cookieexchange.tumblr.com

We are moving to tumblr. We are still Giorgio stewmari but we hope the new URL will be easier to spell and therefore to share. I copied over the March posts plus added some multimedia goodies. We hope you will continue to read and comment and enjoy, and we hope to make you all cookies some day soon. See you there.

I spent all day inside. I have a new writing regime that's working out but basically consists of sitting in my desk chair all day long, so at quarter past twelve Aurora and I went for a midnight constitutional. When we got back our roommate had returned with three guests. Naturally, I broke out the big glass bowl, a stick of butter and the heavy unbendable fork I keep separate for mixing tough doughs. They had just returned from an opera and were headed straight for bed on the pull-out couch in our living room when I interceded. I mixed and chopped and gabbed their ears off. I told them about my recent cookie "business" ventures (see previous posts). I used white cane sugar, molasses and an egg. We had a little of everything lying around so I threw in semisweet chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts, coconut flakes and raw cacao nibs. The guests waited sullenly for the timer to tick out 14 minutes, but when the bell finally rang they were all smiles and thank yous. As soon as the plate was empty, they pulled out the couch and shut the lights so I didn't cook the second half of the dough. Instead, I put it in a yogurt container in the fridge, I rarely let dough proof, I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.

PS I might change our URL, what do you think of cookieexchange.tumblr.com?

Last night I met and made cookies for the proprietress of Cookie Couture (a friend of a friend) — needless to say I was a little intimidated. I didn’t have enough advanced warning to make apple sauce, but I made a half batch of the molasses coconut walnut dark chocolate chunk oat cookies with an egg instead. They came out well, nicely bitter, and I had enough to bring some to a going away party for my old roommate, herself an amateur cookie enthusiast.

Stewart asked me how I became such a wheeler and dealer?

Mast Brothers Chocolate, Brooklyn-based chocolatiers, just opened a shop in Williamsburg. I first came across their beautifully wrapped chocolate bars at the Coop, one design in particular with Tarot card imagery is especially apt in light of our current movie project. And because we keep talking about  trying to sell our cookies and maybe even opening a shop of our own, I made a half batch I think they'll like, of chocolate salty oat according to Stewart's recipe (course sea salt, lots of coconut and cacao nibs instead of chips or chunks). Tomorrow morning I am going to Williamsburg with five cookies in a yogurt container Stewart and I emptied in a breakfast or two on the island in Maine. I used Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate and raw sundried organic cacao beans (chopped), I hope the brothers aren't too particular.

UPDATE: I didn't have a succinct idea about how to play the moment so I came off as kind of odd.  They appreciated the cookies as much as one could appreciate a leftover container full of dark brown biscuits (Stewart was calling cookies "biscuits" after spending four weeks in Spain with an Englishwoman) from a stranger (a friend saw them eating them later, which is heartening).  It was good to see their operation, how they use the space, the kitchen and the minimal "store."  They encouraged me to start with wholesale and I explained that I was waiting for my partner to settle down and start the business with me.  I bought a bar, "Dark Chocolate [70% Cacao] Single Origin Hispaniola, Domincan Republic," but I'm saving it until I decide to eat it as is, or chop it up or melt it down for cookies.

Stewart's absence is a much-lamented fact at the movie apartment. Much of what we shoot is a documentary of our real lives in the space, but it seems wrong to record the cookie-making process without his contribution. The cookies are good though. On camera yesterday, I made the original recipe (the one of the bag of Tollhouse semisweet chocolate chips) side by side with their latest incarnation:

Original (Latest)
Unsalted Butter (Unsalted Butter)
Brown Sugar (White Cane Sugar + Molasses)
Egg (Applesauce)
Vanilla (Vanilla)
All-Purpose Flour (All-Purpose Flour + Oats)
Baking Powder
Salt
Semisweet Chocolate Chips (Chunked 72% Dark Chocolate + Coconut Flakes + Walnuts)

I was surprised how bland the half batch of originals tasted -- experimentation continues to be fruitful.

I can only post briefly because I am working on this movie. Stewart came by the set today and we made these cookies:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white cane sugar
1 overflowing tsp molasses
1 scoop of apple sauce (of 1 anjou pear, 1 fuji apple, 2 candycrisp, 2 pinklady)
1 capful homemade Stoli-based vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut
1/2 cup oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chunked 72% chocolate
1/2 cup walnuts

So soft, best cookies ever!