Ladies Night: Cookie Baking

Each week a group of ladies and I get together to try out a new restaurant, sample an excellent happy hour, or discuss important literary works like Mindy Kaling's new book. Earlier this month, we got together to make a Smitten Kitchen favorite, Chocolate Toffee Cookies. The cookies were delicious and I highly recommend you try them for your next holiday cookie swap.

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Adapted from Bon Appetit

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped*

1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing two inches apart. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt, if you’re using it. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

I know that it will be impossible to let them cool completely, but they really taste a lot better cool, as they continue baking once they come out of the oven.

Slice and bake option: After struggling a bit to scoop these cookies, I rolled the dough into a log 1.5 inches in diameter and chilled it. When I was ready to bake the cookies, I cut it into 1/2-inch slices. You can store the dough log in the freezer, wrapped in waxed paper and then two layers of plastic wrap for up to a month, just baking the cookies off as you need. Cookies baked straight from the freezer may need an additional minute or two in the oven, depending on their thickness.

December Desktop Background

I look forward to seeing Christiane Engel's illustrated desktop calendar each month. To see more of her calendars and other illustrations, visit her blog here.

happy birthday anne!

dear anne, here are 10 reasons why i'm so happy you were born:

1. you are my oldest friend, and i never would have survived 6th grade without you. seriously. middle school was rough.

2. you're so kind and giving. you have been volunteering, teaching, or caring for kids since i met you.

3. you're always up for a trip to cy's, bao ju's, or victoria's—and you usually let me pick.

4. you never give things up. if you had sundance & tom's wedding story episode on anything else but vhs, you'd watch it everyday.

5. you bravely left home and traveled throughout india.

6. you know and love every lyric of total eclipse of the heart and every line of super troopers.

7. i'm not sure if you still play minesweeper, but i bet you do.

8. you always had me over for thurow family dinners and i loved every single one of them.

9. you always hated being the "cute" one.

10. you fell in love, married a wonderful guy, and moved too far away. i miss your face.

Grandma Erma

I traveled to Iowa this week to be with family and to say goodbye to Grandma Erma.

Grandma always had sugar cookies, lefse, or fresh rolls waiting for us when we visited. Her handmade birthday cards were the best.

This Kodacolor photograph of my grandparents was taken on their wedding night in 1951. Grandma looked ravishing. I will miss her terribly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Letterpress Prints

A few things that Meredith and I created during our letterpress class at the Richmond Visual Arts Center this fall.

Now that our class is over, we've joined an encaustic class. More projects to come...

"In Budapest, surgeons operated on printer's apprentice Gyoergyi Szabo, 17, who, brooding over the loss of a sweetheart, had set her name in type and swallowed the type." -TIME Magazine, 1936

500,000 Cigarettes

Contemporary artist Xu Bing has a wonderful exhibition at the VFMA that focuses on tobacco. My favorite piece is a large tiger-skin pattern rug that was made from over a half a million cigarettes. From one end of the gallery the rug is white and orange, on the other end the colors are brown and white. The exhibit also includes tobacco advertising & slogans as well as a 30 foot long cigarette.