Tag Archives: sea salt

tahini chocolate chip cookies

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I love sesame seeds and while I’ve mostly had them in savory foods, I am starting to really appreciate them in sweets too, as evidenced by this ice cream and this cake.  A while back I bought myself a lovely cookbook that has a recipe for chocolate tahini cookies and since tahini is just ground sesame seeds I thought this seemed like a really great idea.

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The recipe in the cookbook called for a few gluten-free flours that I do not currently have in my arsenal so I instead took inspiration from it and adapted a traditional chocolate chip recipe instead.

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I had a few mostly empty bags of chocolate chips and chunks so combined forces in these cookies and actually like how the texture turned out as a result.  Love those happy accidents!  Instead of traditional salt I used fleur de sel (fancy French sea salt) which gave it a little extra bite as well.

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Tahini kind of reminds me of peanut butter but not as sweet.  I don’t know that I’ll be smearing it all over a piece of bread anytime soon but think it will be great as a substitute in baked goods.

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These cookies are a nice twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie.  They are not quite as sweet and have the subtle sesame seed flavoring that I found to be very nice and I think you will too.

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Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies (inspired by recipe found in “La Tartine Gourmande” by Beatrice Peltre)

  • 1 1/2 sticks of butter (12 tablespoons), softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 white sugar
  • 4 tablespoons tahini
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel (sea salt)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; add the eggs one at a time until well blended.  Blend in tahini until incorporated.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to the wet ingredients and stir until well blended.  Stir in vanilla until combined and then stir in chocolate chips.

Place small rounds of dough two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until brown.  Let cool and enjoy.

the simplest and most amazing toffee you’ll ever eat

Posted in dessert by

I first had a version of this toffee at a friend’s Passover dinner a few years back and I shamelessly ate more than my fair share at the end of the long meal.  I couldn’t help myself it was so good!

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My friend told me then how easy it was to make but I decided not to attempt it on my own because this is exactly the sort of thing you don’t want sitting around your house or you will eat it all in a very short amount of time and then feel guilty for having done so.  However, it is a great thing to make when you need to bring a sweet treat to a party or event on short notice because it is super quick and simple to make.  There are only five ingredients: matzo crackers, butter, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and whatever you choose to top it with– shredded coconut, crushed peppermint candies, toasted sesame seeds, dried cranberries, or in this case, sea salt.

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After laying out matzo crackers on a foil-lined baking sheet you make caramel in a saucepan by heating up butter and brown sugar over medium-high heat until it gets all thick and gooey.

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Then you spread the caramel over the matzo crackers and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes until it gets bubbly.

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Scatter semi-sweet (it would be good with dark chocolate too!) chocolate chips over the hot caramel and let sit for 5 minutes so that the chocolate melts.

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Then spread the chocolate around with a spatula and finally sprinkle with sea salt (or topping of choice) and let cool and harden.

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The final step is to break up the toffee into pieces to serve and watch it disappear.  Hopefully not all into your mouth but I totally wouldn’t judge if it did…

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Matzo Toffee (adapted from recipe by Zoe Bakes found at www.lhj.com)

  • 6  unsalted matzo crackers cup
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  •  Sea salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with greased foil and arrange crackers in an even layer.

In a saucepan, make caramel by heating the butter and sugar over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until sugar dissolved and mixture has thickened, 3 to 5 min. Pour caramel over crackers, using a spatula to spread in an even layer. Bake until caramel is bubbly, 15 min. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top; let chocolate sit for 5 min, then spread evenly over crackers. Sprinkle surface with sea salt and chill to set chocolate.

Transfer to a cutting board and peel away foil before cutting into strips. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

salty caramel ice cream

Posted in dessert, gluten free, ice cream by

I love ice cream.  It has been my most favorite food ever since I was a kid and in fact one of the first things I remember wanting to be when I grew up was an owner of a Dairy Queen.  True story.  My very first job was at a Dairy-Queen-like place in my hometown and I can easily ramble off some of the best places to get ice cream across the country off the top of my head (Herrell’s in Northampton, MA, Cones in New York City, Shatila in Dearborn, MI, Babcock Dairy in Madison, WI, see?)  I would add Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream in Columbus, OH to this list only I have never actually been there.  If I ever find myself in Columbus you can bet I will be stopping by, but until then I plan to work my way through Jeni’s cookbook.  (Is it still called a “cookbook” when it’s all about ice cream?)

I decided to start with her Salty Caramel ice cream which is apparently her most popular flavor.  I am always a fan of salty and sweet together so dove in even though the first step is to burn raw sugar in a saucepan which I found slightly daunting.  I shouldn’t have.  It was easy!

Jeni’s recipes don’t involve egg yolks which was a first for me when making ice cream and suited me just fine since it is easy to start to cook the egg yolks while making the custard and that is no bueno.  No one wants a cooked egg bite when eating ice cream.  Yick.

This ice cream is divine.  You can taste the burnt sugar caramel-y goodness with the hint of the sea salt.  It is creamy and smooth and all the things you want ice cream to be.  It was also fantastic when paired with the gluten-free brownies I made earlier in the week– especially if you heat the brownies up a bit first!  Mmm…  Going for a jog now.

Salty Caramel Ice Cream (from “Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home” by Jeni Britton Bauer)

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.

Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.

Mix the cream with the corn syrup in a measuring cup with a spout.

Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Heat the sugar in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat until it is melted and golden amber in color.  Remove from the heat and, stirring constantly, slowly add a bit of the cream and corn syrup mixture to the caramel: it will fizzle, pop, and spurt.  Stir until well combined, then add a little more and stir.  Keep adding the cream a little at a time until all of it is incorporated.

Return the pan to medium-high heat and add the milk.  Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.

Bring back to a boil over medium-high and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from the heat.  If any caramel flecks remain, pour the mixture through a sieve.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the vanilla and whisk.  Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath.  Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

Pour into frozen ice cream maker canister and spin until thick and creamy.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid.  Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

the premiere post

Posted in brownie by

Hello world.  I’d like to tell you about the most exciting thing that has happened to me so far this year. 

First, you must understand that I like to bake and that I have been doing so since I was a little kid when my mom would put a step stool in front of the kitchen counter so I could help roll out and frost cookies with her.  As an adult I have become known for my baking– always bringing homemade brownies, cookies, cakes, and pies to celebrate various occasions amongst coworkers, friends, and family, and at the risk of sounding immodest, I have been told that I’m pretty good at it.  I once even received a marriage proposal from a gay man after he had a bite of one of my confections.  However, hearing it doesn’t mean you believe it so this winter when I saw an ad for a bake-off at the local library I decided to go for it and see if there was any legitimacy to that marriage proposal.  The theme of the bake-off?  Chocolate.  Something I know a lot about.

I wanted to try something a little different from the ordinary and have always been a fan of salty and sweet combinations so I opted to make a fleur de sel brownie.  Never heard of fleur de sel before?  I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s just salt.  Fancy sea salt.  From France.

And let me tell you: it’s not cheap and it’s not easy to find in a medium-sized city in the Midwest but I made it happen, and boy was it worth it.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s start at the beginning, with butter– where all good things start.

You melt some butter with some chocolate…

…then you mix it with things like eggs, cocoa powder, and sugar:

You also have to make caramel that starts out looking like this:

And ends up looking like this:

Put it all together, sprinkle some of that fancy French sea salt on it:

And bake it:

So how did my first bake-off go, you ask?  Well let’s just say, perhaps I should have taken my friend’s proposal more seriously…

Fleur de Sel Brownies, adapted from Salted Fudge Brownies from Food & Wine magazine (recipe by Kate Krader), and Sweet and Salty Brownie from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

  • Prep Time 15 Minutes
  • Cook Time 38 Minutes 
  • Servings: 8

Brownie Ingredients

  • 1-½ stick Butter
  • 2 ounces Dark Chocolate, broken into chunks (I used chocolate with 72% cocoa content)
  • ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  • 1 ¼ cups Sugar
  • 3 whole Eggs, warmed to room temperature
  • 1-½ teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup All-purpose Flour
  • ½ tablespoon instant Espresso Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel (coarse sea salt)

Caramel Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup Sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
  • ½ cup Heavy Cream
  • 1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel
  • ¼ cup Sour Cream

Caramel Preparation Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup with ¼ cup water, stirring them together carefully so you don’t splash the side of the pan.  Cook over high heat until the mixture is dark amber in color, 6 to 8 minutes.  Remove from heat, and slowly add the cream and then the fleur de sel.  Whisk in the sour cream.  Set aside to cool.

Brownie Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Place a large piece of foil in a 9-inch square metal cake pan, draping the foil over the edges. Grease foil with butter.

Melt the 1 ½ sticks of butter with the dark chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Whisk to combine. Add the cocoa, sugar, eggs, vanilla, espresso powder, and flour.  Whisk to combine, though be careful not to over mix.  Pour three-quarters of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.  Set aside the remaining batter.

Bake for about 18 minutes then remove from oven.  Drizzle about ½ cup of the caramel over the brownies and use spatula to spread around, avoiding the corners of the pan.  Put the remainder of brownie batter over the layer of caramel and spread around with spatula.  Sprinkle top with fleur de sel.  Bake for an additional 18 to 20 minutes.

Cool at room temperature in the pan for about a half hour, then lift the brownies from the pan and refrigerate in the foil just until they are firm.  Remove from foil and cut the brownies into 12 or 16 squares.