chocolate

Christmas trees! Christmas ornaments! Christmas Cheer! It’s time to bring out all the decorations and decorate everything in sight. More importantly, it's time to fill the house with the smell of fresh-baked cookies. Chocolate is one ingredient that’s at the top of my holiday baking list. And what could be a better treat to start the season than these dark chocolate sandwich cookies filled with white chocolate ganache. Yum. These pretty trees and ornaments are one of my favorite treats to bake and they’re a cookie that my whole family loves to eat.

I have a friend who used to sew matching pajamas for herself, her husband, and their 3 kids every Christmas. The fabric was usually flannel and covered with Santas, snowmen, reindeer and other Christmas-themed designs. I’m fairly certain that no one in my family would have wanted matching pajamas so I didn’t even think of going there. But I always thought that was a fun idea. In my own way, I adopted her tradition, but for me it was Christmas slippers. Every year I buy a new pair of holiday slippers.

One of the first Christmas decorations that goes up is the wreath on the door. It’s first because decorating the door only involves two minutes. But once the wreath is in place, the holidays can begin. The wreath says “Come inside...Christmas is happening in here!”

Based on his recipe for TKOs Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, I’m inclined to agree that Michelin Star chef Thomas Keller [see footnote] is a culinary genius. His creation is an elegant interpretation of an Oreo cookie and I’m here to tell you that it is beyond delicious. I love the Halloween-themed cookies that it inspired me to make. Forgive me in advance for this terrible play on words, but... “Bone” apetit!

“To make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.” Thomas Keller

The idea for these Chocolate Button Cookies has been on my mind for awhile so I decided to make them when I found myself with a free afternoon. They reminded me of shopping for clothes when I was in grammar school and how much fun it was to pick out something new for the first day back from summer vacation. I might make an extra dozen to give to a seamstress friend of mine. She’s passionate about making quilts and loves chocolate. Seems like a match made in heaven.

It’s easy to feel invisible as your social interactions shrink to fit into a small box inside a 40-minute Zoom meeting. As thankful as I am to be able to connect online in this way with colleagues, friends, and family, I yearn for more. Surprisingly, my wish was granted by doing something for someone else. In return for my help, I have been rewarded with hours of exchanging ideas, life experiences and hopes for the future. I found out for myself the truth of the saying that “it's better to give than to receive.”

There just haven’t been enough special occasions lately so I decided to make cookies just because. These “No Special Occasion Cookies” are perfect for any no-occasion occasion. Chocolate cookie...yes! Frosted with chocolate...yes! Sprinkled with chocolate...oh, yes!

Did I mention that they are chocolate?

My daughter-in-law makes beautiful challah, the traditional braided bread so popular at Jewish celebrations. That made me curious about what kinds of foods might be associated with Passover, which begins on April 8TH this year. Being a cookie baker, I naturally gravitated toward the sweet end of the spectrum. When I discovered Matzo Crack, I had to give it a try. All I can say is “a-MAZ-ing!” Think of it as a combination candy and bar cookie, leaning more toward the candy side.

“Happiness is a plate of chocolate snowflakes... and someone you love to help you eat them.” Kasha

Sometimes I just have to have someting that’s totally chocolate, with no distractions. This fudgy, dense, decadent cookie topped with dark chocolate frosting is the perfect answer to my question: “Where’s the chocolate?”