My Swedish grandmother was a great cook. One thing she always served was vetebröd, which our family calls bulle. Vetebröd is a traditional sweet Swedish yeast bread that has a very unique ingredient – cardamom. Every time I smell this cardamom bread I think of my grandma. This is definitely one of my strongest “memory foods.”

While this isn’t a traditional Christmas food, I only ever get around to making it at Christmastime. Cate LOVES it and calls it the “yummy bread.”

So, on to the recipe! I actually took some step-by-step photos for you. Vetebröd can be baked in many different shapes. The recipe I have calls for simple buns, but braiding the bread is how my mom and I like to bake it. Because I love you all soooo much, I decided to share our family’s special way of braiding the loaf. It’s a great little trick.

Vetebröd
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 2 cakes compressed yeast OR 2 packets active dry yeast OR 4 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 cups sifted flour
- 1 cup melted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 20 cardamom pods (or 3 tsp ground cardamom, which is what I use)
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup finely blanched almonds

1. Scald milk and cool to luke warm. Crumble yeast in bowl: add 1/2 cup luke warm milk and stir until yeast is dissolved. Add remaining milk and 1/4 c sugar. Beat in 3 C flour and continue beating until smooth. Cover and set aside to rise until double in bulk, 3/4 – 1 hour.

2. Add reamining sugar, cooled melted butter and salt. Break open cardamom pods – remove tiny seeds and crush thoroughly. Add cardamom and 4 1/2 C flour to yeast mixture. Place remaining 1/2 C flour on board or pastry cloth for kneading.

3. Turn out dough and knead until smooth and elastic. (I actually put all 5 cups of flour in step 2 and then let my Kitchen-Aid do the kneading with the dough hook attachment.) Place in greased bowl. Cover with cloth and let rise until double in bulk, 3/4 – 1 hour.

4. Cut into even size pieces and roll into balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with egg and sprinkle with 1/4 c sugar (rock sugar is really yummy) and almonds. Let rise until double in bulk, 30-40 mins. Bake in moderately hot oven (400 degrees F) 12-15 minutes. (If you do the braid that I describe below, cook at 350 degrees for nearly 30 minutes, when the top is as dark as you want it, cover with foil until bread is done cooking.)

How to make the braided loaf: (you can also do pretty buns – see links at the bottom of the post for more info)
Once the dough is ready to cut into pieces in step 4, you can instead roll out the dough to make a braid. This recipe will make two large braided loaves. Divide the dough in half and form into a round, even ball. Smoosh the ball down into a rectangular-type shape (as best you can). Roll out to a large rectangle, rolling the dough pretty thin (maybe 1/4″ or so). The thinner the dough at this stage the better it will cook.

Score two lines lengthwise to divide the rectangle into thirds. These score lines are guides and should not be very deep. Cut lines perpendicular to your score starting at the score line cutting out to the edge (see picture). Make cuts appx. 1 inch apart. The cuts should be made down both sides, should line up and be even in number. (Am I making sense? Thank goodness for pictures!).

Begin your braid at one end. Fold the pieces across to the opposite score line and angled down to the next level of cut pieces. I sort of smoosh the piece down so it stays in place. Once you’ve braided all the pieces, tuck the last two pieces under each other (pictured) so you have a nice finished end.  (Please note – I should have rolled my dough thinner than pictured here…although the bread still came out.)

As I alluded to in the recipe above, my braid was a little thick, so the outside was cooked before the inside was done. If I had rolled the rectangle thinner it would have helped, but regardless, the following trick will come in handy. My loaf was plenty dark, but my inside was not cooked enough…about halfway through the total bake time of ~30 minutes, I covered the loaf with foil. This kept the outside from getting to dark and it cooked beautifully.

While baking the bread topped with sugar and almonds is good…vanilla glaze is pretty darn good too. This is my favorite way to eat bulle. I mean, seriously, doesn’t that look AWESOME?

Vanilla Glaze
- 1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 tsp light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Milk or half-and-half or light cream

Mix sugar, syrup and vanilla together. Stir in enough milk/half-and-half/light cream to make drizzling consistency (a little goes a long way!).

I’m not sharing this recipe because it’s an easy one. I’m sharing it because I love it and is special to me. It takes some time, but it is not difficult and so delicious. Eating this soft, yummy bread straight out of the oven is the best. But to replicate the effect the following day, I just zap my bulle in the microwave for 10-15 seconds…mmmmmmmmmm….

This link and this link will will take you to recipes for Swedish cinnamon buns (a little different than this recipe, but I’m sure still tasty). Both of these recipes illustrate how to make the dough into pretty buns. This is a great way to cook vetebröd, my grandma usually made these types of buns.

Enjoy!

Why does this peppermint bark from Trader Joe’s have to be so good? Darn you, Santa, for tempting me with such delicious stocking stuffers.

I am SO not ready to return to real life. After a few days of being a complete vegetable I’ve forgotten how to be productive. In fact, planning this menu is HARD work.

MONDAY:
- BBQ Chicken Salad (a restaurant called Croutons in San Diego has a really good BBQ chicken salad, I’m just going to download their menu and copy it)

TUESDAY:
- Homemade pizza

WEDNESDAY:
- Pasta Primavera

THURSDAY:
- New Year’s Eve! Party at friends’ home

FRIDAY:
- Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Shepherd’s Pie

I know many of you are probably also in vegetable mode like me…but if you have a menu for the week, please share! (Thank goodness I had your menus to browse from last week as I was completely out of ideas today!)

I can’t tell you how happy I am it’s Christmas Eve! I have been doing some cooking the last few days, but as a Christmas gift to myself I’m taking it easy this week and will post more regularly starting again Sunday. Rest assured, wonderful food will reappear on the blog next week! Until then, our stockings are hung by the piano with care and our little family is waiting anxiously to celebrate this most wonderful of holidays.

Happy Christmas and Seasons Greetings to each and every one of you!

A delectable delight here in the Bay Area is Fred’s Steak. This is what Fred’s Steak looks like after it’s cooked. It melts like butter in your mouth and the flavor is unreal.

Here’s what it looks like uncooked. Pretty nuts, eh? It’s kind of shocking when you walk into the butcher shop to see a big pile of BLACK meat.

I think this might be my favorite red meat to eat. Although, filet mignon at a fancy steakhouse like Donovan’s might take that top spot. Regardless, I love Fred’s Steak. Too bad it’s $14 per pound! While it is in fact worth every last penny, my wallet can only handle Fred’s Steak for a special treat.

When I bought our cut at Shaub’s (the originator of Fred’s steak; you can also get it at Draeger’s), the butcher told me that while cooking it on the grill gives it a nice crispy exterior, most of the butchers like simply cooking it in the oven. So that’s what I did. It was so easy and came out perfectly. For those of you who live locally, this would be a great meal for Christmas. Maybe Santa can cover the cost.

It’s official, this post has made me hungry.

For those of you who don’t live anywhere near Schaub’s or Draeger’s, there is a recipe for the marinade on the Fred’s Steak Wikipedia page that may be worth trying! I would marinate a piece of sirloin for 3-5 days in a ziploc bag and then cook in an oven at 375 for around 45 minutes. I might just have to try it myself.

Boring menu post this week. No picture. No cute stories. Just a bunch of sick people in the Maynard house. But that’s not going to stop me from getting a menu up on Sunday! Here goes…and here’s hoping we’re all pictures of health by Christmas Eve.

MONDAY:
- Annual chili party at a friend’s home…if we’re not sick, that is! If we’re sick, I think I’ll just make chili anyways!

TUESDAY:
- Bistro chicken (I ended up not making it yet, but love it and can’t wait to have it this week! chicken breasts browned in a skillet, remove & cook 1/2 c chopped onions 5 min, add 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, italian seasoning, 1 can of Campbell’s french onion soup, cook that together to reduce liquid 5 min, pour sauce over chicken in a casserole dish, add swiss cheese on top & bake for 20 min! I love this recipe – thanks to Jen Schulte! I like to serve with garlic mashed potatoes)

WEDNESDAY:
- Leftovers, hopefully

THURSDAY:
- Chinese Take-out (a Maynard Christmas Eve tradition)

FRIDAY:
- Swedish meatballs

SATURDAY:
- Leftovers (hopefully)

SUNDAY:
- Green Noodles (didn’t make this last week, either. basically I went to the grocery store with a very incomplete grocery list…I hope to plan better this week!)

Can’t wait to see your menus for this week! Love seeing what people do over holidays…and what you eat the rest of the holiday week…perhaps lots of takeout?

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while may remember my annual stresses over birthday cakes. Last year I begged you all for birthday cake tips, and then I chickened out and made a layer cake that was cute and tasty, but not very adventurous.  Our little Anna likes Spiderman a lot. It’s pretty cute. I decided that I would make her a Spiderman cake this year. Thankfully his head is a simple oval, so this was a good cake for me to get my feet wet with.

Do you mind if I brag a bit? I love her cake! I’m so happy with how it came out. YEA!!!!!

I will say this. I didn’t cheat at all in the process.

• I used cake strips, of course.
• I froze the cakes before assembling and frosting.
• I made the frosting from scratch, so I could make a ton for not much money and have plenty to work with.
• I used wax paper to keep the cake platter clean.
• I applied a crumb coat of frosting first before doing a top layer of frosting.
• I used tons of food coloring to get the color of icing I wanted.
• I practiced decorating with frosting before attacking the cake itself. (This was big for me, I hate “wasting” time practicing!)

All of this meant it took longer to make, but it was well worth the effort. Thank you for indulging me and letting me show off the cake! Maybe next year I’ll try a more interesting shape. Or maybe I should just stick with things at are oval-shaped.

Didn’t those marshmallows in yesterday’s hot chocolate look really yummmmmmy? Well, they ARE. And if you want them, be sure to read my post on Make & Takes today!

This year I decided our neighbor & teacher holiday gift would be homemade vanilla hot chocolate. I figured it would be easier than making and decorating oodles of cookies. I was wrong. Well, only because I QUADRUPLED the recipe. And ended up having to grind about 10 pounds of chocolate. With a Cuisiniart mini-prep. Yeah, it was a feat.

BUT…the vanilla hot chocolate is delicious! And a fun, unique gift to give friends for the holidays! You’ll find the recipe at the bottom of this post.

A few quick notes. I have a Cuisinart mini-prep, which is what I used to grind the chocolate. It works fine…but if you DO have a bigger food processor, use it!

This is the recipe I used the vanilla beans for. I saved the sugar-coated bean pods after I was done making the vanilla sugar…I figure I can use them in other recipes, even though the seeds are gone.

If you plan on making TONS and TONS and TONS like I did…you’re going to need BIG bowls. I ended up having to use three giant bowls and mixing all the ingredients between the three bowls, trying to evenly distribute the ingredients by mixing and remixing the contents of each bowl.

No matter what amount you make, be prepared to have chocolate coating your kitchen. Also, I wore a towel over my face because I was literally inhaling cocoa powder when mixing it all together. That all said, if you don’t double (or triple…or quadruple!) the recipe, you’re not going to run into any of these issues.

Here was the final product. Aren’t they cute? I used some free gift tag templates from HP with matching ribbon.

Vanilla Hot Chocolate Mix
From Epicurious, makes about 10 cups
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split crosswise (see tips, below)
- 1 1/2 pounds high-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 8 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process (see tips, below)

Place sugar in large bowl. Split half vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape seeds into sugar, and add pod. Work seeds in with your fingers. Cover snugly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.

In food processor fitted with metal blade, process semisweet chocolate and milk chocolate until finely ground.

Remove pod from sugar. Add ground chocolate and cocoa powder to sugar and whisk to blend.

Store mix airtight at room temperature for up to six months.

To serve, Jane’s instructions: I heat 2 cups of milk over the stove and whisk in about 1/3 cup of the mix. You can also heat the milk in the microwave and it works…but the stove is a little better. If you like it richer, add more mix!

Jane Note: I used 16 oz mason jars and was able to put ~1 3/4 cups of mix in each jar. When I quadrupled the recipe, I filled 19 jars, plus a little left over.

Tips:
•Save the other half of the vanilla bean for another use, such as a second batch of vanilla sugar, which keeps indefinitely and can be used in baking, coffee, or simply to sprinkle on fruit or waffles.
•Dutch process cocoa has been treated with an alkaline solution, which gives it a darker color and less bitter flavor and makes it dissolve more easily.

Time to announce the RedEnvelope giveaway winner! The winner of the $100 RedEnvelope gift card is…

Ellen Patton, who said “I would love to win that since RED is my favorite color. ”

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Ellen’s blog once…the random number generator must be in cahoots with karma.

For the rest of you…there is still time for holiday shopping at RedEnvelope. And don’t forget, if you click on any of the RedEnvelope links in this post, you’ll get 15% off your order! Happy shopping!

At first glance, this gingerbread head may seem a tiny bit on the morbid side. But it’s actually cute. Cate received a gingerbread man cookie from a friend at school. She couldn’t wait to get home to eat it. After a few minutes of munching, she brought the head to me and told me she didn’t want to eat it. When I asked why, she simply replied, “I like him.” Apparently she didn’t like him enough to save his body, but I still thought it was pretty sweet.

Now begins the craziest two weeks of my year…both of my daughters’ birthdays are this week (only one day apart!), which just so happens to coincide with the already busiest time of year.  Needless to say, we have a lot going on. I need to try to keep it VERY simple and realistic. Wish me luck.

MONDAY:
- Paninis (I think this has been on my menu for a month!)

TUESDAY:
- Bistro chicken (chicken breasts browned in a skillet, remove & cook 1/2 c chopped onions 5 min, add 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, italian seasoning, 1 can of Campbell’s french onion soup, cook that together to reduce liquid 5 min, pour sauce over chicken in a casserole dish, add swiss cheese on top & bake for 20 min! I love this recipe – thanks to Jen Schulte! I like to serve with garlic mashed potatoes)

WEDNESDAY:
- Easy Apricot Chicken

THURSDAY:
- Eat out

FRIDAY:
- Leftovers

SATURDAY:
- No idea…eat out or leftovers

SUNDAY:
- Green Noodles

Can’t wait to see what you are having for dinner this week. Remember, I don’t care how fancy or UN-fancy your menus is, I like to see all of them!

And Happy Hanukkah to all of our Jewish friends!   Cate has been educating us about Hanukkah a lot lately, including singing “O Hanukkah, O Hanukkah, Come Light the Menorah” while Christmas tree shopping and making a star of David Christmas tree ornament at a church Christmas party. We’ve loved every minute of it!

Today I cut open my very first vanilla beans! (Sidenote: I’m almost ashamed to admit this. Seems like something I should have done before, right? Sometimes this blog feels more like confession than a food blog!)

I can’t tell you exactly what I am using this vanilla for (you’ll find out next week!), but I can share the vanilla itself with you today.

The point of this post is that using vanilla beans is EASY. I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess I thought the beans would be harder to cut through, and that the seeds might be tricky to get out. I was happy to discover that using fresh vanilla beans is a simple and painless process – just slice down one side (it cuts easily) and scrape out the seeds. And it sure smells good while you’re doing it! So, if you are scared like I was…don’t be!

I know I said I’d stop sharing holiday gift ideas…but I just can’t keep these two items to myself!

#1: The Wheely Bug. Rumor has it that Santa is getting our little Anna a Prince Lionheart Wheely Bug for Christmas this year. This is the BEST little scootter-type toy. Our friends from the UK have the bumble bee, which is where Anna first tried it out. The wheels spin in every direction so it turns on a dime, and it literally glides over the floor. SOOO much better than those clunky ride-on toys that you usually see. I think Anna might be getting the ladybug…but Santa wouldn’t give up all his secrets.

#2: Kodak Zi6 Video Camera. Kodak was the platinum sponsor for SocialLuxe Lounge this summer (which I co-hosted). As part of the swag bags they gave away 200 of their Zi6 cameras to our party goers (including me!). I’ve tweeted about how much I love the camera but have never done a post. So here it is: I love this camera…way more than the Flip cameras I have had in the past. It fits in my purse nicely, is easy to use, the battery lasts a long time between charges, and it takes great video…and it’s only $100! The Zi8 has come out since I received my Zi6, so if you like being cutting edge, go for that one, I’m sure it’s great!

Okay, I think I’m done with the gift ideas. But I’m not making any promises.

When Nate went on his super cool trip to the Ferry Building in San Francisco, he bought this olive oil at one of the shops they visited. McEvoy Ranch is located in Petaluma, up near Sonoma in wine country. Nate said they had an olive oil tasting when they visited the store…just like a wine tasting. I was sort of rolling my eyes when he was telling me about it…but mid-eyeroll, he forced me to do a tasting of my own and I have to admit this is good stuff.

The flavor is so fresh. I don’t quite know how else to describe it. The oil almost tastes like grass to me. Apparently olive oils can be a lot like wine, where you can taste different flavors depending on where the olives are grown, etc. Interesting, right?

I’m not saying you have to specifically buy McEvoy olive oil…I’m just saying that you really should try a high quality olive oil sometime if you haven’t before. I have to admit, I always just grab the giant bottle at Trader Joe’s, which is fine. But this local, fresh olive oil really is special.

My favorite uses for our new olive oil? I made a pizza the other night with this olive oil, some crushed fresh garlic and mozzarella cheese. Simple and divine. We also love combining with garlic, salt and pepper for dipping baguette. In fact, I had that for lunch…inspiring this post!

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you!

‘Tis the season for giveaways! Today’s giveaway is a $100 gift certificate to RedEnvelope! This giveaway is perfectly timed since RedEnvelope is all about gifts. Although, if you do win, I won’t tell if you spend the $100 on yourself.

In conjunction with the giveaway, RedEnvelope sent me this Mini Wish Ornament set. I love it. And I’ve decided we’re starting a new family tradition. Every year in December each family member will put their most precious Christmas wish inside one of the ornaments and hang them on the tree, ready for Santa on Christmas Eve!

Back to the giveaway! Same old story…leave a comment on this post by Midnight PT on Monday, December 14. One random winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 15.

I really do love RedEnvelope. I’ve purchased several items from them and have always been happy: the cutest baby quilts for shower gifts, a red lacquer jewelry box (for myself!), a jewelry roll for my sister, a bamboo hooded towel for Anna…the list goes on! Red Envelope is also where I first discovered Envirosax, my favorite reusable grocery bags. (Okay, I’m looking a little like a shopoholic…these purchases did not happen all at once, I promise!)

If you’re ready to do some shopping NOW…click on any of the RedEnvelope links in this post and you will automatically receive a 15% discount on your order!

Good luck with the giveaway! And Happy Shopping!

My mother-in-law recently gave me a garlic grater plate, a nifty little kitchen accessory I had never seen before. She said wherever she bought it (hmmm…a fair, maybe?) there was a loooooong line of people waiting to buy it, which she faithfully waited in just for me. I’m so glad she did, I love this thing! (Luckily for all of you, the plate can also be purchased on Amazon…of course. What can’t be?)

Basically, the garlic grater plate is a little ceramic plate with sharp teeth. You just rub your garlic cloves over the surface and voila! Your garlic is grated to bits!

We like to grate garlic, pour olive oil directly over the garlic on the dish, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip pieces of good bread in the oil and you’re immediately transported to heaven. Cate calls it “the spicy oil” and loves it.

(This website over here says that you can grate lots of other ingredients on the plate as well…I’ll have to do some experimenting!)

Bottom line, we are loving this plate. You should get one. You’ll thank me.

It’s time to announce the lucky Cake Wrecks book giveaway winners!

Rhonda who wrote: Sounds like my kind of book!

Aaron who wrote: comment (our first MALE giveaway winner ever, who, by the way, always enters the giveaways with a literal “comment” – and it finally worked, apparently)

Nevadamtnbear who wrote: OOOH, I’ve been faithfully following Jen (and John) since last May. My all time favorite is the “This One Is For The Ladies” wreck. I still giggle like a school girl at that one.

Congratulations, everyone! You’ll all be giggling like school girls very soon (even Aaron, I’m sure of it).

For the rest of you…you know you want still want the book. Just go buy it.

How abouts we end this giveaway with a little holiday cheer…Cake Wrecks style, of course.

Oh my goodness. The site has been down for TWO DAYS. I have gotten a menu up every Sunday since I started the blog, even when I was stuck in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm. I thought this would be my first miss…but with 6 minutes to spare on this Sunday night the site is back. My menu will go up! YIPPEEEE!!!!

The reason it took two days for me to figure out the site was down was because we took a weekend trip to Monterey (that’s right, I didn’t go on the computer for TWO WHOLE DAYS). It was such a fun weekend! Today for lunch we discovered Vivolo’s Chowder House. The clam chowder was SO delicious. Here are the reasons why. 1) It was thick, but not too thick. 2) I didn’t notice potatoes (yes, that’s a good thing). 3) The clams were oh so good, and I only crunched 2 or 3 grains of sand, which is the perfect amount…enough that you know the clams are fresh, but not so much you break a tooth.

On to the menu that almost wasn’t!

MONDAY:
- Paninis (no we haven’t eaten paninis for 4 weeks in a row…we just haven’t had them yet!)

TUESDAY:
- Broccoli Cheese Soup

WEDNESDAY:
- Creamy Enchiladas

THURSDAY:
- Leftovers

FRIDAY:
- Hamburgers

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Dinner at friends’ house

Please share your lovely menus…now matter how lovely or un-lovely you think they are!

PS – I’m going to extend the Cake Wrecks giveaway 24 hours due to the site being down. So you still have a chance to enter by clicking here and posting a comment!

The holiday season is certainly upon us! I’ve recently had the chance to try out lots of different companies’ products and thought putting together a big monster post of holiday gift ideas would be the best way to share them with you! So, here goes nothing!

First off, let’s start with some food, this is a food blog after all. Alouette Cheese recently sent me some cheese samples to “taste test,” specifically two spreadable cheeses: Berries & Cream and Pepper Medley. The results of the taste test? I like Berries & Cream better, but more of the Pepper Medley was eaten on Thanksgiving. Alouette also sent TONS of crumbled cheeses to try out…thankfully their expiration dates are a little longer so we have time to use them all! Anyway, Alouette’s Garlic & Herb spreadable cheese will always be my favorite, but it was fun trying out other flavors and they were great to have on hand with crackers when we had guests for the holidays.

Now onto some shopping ideas! The Silicon Valley Moms Group holiday party was a few weeks ago. We were introduced to tons of great companies and I’d like to share my favorites with you (as well as two competitors for similar products!).

Reusable Shopping Bags. Olive Smart was at the party to show off their great reusable shopping bags. A friend of mine first introduced me to Olive Smart about a year ago…she couldn’t say enough about how much she loved their product. I was excited to see them at the event, especially since it’s a business owned by two local Bay Area moms. You can get the bags in sets of 3 or 6, which fit into your car’s cup holder, which is my favorite part of their design! They provided all of the party attendees with a half stack of bags, which I’m so excited to have. On a side note…I also have some reusable bags made by Envirosax, which I love, but for different reasons. They have beautiful patterns to choose from and the bags themselves are a bit larger…although the carry case doesn’t fit into a cup holder like Olive Smart’s do.  I think that is enough reusable bag info, don’t you?  On to the next item!

Holiday Cards & Stationary. Tiny Prints was also at the event with samples of their products, which are always beautiful. They gave me a cute little set of note cards, which I can’t wait to use. They have lots of great holiday cards to choose from, if you’re still in the market. On another side note…be sure to check out the holiday cards at HauteMammas.com as well. I love Tiny Prints…but I also love Haute Mammas. Plus, I designed all of their holiday cards and holiday gift labels, So of course you should check them out!

Kids Clothes. There were was a group of local Bay Area kids clothing companies at the event. I received an adorable hat from Zooni for Anna, and a GREAT dress from  Wati Design for Cate. Cate was so excited about this dress, she chose to wear it for picture day! And how fun is that hat on Anna? Gotta love it.  Some cute ideas for unique, high-quality children’s items.

Chevrolet. Okay, I’m thinking not many of us will be buying anyone a car for the holidays, but I need to give Chevy a shout out. I was one of three lucky SV Moms writers who got to drive around a Chevrolet for a week! I had a 2010 Chevy Equinox and it was FUN FUN FUN. Great “Infotainment” system included bluetooth wired through the car speakers, GPS, XM radio and MORE (like a USB  port, etc). The passenger side airbag is only on if there is a passenger in the car. Smart, eh? I could start the car from inside my house. Not kidding. Cate absolutely loved “our new car that we don’t get to keep.” It was a fun week. I would not buy this car because it only seats five…I don’t get crossover SUVs. But it was still great and if you’re in the market for a midsize SUV, it is definitely worth checking out! Thanks, Chevy!

Bluetooth thingy that I love…my favorite find of the night! I also received the Jabra Cruiser at the event. The Jabra Cruiser is an in-car bluetooth speakerphone. This really helped wean me off the Chevy Equinox when it was time to go back to my non-fancy Ford Taurus. This speakerphone works GREAT and I like it so much better than my handsfree earpiece thingy. I think this might be my favorite find at the party! (picture from Jabra…although, it looks exactly like my car)

I’d be happy receiving any of these items as a gift (especially a car), so I hope it gave you a few ideas. Happy shopping!

Since I shared my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with you, I figured I might as well divulge all of my secrets and share my favorite chocolate chips. I discovered Guittard’s Super Cookie Chips recently at Draeger’s (a fancy, dancy grocery store in Menlo Park, CA).

These Super Cookie Chips are great! First, they have the flat, disc shape that the New York Times cookie article talks about…it really is an ingenius idea using a disc shaped “chip” in the cookie.  You end up with layers of chocolate throughout the entire cookie. Second, Guittard’s chocolate quality is just so good. I don’t really like eating chocolate chips alone…but I’ll gobble these puppies up no problem.

The New York Times recipe suggests the following chocolates, which I’m sure are equally as delicious.  “Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.” Regardless of which brand you use, I am loving the disc shaped chocolate, it’s heaven in a chocolate chip cookie.

I’m a little obsessed with chocolate chip cookies. Okay, maybe a lot obsessed. Nate can attest to this fact. Which is why I LOVED this article in the New York Times. If you care at all about chocolate chip cookies, read it.

In connection with the article, the New York Times provided a recipe (adapted from Jacques Torres) that is outstanding. These cookies have it all – the crispy outside, the chewy inside, lots of chocolate. Oh la la.

I was really excited when I first read the NYT article because the recipe that I had most recently fallen in love with was a similar recipe by none other than Jacques Torres. Jacques knows what he’s doing, let me tell ya.

Without further ado, the recipe! I thought I would post it here on the site so I can add all my various notes on the recipe. And tomorrow I just might share with you the PERFECT chocolate chips for this recipe. But only if you’re good.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
From the New York Times, adapted from Jacques Torres
- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour (Jane note: I use pastry flour here…that’s what my OTHER Jacques Torres cookie recipe calls for)
- 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
- Sea salt (Jane note: I used salted butter and added about 1 tsp of regular salt to the recipe…didn’t have sea salt on hand to sprinkle on top)

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (Jane note: I do think there is something to the dough sitting over night…HOWEVER…I can’t resist and always cook cookies the night I make the dough and they still come out GRRRREAT! Promise. Feel free to bake right away! That said, don’t bake all the dough at once! You know better than that. Oh, and I’ve definitely frozen balls of dough from this recipe to great success as well.)

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside. (Jane note: I bake my cookies on my handy dandy Silpat.)

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. (Jane note: I never did the ‘transfer sheet to a wire rack then slip to another’ rack step.) (Another Jane note: one thing I DO do when they come out of the oven is sort of slam the tray straight down to force the cookies to settle…makes for a nice even cookie with a great texture.)

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.