Of all things not business and leadership related.

Searching:

Still, for the perfect brownie recipe.  This has been a years-long endeavor.  I thought I had it with this one but upon revisiting, I wasn’t wowed.  If you like a truly fudgy texture with an adult flavor of dark chocolate, this is a solid recipe.  I used to omit the walnuts and instead placed pecan halves on the top after smoothing the batter and then sprinkled with a little sea salt all before baking.

This recipe is the most recent attempt, and it produced a beautiful-looking brownie, not too fudgy, not too cakey.  (And they froze nicely, too.)  But as we know in baking, sometimes the most humble-looking desserts (think Dorie Greenspan’s Alsatian Apple Tart found in her book, Baking: From My Home to Yours which has many other standout recipes) are the most astonishingly good.  These brownies just seemed to lack a depth of chocolate flavor, which astonished me after reading the ingredients.  I might give it one more try.

The go-to right now, which is easy to make and rich in flavor, is this one.  But it’s not quite brownie perfection.  The search continues.  Next up: this one.

Also in the queue: this cookie recipe.  I’m just becoming familiar with gochujang after having it with brussels sprouts at a restaurant.  The idea of putting it in cookie sounds super interesting.  Stay tuned!

Over the holidays, I made this chocolate chunk shortbread for gift boxes.  I wasn’t wowed.  Darn it!  Loved the idea of combining a CC cookie with shortbread.  (They looked beautiful, though, and if you try it and love it, let me know and I’ll give it another whirl.)  If you want an outstanding CC cookie recipe it can be found here.  Worth the prep and the leftover cake and bread flours that you will try to find use for.  If you want a blow-your-mind shortbread recipe, I’ve written about it here and here.

Crunching:

When you decide to temper the butter and sugar coming out of your kitchen, try this kale salad.  Easy, flavorful, and the texture works, which is often the tricky part with raw kale.  Also, if you’re a fellow beet lover, this recipe was a game-changer.  No more foil, no more peeling!  Who knew you could eat the skins??  Revelatory.  I roast a bunch at a time and then enjoy them in salads.  So good.  Also: If I’ve got the oven on, I like to roast several vegetables and then have them in the fridge for leftovers.  While the beets are cooking (at a lower temp), I will often prep cauliflower and brussels sprouts on separate sheet pans.  And it’s essentially the same for each: wash, pat dry, cut ends of brussels or cut head of cauliflower into florets, place on sheet pan with parchment paper, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, roast at 400 degrees for approx 25 minutes.  Use fork to test for doneness.  The high heat really amps up the flavor on both of these vegetables.  Thanks to Ina Garten for this method which I read years ago in one of her cookbooks.