When Are Cookies Like Brownies? When They Are Clinton Street Brookies

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Is it a brownie or a cookie? It's a cookie that tastes like a brownie.
Is it a brownie or a cookie? It’s a cookie that tastes like a brownie.

You know that delightful crackly, papery layer that forms and separates from the top of brownies when you bake them, adding a fabulous textural contrast to the cakey or chewy foundation below?

That’s exactly what you get in cookie form with these “Clinton Street Brookies.”

They bake up fairly flat and modest in size. So you’re taken aback at the unexpected colossal chocolate taste they provide that’s as deep, dark and potently rich as your favorite dark chocolate brownie.

The recipe for these stunners is from “Rose’s Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes, with More Than 600 Step-by-Step Photos” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), of which I received a review copy.

The book is by baking doyenne Rose Levy Beranbaum, veteran of more than 10 cookbooks and creator of the blog, Real Baking with Rose.

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As Kneaded Is What You Need

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Bread pudding (foreground) and bostock (back) from As Kneaded Bakery.
Bread pudding (foreground) and bostock (back) from As Kneaded Bakery.

After graduating with an anthropology degree during a recession when jobs were scarce especially for liberal arts majors, Iliana Berkowitz was lucky enough to unearth her true passion in life — baking.

She took a job at a bakery, followed by a stint at a French bistro, all the while honing her bread and pastry skills.

In 2016, she started a bakery pop-up and bread club in the East Bay. Both did so well that in late-2018, she opened an actual brick-and-mortar, her As Kneaded Bakery in San Leandro.

Pain d'epi and honey rye porridge loaf.
Pain d’epi and honey rye porridge loaf.

It now supplies bread to such restaurants as Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park and The Alembic in San Francisco. And its loaves sell at a host of stores around the Bay Area, including Bianchini’s Market in San Carlos and Portola Valley; Berkeley Bowl in Berkeley; and Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco; as well as through Good Eggs delivery.

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Caramel Popcorn Cookies

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Start with homemade caramel popcorn.
Start with homemade caramel popcorn.

Sure, you could make this addictive caramel popcorn and just call it a day.

But come on, it’s the holidays. It’s time to take it up a notch, to revel in being over the top, to go big or go home.

So go one better, and turn that snack into “Caramel Popcorn Cookies.”

Oh, yeahhh. Instead of stirring in the usual chocolate chips or dried cranberries into your cookie dough, throw in a big flourish of caramel popcorn instead.

It’s like two treats in one.

And end up with Caramel Popcorn Cookies!
And end up with Caramel Popcorn Cookies!

This novel recipe comes from the new cookbook, “Pastry Love: A Baker’s Journal of Favorite Recipes” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by one of my all-time favorite bakers, James Beard Award-winning Joanne Chang, of Flour Bakery, with multiple locations in Boston and Cambridge, and the Chinese restaurant Myers + Chang in Boston.

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Coffee, Tea & You

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Dripdash — Kyoto-Style Coffee

Dripdash takes coffee to another level.
Dripdash takes coffee to another level.

Japanese aesthetics are all about precision and perfection — even when it comes to a simple cup of coffee.

Palo Alto-based Dripdash brought that sentiment to the United States this year with its Kyoto-style, cold-brewed, slow-dripped coffee.

How slow? Apparently, only one drop of water per second gets poured over the grounds in a process that takes 16 hours.

The glacial-pace process makes for a highly caffeinated brew. And the taste?

I had a chance to experience it for myself when I was sent samples.

This is one incredibly smooth coffee. The pronounced acidity I’ve often found with other cold brews is decidedly missing here. Instead, what you get is coffee that tastes more balanced, with tempered bitterness, a silkiness on the palate, and a long, soft finish. If coffee can be somehow relaxing and invigorating at the same time, Dripdash nails it.

One smooth operator.
One smooth operator.

The 6-ounce bottles are available on GoodEggs for $3.99 each. Or in a six-pack on the Dripdash site for $37.

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Proclamation Goods — The Only Pans You Need? Plus A Food Gal Giveaway

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Made in the United States, Proclamation Goods’ pans.

Less is more — even when it comes to outfitting your kitchen.

That’s the philosophy of Proclamation Goods, a new cookware company built on the belief that you really only need two pans in your cooking arsenal: a 12-inch skillet and a 7-quart pot.

The company was founded by CEO Chris Burrage, former general manager of Casper mattresses, and Chief Product Officer Tony Leo, former head of design at Pottery Barn.

With that kind of pedigree, you’d expect the pans to be of high quality. And they are, as I found when I was given a free set to test drive.

Made in the United States, the set of two pans, which comes with one lid that can fit either, retails for about $379.

The skillet and pot can be attached via handles that come together in a hinge to create a dutch oven.
The skillet and pot can be attached via handles that come together in a hinge to create a dutch oven.

The first thing you notice when you pick them up is their heft. These are heavy-duty pans with a streamlined design. The pot is made of gleaming stainless steel, and the skillet comes in either stainless steel or carbon steel. I was kindly sent one of each, and I will say you will surely get an arm workout wielding the carbon steel one, which is much weightier like cast-iron.

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