Week 3: White Chocolate Chip and Hazelnut Cookies

For Christmas I was fortunate enough to be given The Model Bakery Cookbook. (Thank you, Danielle.) This St. Helena Bakery, founded in 1984, has generously put pen to paper and published 75 of its cherished, time-honored recipes. The cover, featuring nothing more than fresh-baked, drool-worthy English muffins, made me want to run into the kitchen and start baking. Then I delved into the table of contents and it’s a veritable treasure trove of comfort food: muffins, pies, old-fashioned cookies. Plus it has some great recipes for breads. I can hardly believe that I waited this long to sample a recipe!

Because I had some toasted hazelnuts that needed to be used, I searched for a recipe that would incorporate them and came upon white chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies. I have found that a good number of people are not fans of the white chocolate chip. I can totally understand; they are not really chocolate, per se. But if this bakery deemed them good enough to include in a cookie, who am I to disagree? I should note that they recommend you use white chocolate chips (or chopped white chocolate) that has cocoa butter. No palm oil or other tropical fats should be in the ingredient list.

The cookies are easy to make, similar to your everyday Tollhouse chocolate chip. I took pictures as I went along, but the hazelnut/chip picture was terribly monochrome in color, as was the scoop of dough on the parchment paper. So you just have to be satisfied with an image of the end result—a deliciously large cookie that will delight friends and family.

The cookies are buttery, sweet and crunchy. I love the flavor of hazelnuts (and a big fan of Nutella) and they pair well with the white chocolate. And unlike the Lay’s tagline, you really can eat just one. They are just that big. And because I am watching my girlish waistline, I packaged up a tin for the teachers at Ponderosa Elementary School in South San Francisco, where the generous gift-giver, Danielle, works. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Chip & Hazelnut Cookies

2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

11 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups white chocolate chips

2/3 cup toasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts

Position racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together into a medium bowl. Beat the butter and sugars together in a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl, until light in color, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the water and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in thirds, mixing just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Using a large ice cream scoop (1/4 cup capacity), drop scoops of the dough onto the lined pans, spacing them about 3 inches apart. You will only be able to fit three or four cookies per pan.

Bake, switching the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the cookies are lightly golden and set around the edges, about 17 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks and let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough on cooled pans.

Yield: 15 cookies

Comfort Food: Chicken Potpie

I am not, and have never been, a fan of the potpie. Growing up, potpies were bought frozen and had too much crust and not enough flavor. And they didn’t lend themselves to drowning in some sort of sauce of my youth (ketchup, A-1, salsa) to amp up the flavor. But last year, when I was tending to my mom in the hospital and Brilliant Daughter was doing all the cooking for the family, she made this exceptional dish. A potpie that not only tasted wonderful, but was a comfort—to my stomach, to my soul, to my heart. I had seconds, and even thirds. (I think I must have needed a lot of comfort!)

I’ve actually resisted making it again, because even though the food memories are wonderful, the circumstances and body memories during that difficult time thwarted my effort. But I was ready to try it again. I think you’ll agree that it is worth the effort.

I started by completing my mis en place. (Prepping all the ingredients ahead of time allows me to visit with my family more during our weekly Sunday dinners.) I diced up our tasty home-cured and smoked bacon, chopped the vegetables, ran to the garden to cut some marjoram, and instead of using shredded chicken (from a purchased rotisserie chicken), I made use of the leftover turkey from First Christmas. (Yes, we had 2 Christmas’ this year!) I hate to let anything go to waste!

Once you have the ingredients in place, the prep time is about 30 minutes and then the potpie gets popped it in the oven for an additional 22-25 minutes. You could actually do the prep a few hours ahead of time, leaving the puff pastry off and completing that final step before putting the potpie in the oven for the final bake. 

This is not a terribly complicated recipe, and using a shredded rotisserie chicken cuts down on prep work, so think about treating your family to a bit of comfort…and enjoy those leftovers.

Chicken Pot Pie

5 thick slices applewood-smoked bacon, diced into ½-inch pieces

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

12 ounces peeled whole baby carrots, cut in half

1 8-ounce package trimmed haricots verts or other slender green beans, halved crosswise

4 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon crème fraîche

3 cups coarsely shredded chicken from 1 small purchased roasted chicken (skin removed)

Fresh ground pepper

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cook bacon in heavy large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Add onion to drippings in skillet and sauté until tender and golden, about 8 minutes. Add carrots, haricot vert and marjoram, stirring for 1 minute. Add broth and bring to boil over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium-high and boil until vegetables are almost tender and some liquid is reduced, about 8 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup crème fraîche, chicken, and bacon. Bring to simmer. Season with pepper.

Pour chicken mixture into a deep-dish pie pan or cast iron stewpot.

Unfold puff pastry onto work surface; roll out to be slightly larger than your dish. Top chicken mixture with pastry; fold edges down onto rim. Brush top of crusts (not edges) with remaining 1 tablespoon crème fraîche. Cut small X in center of crust; pierce all over with fork. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is heated through, about 22 minutes.

Yield: 6-8 servings