Light & Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know you're probably thinking, how can a chocolate chip cookie be light and skinny.  Well, I can tell you that after making a mound of full fat Rugelach today for the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group, this recipe for chocolate chip cookies has been greatly reduced in fat and sugar but not in flavor.  One or two of these cookies with your coffee or tea may just satisfy your sweet tooth without the serious calorie overload of traditional chocolate chip cookies.  I made this recipe two different ways, one way that produces a softer cookie and the other way which makes a crisper one, both have rich chocolate flavor and were popular with my taste testers.  The secret, cut down on butter and sugar but use good quality bittersweet chocolate baking chunks, like Scharffen Berger brand.  These lighter chocolate chip cookies are truly every bit as good as the traditional Toll House variety and you won't miss the extra calories, promise!

Ingredients and Directions for Light & Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri


Makes 2 & 1/2 dozen cookies


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats

1 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 bag (6 ounces) Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Baking Chunks

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.  In the bowl of a standing mixer beat together the butter and sugars until mixed, about 1-2 minutes.  Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla.  The mixture will look curdled, don't worry!  Add the flour mixture on a low speed and fold in the chocolate chips.  Place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes before forming into cookies.  Use a teaspoon to form the cookies, about 1 inch balls of dough.  Place 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet, about 15 cookies on each baking sheet.  Bake for 8-9 minutes, until slightly golden.  Cool cookies on baking sheets for a few minutes before removing  to continue cooling on metal racks.  This is the recipe for the softer cookies if you would like crisper cookies, add 1 tablespoon additional unsalted butter to the sugars and bake for closer to 12 minutes.

Light Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I didn't forget about my light baking project and today's second installment in my series is another recipe I adapted from America's Test Kitchen 2011 Light & Healthy Cookbook.  The calories and fat have been reduced but the 'moist crumb and rich chocolate flavor' are all there in each bite of these lovely chocolate cupcakes.  The original recipe calls for a simple low fat chocolate frosting which I omitted to save a few more calories.  Instead of frosting I plunged three fresh raspberries into the batter before baking the cupcakes.  Besides being pretty to look at, the fresh raspberries play nicely with the rich chocolate flavor and add that little something extra so you'll never miss the frosting.  Last month I made Meyer Lemon Bar Cookies with Rosemary, a reduced calorie recipe that delivered on flavor, satisfied my sweet tooth and started me on my quest to bake light and share the results.  I used both high quality cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate in my cupcakes which makes all the difference in flavor.  I also used fresh espresso to bring out the chocolate flavor without adding any extra calories.  My next project is to find a reduced fat chocolate chip cookie recipe that I love.  I'm going to try a few recipes and share with my special taste testers before unveiling the final recipe here sometime next month.

Ingredients & Directions for Light Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao)
1/3 cup Dutch- process cocoa (I used KAF Bensdorp)
3 shots espresso (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup bread flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
36 raspberries, a small basket

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with baking spray


In a large bowl combine the chocolate and cocoa, pour the hot espresso over the chocolate mixture.  Wait a few minutes and whisk the chocolate mixture until smooth, don't worry if you have a few small lumps, due to the miracle of science they disappear when the batter is finished.  In another bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda, set aside.  Whisk the oil, eggs, vinegar and vanilla extract into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth.  Gradually stir in the flour mixture.  Lightly coat an ice cream scoop with baking spray and portion out the batter, dividing between 12 muffin cups.  Plunge 3 fresh raspberries into each cupcake, a little bit of their top can be showing, the batter bakes over the raspberries to cover them.
Bake for 17-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.  Cool them in the pan for about 10 minutes and remove to continue cooling on a metal rack.

Onion Soup with Cheese-Topped Croutons for French Fridays with Dorie

French Fridays with Dorie came a little late this week, actually not too late, just one day.  After reading the other FFWD posts on this recipe for cheese topped onion soup, I decided to go with beef broth instead of the chicken which was called for in the recipe because no one seemed to like it's light color or flavor.  I began my onion soup for two by cutting the recipe from Around My French Table down from 4-5 onions to 2.  I guesstimated the rest of the ingredients in lesser amounts and it came out great.  Like most homemade soups, this is a very forgiving recipe, you can't go wrong! Using Gruyère topped croutons, white wine, a splash of brandy, the slow cooked sliced yellow onions, slices of baguette and the beef broth my cheese topped onion soup was a big hit for dinner last night.  If you haven't done so already, consider picking up a copy of Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan, where you can find all the FFWD recipes, and cooking along with the group.

Polvorones (Three Color Mexican Cookies) & My Trip to Los Cabos

I had more fun baking my interpretation of three color Mexican cookies called Polvorones than any other cookies I've baked in a long time!  After eating and drinking my way through Los Cabos, I realize once again that I am a baker at heart as it was the Mexican pastries that sparked my imagination and inspired me in the kitchen after my trip.  Not that I would have minded fish tacos with fresh salsa, guacamole and homemade corn tortillas for dinner tonight.  I searched the internet for a recipe for the Three Color Mexican Cookies called Polvorones that we discovered served at the breakfast buffet at our hotel.  The closest recipe I found was for Big Pink Mexican Cookies from the NerdyBaker.  I did some tweaking to create my Three Color Polvorones and am very happy with the resulting soft not too buttery Mexican style cookies.

My husband Scott and I went with an ILT golf group to Los Cabos this past week.  We stayed at the Westin Resort where we enjoyed a beautiful room with a view of the coast and a daily volley ball game played on the white sandy beach.  We played golf every morning, went whale watching one afternoon, enjoyed leisurely lunches and relaxed with friends by the pool.

Our afternoon whale watching started in Cabo San Lucas where we joined a tour and headed out of the harbor passing right next to the famous Arch before facing the wind and high seas searching for migrating whales.

The inspiration for my homemade cookies was a cloth lined basket of soft crumbly three colored cookies called Polvorones, aren't they beautiful and don't you think they would make the perfect mid morning snack on the golf course?

I don't know why I didn't order this every morning but the last day of the trip I ordered the huevos rancheros. I was very sorry that I only had it once as the eggs were perfectly cooked, the corn tortillas and slightly spicy sauce were memorable, this may be the meal that brings me back to Mexico for another plate.

Starting with a dramatic colored sunrise over the Sea of Cortez I'm sharing a few pictures of the adventures on my trip and finally the recipe for the Polvorones.  I'm sure you will notice a few themes here, whales, Margaritas, golf, delicious food, friends and a good time had by all.

Ingredients and Directions for Polvorones (Three Color Mexican Cookies)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Spectrum Organic all vegetable)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
5-6 drops red and yellow food coloring
Coarse sugar for sprinkling on top of cookies

In the bowl of a standing mixer beat the shortening, butter and sugar until creamy and light in color, 2-3 minutes.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Gradually beat in the flour and salt.  Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into three portions.  Add the cocoa powder into one portion and blend into the dough.  Add the red food coloring into one portion and blend until the dough is pink, adding more or less depending on the strength of color you prefer.  Remember the color of the dough will be slightly lighter after baking.  Add the yellow food coloring to the remaining portion of dough and blend until the dough is evenly colored yellow.
Lay out at least an 18 inch length of plastic wrap on the counter.  Form each portion of dough into evenly sized logs on the plastic wrap.  Place the yellow and pink logs next to each other and place the cocoa log on top, press together using the plastic wrap to roll the dough together into one log.  Place in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Remove the log shaped dough from the freezer, unwrap the plastic wrap and place on a cutting board.  Slice into 1/4 inch pieces and place on two baking sheets.  Sprinkle with coarse sugar.  You should have a dozen on each sheet.  Bake for 14-15 minutes until lightly golden brown and firm to touch.  Cool on the baking sheets for 5-10 minutes, remove cookies from baking sheets and continue cooling on metal racks.

Radish, Bacon & Walnut Salad and Recognizing Inspiration In Your Own Backyard

My first French Breakfast Radish harvest this past week was very inspiring.  Seeing their little red shoulders finally pushing out of the ground after checking on them each week and finding several good size ones for harvest made my day.  Taking my favorite red bowl out of the cupboard and turning my radishes into a  crunchy salad with bacon and walnuts lightly bathed in a creamy vinaigrette was a done deal. The radish greens were tender and I knew they had to be included in my salad.  Earlier in the season I even enjoyed the radish sprouts that I thinned from this crop on a beet salad with goat cheese.  I cashed in on this crop of radishes big time and there is even one more thing I would like to create- my first blogger's award.  As you can see from my blog's sidebar I follow many food blogs and have several favorites that often inspire me.  So, I decided to create an award recognizing inspiration that I would like to pass on to the people who inspire me.  This award will be given away on my blog when the inspiration I feel from reading a post is off the charts for me, kind of like one of those applause meters when it shoots over to the noisy side during a competition like 'Queen For A day', boy am I dating myself, can't believe I came up with that one for an example!

Ingredients and Directions for Radish, Bacon & Walnut Salad with a Creamy Vinaigrette

For the Salad
1 cup sliced French Breakfast radishes from one bunch of radishes
1 cup lightly chopped walnuts
4 strips apple wood smoked bacon, cooked and cut into thick slices
1 cup tender radish greens, torn into bite site pieces


For the Creamy Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon crème fraiche
2 tablespoons toasted walnut oil
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon raw honey
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the radishes, walnuts, bacon and radish greens into a medium size bowl.  In a small bowl whisk together the crème fraiche, walnut oil, sherry vinegar, honey, sea salt and pepper.  Spoon the dressing over the radish mixture and gently stir to coat.
Makes 2 servings

Isn't this a gorgeous harvest of radishes?

My first Award For Inspiration goes to Desserts By Candy for her Nutella Tartine post for French Fridays with Dorie, Allure of Homemade.    Congratulations to Candy and please go check out her post!

Nutella Tartines for French Fridays On Homemade White Bread for Tuesdays with Dorie

Oh wow these tartines were good made with toasted homemade white bread slathered with butter, orange marmalade, drizzled with Nutella and sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts.  Such a treat and wonderful idea from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  This recipe is one of my favorites this month for  French Fridays with Dorie, please check out the rest of the contributors to this online cooking group and consider cooking along with the group.  I believe that the simple recipes are the best ones, especially something as delicious as this tartine made for the most part from ingredients you may have on hand.  I made homemade white bread this week for the new Tuesdays with Dorie group that has started baking their way through Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.  I struggled with what to do with 2 loaves of the white bread that  I baked this week but I just kept thinking grandchildren, I can give it to my grandchildren which is exactly what I did after I made the Nutella tartines!  Please find the recipe including step by step instructions for baking White Loaves here at Someone's In The Kitchen.

I decided to make one loaf of cinnamon raisin bread which makes great toast for breakfast.  I just rolled out the dough (before shaping into the loaf), spread it with softened butter, sugar, cinnamon and sprinkled on a handful of raisins.

One more parting shot of the white bread's interior which baked up high as promised.  I haven't baked white bread since high school and as I recall used the recipe from The Joy Of Cooking.

Happy Valentine's Day Cookies & Chocolate Bark with Red Hots

This past Saturday was my first time to make chocolate bark with red hots, decorated sugar cookies on a stick and to welcome a group of favorite food bloggers in my home for a fun day of sharing food, conversation, baking and bonding.  First off I just have to say how impressed I am with the enthusiasm and creativity of this group.  I was able to use some very cute heart and mini letter cookie cutters that I had buried in a drawer in my kitchen.  Also, who knew how good red hots would be in a chocolate bark?  Gina from Spcookiequeen, Lisa from The Authentic Suburban Gourmet, Bonni from Chrysanthemum, Stephanie from The Baking Barrister, Gina's daughter and myself  made up our bakers group on Saturday.  We enjoyed a wonderful potluck spread which we needed to fuel us during all that strenuous baking and cookie decorating.  Gina brought a jar of her Blood Orange Jam which was amazing on her Meyer Lemon Bread.  Lisa shared her Stilton and Walnut Palmiers which I nibbled on while playing golf on Sunday.  Stephanie makes a killer leek confit which she serves on crostinis spread with soft goat cheese.  Bonni brought a unique Firecracker Thai Shrimp dish with a dipping sauce that my husband enjoyed later that evening.  I made another Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese Apple Quiche which goes so well  with a glass of chardonnay that I just couldn't resist sharing one with the group.  Once the freshly baked sugar cookies cooled on the racks the decorating began with white, pink, red and brown royal icing followed by all types of sprinkles, pearls, colored hearts and small cut out painted letters.  Love, Kiss, Hugs and No Hugs from Stephanie were some of the entertaining messages these special cookies will carry to our lucky Valentines.  And the gorgeous bark, now that is a fun chocolate candy to make and decorate!

Please follow the links to Gina's recipe for Valentine's Chocolate Bark at Spcookiequeen and a recipe from Epicurious for the Royal Icing.  Gina emailed me her recipe for Sugar Cookies so I could make the dough earlier in the week before our baking party.  I knew as soon as I wrapped the dough to chill in the fridge that I liked the feel of it and that it would be easy to roll out.  Just for fun and a little variety a little stick can easily be placed into the cut out hearts to make a cookie pop before baking.

Gina's Sugar Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 cups all purpose flour
 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat the butter until soft and lightened in color, add sugar, egg, flour, salt and almond extract.  Chill dough for 1-2 hours or overnight.  Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's 1/4" thick.(dough needs to be 1/4" thick for the cookies on a stick)  Use cookie cutters to cut out the dough.  Place the cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment or silpats.


Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

This was a fun day that we all agreed we will plan to do again soon.  I enjoyed participating in the decorating, styling and photographing of all our homemade treats on my dining room table.  I don't think I've ever had such pretty cookies and chocolate candy on my blog, thanks girls with lots of hugs and kisses!

Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese, Apple & Walnut Quiche for French Fridays

I arrived at the cheese counter fully planning to pick up the soft mild blue cheese from Italy called for in the recipe, but after a few minutes of perusing the blue cheese section I made the decision to go local. It wasn't that difficult with a hunk of Point Reyes original blue cheese staring me down from inside the cheese case.
I love Tomales Bay, the coastal fog, the green hills where the Holstein cows graze in harmony with the salty Pacific breezes.  The land, it's all about the land or 'Terroir' as the French call it.  In fact my favorite French chef  who lives in Sonoma says that you should always eat local and I think that's great advice especially when everything local is so good.  I feel very fortunate to live in Northern California where we enjoy an abundance of artisanal cheeses.
This week I put my own spin on Dorie's Gorgonzola-apple quiche recipe by adding local blue cheese, shallots, a tart Granny Smith apple, as well as a handful of walnuts.  Once again I used Dorie's recipe for the quiche dough which always works perfectly for me.  I am a happy camper with my French Fridays with Dorie recipe this week.  This rich flavored quiche would be good as an appetizer cut in thin slices and served with bubbles. It may very well knock gougères out of first position in the app department for the time being.  Please follow this link to check out all the other quiches this week and I hope you find inspiration in your own backyard.  We have been asked to not share the recipe so I would like to suggest that you consider picking up a copy of Around My French Table and cook along with the group.

Coconut Friands or Friendly Little Coconut Cakes

I don't know why I ended up with a huge bag of dried coconut in my pantry but that's one of the reasons I made these delicate melt in your mouth French style mini cakes called coconut friands, the auto correct keeps changing the word friands to friends so I'm going to try and write this post without typing friends or friands, there it goes again!  The other reason I baked these little coconut cakes is that a friend of mine gave me a couple of those cool silicone baking molds and I was curious to give them a try, at long last!-I've only had them in my pantry for about 4 years.  She gave me two different shapes, the one I used for these mini coconut cakes and the other shape is a little pyramid that I think would be good for small chocolate cakes.  Maybe in another 4 years I'll give the other shape a try,  just being honest but I know that sounds bad.  The truth is that the older you get the more stuff you acquire and it kind of backs up, not as bad as I've seen on on a certain TV show that is pretty depressing to watch but all the same when you like to cook both the gadgets and ingredients in the pantry can build up in the kitchen.  It's not always easy to lighten your load, sometimes you have to make tough decisions about what stays and what goes.  There's always that thought that someday you might need one of those handy objects or unusual ingredients that you've got squirreled away but I've noticed that most likely if you haven't used something in a year you won't ever use it.
Writing about stuff, I should also mention that I found 4 place settings of the vintage silverware in the above photo on a shelf in my garage that I completely forgot about!  It was in a jar and almost completely black so I polished it up and thought, maybe I should look on ebay for more of this pattern, it's so sweet with that spray of flowers on the handles.  But I won't and I'm making a promise to myself to use the small pyramid shaped silicone molds this year and finish off that bag of coconut in the very near future!

Ingredients & Directions for Friendly Little Coconut Cakes
Adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan


4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1&1/2 cups shredded unsweetened dried coconut
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat the oven to 350°F
Spray 2- 9 mini fluted cup silicone molds

In a large bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy, stir in the remaining ingredients one at a time and gently beat into a thick shiny batter.  At this point the batter can be saved for several days in the refrigerator
before baking off the cakes.  Spoon the batter into the prepared molds until just below the top.  Place the 2 filled molds together on a baking sheet.  Bake for about 20-24 minutes.  They are done when slightly browned and spring back when touched.  A toothpick inserted in the cakes should come out clean.  The cakes should pop right out of the molds and be cooled on a metal rack.  The top of the cake which will become the bottom can be trimmed so the cake stands up evenly when served.  Dust with powdered sugar if you like.

I don't normally post recipes from Around My French Table but this recipe is on blogs all over the web so I decided that I would rather pass it on here where I can write the instructions myself.  I did slightly adapt it by using the silicone molds instead of the original mini muffin pans called for in this recipe.

Makes 18 little coconut cakes

Broth Braised Yukon Gold Potatoes for French Fridays with Dorie

Tonight I'm serving my Broth Braised Yukon Gold Potatoes on the side with New York strip steaks, roasted red peppers and arugula salad but I can also see these delicate cubed potatoes served alongside chicken or fish.  The small cubes of peeled Yukon Gold potatoes cook in the broth to make their own creamy sauce which I think hits the spot served in a small bowl so as not to miss a single drop of the deliciousness.  The recipe for broth braised potatoes infused with fresh herbs, garlic, lemon zest and olive oil from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan is a simple French comfort food that  I will be adding to my repertoire of healthy potato dishes.  Here is a link to the recipe which we have been asked not to print on our sites.  Please follow this link to French Fridays with Dorie to check out all the Broth Braised Potatoes from the kitchens of Doristas sharing their dishes from around the world.

This week I received 2 blogging awards from fellow Doristas, I would like to thank Teresa at One Wet Foot for the Liebster Blog Award and Lizzy at That Skinny Chick Can Bake for the Inspirational Blog Award.  Please check out their delicious blogs and thanks again Ladies for honoring me with these awards!