National Chocolate Chip day!

Today is National Chocolate Chip day!

We thought the BEST way to celebrate this was with some delicious, soft chocolate chip cookies from the Chocolate Chip Cookie’s book from chroniclebooks!

SOFT

Bread flour, with its high gluten content, gives the cookie its soft bite, and an extra egg yolk helps bind the dough. It has a high percentage of brown sugar to white sugar, resulting in a deeper, more caramelized flavour.

Makes about 27 cookies

1¼ cups/155 g unbleached bread flour

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup/115 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup/50 g granulated sugar

¾ cup plus 1 tbsp/160 g packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

¾ cup/125 g semisweet chocolate chips

¾ cup/85 g chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Adjust the racks so they divide the oven into thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until smooth and well blended, about 1 minute. Add the egg and mix until completely combined. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix until completely combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined, scraping the bowl if necessary to incorporate the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips and nuts (if using) and mix on low speed until evenly distributed. The dough should be smooth, dense, and somewhat pliable. (This dough benefits from resting in the fridge, covered, for 12 to 24 hours before baking.)

Using a small ice-cream scoop or tablespoon measure, drop well-rounded balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 2 in/5 cm apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time, just until the edges turn golden.

When cool enough to handle, transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the cookies will keep for 2 to 3 days.

Photographs copyright © 2013 by Antonis Achilleos

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Abrams&Chronicle Books top tips for being a proper lush.

Is Riesling the ‘Best White Wine on Earth’?

Personally, we like a good box of Pinot Grigio, but we’re not fussy.

Wine’s wine, right?

Well, no. It’s all in the way you drink it. Allegedly.

So, without further ado, here are Abrams&Chronicle Books top tips for being a proper lush.

1. Never, ever leave wine behind. 

This applies to all situations. Including, not showing up at a dinner party empty handed and not leaving that final sip in the glass when the barman is shouting at you to leave the bar at 3am.

2. Always taste before you commit to a bottle.

Sure, you don’t know what you’re doing but, who are you to turn down free wine?

3. The vessel is everything.

Stuart Pigott says that the right glass will free up the aromas and make your wine all the more pleasing.

Your perfect glass is your call.

Just don’t drink it from a mug. Be better than that.

4. Match your choice of wine to your meal.

White with fish. Red with beef. Rosé over a bag of pub crisps.

5. Don’t drink the house.

It’s generally terrible. Don’t go mad though, next on the list will do the job.

This also applies to not drinking every drop of wine you have in your house. You are not Bridget Jones.

6. It’s all psychological.

Stuart believes that if you think a wine is expensive you’re more likely to think it tastes better. Luckily, lying to yourself becomes really easy when wine is involved eg. “Yes, we absolutely need another bottle”

He also tells us that Riesling has the smallest mark-up in price, and thus, we have been converted.

Help us, we’re poor but we love wine.

Bottoms up!

Best White Wine on Earth, 9781617691102, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, £15.99, July 2014

Pancake Day Treats!

For those wanting to try something more than lemon & sugar today (classic as it is!) Try our The Ultimate “Puffy” Pancakes from Yvette Van Boven’s Home Made Summer!

The Ultimate “Puffy” Pancakes

FOR A BIG PILE OF 20 PANCAKES

• 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp (20 g) baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp (1 envelope) vanilla sugar, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 7 tbsp (100 g) butter, cut into chunks, plus more for the pan
• 1½ cups (350 ml) milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten

FOR SERVING

• ½ pint (200 g) raspberries
• ¾ cup (200 g) crème fraîche
• superfine sugar for garnish

In a big bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and the plain and vanilla sugar (if using extract, add it later). Combine the butter and milk in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the vanilla extract, if using.

Pour the warm milk-butter mixture into the flour mixture in the bowl while stirring, then whisk until all the lumps are dissolved.

Beat in the eggs.

Heat 1 teaspoon butter in a skillet over medium heat and pour three ladlefuls of batter into the pan, slightly apart so you have three small pancakes.

Cook for about 3 minutes, or until small holes break out on the surface, then flip and cook them for 2 minutes on the other side. Repeat with more butter and the remaining batter. Keep the cooked pancakes warm on a plate covered with foil in a low oven while you cook the rest.

Serve with raspberries, crème fraîche, and a sprinkle of super­fine sugar.