chocolate cupcakes

Last week, I baked chocolate cupcakes for the first time. Cupcakes are one my favorite sweets - little handheld cakes which are essentially vehicles for decadent, sugary frosting. Cupcakes surged in popularity across America in the early 2000's, with local bakeries and national chains producing creative spins on this classic dessert. Red velvet cupcakes became something of a phenomenon and a top choice to serve to guests for virtually any special occasion.

I searched far and wide for the "perfect" cupcake recipe and I landed on this one by I Am Baker. Give it a shot - it's terrific! This recipe makes one of the best frostings I've ever had. The cream cheese gives the chocolate frosting a nice level of structural integrity, making it easy to pipe out on your cupcakes. Bon appetit!

chocolate chip cookies

There's something about chocolate chip cookies that hearkens back to an earlier time. A time when I brought my lunch to school in a brown paper bag filled with cookies, a turkey sandwich on white Pepperidge Farm bread, Lay's potato chips, and a bottle of ice-cold lemonade. These were the lunchtime staples of my childhood. When I arrived home from school, I used to make a beeline for the kitchen to find a fresh batch of my mother's chocolate chip cookies resting a cooling rack. 

Perhaps it is the history behind the chocolate chip cookie that conjures up nostalgic thoughts of an even earlier time. In 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield invented the cookie when she owned the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. The cookie was an instant classic. It became a wildly popular treat in households across America after she brokered a deal with Nestlé® to publish her recipe on bags of Nestlé's® semi-sweet morsels (a.k.a, chocolate chips). Hence, the Toll House® cookie. Since that time, thousands of variations of that recipe have hit cookbooks and the Internet as chefs, bloggers, and food writers develop recipes of their own and incorporate creative additions like bacon bits and rock salt. I, for one, prefer the basics.

This recipe is similar to Ruth's classic creation, but I call for more brown sugar and I omitted the nuts and vanilla extract. This recipe produces rich, gooey, sugary, chocolate chip cookies which you can enjoy with a cold glass of milk. I enjoyed several cookies yesterday (read: twelve). My insatiable sweet tooth has not dimished with age...

recipe

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 large brown eggs
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature 
• 2 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Sift the flour and baking soda into a mixing bowl and whisk in the salt by hand. 
3. Cream the butter. Attach a paddle to a stand mixture and add the butter and sugars to the bowl. Beat on low speed until ingredients are evenly-combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat the mixture for several minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture will lighten in color and form a smooth paste.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar-butter-egg mixture. Beat on low speed until the ingredients have completely blended together. Add the chocolate chips and beat for a minute longer.
5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough from the bowl, form it into a ball, and place it on the parchment paper. Repeat. And be sure to leave a couple of inches of space in between each ball of dough.
6. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes, or until they have achieved a matte golden brown color. 

If you make this recipe, hashtag a pic to #spiceandhutch and post to Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter. I'd love to see your culinary creations!