Died And Gone To Foodie Heaven

I have found a new food mecca. The Chelsea Market on 9th Avenue, which is housed inside an old Nabisco factory. In fact, it is the very Nabisco factory where the Oreo cookie was invented in 1912. This alone is reason to visit.

I wonder where they keep the milk and cookies...

In the 1990's, the building (which spans an entire city block!), was converted into an indoor food court. There are 33 storefronts in the place, and amazing smells come pouring out of every one. At least most of them, there is a bookstore and a flower shop inside too. Seafood, bread, cheese, and chocolate are just a handful of the sensory overloading aromas.

While there, I got my first taste of one of NYC's best bakeries: Amy's Bread. The focus is on artisinal, handmade breads with desserts and sandwiches thrown in to make the place irresistable. The store at Chelsea Market has several large glass window so you can see the entire baking operation.

All the bread was out for the day by the time I got there for lunch.

It was here that I had the best grilled cheese sandwich I have ever eaten. Cheddar cheese, red onion, tomato, cilantro, and spicy chipotle pepper puree. While I will forever be a fan of tomato and fresh mozzarella grilled cheese as well, this one wins.

Come on, how could this not win?

And since I was already there, I tried the Wicked Hot Chocolate at Jacques Torres Chocolate. It's wicked hot not because it comes from Boston, but because it has both ground ancho and chipotle chili peppers. Yum.

I plan on making the market a fairly regular part of the tour. I mean, I need time to try everything there. It's just research. Lovely, food coma-inducing research.

So in honor of Nabisco and the amazing new wonders housed in its old factory, here is the recipe for the Fig Newton cookies I made last week. It's a longer process, but the end result is worth it.

Fig Newtons

The Dough

250 grams butter (about 1 cup)

150 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup)

1 egg

1 egg yolk

Pinch of salt

440 grams all-purpose flour (3 1/4 cups)

The Filling

450 grams dried figs (2 1/4 cups)

100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)

200 mL water (about 4/5 cup)

Juice of 1 lemon

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the egg and the egg yolk slowly and mix thoroughly, making sure to scrap down the sides of the bowl often. Add the salt and the flour and mix just until combined. Wrap the dough in parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator. ** I would let it chill for about 2 hours so the dough can rest enough. **

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling. Remove the woody stems from the figs and coarsely chop. Put the figs, sugar, water, and lemon juice into a saucepan, over a low heat, and cook until the figs are tender. Set aside to cool.

When everything has cooled, dived the chilled dough in half. Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll each half into a rectangle roughly 6" x 24". Brush the edges with an egg wash. Place half the filling along the center of each piece of dough. Fold the edges up to cover the filling, using the parchment paper to help lift and roll the dough. Move the seam of the cookie to the bottom, then brush the top of the logs with the egg wash. Chill the logs for 20-30 minutes before baking.

Bake the logs at 375 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove from the oven and, while still warm, slice the log into 1 1/2" pieces. ** Make sure to clean your knife every so often as you cut the cookies. The dough is fragile and the cookies can break if there is build-up on the knife. **

Makes 20-24 cookies.

Feeling The Burn

Remember how I was all excited about getting my groove back? That didn't last long. The snow day killed it and made Thursday feel like Monday. Never a good thing. It usually takes a week to get completely comfortable again after a weekend of relaxing and sleep, the two things I seem unable to do any other time.

So Thursday became Emily's grand experiment in how many mistakes can be made in one class. For those of you playing along at home, the official count is still being tallied. The worst one was that I let my caramel burn just as I was adding the corn syrup. Although this does count as proof that my Willy Wonka-I-am-not theory is correct, so I guess this is a partial win for me.

I'm also moving up on the burn classification scale. I've graduated from first to second-degree burns, courtesy of the lovely convection ovens and some really hot sheet pans. They hurt beyond belief, so I've been doing some self medicating. One pint of Americone Dream ice cream and a few rare hours of videogames. So far so good, although I'm thinking I may need a trip to Babycakes at some point this weekend...

Mostly though, my weekend will be spent studying for my first unit test. Everything I know about tarts, tortes, and cookies will come spewing out on Tuesday during my all-day exam. In addition to the written portion, I will be making one large one-step tart (shell is baked with the filling), four two-step tartlettes (shell is baked once, filled, and can be baked again), and a batch of cookies. In four hours. I feel more self medicating coming on.

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut

As many of you know, I have a disibility of epic proportions. At least in the eyes of my school. For I am allergic to nuts. Not so much so that I can't be in the same zip code as them, but just enough to make me unable to eat them. Although if I'm feeling daring or suicidal, I'll eat a Snickers bar, just to tempt fate.

I found out about it when I was fourteen, eating a salad with pecans. I was sick for the entire first half of Les Misérables, which for a growing theater nerd like me was horrific. But I didn't put two and two together until I ate a chocolate with walnuts out of a sampler box from Whitman's. Having never eaten a lot of nuts, aside from peanut butter and Hershey's with almonds, it wasn't the earthshaking blow it probably should have been. Although if it had been gluten or dairy, there would be hell to pay. I could live on nothing but bread and cheese and pasta forever!

Now, most people wouldn't consider a food allergy to be a disability. I certainly never have. It's been an inconvenience more than anything else. Having been in culinary school a week, I'm starting to change my tune. I'll spend an entire day making this incredible Tarte Bourdaloue, and I find myself having to remind myself not to eat the class sampler because there are almonds and an almond cream in the tart. I become so wrapped up in the process that I almost forget that what I've been working with all morning could kill me.

That being said, I've found that most of the time I can turn this disability into an advantage. Last week in class, we were making Vanille-Kipferl. In our recipe, we use ground hazelnut, although traditionally, they're made with almonds. Since the chef instructors have been made aware of my disability (I signed a waiver), one of them suggested that I use coconut instead. My cookies did not have the same darker color that the rest of the class did, and I did catch a few people looking over at the dough thinking that I'd screwed up, including one of the instructors. Yet in the end, it was generally agreed that the substitution, while not traditional, ended up tasting better. A small victory for me, thanks to my disability.

It's one of the things that I love about cooking. You're able to experiment and try to make something better. Plus if you don't get it right the first time, there's always a second chance to try again. And the mistakes are delicious.

Vanille-Kipferl

315 grams butter (about 1 1/3 cups)
180 grams powdered sugar (about 2 cups)
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
410 grams all-purpose flour (3 cups)
150 grams unsweetend coconut flakes (or ground hazelnuts)
Vanilla sugar, for finishing

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add the flour and coconut and mix just until combined. While the dough is still soft, shape it into equal sized crescents. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the tips have browned slightly. While the cookies are still warm, roll them in vanilla sugar to coat.

Makes approx. fifty to sixty 3-inch long cookies.

A few quick notes: Feel free to substitute the coconut flakes for the hazelnut, or vice versa, using the same amount of either. I've been told that both taste good, but the coconut got a few rave reviews (including ones from my taste buds and stomach).

Granulated sugar may also be substituted for the vanilla sugar. It's the same thing, just minus the vanilla. And while the vanilla sugar helps to bring out the flavor of the extract, it still tastes good with plain sugar.

Finally, the dough will seem a little drier with the coconut than with the hazelnuts, but if you warm it up using your hands, the dough will be fine.

Never Take A Desktop Computer To Manhattan, Or Ow, My Arms Hurt

So my computer's video card decided to give out the week I moved here. Not fun. After a lovely trip to Best Buy and a four day stay at the Geek Squad Spa, it's all better. After two subway rides from Brooklyn to Chelsea, I am not. Never, ever cheap out and take the subway. Treat yourself and take a cab. Even if you have a direct subway line like me. But it did remind me of carrying monster camera lenses for Disney.

I am now one week into my program. Half of the time I'm in the weeds. My days are filled with small victories tempered by mini-meltdowns and a series of failures. I have not felt this unknowledgeable in years. For someone who has spent a large chunk of their career working as a trainer, it feels strangely limiting and freeing all at the same time.

I also now do dishes 3-4 times a day. Investing in a good moisturizer is key. I have three different kinds. Channeling Daniel-san a bit, too.

Tomorrow I'll cover some of the pastry doughs and tarts I've been working on, but since I've got a lot to cover homework wise tonight, we'll just start with some gingersnaps.

Quick note, all the recipes I get from school are measured out using the metric system (we weigh everything out using a scale). I've converted everything for you stubborn non-converts.

Gingersnaps

150 grams butter (just over 1/2 cup)
400 grams granulated sugar (1 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
160 mL molasses (just over 2/3 cup)
20 mL vinegar (4 tsp.)
525 grams white bread flour (just over 2 1/4 cups)
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently. Add the eggs, ONE AT A TIME. Add the molasses and vinegar slowly to avoid separating the mixture. Sift together all the dry ingredients and then add them to the creamed butter mixture. Mix just to combine. Form the dough into a flat rectangle; wrap and chill until firm. Divide the dough into small, equal portions (about 20 grams each). Roll the portioned dough into balls and dredge in sugar. Bake the cookies on a sheet pan at 375 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes. The cookies will spread, the sugar crust will crack, and the cookies will begin to firm up in the middle.

Makes approx. 50 cookies.

C is for Cookie, and that's good enough for me.

When I made mine, they didn't flatten out like they were supposed to. They still seemed a bit rounded and domed. However, they still stayed soft and chewy. A simple cookies, but so delicious. Definitely going on the menu when I get my own place.

Until then, wax on, wax off!