Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cacao Butter

I am always searching for a delicious dairy free cookie.  Unfortunately, there is no equal to the palate pleasing purity of cow's milk butter.  Yes, there are substitutes that do fairly well like magarine, but they have a dairy ingredient, plus loads of other ingredients too. Once life delivered me a dairy free mandate, I have been searching out tolerable alternatives to my beloved butter.  I use Earth Balance Soy Free Sticks for the best results for most of my baking – the Soy Free sticks leave the least amount of fishy aftertaste unlike the yellow Earth Balance box which contains flax and has notes of fish which is not what I desire for in a baked treat. Coconut based butters can overpower baked goods with a coconut aftertaste from stong to mild.  I find most dairy free butter substitutes too salty and they can leave a greasy texture on the palate.

This cookie delivers a delicious creaminess that is not butter but a mysterious whole mouth feel of the cocoa butter.  Raw cocoa butter is available at Whole Foods, specialty grocery stores or Amazon.  It costs about $10 for 8 ounces. I use the Navitas brand.  Cacao nibs by Natierra. If you want to keep your guests guessing the secret ingredient make this cookie.

4 ounces; 115g; raw cocoa butter such

8 3/4 ounces; 250g; 1¼ cup sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons ; 7g kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

4 ounces unsalted butter; 115g; 8 tablespoons softened but cool, about 60°F 
1 large cold egg

½ ounce, 15g, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

10 ½ ounces; 300g; 2 1/3 all-purpose

6 ½ ounces; 185g; ¾ cup chocolate chips of your choice

1 ounce; 30g;¼ cup cocoa nibs

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, melt cocoa butter over medium-low heat, stirring frequently with a flexible.

When cocoa butter is fully melted, pour into the bowl of a stand mixer and cool to approximately 90°F.

Add sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and butter to cooled cocoa butter.

Using the paddle attachment cream mixture until it is fluffy and light, about 3 minutes.

With mixer still running, add egg, vanilla, and continue beating until well combined.

Scrape bowl and beater with flexible spatula

With mixer on low, add flour until just combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and cocoa nibs with flexible rubber spatula by hand.

Scoop dough onto parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheets using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop or your size preference.

Place cookies about 2 inches apart.

Bake until puffed and firm around the edges, about 15 minutes.

Due to their low lactose content, these cookies are pale in color.

Cool on the baking sheet about 5 minutes.

Store in an airtight container up to 4 days at room temperature.

Lemon Olive Oil Biscotti

I made limoncello in 2016 and I keep it in my freezer – the limoncello has been improving with age and is the real secret in this recipe. I sometimes toast my almonds depending on whether I want a stronger almond flavor in the biscotti.

Lemon Olive Oil Biscotti

2½ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup slivered almonds chopped

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

½ cup olive oil

Zest of 3 lemons

2 teaspoons lemon juice or limoncello

1 teaspoon vanilla or lemon extract*or ½ teaspoon of each

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add chopped almonds and stir to combine and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together eggs, sugar, olive oil, lemon zest, and vanilla on medium speed for 1 minute.

Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

Reduce mixer speed to low; gradually add flour mixture and mix until dough just begins to come together.

Do not overmix.

Divide dough into 2 equal pieces and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Shape each piece into a 12-inch-long log, 1/2 inch high.

Bake logs until firm, about 28 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Cool logs on baking sheet for 12 to 15 minutes.

Transfer logs to a cutting board.

Using a serrated knife, slice each into 24 half-inch-thick biscotti. Place biscotti on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1/2 inch apart.

Bake biscotti until slightly crisp, about 14 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Notes:  2^nd bake at 300 for the 15 minutes

Limoncello Icing

¾ cup powdered sugar

3 teaspoon limoncello

1 ½ tablespoon milk

¼ teaspoon lemon extract

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Pita Bread

I use a cast iron flat bottomed griddle pan to cook these pitas.  I do it outside on the side burner on my barbecue grill.  I am able to achieve the high heat and the smoke does not fill the house.  The pitas are soft and delicious.

Bread Machine Pita Bread

1 ½ pound loaf	1 pound loaf
1 1/8 cups water	3/4 cup water
3 cups all purpose flour	2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt	½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil	2 teaspoons oil
1 ½ teaspoons sugar	1 teaspoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast	1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan.

Select Dough Mode.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep.

Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan and turn out dough on floured countertop or cutting board.

Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough in 8 pieces for the 1 ½ lb loaf or cut the in 6 pieces for the 1 pound loaf.

Roll each section into a ball.

Roll each ball into a 6 or 7 inch circles.

Set each circle on a lightly floured board and cover with a lint free towel.

Let dough rise for 15 minutes.

Heat a heavy duty flat bottomed square grill pan, fry pan, cast iron pan.

Heat grill pan over high heat.

Brush circle of dough with olive oil and place face down on hot pan.

When pita starts to puff, brush with olive oil and turn to cook other side.

Cook until pita puffs and is browned.

Remove to a rack and cover the cook pita with the lint free towel.

Repeat with the rest of the pitas storing under the towel.

Serve immediately.

*I do this outside as the pan needs to be very hot to the smoke point.

Oven Method

Let pitas rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500F.

Preferably on a baking stone with a rack on top or just a rack place 2 to 3 pitas on the heated rack.

Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and browned.

Remove from oven, place on rack, and cover with a damp lint free towel.

Serve once pitas are softened.

Pitas from the oven back in 2010

Bread Machine Buttermilk Bread Loaf or Rolls

I make these rolls often and it is fast and easy in my bread machine.  The rolls serve as the extra dinner carbohydrate for the many hungry young people my kids bring home for dinner.  The smell of home baked bread hot from the oven filled with cold butter melting is soul filling along with the family table filled with conversation and laughter. These rolls can serve as the base for smoked pork or make them larger for hamburgers, leftover roasted chicken sandwiches or sloppy joes.  

Bread Machine Buttermilk Bread Loaf or Rolls

1 ½ pound loaf	1 pound loaf
1 1/8 cup buttermilk or non-dairy milk	7/8 cup buttermilk or nondairy buttermilk
3 cups bread flour	2 cups bread flour
1 ½ teaspoon salt	1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute	1 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute
3 tablespoons honey or sugar	2 tablespoons sugar or honey
¼ teaspoon baking soda	¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast	1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast
Buttermilk	Buttermilk
Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar to the non-dairy milk or dairy milk	Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar to the non-dairy milk or dairy milk

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan.

Select Light Crust setting.

When machine beeps, use hot mitts to remove hot pan from machine and turn loaf on to a cooling rack.

Let loaf cool for 1 hour before slicing.

Buttermilk Rolls

Select dough mode.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep.

Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan and turn out dough on floured countertop or cutting board.

Turn on proofing setting in oven, if have, or warm oven at lowest temperature for a few minutes then turn off.

Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough in half, then half again until there are 12 to16 pieces. 

Roll each dough piece in roll shape.

Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet.

Cover with a lint free towel and place in a warm place, warmed oven, or proofing oven. 

When doubled, remove from oven and preheat to 375F.

Bake rolls 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Topping, if desired

Once the rolls have risen, mix with oil chopped onion, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, herbs, garlic etc.  I often use finely minced onions and oil and salt and pepper spooned over right before the rolls go in the oven.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

My love of cinnamon rolls began on a camping and rock climbing retreat as young teenager.  The camp counselor/cook made homemade cinnamon rolls right at camp from kneading, raising, filling cutting and baking in a clever camp stove oven. As the smell permeated the camp, I couldn't wait to sink my sugar addicted teeth into something that smelled so good.  Yeasted sweet dough treats were not part of my childhood so this was a new and wonderful taste experience. But then for more than a decade, I did not think of cinnamon rolls, outside of the grocery store tube can variety, until the mall chain store pumped out giant, thickly frosted cinnamon rolls to the mall crowds.  Neither the tube can nor mall store rolls ever stood up to those camping rolls.  Then bread machines came on to the market in the early 1990s and cinnamon rolls became a mainstay in my home. My first bread maker was the Panasonic machine from 1994. That machine was extraordinary and didn’t break down until 2012 after making many loaves of bread and many more doughs for rolls of all kinds.  Though the bread machine does have its limitations as the breads produced are not artisanal and the bread quality tends to be the same across recipes, the bread machine fills a place in the home for fast and easy homemade bread for even the most unskilled or skilled and overworked person.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

1 ½ pound loaf	1 pound loaf
3/8 cup milk or non-dairy milk	¼ cup milk or non-dairy milk
3/8 cup water	¼ cup water
1 egg	1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour	2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute	3 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute
1/3 cup sugar	¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast	1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast
*Roll dough into 9X18 inch rectangle	*Roll dough into 8X14 inch rectangle
Filling	Filling
3 tablespoons of softened butter	2 tablespoons of softened butter
4 tablespoons sugar	3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon	1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa powder if desired	1 ½ teaspoons cocoa powder if desired
Icing	Icing
3 tablespoons softened dairy free butter	2 ½ tablespoons softened dairy free butter
1 cup powdered sugar	3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons non-dairy milk of choice	2 ½ tablespoons non-dairy milk of choice
½ to 1 tsp vanilla, lemon juice, or lemon extract – adjust to personal taste preferences	½ to 1 tsp vanilla, lemon juice, or lemon extract – adjust to personal taste preferences

Line a sheet pan with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan.

Select dough setting and press start.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep.

Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan and turn out dough on floured countertop or cutting board.

Turn on proofing setting in oven, if have, or warm oven at lowest temperature for a few minutes then turn off.

Roll dough into the loaf size rectangle - *see above*

Filling

Spread the softened butter edge to edge across the rectangle.

Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder in small bowl.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture edge to edge across the dough rectangle.

Roll rectangle tightly into a log starting from the long end.

Pinch seam.

Put seam side to cutting board or counter and cut with a sharp thin bladed knife into the desired number of rolls and place rolls 1 inch apart on prepared pan

**see below if making ahead.

Thicker rolls 8-12 pieces 13/4 inches thick

Smaller rolls 12-16 pieces 1/1/4 inches thick

Cover with a lint free towel and let rise for 30 minutes until doubled in size in proofing oven, warmed oven, or warm place.

Once nearly doubled, remove from oven.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Bake rolls for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Icing

Mix in a large bowl with whisk, hand mixer, or bowl mixer the powdered sugar and softened butter until combined.

Whisk in milk until smooth and at the consistency of a soft slow flowing icing or preferred desired consistency

Adjust consistency by alternately adding more liquid or powdered sugar.

Frost by stringing, pooling, spreading etc. – any coverage level and pattern desired.

**At this point, if desired, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and refrigerate overnight. 

Remove from refrigerator and let rise in proofing oven, warmed oven, or warm place until doubled in size - plan for extra time for the proofing step.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Moist and flavorful turkey covered in a rich pan dripping gravy is essential for the American Thanksgiving table.  After years of cooking Thanksgiving turkeys with okay to mediocre and dry results, this recipe delivers a turkey worthy of a Rockwell painting.  For years I cooked a turkey in the cellophane turkey bag, waiting for that button to pop up in the turkey, that turned out dry and disappointing. Then I turned to brining which added an additional time constraint and took up loads of space and resulted in salty and strangely textured turkey.  After that I smoked turkey for a couple years that turned out delicious but lacked the Thanksgiving flavor.  I heard a friend mention salt pork and moist turkey and I was intrigued and decided to give it a try.  This method of roasting turkey changed everything – with minimal effort you are able to produce a show stopping, moist, golden brown turkey.  Watch the temperatures carefully.

Roast Turkey with Cheesecloth

1 cheesecloth package, new

4 cups water

1 12 to 15 pound turkey

1 pound salt pork sliced into ¼” strips

5 celery sticks cut into chunks

7 carrot sticks cut into large pieces

2 onions cut into wedges

1 to 2 cups chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack placed on the lowest position.

Remove all of the packages of giblets and neck from the cavities of the turkey.

Fold the cheesecloth into an 18 inch square, place in in a large bowl, and cover with the four cups of water.

Poke several holes in the breast and leg skin with a roasting fork careful not pierce the meat, lifting the skin as necessary.

Place turkey in a heavy duty roasting pan on a rack.

Add the celery, carrots, and onions to the cavity and bottom of the pan (these can be omitted if desired).

Cover the turkey with the strips of salt pork and cover with the wet cheese cloth (do not wring it out).

Add three cups of water to the roasting pan.

Cover the entire the roasting pan with heavy duty foil, making sure to seal it tight.

Roast until the breast reaches 140°F (2 ½ to 3 ½ hours).

Remove and discard the foil, cheesecloth, and salt.

Add the additional chicken broth to boost your pan drippings gravy.

Increase the oven temperature to 425°F and roast until the spot between the breast and thigh reaches 160°F (45 minutes to 1 hour).

When the turkey is done, remove it from the oven, place it on a carving board, and tent it with foil for 30 minutes to an hour to rest.

Triple Ginger Dairy-Free Gingersnap Cookies

Ginger cookies are my favorite cookies. Gingery, spicy, sweet, crunchy aromatic and pleasing crackled rounds – these cookies appeal to all the senses. My parents treated me to a lovely dinner last summer at Arethusa Farm's dairy to table restaurant, Al Tavolo. The dinner was delicious and the service impeccable! The chef sent out a complimentary dessert of gingersnaps and fresh milk from the Arethusa dairy. While I did not drink the milk, the small gingersnap was spectacular that sent me on a yearlong journey to recreate that one bite cookie. These triple ginger cookies are spicy and sweet with a wonderful snap! I make my own crystallized ginger (recipe below) but store bought works well too.

Triple Ginger Dairy-Free Gingersnap Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda *corrected 12/3

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

¼ to ½ cup crystallized or candied ginger depending on the amount of zing you prefer (recipe below)

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup canola oil (any neutral flavored oil will work)

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses

¼ cup natural cane sugar or turbinado sugar if you like extra crunchy texture for coating cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat the oil and sugar until well combined.

Add egg, molasses, and fresh ginger and mix until combined.

On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just blended.

Add the candied or crystallized ginger and mix to combine.

Scoop cookies with 1 inch cookie scoop and roll into sugar.

Place balls on a parchment lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart.

Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until well browned (8 minutes for convection oven, 12 for conventional oven, generally).

Remove cookies from oven using a metal spatula, remove cookies from cookie sheet and place on a wire rack.

Cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

Candied or Crystallized Ginger

8 ounces fresh ginger peeled and sliced thin (1/8 inch thick)

2 ½ cups water

Granulated sugar

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, put sliced ginger and water and set over medium-high heat.

Cover and cook until the ginger is tender, about 30 minutes.

Drain the ginger in a colander, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.

Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar.

Return the ginger and the 1/4 cup of reserved cooking liquid to the pan and add the sugar.

Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes.

Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces.

Cool completely then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.