World Peace Cookies, Pizza and a Rainbow

So I saw the Taste and Create event that Simran had participated in and found myself signing up for the June event at For the love of Food.

And I got paired with Caitlin of EngineerBaker blog. And what a baker she is. She has a lovely collection of recipes and especially seems to love Dorie Greenspan.

According to the rules of the Taste and Create event, I had to try just one recipe from her collection and write a post about it.

The very first time I saw THE cookies at her blog, they had my heart. Luckily for me, they were “eggless” and I didn’t have to make any substitutions whatsoever.

Apart from me being completely floored by them, they also worried me . There was no way I was going to be able to “portion control” with these guys around. Jugalbandi's post on these cookies further added to the dilemma. I have never seen cookies look so beautiful.

So Plan B. Worked out for an extra 20 minutes on the day I was baking these AND worked out again the next day for extra measure.

And then indulged….(what? I'm not 22 any more OK)

So the recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s book “Baking: from my home to yours” and the cookie gets its name from her neighbor who was convinced that “that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness."

And that really says it all.

Caitlin used Cocoa nibs as a substitute for Bitter sweet chocolate but since I didn’t have any (yeah I don’t really stock cocoa nibs, I wish I did), I just used bitter sweet chocolate.

The most divine and decadent cookies I’ve had in a long time. I shall just refer to them as the “THE cookies”.

Here goes the recipe.

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces

1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

3. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Getting Ready to Bake:

5. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

6. Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them — don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

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------------------------------Pizza--------------------------

While I was baking cookies, the kidz and I were also making Pizza. I am not in the habit of making pizza from scratch every weekend, but it is a fun project for the kiddos to do.

They can knead it, punch it, bully it, make a mess and then get to eat some great pizza.

Take that u pizza dough!

Ooh..and look at how it rises....lets punch it again!!

After all that mehnet (hard work), the pizza sure tastes good.

The whole project makes for a fun afternoon and it was perfect for the rainy day that Friday was.

We even got to see a rainbow!

Can one ask for more.....?

This is the pizza recipe we followed from this lovely Vegetarian foodie's blog. I came across her blog a few months ago when I was looking for a domain name. Made this recipe a few times and its super easy and simple. Thanks for posting Vegetarian foodie!

• 3 Cups flour
• 1 Cup Warm Water (about 105 degrees)
• 1 Package of Yeast
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1. Pour the warm water in a bowl. Add salt and the package of yeast and allow to sit for 5 minutes
2. Add 1 Cup of the flour as well as the olive oil and mix well. Add the rest of the flour and form dough into a ball
3. Knead the ball for a couple minutes
4. Cover the dough with a towel and allow to rise for an hour. The dough will double in size. Punch the dough and watch it deflate
5. Cover once again, wait another hour
6. Separate dough ball into two balls if you are making two pizzas
7. Roll the dough(s) out with a rolling pin or wine bottle. Cover with toppings of your choice and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes (until the crust is a golden brown)

Yields two medium thin or thick crust pizzas or one large thick crust pizza.

The pizza goes to Madhuram's Your Recipe Rocks.