chocolate chip cookies

A change of pace from salad dressings and bread dipping oil:  dessert.

A couple weeks ago I made chocolate chip cookies from a recipe taken from www.crepesofwrath.net (recipe below).  Almost identical to the traditional toll house recipe found on the back of every bag of chocolate chips, the only difference is a substitution of one-quarter cup of olive oil for the two sticks of butter, a little more salt and a splash of milk.  The cookies were well received by my daughter Emma and her friend, Andrew.

So, I did a little experiment at the office on Monday.  I made two batches of chocolate chip cookies:  one made according to the toll house recipe (Group A) and the other made with olive oil (Group B).  I asked my colleagues to tell me which of the two versions they preferred and which one they thought was made with olive oil.

15 people in my department responded and overwhelmingly they preferred Group A (14 of 15).  Only one person misidentified which one had butter vs. olive oil

The comments were most interesting.  Consistently Group A was described as crisper and Group B "more chewy".   A couple people commented that they liked the look of Group A more than Group B. Group A were plain and flat, while Group B was "puffier" and smooth.  I was surprised at this reaction, but several folks said that Group A looked more like what they thought of as a home-made chocolate chip cookie.  One person said Group A smelled sweeter.  Someone else said that although she preferred Group A and she thought B had an oily residue (yuck), she thought Group B might lend itself better to mass production.  Good to know in case this law thing does not work out and I need to find a new career.

There was some discussion on the relative calories in the two versions.  I really wish I understood the science of food more (actually, I wish I knew anything).  Clearly the oil has fewer calories than the butter (one-quarter cup olive oil has about 480 calories versus 800 for two sticks of butter), and it has no cholesterol vs 31 grams cholesterol per tablespoon butter and the olive oil has more monounsaturated fats, etc.  But, remember, a cookie is still a cookie.  These are not diet foods.  But they taste damn good.

Many, many thanks to all who participated.


Olive Oil Chocolate Cookies

2 1/4  c. flour
1 1/2  t. salt
1        t. baking soda
1/4     c. extra virgin olive oil
1        t. vanilla extract
3/4     c. granulated sugar
3/4     c. packed brown sugar (altho I always uses less brown and more regular sugar -- I like the
                        lighter color -- just so it totals 1 1/2 cups)
2        eggs
1        T.  milk (or more)
1        c. chocolate chips (I always use more)

Preheat oven to 375

Combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Combine sugars, vanilla and olive oil.  Beat eggs in one at a time.  Gradually add flour mixture, then add one tablespoon of milk to make the dough a bit firmer, maybe add another tablespoon if you need it or feel the dough is too sticky.
Roll dough into balls and place on greased or lined cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden and set.  These overbake quickly, so pay attention.
Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to another surface to cool completely.

Bravo Cucina bread dipping oil

My daughters and I really like the bread dipping oil served at Bravo Cucina Italiano, a restaurant chain in the Pittsburgh area.   There a several "copy cat" recipes on the internet, but I think those recipes are much too light on the tomato taste that is characteristic of the Bravo oil.  After a couple tries, I think this tastes a lot like Bravo's, or even if it isn't, it is pretty damn good:

1/2 c. olive oil
   2 t.  sun-dried tomato paste
1/2 t.  dried basil
1/2 t.  dried thyme
1/2 t.  dried rosemary
1/4 t.  very finely minced garlic or garlic powder
salt (very little)
pepper

Whisk sun-dried tomato paste and oil in a bowl.  Add basil, thyme and rosemary crushing them very finely with your fingers.  Whisk.  Add garlic and salt and pepper.  If possible, let it all blend for a couple hours before using.  Delicious.

Lip Balm

I was on a soft food diet for several days after dental surgery, so with bananas in the house I whipped up a batch of "Lip Rejuvenation Formula" from The Passionate Olive, 101 Things to Do with Olive Oil.  The recipe calls for one-half ripe banana and 2 tablespoons olive oil, but that is way too much olive oil.  Just mash the banana and oil together to make a paste, put it on your lips and leave on for 20 minutes.  Rinse off and your lips really are smoother.  One banana makes a hell of a lot of paste, so invite all your chapped lipped friends over for this one.

The Passionate Olive, 100 Things to Do with Olive Oil by Carol Firenze is a fun, if silly, book.  Among the 101 uses are cooking, of course, massage, health tips, beauty treatments (for you and your pet), first aid, head lice (and hairball) treatments, making your own baby wipes -- to name just a few.

But not to worry, I will share selected ideas with my readers as we go along.

Poppyseed

I have been under the weather of late. Bronchitis and then dental surgery.

A while back we tried a Poppy Seed dressing:

1 T poppy seed
1 T honey
4 T olive oil
juice of one lime
salt and pepper

Whisk to mix

The poppy seed gave it a sweet and nutty taste which was nicely offset by the lime. If I make it again, I will use less poppy seed (one tablespoon is a lot of poppy seed). Emma liked this dressing very much.

Hoelzel Dressing

Last week my friend Dan challenged me to replicate the Duquesne Club's Hoelzel Dressing. He said he has had it made by others and, "it was not the same".

There are several Hoelzel recipes on the internet, similar but not the same as the version I used that came directly from the Duquesne Club and which appears in the Three Rivers Cookbook I.

The recipe is very simple: two parts olive oil to one part tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper. With such a simple formula, I wondered about Dan's comment. But then it occurred to me that with such a simple recipe, even a minor change in any of the ingredients could yield a very different result. So, this weekend I made three batches of Hoelzel: one with Italian olive oil (Partanna brand), one with Greek (Salonika) and one with Spanish (Zoe). For the vinegar, in all cases I used Roland brand White Wine Vinegar with Tarragon Sprig, and fresh ground pepper and sea salt.

Up to this point I have been using Italian (first Bertolli and then Colavita brands) and recently Zoe. But I had not been looking for differences among them. Now that I was, the Greek oil was definitely more green in color than the other two, but that was the only apparent difference. I was thinking that perhaps I had just made three dressings that would taste very much the same. I was wrong.

My daughter Rebecca had four college friends visiting, kids I had never met before and I am sure they came away thinking what an odd mother Rebecca has. But they were good sports about it and at least feigned some interest, or at least curiosity (about Rebecca's weird mom, perhaps??)

With no lump crab meat handy, we tried the three variations with bread and I think the consensus was more or less the following: All three varieties were very tart, but very good. The Greek variety had the most flavor; the Spanish the least. I think the Italian variety was the favorite, although I was partial to the Greek. Sorry, Spain.

A note to all my distant followers: The Duquesne Club is a very well known, exclusive city club in downtown Pittsburgh. Part of the history of Pittsburgh business and industry. Beautiful building and dining rooms, very old, very wood, very white male (although there are women members and minority members, too). Outstanding food; exquisite service. The dressing was developed in the 1940's and is named after member, John Hoelzel, who suggested it. It is traditionally served over lump crabmeat as an appetizer and I believe also available as a salad dressing.

I have written to the Executive Chef, Keith Coughenour, to try to identify the type of oil used. Of course, I suppose it is possible that a particular type of tarragon vinegar is the difference, but I doubt it. I will follow up with his reply.

Lemon Dressing

Recently we tried a Lemon Dressing (Recipe #107816) from CDKitchen.com:

2 T. lemon juice
2 T. water
1 T. olive oil
1/2 t. prepared mustard
1/4 t. crushed garlic
dash worchestshire sauce
dash sugar
dash crushed thyme

Combine in bowl or jar and whisk or shake

Makes two servings.

We tried it with bread and thought it was very good. Served on a green salad with crumbled blue cheese, I thought it was a little bland and Emma thought it was too lemony if you didn't also happen to get a little blue cheese on your fork. But my friend Carol, who along with her family, has kindly tried several of my dressings, said it was the best yet.

CD Kitchen is a nice site for a tremendous variety of recipes.

Bread and Dipping Oil

I think that bread is the best way to really taste a vinaigrette.  The bread is neutral: a perfect vehicle for an unobscured sampling of the vinaigrette.  It may taste different, better or worse, on a salad, but trying it with bread first is best.

Awhile back at an office party my friend Renee brought in a delicious Italian bread with olive oil and a dipping bread herb mix from DeLallo, a Pittsburgh area purveyor of Italian food (www.delallo.com).  It was very good -- maybe a little salty for me, but as I told her, I could have sat there all day tearing pieces of bread and dipping them in that oil.

I think that is what led me to the idea of testing all vinaigrette with bread.

But we also tried the garlic flavored oil for dipping enhanced with some oregano.  Delish. I have a number of idea dipping oil ideas that I look forward to trying.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

My friend, Barb told me about this dressing -- so, let's call it Barb's Vinaigrette:

7 oz olive oil
2 oz balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper


Whisk or shake

The balsamic taste is very strong.  Balsamic tastes "sweet" to me, and I don't always like that, but this is an excellent, everyday dressing.  Add garlic and/or blue cheese and it is absolutely outstanding.

Also great as a dipping oil.

Among the possibilities

I have been studying and trying vinaigrette recipes and combinations over the last several weeks.  Dried or fresh herbs can be used, but I suggest you make sure they are very finely chopped to really spread the flavor.  To me it is at least as much about the aroma of the herbs as the taste.  And I love the smell of fresh basil.

I recently tried a basil vinaigrette that also included a large quantity of parsley (1/2 c. each fresh basil and parsley, 1 c. olive oil, 1/2 c. red wine vinegar, garlic and mustard).  Note that the oil/vinegar ratio is different from a more standard vinaigrette.  I thought that might be a problem, that it would taste too vinegar-y, but that was fine.  But the volume of basil and parsley was so much that it was very dense.  Despite my own advice, I think I should have chopped the basil more finely.  It was heavy and overwhelming to the lettuce, but it was delicious with bread.  Much more robust than a normal dipping oil, of course, but it tasted great.

I am going to explore some dipping oil combinations over the next few weeks, so if you are interested, look for something in future posts.

Starting with Vinaigrette

It seems that every cookbook with more than one or two salad dressing recipes includes a recipe for vinaigrette.  Generally the formula is three to four parts oil (usually olive oil) to one part vinegar, with salt and pepper.  Garlic and/or a teaspoon or so of Dijon mustard are almost standard. Herbs and other extras, if you wish. Whisk or shake -- I don't think it makes a difference.

So, there is the basic recipe.  Plain vinegar, cider or white or red wine vinegar: sure it changes the taste a bit, but the same basic recipe works.  Balsamic vinegar makes the biggest difference in the taste.  My friend, Barbara recently mentioned that she has been getting all kinds of compliments on her "new" salad dressing:  balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Can't get much easier than that.  I will have to try it.

First Post!

This is not only my first blog -- this is the first time I have posted to any blog.  I am beginning this project with the idea of focusing on salad dressings, but I do not really know how this blog may evolve, or what detours it may take.

I hope to include salad dressing recipes and recipe ideas -- and not just those including olive oil -- look for recipes with yogurt and mayonnaise, too.  I also intend to include health information and random interesting trivia I come across. 

I am not quite sure why I am starting this project -- perhaps just trying to do something different for me -- out of my comfort zone, as they say.  I dedicate it to my daughters, Emma and Rebecca McAfee who are my dearest friends and my best cheerleaders.  They will often initially laugh at my ideas, as they did with this one, but they are always encouraging and kind in their criticism.  And we all like a good salad dressing.

If anyone reads this, I hope you will give me your comments and ideas.  That would be very encouraging.