"chocolate chip cookies" news and stories

Bacon has become the little black dress of the food world -- throw it into any dish and it's fabulous. From old-school bacon and eggs, B.L.T. and quiche Lorraine to spaghetti carbonara, we've paraded full-throttle into bacon mania. L.A. food critic Jonathan Gold, a baconista practically from birth, wrote in a recent review of restaurant Fig that it serves "bacon-wrapped bacon, which is a warning shot fired over the heaving bow of S.S. Food." Just a guess, but there's probably a waiting list to crew on that tub.

Meanwhile, when it's not being wrapped in itself, bacon shows its sweet side. In his Great Book of Chocolate, Chez Panisse pastry alum David Lebovitz candies bacon and crumbles it into chocolate chip cookies, inspiring bloggers stickygooeycreamychewy and traceysculinaryadventures (who shot this photo) to give it a go, and share the recipe. Brown sugar is sprinkled over the bacon and it's baked until caramelized, and when added to the cookies it supplies just a wee hint of salty, bacony goodness. Remember: little black dress. It works.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool for a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

The day was going smoothly until I looked out my window. It looked like something was flying through the air. I hoped it was merely dust blowing in the wind as I walked towards the window to get a closer look. Oh yes, the air was filled with the first flurries of the year. The flakes weren't very substantial, but still -- you can't refute visible proof. Winter is on its way.

The only remedy for this: cookies with lots and lots of butterscotch chips. Using the recipe I posted about in July, I whipped up a batch, got warm by the oven, and pretended that cookies are pure health, with no bad ingredients. The smell, the taste -- it was definitely enough to ward off the woes. Now, looking for something to put under the plate to take a picture, and having the red placemats literally jump out and fall at my feet -- that was a cruel joke of the universe.

But how do you handle those winter woes, or keep yourself warm on the increasingly cold nights?*

*Unless you live somewhere warm, and then I both hate and envy you.

While there's no chance in hell that I'm going to give up my beloved meats, cheeses, and other animal products, I still like to mix it up with vegan food now and then. Some of it is just darned good -- rich soups, excellent salads, and some tasty dessert treats.

Above you can check out Everyday Dish's vegan chocolate chip cookies. (Get the exact measurements here.) Making use of a ton of pantry items, this looks like a great way to whip up some tasty cookies last-minute. They also fit into a lot of dietary restrictions -- you can used unrefined sugar and other types of flour. (I kind of wish I saw this recipe last week, when my chocolate-craving friend was over and in the midst of a refined sugar fast.)

If you try them, let us know how they turn out!

So that 36-hour cookie (unless you make use of vacuums and cut the time) has been all the rage these days, and I've been itching to see what all the fuss is about. While I'm not crazy enough to make them in my AC-free apartment, I happily accepted some fresh-baked cookies from a friend of mine. You know what? I was far from a big fan. Very far.

I loved the texture, but there was just too much darned chocolate, and my mouth even rebelled at the taste a little, getting a bit itchy. Even though my friend knows his way around baking a chocolate chip cookie, there's a chance he fudged something up, but even still -- it should've been good enough for a "wow" instead of a "huh..." Any of you out there feel the same way?

Personally, I'm going to stick with my faux Tollhouse recipe that's part of The Essential Baking Cookbook. It's great with chocolate, white vanilla, and sinfully delectable with butterscotch. Check it out after the jump.

While it's not exactly the most scientific and perfectly matched comparison, Ideas in Food took on the notion posted in The New York Times, where the perfect chocolate chip cookie takes 36 hours. I don't know about you, but whenever I want cookies, I'm sure as hell not waiting 36 hours, especially since that amount of time will usually end the craving and make me remember just how unhealthy and dangerous it would be for me to make a bunch of cookies for my single self.

Anyhow, to simulate the 36 hours, Ideas in Food vacuum-sealed the dough. "I did not make a test batch of cookies with unprocessed dough so this was an entirely unscientific experiment. What I can tell you is that the dough darkened and became fully saturated, similar to the way that the dough usually looks after a couple of days in the refrigerator. It also changed the texture of the dough, making it a bit more elastic to the touch." So, is there anyone out there with a vacuum sealer that wants to put the two techniques head to head?