Sunday, September 24, 2006

And the inaugural dish for my new kitchen is...

...Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies, from the May/June 2005 issue of Cook's Illustrated. I needed something quick to bring for dessert at a chorus gathering and this recipe fit the bill. This was my first baking project in the new kitchen, and it was great. An oven large enough to bake the entire batch of cookies at once, with a glass door to check their progress and all kinds of fancy digital readouts. I used an ice cream scoop to measure out the cookie dough and these came out as some of the most uniform-looking desserts I've put together. For this recipe, "Ultimate" means chocolate chunks, raisins, and walnuts. Mine was the only dessert at the party to completely run out, so... success.

What should I try in the new kitchen next?

Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - ingredients Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - filling Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - dough Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - dough and filling Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - baking Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - oven w/ flash Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies - oven sans flash Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Tomato Sorbet

The last thing I'll ever make in my old kitchen. Besides toast. Yes, you read that right, tomato sorbet. Another one of those things that I just had to try after hearing about it. I got the recipe from MattBites.com, blog of an awesome food photographer. Okay, so it was supposed to be heirloom tomatoes. I forgot to go to the farmer's market, ok? I did use a few tomatoes fresh from my parent's garden. Truth be told, I wasn't super into this dish. I think the real heirloom tomatoes would have helped the flavor a lot, as would using less vinegar. It was really vinegary. Like, sweet-and-sour-sauce sorbet. I'll try it again with a few tweaks. In my amazing new kitchen! Pics coming soon.

Tomato Sorbet - ingredients Tomato Sorbet, straining puree Tomato Sorbet - mixing Tomato Sorbet - churning Tomato Sorbet - more churning Tomato Sorbet