Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies with Espresso Powder

I love the combination of chocolate and salt and have for years, but the addition of Instant Espresso powder to this recipe really takes them over the top. The fact that they mix up quick and easy and you honestly can have them baked and ready to eat in under an hour makes them even better. The recipe makes the perfect amount for exactly two dozen normal sized cookies which is the perfect amount to have around if your counting calories (like me) or want to bake and take a small treat to the office like I have been known to do on occasion.

Into a mixing bowl add 1/2 cup very soft butter, 2/3 cup dark brown sugar and 1/3 cup white sugar.

Cream together until fluffy.

To the butter and sugar add 1 egg, 1 Tlb. vanilla extract.

Blend together until smooth and creamy.

In a separate bowl combine 1 cup flour, 2/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp. baking soda and 1 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder.

Add the flour mixture in batches incorporating it into the butter and sugar mixture between each addition.

Then add 4 oz. of bittersweet chocolate chips (60% Cacao)and mix in by hand.

Line up the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with a little sea salt then slip into a preheated 350 degree oven for about 11 min. or until lightly brown on the edges.

Sprinkle the still warm cookies with a little sea salt...scrumptious.

I think I may need a bigger glass of milk. It was a crazy week at the office with absolutely nothing falling into place. These cookies were just what I needed. Warm, salty and buttery with the right amount of gooey chocolate.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Crostata & Coffee

Sometime last winter I spied this lonely only slightly dented can of Apricot pastry and pie filling in the dent bin at my local grocery store. I bought it not knowing what I would use it for, but I cannot pass up a good deal or the opportunity to try something new. Therefore, that lonely can of pastry filling went from the dent bin to a distant corner on my pantry shelf that is until last Saturday.

The bf and I had plans to go over to a friend’s house for coffee late Saturday morning and I thought it would be great if I took something that would go great with coffee. Of course, I could have stopped off and bought something from my local patisserie shop, but you know me ever the baking fool I thought it would be best if I baked something.

I had decided that making something using that lonely can of Apricot pastry filling would be the best, so I decided on a crostata. I had made one a few years ago for Christmas Day dessert and for whatever reason my children were less than thrilled. I honestly do not think their taste buds have completely matured yet. Anyway, the crostata turned out to be just the thing our Saturday morning coffee needed.

In the bowl of your food processor with the dough blade already in, pulse together 1 ½ cups flour, 2 Tlb. sugar, grated zest from one lemon, ¼ tsp salt, 10 Tlb. butter chilled ( half salted, half unsalted) until small crumbs form. Then pulse in 3 Tlb. ice water ( I think I used 1 additional Tlb. of ice water). Pulse until you get the dough to come together in moist clumps.

Shape dough into a flat round disk and wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

Place dough onto a large piece of parchment paper and sprinkle lightly with flour. Roll out dough to a 11 or 12 in circle.

Transfer to a baking sheet.

Spread the entire can of Apricot Pastry filling over the surface of the dough coming within 2 in. of the edge.

Next you fold over the edges of the crust forming an eight in. round pleating and pinching and getting rid of any cracks in the crust.

Bake in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for 40 min. Give or take a few min.

When it comes out of the oven dust it with some powdered sugar and sprinkle on some toasted almond slivers. Let it cool on a wire rack until it is just warmish.

This was the perfect treat to go with coffee. The crust was buttery and crisp and it had just the right amount of sweet and tart from the Apricot preserve. The best part is I had one slice and left the rest behind when I went home.