The ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe?

When I dream a little dream, I dream of tossing everything out, of moving somewhere else, of starting a new, fresh life. The thought thrills me. What would happen? Where would I go? Who would I be?

I'd probably never do that though.

I'm very attached to my city of Montreal. I've lived here all my life. My family is here. Many of my friends are here. Friends and family aside and as ridiculous as this probably sounds, the thing that I love the most about Montreal is my home. Sure, it's a little messy at the best of times, but it's all me. I really, really love it. It's my safe haven.

The problem with homes is broken locks. My little world (including my cat) were locked inside, and I was locked outside, completely separated and stuck.

I'm not going to deny the flashes of panic that passed through my mind. I was lucky that my temporary roomie was there by my side to keep me grounded and distracted from the severity of the situation. It took 3 locksmiths and eight hours to get us settled back inside. It cost a fortune. And the future holds more expenses and repairs on my damaged front door and lock.

I will never forget the sound of the locksmiths hammering, drilling, forcing, and cracking open the door to the little apartment I call my home. There was a lot of swearing during the struggle. I had this worry that my cat would be stuck inside forever and starve. Completely ridiculous, but by the seventh hour, I was internally freaking out. The situation just wasn't funny anymore.

What recipes do you bake to make your house a home? A batch of chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven, helps me forget. The scent of sweet baking, chocolate and vanilla, fills my injured apartment, and transforms it back into my home. My cat runs straight for her bowl of food when she hears that I have filled it until it overflows, just in case. She plays with her bits of food like they are miniature hockey pucks. The fact that she is spreading greasy, smelly cat food all through my home doesn't bother me in the slightest.

This ever-popular cookie recipe is a definite keeper (from Jacques Torres, and published in a 2008 issue of the New York Times). The recipe is standard, just like most other chocolate chip cookie recipes, a simple list of ingredients that make this apartment my home. The technique is what sets this recipe apart (a rest period of 24–72 hours for the dough prior to baking). It allows me to settle my nerves in a matter of minutes with dough that I made a few days ago. Resting the dough transforms a good'ol chocolate chip cookie dough into the perfect cookie: crispy, chewy, sweet, salty, chocolaty. The texture of the rested dough is completely different from that of a freshly prepared batch. It's definitely worth the wait.

Best part: just pull it out of the fridge, scoop, and bake it. Better yet, always have a batch of the rested dough on hand, pre-scooped and frozen. Pull a couple scoops out of the freezer, bake (350°F, 18 minutes), et voilà!
The two types of cookies featured here actually came from the same batch, split in half prior to adding the chocolate. To half the dough, I added dark chocolate chips, to the other half, the same amount of dark chocolate chips that I had ground up in the food processor. The ground semi-sweet chips render the cookie slightly less sweet. The effect is welcome.

The ultimate chocolate chip cookie

Makes ~60 2-inch cookies

• 8 1/2 oz cake flour
• 8 1/2 oz all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 10 oz (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 10 oz light brown sugar
• 8 oz granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 lbs semi-sweet chocolate chips (either whole or ground in the food processor)

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars for at least 5 minutes, or until the mixture becomes very light in color.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the bowl between each addition.
   
4. Add the vanilla, and beat again.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed.
   
6. Add the chocolate and mix to incorporate.
7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 36 to 72 hours.
8. To bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Scoop tablespoons of cold, rested cookie dough, shape into balls, and place about 1 inch apart on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet.
9. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Place the sheet on a wire rack to cool slightly before diving in.
10. Alternatively, freeze the balls of cookie dough on a baking sheet, then transfer to a tupperware to store in the freezer for when you need a cookie or two.

I have a new roommate, and it's a blast! We chat all day long, watch back-to-back seasons of Gilmore Girls, skim through magazines, and share our favorite blogs with each other. She even helps me polish off the left-over cake (my waist-line is very grateful!) and also gets me to eat my vegetables (salads with a friend are so much tastier and more creative than salads prepared alone!). She walks with me to the market to get fresh fruit, and understands/encourages my popcorn addiction (popcorn makes my world a happier place). It's great! She even does most of the dishes! It's wonderful (and it's not just because she does the dishes)!

Since it's raspberry season, I made us some raspberry blondies. Of course, it was raining when I was getting ready to make this recipe, and I had eaten all the fresh raspberries for breakfast. So, I had no fresh raspberries to add to the blondies... I cheated and used frozen. Don't judge me. It was raining and thundering, which didn't seem like good conditions for raspberry hunting.

My roomie is very understanding, so she was completely on board with my using frozen raspberries instead of fresh, given the circumstances. Awesome!

The great thing about incorporating raspberries into my usual blondie recipe: the raspberries are nice and tart, which is a welcome flavor in a sweet blondie bar. And, as the raspberries sink into the bar when you bake them, they make the cutest little heart shapes!

I baked these at 325°F for 40 minutes in a 9x13 glass baking dish, which yielded a pan of bars with chewy edges, while the center pieces were fudgy. Best of both worlds!

Raspberry chocolate chip blondies

Makes ~15 (depending on how big you cut them)

• 2 1/4 cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups (400 grams) dark brown sugar (or half dark and half light), packed
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) spiced rum
• 1 cup (160 g)dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup (110g) fresh or frozen raspberries
• Milk

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 9x13-inch Pyrex baking dish, and set it aside for later.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set this dry mixture aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar for 1 minute.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix for 2 minutes or until the mixture has lightened in color. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Add the vanilla and the rum. Mix to combine.
6. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry mixture. Beat until just combined, then add in the chocolate chips, and beat on low until the chunks are evenly distributed.
7. Dollop into the prepared pan, and spread the mixture evenly, using your hands to press it into place.
8. Sprinkle with the raspberries.
9. Bake for 35–40 minutes (because I like my edges nice and browned, I baked the blondies for a solid 40 minutes).
10. Cool the blondies in the pan, on a wire rack. Cut into squares and serve with a tall glass of milk.

A framboisier to celebrate a year aka vanilla sponge layers filled with raspberries and white chocolate buttercream

Fraisiers and framboisiers may be two of my favorite cakes. They feature two layers of sponge cake (génoise) with a buttercream filling or even "chantilly" cream, and a layer of fruits (fraises—strawberries, or framboises—raspberries). The cake is traditionally topped with marzipan, dyed a lovely shade of pastel pink, though sometimes it is simply topped with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar.

In my mind, the fraisier is definitely a celebration cake. When I was baptised, my parents served a fraisier in celebration to our family. Fraisiers were served at countless birthdays, and always from the same patisserie in town. And today is my blog's first birthday, so I felt a framboisier (the raspberry version of the fraisier) was called for to mark the occasion.

I'm both proud and amazed that my little blog made it to a year. At the 6-month mark, I was ready to quit. I was drained from work and couldn't take a photo for my life (in fact, I think at some point, my photography actually got worse instead of improving). Somewhere between the exhaustion and frustration of it all, my blog just wasn't me anymore, or the "me" was gone from my blog. It was kind of sad. I was disappointed.

My blog means a lot to me. I'm not blogging because I want to be the next Food Network star (hell no!). I'm not looking for fame as others are. I'm not really looking for fortune either (though I do have some google ads on the site, they may never pay even a single bill....). I'm pretty sure that I'm not here with the goal of publishing a cookbook either.

I have no idea what makes a good blog. All I know is that I have a blog as an outlet, mainly for all the baking I do. I love to bake. Baking is my passion. It has been for years. I want to bake for others. I want to share my baking with you (and maybe a story or two about how I can't change a lightbulb, or that I'm thinking about taking up tennis just to meet my potential-future-husband). 

My blog is not perfect, and neither am I. My framboisier is not perfect either. When I began putting together this post, I had visions of a perfect layer cake that did not quite become reality. I should probably have been more vigilant with the placement of the raspberries. Perhaps I could have been a little more careful when photographing because a couple of the raspberries got "weepy," and dribbled a little of their juice. I could've selected raspberries from the pint that were more close in size, and not a mix of big ones and small ones....

Well. It is what it is. I'm not going to fret over it more, and it tastes really good, so really, what am I complaining about? This is my go-to celebration cake, and I love it just the way it is.

Here's the recipe to make a framboisier. It's got a lot of parts, but you can actually make it in an afternoon, so don't freak out on me. This cake is worth the time spent. You can use any berry you'd like, really, but I much prefer to use raspberries because their tart flavor cuts through the buttery sweetness of the white chocolate buttercream. I applied a little boozy syrup to the layers to moisten them. I went fancy-schmancy and used Chambord, a raspberry liqueur. Of course, you don't have to add booze to the syrup, but really, the cake is so much better with it. Trust me. Oh and if you are feeling ambitious, you can color some marzipan to a pastel pink with some food dye, and roll, cut, and top the cake with it to make this layer cake into a true framboisier. I was lazy. So I sprinkled powdered sugar generously over top. Now, I think I'll celebrate with a slice of cake!

Framboisier (vanilla sponge layers filled with raspberries and white chocolate buttercream)

Makes one 8-inch cake


Sponge layers

• 1 génoise cake, trimmed and split into two (I use this recipe from Ricardo, and I baked it in an 8-inch springform greased and lined with parchment for 35 min at 350°F)

Soaking syrup

• 50 grams (~1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 100 mL (~3/8 cup, ie less than 1/2 cup) water
• 2–4 tbsp Chambord (or any liqueur you'd like to use)

White chocolate buttercream (I used about half of this recipe and froze the rest for another day)

• 1 batch swiss meringue buttercream (I used Sweetapolita's recipe
• 114 grams (4 oz) white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

Framboisier topping

• 200 grams marzipan, dyed with a few drops red food coloring, rolled and cut to fit the top of the cake
OR
• Powdered sugar

To make the soaking syrup

1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water on medium-high heat. Bring it just to a simmer, and leave it to simmer, swirling often, until all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat to cool completely.
2. When the syrup has cooled, add the Chambord (to taste), and stir. Set aside for later.

To make the white chocolate buttercream

1. Combine the swiss meringue buttercream with the melted chocolate. You can do this in your mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a spatula by hand. Personally, I like to do this with the mixer. It's easier.

To assemble the framboisier

1. Place 1 cake round on your cake turntable, cut-side up.
2. Brush on a couple tablespoons of soaking syrup
3. Meanwhile, brush the cut-side of the other cake round with a couple more tablespoons of syrup and set aside.
4. Top the cake round on the turntable with a scant 2/3 cup buttercream, and spread it to cover the surface of the cake.
5. Sprinkle the raspberries over top
6. Top with another scant 2/3 cup buttercream, and spread it carefully over the raspberries.
7. Place the second cake round, cut-side down, over the buttercream layer. Press it down gently.
   
8. If you are topping your cake with a marzipan layer, spread a thin layer of buttercream over top to adhere the marzipan. If not, dust generously with powdered sugar just before celebrating.

A summer cookie tart topped with basil strawberries and yoghurt cream

I think one of my favorite things about summer is the strawberry season in Quebec. Sure the blueberries from Lac St-Jean are excellent, petite and bursting with flavor. The raspberries are also fantastic, firm with a slightly tart flavor. And though, when given the choice, I will almost always pick a raspberry dessert over a strawberry one, the strawberries are my favorite local summer fruit.

Quebec strawberries are completely different from the ones imported from California. They are much smaller, more flavorful, and they really ressemble what we picture a strawberry should look like. I especially love the little unripened baby strawberries that sometimes get mixed into a pint. Still attached to the branch, they are absolutely adorable and pale, but if you leave them in a semi-sunny area, they will actually ripen into the tiniest of tasty berries.

I love to bake with strawberries, but I also love to eat them raw. I think desserts that call for garnishing with sliced, fresh strawberries are the best way to use the precious Quebec strawberries. They are so flavorful that I sometimes feel it's a bit of a sin to bake them because they loose a lot of their character.

This recipe was take from a magazine entitled Ricardo. It's a Quebec magazine, published in French. Recently, I have found the issues to be more and more inspiring, and I fell in love with the latest magazine (Volume 9, number 6). I'm sure this cookie tart might have been the deal-breaker for me. What's not to love about this recipe? A simple sugar cookie dough is pressed into a fluted tart pan and baked into a giant sugar cookie with crispy golden-brown edges. When the cookie is cooled, it is topped with whipped cream (in my case, I made a yoghurt cream that is to die for) and fresh berries (I opted for sugared strawberries with a little basil). Probably the hardest part is hulling and slicing the berries in half. This dessert is all about showcasing the flavor of the strawberries. I love the slight tang of the yoghurt cream that is nestled between the salty-sweet sugar cookie and the layer of sweet strawberries and basil.

I'm submitting this post to Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice for her weekly "Magazine Monday" post, a roundup of posts from bloggers who tested out some magazine recipes.  It's always so fun to find out what magazines other bloggers are reading, and also to see how the recipes faired when tested in our home kitchens.

Cookie tart topped with basil strawberries and yoghurt cream

Makes one 9-inch tart


Cookie base

• 110 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 40 g (1/4 cup) powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 140 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour

Strawberries

• ~3 cups strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced in half
• 50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 5–6 leaves basil, chopped, plus more for garnish

Yoghurt cream

• 250 mL (1 cup) whipping cream (35%)
• 60 mL (1/4 cup) plain yoghurt (2.5%)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

For the cookie base

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar, with the salt and vanilla.
3. On low speed, slowly add the flour. When the flour is mostly incorporated, increase the speed of the mixer until the ingredients come together to form a nice cookie dough.
4. Press the cookie dough flatly and evenly into a fluted tart pan with removable bottom (you don't want to have an edge. This should look like a giant cookie).
5. Place the tart pan in the oven, and bake the cookie until the edges turn golden, about 20 minutes.
6. Let the tart cool completely before unmolding onto a serving plate (I left the cookie on the tart pan base, but you don't have to).

For the strawberries

1. Mix the sliced strawberries with the sugar and basil in a medium bowl. Let them macerate while you prepare the cream.

For the yoghurt cream

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the yoghurt and the cream into soft peaks.
2. Add the sugar, and continue whipping until the cream has reached the desired thickness.

Assembly

1. Spread the cream over the cooled cookie base, leaving a half-inch edge.
2. Top with the macerated strawberries, and garnish with a few fresh basil leaves.