeping it decadent, I've decided to share some dessert. It's in the form of simple, classic chocolate chunk cookies with a twist, which is a sprinkle sea salt. Dashing this savory ingredient to top of these sweet cookies made them more special and certainly elevated their status to the next gourmand level.
I served them up during last week's Championship Sunday party and the crowd loved them. They were super-sized and perfect for sharing or breaking apart. They're nice to dunk in milk or if you prefer them on the chewy side, you can pop them in the microwave for about 20 seconds before serving.
Just make sure to use good quality chocolate. I prefer semi-sweet chunks, and had also mixed this batch with Vosges' Mo's Bacon bar, which was just pure delight.
Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies - recipe, courtesy of Bon Appetit
So naturally, I wanted to ensure I make something attention grabbing and yummy, to encourage people to swap with me. My items of choice were these obscenely gluttunous chocolate chip bacon cookies. Yes...you heard right. Bacon.
The inspiration came from a fellow Foodbuzzer, Beth Michelle, who made these a couple of weeks back with much success. Her trick? Sprinkling the bacon with a healthy dose of brown sugar on both sides, and thus caramelizing it to a perfect sweet-salty bite.
Make sure you use good quality bacon because that's where the difference will lie. Try to go for organic if you can, or a reputable brand you trust (I used Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon). And follow the same rules for the dark chocolate - only the best. I used Ghirardelli jumbo dark chocolate chips, which did the trick.
The end result was a rustic looking (I arranged them too close on the baking sheet), thin-chewy treat with rich hints of sweetness and deeper accents of salt and smokiness. It was heaven - especially still warm from the oven.
I hope my fellow swapees receive them well! If you'd like to try these at home, here's the recipe from Beth Michelle.
Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.
When it came to making them, the process was pretty simple, but I will outline some helpful hints that I learned along the way.
1. Go lighter on the chocolate chips - yes...the recipe suggests 10 oz, but I think the more chips you use, the less workable/moldable dough you'll have. So in this case, less is more (relatively speaking).
2. To spice things up, I used a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips.
3. Let these babies bake for an extra 10 minutes than the recipe suggests. I first tried to bake them for just 13 minutes and after tasting them, they were way underdone and didn't have the pretty golden tone to them just yet.
4. Absolutely positively use double stuff Oreos instead of the classic version. Picky Palate suggests this too and I couldn't agree more.
5. Cut these beauties in half and share them with that special friend, significant other or maybe a new leading man/lady in your life? You'll feel a lot better about yourself than gobbling up the whole thing on your own. But if you wish to do the latter, who am I to stop ya?Happy Oscar viewing...and eating! In my book, I already know who won.
Here's the cookie stuffed cookies recipe.
