Notebook on the road...at Dianne's

The last time I had a "notebook on the road" post was in September when we were in Pennsylvania for my sister Kate's wedding.  Today, my notebook is taking another trip--a virtual one this time.  A couple weeks ago my blogging friend Dianne of Dianne's Dishes was looking for some guests to feature on her blog this week.  Today is my turn!  So head on over to her blog to check out my post there.  And while you're there, be sure to check out all the other guest bloggers from this week as well as all the wonderful regular features of Dianne's Dishes.

Notebook on the road

This week my notebook is in Dad's kitchen instead of Di's. I knew that we'd be here in Pennsylvania for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, and while I could just skip this week's recipe or put it off, I thought I'd give it a try despite the unusual venue. This week's Chocolate Chunkers come from Claudia of Fool for Food. I figured cookies would be fairly easy to pull off in a somewhat unfamiliar kitchen, and wouldn't need a lot of odd or difficult to find ingredients. What these cookies did need was chocolate, and lots of it. And me without my chocolate stash... =)

Before we left for our trip, I looked online and was able to find a number of people that had made the recipe before and posted it, so I didn't worry about copying the whole thing from my book. A couple nights ago I looked at the recipe and figured out what I'd need to buy. Bittersweet chocolate topped the list--I bought a bag of Ghirardelli 60% chips. (I melted half the bag for the dough and mixed in the rest for the chunks.) I also picked up a bar of Ghirardelli white chocolate--only four ounces, rather than six, but I'm not overly fond of white chocolate anyway. A tin of Hershey's regular cocoa jumped into the cart, and I picked up a new can of baking powder, since Dad's was dead (a use-by date of sometime in 2006, I think; I tested it and it barely fizzed at all). I thought I needed unsalted butter, but Dad had frozen some left over from when I was here in March. The one thing I missed was unsweetened chocolate, because the recipe I looked at didn't have it in the ingredient list. But I improvised with a bit more cocoa (1/3 cup instead of 1/4) and a bit more butter (four tablespoons instead of three). Raisins were on hand (unlike a lot of people, I love raisins and chocolate together), but I left out the nuts, since I know my kiddos don't like them much.

This is not the kitchen I grew up in. But many of the tools in it are familiar. Mixing bowls that I've used many times before, for instance. And a few newer things--like an unopened roll of parchment paper; my dad had no idea what it would be used for. My mom wasn't able to do much baking in recent years, though she used to do a lot. I remember the cheesecake phase quite well. =) And my dad isn't one for baking, though he tries... There was the birthday cake he tried to make for my mom one year when he didn't realize that the oven was set to broil instead of bake. Mmm, black on top and raw in the middle. =)

The cookies were pretty easy to mix up once I found everything. I'm not used to working without a scale, though. And I missed my favorite cookie scoop. Fortunately, when making dinner Sunday night, I figured out that the oven here runs hot and was able to adjust the temp down to 325 degrees F for the cookies. They took about 10 minutes to bake. I let them cool for a few minutes on the pan and then moved them to a rack. They didn't spread much, I assume due to the fact that there actually isn't a lot of butter in them (though the chocolate more than makes up for that). Brianna and Gillian woke up from their nap right when I was putting the first tray of cookies on the rack. Gillian immediately tried to help herself and was quite unhappy to be told that they were for dessert, later.

The verdict? Wow, there's a lot of chocolate in these! Yes, that should be obvious, but just looking at the recipe doesn't completely convey how much. Definitely have a tall glass of milk handy for these. Or a short one, if all you can find is a jelly jar glass like the one pictured above. =) (Another nostalgic find in the kitchen.) Everyone loved the cookies. My dad's favorite is regular chocolate chip, but he still managed to eat several of these. Brianna even liked the "chocolate covered" raisins. I'll be making these again. If you'd like to give them a try, you can find the recipe here on Claudia's blog.

For those who may be interested, my sister's wedding was beautiful, and everything went quite smoothly. The girls were both adorable. Gillian did manage to throw up on her dress a bit at the reception, no doubt because she'd been running around like a maniac. I don't have a good picture of them in their dresses, so the one above is from the park on Monday. They had a blast. I think my dad is more worn out than they are, though. It's been a good trip, though somewhat bittersweet.