CLASSIC CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN BLONDIES

ANOTHER TRIP

Summer journeys to Niag'ra
and to other places aggra-
vate all our cares.
We'll save our fares!

I've a cozy little flat in
what is known as old Manhattan
we'll settle down
right here in town!

And tell me what street
compares with Mott Street
in July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.

The great big city's a wonderous toy
just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan
into an isle of joy!
- Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers

I am packing for a trip to New York City. How exciting and special is this trip – the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference and I am attending! I’ll be hugging friends once again that I have had the great luck to have already met, meeting and spending time with others. This is a learning and working trip: meetings, appointments, introductions, and sessions. I feel like I’ve finally grown up and can join the real professionals, and that is extremely gratifying, thrilling and motivating. Yet, this will be my first trip back to New York since that visit with my brother Michael during his illness, since his death. My first time not staying with him. Daunting, to say the least. And truly bittersweet, like a thick, bitter-tinged salted butter caramel wrapped around the big juicy sweet apple.

I rush around the apartment, doing laundry, catching up on long-neglected e-mails, finishing articles and cleaning the kitchen. My suitcase lies empty and gaping, nagging me to pay it some heed. I normally begin packing several weeks before a trip, yet I can’t seem to concentrate on the task at hand. Too excited? Distracted? Feeling unorganized and unprepared? Maybe. Likely. So I do more laundry, type more e-mails, change the sheets on our bed once again and bake.


My family has not quite gotten used to my leaving for chunks of time, even as I leave more often. They get along just fine without me – shopping, marketing, cooking, laundry – everything runs smoothly with only men in the house! Yet they are sad when I leave them; my company is always in demand, whether it be for a stroll around town just to get a bit of fresh air or when errands are needed to be run. And now that we are house hunting and decisions need to be made on the spot, I leave a wide gap in that need and decisions risk being made without me. But I am more than happy to leave the three of them on their own for a week here and there, no matter how much I miss them. They do that man thing and bond – they go out for pizza, watch action films (think giant fire balls, gladiators or something military), take Marty outside of the city for a run in the great outdoors. Much time will be spent in the garage readjusting the Lambretta and taking it for a spin around the block, putting together Simon’s portfolio and sometimes I suspect that things may just run a bit more smoothly and comfortably without my female presence and point of view. And big mouth.

Start spreading the news,
I'm leaving today.
I want to be a part of it -
New York, New York.

These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
And step around the heart of it
New York, New York.

I want to wake up in a city,
That doesn't sleep,
To find I'm king of the hill,
Head of the list,
Cream of the crop
At top of the heap.
- John Kander, Fred Ebb

What will New York hold for me? Many have such high hopes for me, yet I go with rather a large blank running through my head, quite possibly the reason I find it hard to get overly excited about something so formidable and utterly exciting before I actually step into the crowded hotel lobby. Finding myself surrounded by hundreds of food writers, photographers, editors, cookbook authors and chefs is indeed daunting, yet thrilling and inspiring. As shy and uncomfortable as I am around people that I do not know – and who somehow all seem to already know each other – I rarely have problems introducing myself. I have been promised that attendees of this conference are wildly friendly and open to random self-introductions, happy to take one by the hand and show one the way. I have a list of far-away friends to meet, a schedule written down in black on white of breakfasts, lunches and dinners organized. This will be the time to share ideas, listen and discuss while being back in one of the world’s most exciting cities. Oh yeah. And as my friend Ken says, we’ll be eating our way across Manhattan!


And so I fly away across the ocean, leaving my men one more time. They’ll be perfectly fine with my short absence, yet I do not like to leave them empty handed. And so I bake. I love to leave them a sweet treat or two to see them through my time away; a coffee cake, a tin of cookies and a pan of brownies always soothes their moments empty of me! I threw together one of our favourite snacks, a pan of Classic Blondies chock full of mini chocolate chips and crunchy pecans, flavored with a hint of cinnamon and grated orange zest. Easy to make and oh so easy going down. My men are crazy about chocolate chip cookies and this is as good as if not better.


CLASSIC CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN BLONDIES
With a kiss of cinnamon and orange – adapted from Linda Burum’s Brownies

A long-time family favourite.

1 ¼ cups (175 g) flour, lightly spooned into the measuring cup and levelled
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ - 1 tsp ground cinnamon, depending on taste
Finely grated zest of one orange, preferably untreated, optional
2/3 cup (about 11 1/3 Tbs, 160 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
½ cup (100 g) granulated white sugar
2/3 cup (140 g) packed light or golden brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 tsps milk
½ - 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
½ - 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and butter a 9 x 9-inch metal cake pan.

Stir or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and finely grated zest in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter with the granulated sugar until blended, smooth and fluffy. Beat in the brown sugar until blended, smooth and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding the vanilla with the second egg, just until blended. Beat in the milk.

Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients just until blended; fold in the chips and the nuts until evenly distributed.

Spread the batter evenly and smoothly in the prepared baking pan and bake for about 30 minutes until the center is just set; cover the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil for the last 5 minutes of baking if the Blondies are browning too quickly.


Remove the Blondies from the oven and allow to cool on a rack. Eat warm or at room temperature. And a spoonful of Salted Butter Caramel Sauce or two never hurt anyone. Mama says.

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THINK PINK MACARONS for PINK OCTOBER

PINK BERRY MACARONS WITH MILK CHOCOLATE GANACHE


Old faded Kodachrome snapshots scattered across the table bring back a flurry of half-faded memories. Family vacations down in Miami Beach, that long drive down the coast, catching glimpses of the frothy white surf framed against the backdrop of Florida blue. Excited visions of palm trees reaching skyward and swaying gently in the ocean breeze offering us her heavy fruit snatched up from where they lay fallen, hidden in the bushes around Uncle Eli’s house. The magic of Wolfie’s delicatessen, huge bustling Wolfie’s, waiters scurrying between the tables heaving trays groaning under plates piled high with hot pastrami sandwiches, thick slices of salty lox hugged in between halves of chewy bagels and bowls of steaming golden chicken soup and snappy green dill pickles, the delights we enjoyed much too rarely. And cousins. We had little contact with my dad’s side of the family except on these much-too-rare, hurried weekends down in Miami. Vacations were always spent with my maternal cousins, aunts and uncles; and as dad never even talked about his family, there was always something mysterious and intriguing about them, about this odd, once-in-a-blue-moon contact with my paternal cousins.


One trip down, I was maybe 12 years old, we met my dad’s sister, her husband and their three children, all around our ages. They were the height of New York sophistication to our small town naiveté. Our maybe just my own. My cousin A., two years older than I, was gorgeous and chic, funny and outgoing, everything that I wasn’t. Everything that I longed to be. I simply wanted to be like her, but feared that I never would be, never could be. Our visit with them that weekend in that luxurious hotel made me wonder just what we had been missing not being in touch with this side of the family, and created in my mind a curiosity that would hang over me for many years to come, only strengthened by the occasional brief meeting, few and far between.

I finally got to know A. After spending 5 years researching our genealogy, I tracked down all of these mysterious aunts and uncles and cousins, an astonishing extended family most of whom I knew absolutely nothing about, some of whom I had known not even of their existence. And I organized a family reunion, the first of two. I spent much time talking with Andrea who was still beautiful, chic, sophisticated, funny and outgoing. We were adults, wives and mothers now but not much else had changed. She was still easy to talk to and just as fascinating, just as much fun. We stayed in touch for a while but, as usually happens, time and distance put a space between us and we didn’t talk again until I called her this past summer. I called her to talk about my brother, his illness and death. Michael and A. had stayed in touch and, as they lived fairly close to one another, saw each other more often than the rest of us did. Pained words passed between us as we mourned his loss, pained words that slowly transformed into happy thoughts as we discussed the husbands and the kids, all grown now – or mostly so – and how well they have each turned out. And then we talked about her.


You see, A. has been battling breast cancer for several years. Really battling against very heavy odds. And listening to her talk about it, I am amazed at her strength and courage in front of such a tragedy. She carries on, head held high, reveling in the joy of her family life and her kids, having a great time at her job, and she speaks of it all in terms of acceptance, a “this is life” attitude. She reminds me of the wonderful friend I spoke of in a different post who also faced the seemingly impossible with strength, courage, dignity while focusing on the here and now, the necessary. Life is what it is and we must deal with it and carry on against all odds. Embrace life and be thankful for what we have. And I have tried to learn from these women who have each accepted their fate, who fight the battle while looking to get the most out of life.


This is Pink October, a month dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness, and Deeba and I have chosen Pink as our Macaron theme, asking all of our fellow MacPassionate bakers to Think Pink! I have created Berry Pink Macarons filled with Milk Chocolate Ganache and share the wish that we all take a moment to think about this devastating disease and how many women around us have been touched by it. I know several. I also understand the importance of research, of cures, of solutions. By Thinking Pink we can all help spread the awareness and share the hope that one day this will be a disease of the past.


THINK PINK BERRY MACARONS for Pink October
With Milk Chocolate Ganache


7.2 oz (200 g) confectioner’s/powdered sugar
4 oz (115 g ) ground blanched almonds
3 large egg whites (about 3.8 – 4 oz/ 110 – 112 g)
1 oz (30 g) granulated sugar
2 Tbs all-natural Berry Tea (I used a mixture of Hibiscus, Apple, Rosehip, Strawberry & Grape, Elderberry, Blackcurrent)
1 tsp cranberry powder
¼ tsp pink gel food coloring

Prepare 2 large baking sheets. On 2 large pieces of white paper the size of your baking sheets, trace 1 – inch diameter circles (I used the wide end of my pastry tip) evenly spaced, leaving about ¾ - 1 inch between each circle. This will be your template to help you pipe even circles of batter onto the parchment paper. You will be able to reuse these endlessly. Place one paper on each baking sheet then cover with parchment paper. Set aside. Prepare a pastry bag with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809).

Place the three egg whites in a medium-sized bowl (I prefer plastic) and add a dash of salt to help stabilize the whites. Set aside.

Place the fruit tea in a grinder with about half of the ground almonds and whiz until as fine as possible. Sift into a large bowl, discard the leftover solids and then add more ground almonds to the sifted fruity almonds until desired quantity/weight. Sift the powdered sugar over the ground almonds in the bowl, add the cranberry powder and whisk to blend.

In a standing mixer or with a hand mixer, whip the egg whites for 30 seconds on low speed then increase speed to high and whip until the whites are foamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar as you continue to whip the whites until you obtain a glossy meringue and all of the sugar has been beaten in. The meringue will be very stiff (turn the bowl upside down over your head and they shouldn’t move) and be dense like marshmallow.

Gently but firmly fold the whipped whites into the powdered sugar/ground almonds, using a silicone spatula or the equivalent, turning the bowl as you lift and fold, making sure you fold in all the dry ingredients completely. When the batter is ready to pipe, it should flow from the spatula like lava or a thick ribbon. To test to see if you have folded it enough, drop a small amount onto a clean plate and jiggle it slightly. The top should flatten, not remain in a point. If it doesn’t flatten, give the batter a few more folds and test again.

You can also fold the powdered mixture into the meringue if it is easier for you.

Fill your pastry bag with the batter. Pipe circles onto the parchment paper, using the traced circles on the template sheets to guide you, holding your pastry bag above each circle and piping into the center. DO NOT FORGET TO CAREFULLY REMOVE THE WHITE PAPER TEMPLATE FROM UNDERNEATH THE PARCHMENT PAPER. YOU DO NOT WANT THIS TEMPLATE TO GO IN THE OVEN!

You can dust some of the shells with pink colored sugar to decorate.

Preheat your oven to 280°F (140°C).

Allow the macarons to sit out for 30 minutes to an hour. The top of each shell should form a “skin” (it will feel like it hardened a bit when gently touched). Bake the shells for 15 – 20 minutes, depending on their size (when I touched macs that were not quite done, the top jiggled a bit as if there was still a bit of liquid batter between the top and the “feet” so I let it continue to bake another minute or two.) I turn the trays back to front halfway through the baking.

Remove the tray from the oven and immediately slide the parchment paper with the shells off of the hot baking sheet and onto a surface, table or countertop. Allow to cool before sliding the shells very gently off of the parchment by slipping a metal cake spatula under the shell as you lift it up. Be careful or the center of the shell risks sticking to the parchment.
Milk Chocolate Ganache

5 ¼ oz (150 g) milk baking chocolate
3/5 cup (150 ml) heavy cream *

* basically, when making ganache with milk chocolate, use equal quantity chocolate and cream

Chop the chocolate and place in a bowl. Scald the cream and pour over the chopped chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow to stand, chilling in the refrigerator if necessary, until thick enough to pipe while holding its shape (not sliding off of the shell).

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