Dani's Cranberry Relish

I've made this cranberry sauce every year at Thanksgiving since I was 12 or so. I don't know where the recipe came from any more. My cookbook just has a list of ingredients, it's been years since I needed instructions. Make it ahead of time so it can cool all the way. I usually make it the day before Thanksgiving day.

Cranberry Relish
3 cups cranberries (12 oz)
1 cup apple juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 large apple, diced

Mix cranberries, apple juice, and sugar in medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until boiling. Add the allspice and diced apple. Boil until most of the cranberries have broken down and the apple is soft, about 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

Sandler BLTs

Replace mayonnaise with garlic allioli and add some basil and avocado and BLTs become something special.


Sandler BLTs
Ingredients
High-quality bread
Garlic Allioli (Recipe below)
Thick-cut bacon
Tomatoes, sliced
Lettuce
Avocado, sliced
Basil


Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange bacon slices in a large jelly-roll pan or other shallow baking pan. Roast until fat begins to render, 5 to 6 minutes; rotate pan front-to-back. Continue roasting until is crisp and brown, 5 to 6 minutes longer for thin-sliced bacon, 8 to 10 minutes for thick-cut. Transfer with tongs to paper towel-lined plate and set aside.


Spread each slice of bread with the garlic allioli. Build sandwich with a slice of bacon, 2-3 slices of tomato, a lettuce leaf, a couple basil leaves, and a couple slices of avocado each. 




Garlic Allioli
2 large egg yolks
4 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
3/4 cup olive oil


Process the yolks, lemon juice, garlic, sugar, salt, and white pepper together in a food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, gradually add the oil through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and process for 5 seconds longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The allioli can be refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Brown Bag Brownies

These are the brownies from the brown bag this week that were almost as good as the cookies. Also from American Classics by the Editors at Cook's Illustrated.

Chewy, Fudgy, Triple-Chocolate Brownies

5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into quarters

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

3 large eggs

1¼ cups (8¼ ounces) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fold two 16-inch pieces of foil lengthwise to measure 7 inches wide. Fit one sheet in the bottom of the greased pan, pushing it into the corners and up the sides of the pan (overhang will help in removal of baked brownies). Fit the second sheet in the pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water, melt the chocolates and butter, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth. Whisk in the cocoa until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture; then stir in the flour with the wooden spoon until just combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spread into corners, and level surface with a rubber spatula; bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Remove the brownies from pan using the foil handles and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 1-inch squares. (Do not cut brownies until ready to serve; brownies can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 5 days.)

Brown Bag Cookies

These cookies were sort of the inspiration for trying to share recipes more publicly. They were a hit a week and a half ago when I brought them to the brown bag. Makes a lot, but the recipe is safely halved. It's generally a pretty resilient recipe. I've screwed up while making it in a number of ways and they have always come out delicious. The recipe comes from American Classics from the Editors of Cook's Illustrated.

Thick and chewy Double Chocolate Cookies

MAKES ABOUT 3 1/2 DOZEN COOKIES

To melt the chocolate in a microwave, heat at 50 percent power for 2 minutes, stir, then continue heating at 50 percent power for 1 more minute. If not completely melted, heat an additional 30 to 45 seconds at 50 percent power. We recommend using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop to scoop the dough. Resist the urge to bake the cookies longer than indicated; they may appear underbaked at first but will firm up as they cool.

INGREDIENTS

• 2cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 2teaspoons baking powder
• 1teaspoon table salt
• 16ounces semisweet chocolate , chopped
• 4large eggs
• 2teaspoons vanilla extract
• 10   tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks), softened but still firm
• 1 1/2cups light brown sugar
• 1/2cup granulated sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth; remove from heat. Beat eggs and vanilla lightly with fork and set aside.
2. 2. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or with hand mixer), beat butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds (15 seconds with hand mixer). Beat in sugars until combined, about 45 seconds (1 1/2 minutes with hand mixer); mixture will look granular. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds (1 1/2 minutes with hand mixer). Add chocolate in steady stream and beat until combined, about 40 seconds (1 minute with hand mixer). Scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture and mix until combined, about 40 seconds (1 minute with hand mixer). Do not overbeat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until consistency is scoopable and fudgelike, about 30 minutes.
3. 3. Meanwhile, adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Leaving about 1 1/2-inches between each ball, scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets with 1 3/4-inch diameter ice cream scoop.
4. 4. Bake cookies until edges have just begun to set but centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes, turning cookie sheets from front to back and switching from top to bottom racks halfway through baking.
5. 5. Cool cookies on sheets about 10 minutes, slide parchment with cookies onto wire rack and cool to room temperature; remove with wide metal spatula.
   
   
   Variation: Thick and Chewy Triple-Chocolate Cookies
   If you like bursts of warm melted chocolate in your cookies, include chocolate chips in the batter.
   Follow the recipe for Thick and Chewy Double-Chocolate Cookies, using a wooden spoon to stir 12 ounces (about 2 cups) of semisweet chocolate chips into the batter after the dry ingredients are incorporated. The addition of the chips will slightly increase the yield of the cookies.

Recipe Sharing

I love eating good food and I love sharing good food with others, both in person and through recipes. I'm using this forum to share recipes with more people more easily. That said, I'm not going to try to write a food blog. There are plenty of those. My favorite is The Hungry Mouse, primarily because she takes such pretty pictures of the food. I may write up a couple notes with the recipes I post, particularly the source of the recipe, but otherwise it will be recipe only. Most of our recipes come from Cook's Illustrated. If you're into cooking, I highly recommend their website. It's definitely worth the money for the online membership if you cook often.