Review: King Arthur Flour Jacques Torres Mudslide Cookie Mix

Phew, the name of this mix is quite a mouthful huh? Well, I suppose I'm lucky enough to have a Jacques Torres location nearby (I try not to pass by too often, the temptation is too great!) so if I really want one of his awesome cookies, I could just walk in to the shop. But if you don't live nearby, then I would say this mix is a pretty handy thing to have on hand. This was one of the items from the gift basket I won at the Girls Club bakeoff back in December. I felt like baking something up over the weekend but discovered to my horror that I was out of sugar! Me! I don't know how on earth this could happen! Anyhow, so, this mix allowed me to indulge in some baking without actually having to go out to buy sugar (yes, yes, I know, extremely lazy of me...)


So this is what actually comes in the box--two 7 oz packs of chocolate discs, and a baggie of the actual cookie mix itself (which has bits of walnuts in it). It's pretty simple to put together, and the only additional ingredients you need are two tablespoons of butter and two large eggs. So here we go!


Step 1, melt the butter and one packet of the chocolate discs together. Appreciate the fantastic smell of butter and chocolate. And the shiny!


Step 2, stir in the cookie mix. This batter stirs up very easily, so I just used a spatula...I don't think you need to break out an electric mixer at all.


Step 3, stir in 2 eggs, one at a time.


Step 4, stir in the other packet of chocolate discs.


Step 5, scoop out 1/4 cup portions of dough (these are big cookies, so give them plenty of space!), let sit for 10 minutes, and then bake in a 350 oven for about 13 minutes. When done, the cookies will be set around the edges, and soft in the center (actually, they'll seem totally under-baked), so you have to let them cool on the pan. This way, they'll be soft and chewy.


Step 6, eat! Oh, you want to see another picture?


If that pool of melted chocolate doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!


Try to make sure you have a glass of milk on hand, because holy cow, these cookies are soooooo rich. Too rich for me, actually, and I only managed half of a cookie. (Don't worry, the other half has been earmarked for breakfast tomorrow...).

The mix retails for $12.95 on the King Arthur website, which is a bit steep for a mix, but the cookies retail for around $2.50 apiece, so actually the mix isn't a bad deal (the pack makes 10 cookies). If I didn't bake regularly, I think I'd keep a box of this on hand for emergencies--and certainly if you don't live in the NYC area and want to taste a Jacques Torres style cookie, this is a pretty good option!

A Spring-y Cake

Are you tired of me going on about the spring yet? It was a really long winter! And spring flowers are the best! Isn't this tulip gorgeous? Tulips are one of my favorite flowers. More on flowers later, now, on to the food!


This is the Orange Sunshine Coffeecake from the latest issue of the Baking Sheet. Actually I don't know if this cake is springy exactly, since it's orange flavored, and citrus is a winter thing. But, nevermind, it's got a light, bright flavor that *I* think goes perfectly with this season! And, it's pretty (although, my drizzling skills leave something to be desired).


This coffeecake is made with a yeast dough, which is rolled out into a big rectangle and then covered in the filling--sugar, instant clearjel, cinnamon, orange juice, and a big pile of orange zest. The clearjel is a modified food starch which thickens without needing to be cooked. It's great for this filling, because it thickens it up and stops it from running all over the place (like it did the first time I made it, with regular cornstarch). You then roll it into a long sausage, form it into a ring, and then make cuts, about an inch apart and about 3/4 of the way through the roll (so you are not cutting the ring apart).


Okay, here's where the shaping gets fun--you turn the slices on their sides (still attached in a ring!), and every other slice gets folded towards the center. You can see now, why the clearjel is really important.


After baking, the cake gets a quick glaze made of confectioner's sugar and orange juice (and a bit of orange extract). I made this one a bit thinner than it should be, so it doesn't look as nice. Oh well, try, try again!

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite flowers from my trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden last weekend; the full set can be seen here.


Cherry blossoms--oh, so many cherry blossoms. I think they peaked a bit earlier this year; the Sakura Matsuri takes place this weekend I think most of the trees are past peak already. (Plus, really? No 2/3 train service this weekend? Gah. What the hell, MTA.)


And some more intensely red tulips.


Lilacs (you bet I spent ages standing there with my nose buried in them)!


More lilacs! Man, I love the garden. I think this weekend, I will try to make my way to the Bronx Botanical Garden. For a change, the weather is supposed to be nice on a weekend, woohoo!

Hey, we made it to Friday! :D

An apple pie for crust lovers

This post is especially for my coworker friend, who, upon receiving a slice of pie said "Hey are you going to blog about this? Then I'll have eaten something you blogged about!" Plus, the apples I used were picked by her family. So, here you go babe ;)

Anyway, one of my favorite blogs is Baker's Banter, written by the awesome people at King Arthur. A couple of weeks ago I came across this post, which is a step-by-step recipe for making a non-traditional apple pie. This pie is all about the crust. There's a slim layer of apple filling, providing just the right amount of tart sweetness, but the star is definitely the crust. And it should be! Unlike most crusts that I've made, this one incorporates cream cheese and bakes up to be, well, crusty, and flaky and delicious. (Actually, I baked up all of the crust scraps and ate those first. I think honestly, I could happily just cut all the dough into cookies and eat them with no filling at all.)


How much do I love this recipe? So much that this is my second time baking it in a week. The top picture is my first attempt, which I brought to the office and which elicited this assessment from my coworker: "very very good. Nice caramelization on the bottom and delicious crust to fruit ratio. Crust v. flaky and tasty, crispy. Good amt of sweetness. A winner!"

Have I mentioned that I love my coworkers? Anyway, I made it again today for a potluck I'm going to, and it looks like it's going to be just as tasty--it's just now also slightly better looking. For one thing, I actually rolled the crust into a round instead of a lopsided ellipse.


For another, I broke out some of these leaf cutters I've had kicking around for years--I don't even remember when I bought them (or hell, *if* I bought them. They might have been a gift.) I am pretty sure I've never used them, though. Anyway, they are easy to use--cut them and then there's a piece inside the cutter that stamps the leaf vein pattern on. Brush the backs with a little bit of milk and apply decoratively (or haphazardly, whatever) to your pie. Then the whole thing is brushed with more milk and sprinkled with coarse sugar.


Now you'll notice right away the difference in color between the first and second pies. That's because the lighting in my apartment sucks, and so I have to take all of my photos in my front window. And it's been damned cloudy lately! So, trust me--this one is just as gorgeous and brown. It's just nasty weather out.


Here's a closer look at some of the leaf cutouts. Pretty, right? I actually have it sitting on a cutting board; I don't own any plates large enough to hold this pie (it's about 10 inches across). And I am not carrying a cake stand on the subway! Anyway, hopefully it'll be well-received, and if not, then I'm going to eat pie for breakfast!

More Crust Less Filling Apple Pie, from Baker's Banter
For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces cream cheese
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and diced
ice water

To make the crust, combine the flour, salt, and cream cheese in a bowl and beat (either with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer or a hand held mixer) until the cream cheese is broken up and the mixture is crumbly. Add the diced butter bits and cut in until the butter is mostly incorporated. This shouldn't take very long if you're using a stand mixer, and you should have lots of different sized pieces of butter. Don't be too thorough. You definitely want visible pieces of butter left because they will make your dough flaky. Sprinkle two tablespoons of ice water over the dough and toss with a fork until moistened; squeeze a handful to see if the dough will hold together. If not, add a tablespoon more of water at a time; you just want the dough to hold together. Gather into a ball, and divide in half, one piece slightly larger than the other. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least half an hour.

For the filling:
2-3 medium sized Fuji apples
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 tablespoon butter

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425 F. Roll out the larger half of the dough to an approximately 11" circle and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Trust me--you are definitely going to need the parchment. Peel, core, and halve the apples, then slice then into 1/4" slices crosswise. Toss with lemon juice. Combine the sugar, cinnamon and ginger and spread out evenly over the bottom crust. Arrange the apples on top in concentric rings (you don't HAVE to, but it indulges my OCD side). Dot with the tablespoon of butter (cut into bits). Roll out your second piece of dough, and cut several holes for steam vents--you can use cookie cutters or just cut steam vents free-hand. Depends on how fussy you want to get! Fold into quarters and center it on the apples; unfold! Fold the bottom crust edges over the top crust and press to seal. Brush the entire pie with a little milk and sprinkle sugar (coarse or granulated) over the top. Bake at 425 F for about 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 375 F and bake for a further 30 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and the apples are tender. My pie leaked a fair amount of juice, although it did not make the crust soggy. But you'll be glad you put that parchment paper down! Cool for at least an hour, then slice and enjoy.

(Another benefit of this type of thin pie is that you can slice it and eat it like a pizza slice, with your fingers. Convenient!)