Posted in Dessert

Tasty Treat Thursdays: The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie EVER!

Posted on by Northerly Nosh

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie EVER!

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Serves: 48 Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour – (If at all possible, please weigh the flour)
3/4 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips – (You’ll need about 1 1/2 bags)

Prep Day: Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flash freeze on a tray and then place dough balls in a freezer.

Serve Day: Do NOT thaw. Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Make sure your baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Notes: please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie. If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

Troubleshooting:

If you’re cookies are coming out flat, there are probably 3 reasons for this…

#1) Baking powder and Baking soda is old. If your baking powder and soda is older than 1 year and has not been in a sealed (preferably air tight) container, it has lost some of it rising qualities.

#2) Creaming. It is not enough to just cream the butter and sugars until it has come together. This recipe requires you to beat it with a mixer for 3 minutes until the texture of the butter and sugar turns to light and fluffy-just like the picture.

#3) Flour. Flour should be weighed. This can make or break the recipe because just scooping flour into a measuring cup will never yield ideal or consistent results.

Posted in Healthy Eating

Wellness Wednesdays: Preserving Onions

Posted on by Northerly Nosh

Preserving Onions

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Freezing onions is completely doable and practical. When you are ready to include chopped onion in any dish, you can take it out of the freezer and use it that day. No chopping, crying, or cleaning. Ready to go onion.

Onions are a terrific thing for you to grow, and feed your family. They contain chromium, which helps balance blood sugar. And according to “The World’s Healthiest Foods,” the stronger the smell and the more they affect your eyes, the more health promoting nutrients they contain. so cry away and know you are doing right by your family.

Slower Cooker Beefy French Onion Soup

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Recipe adapted from bettycrocker.com

7 small onions, cut in half and thinly sliced (7 cups)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat
3 cans (10 1/2 ounces each) condensed beef consommé
8 slices (1/2 inch thick) French bread, toasted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 dried bay leaves
1 cup apple juice
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese (8 ounces)

You Will Provide: 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

Prep Day: Chop onions, place in freezer bag. Keep separate from meat. Prepare dry ingredients. Freeze meat and onions.

Serving Day: Thaw onions and meat. Toss onions, butter and sugar in 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Top with bay leaves and beef. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 9 to 10 hours or until onions are deep brown. Stir in beef consommé, sherry, apple juice and thyme. Increase heat setting to High. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until hot. Remove bay leaves.

To Serve, spoon into ovenproof soup bowls and top each serving with slice of toast and 1/4 cup cheese. If desired, broil with tops 6 inches from heat 3 to 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and begins to brown.

Posted in Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks Tuesdays: How To Freeze Homemade Bread

Posted on by Northerly Nosh

How to Freeze Bread

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It seems simple – who needs a tutorial on freezing bread? But this has been a work in progress for me. I bake a lot of bread that ends up getting used a slice or two at a time. Stale and/or freezer-burned bread is not tolerated in our household. What follows is the best way I know how to freeze bread to get great results each time you pull a few slices from the freezer.

We always freeze bread the same day it’s made. Homemade bread gets stale pretty quickly, and we prefer to eat it as fresh as possible.

After slicing the bread I lay the slices flat on a cookie sheet, and freeze for a few hours, or until they won’t stick together. Then I just toss them all in a bag to put in the freezer. One of the most annoying things about freezing bread is when you just need one or two slices, but when you try to get them out, the whole loaf is stuck together. This is a great way to avoid that.

We always double bag our bread! This is one of the simplest ways I’ve found to avoid freezer burn.

English Muffin Toasting Bread

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5 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups warm milk (120 to 130 degrees)
1/2 cup warm water (120 to 130 degrees)
*Cornmeal

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda. Add warm milk and water; beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on high for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour (batter will be stiff). Do not knead. Grease two 8-1/2 in. x 4-1/2 in. x 2-1/2 in. loaf pans. Sprinkle pans with cornmeal. Spoon batter into the pans and sprinkle cornmeal on top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans immediately to cool on wire racks.

So that’s it! Good luck, happy bread baking, and happy freezing!