Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must say I rarely meet a cookie I do not like.  These were wonderful.  Let's review - coffee and dark chocolate in a cookie - what could be better?  I broke down and bought espresso powder from the on-line King Arthur store.  Totally worth it.  I only used one tablespoon of the strong stuff not the 2-3 as suggested in the recipe.  Nathan also asked me to put in a little extra vanilla which I did. Hey I love vanilla!  The kids loved the mocha taste, I thought we might not get to baking the cookies!  I did have a little trouble with the cookies spreading a bit more than I would have liked, despite the fact that I did cool the dough for quite some time.  



Every great recipe starts with butter!



The dough was delicious.



They did spread quite a bit. But they were still crunchy and chewy.



We had another winter storm here in Connecticut today.  Here's to nicer weather coming soon! And the April recipes a celebration of the spring season.

Cheers,
Broad Brook Bakers

TWD: Croissants

I should not have been so scared of making croissants all these years. It was an investment of time but we did not find them to be overly complicated to make.

This was more of a family affair than usual; we were all Broad Brook Bakers this time around.  My husband and mother-in-law serving as photographers as well as assisting in parts of the croissant making. The kids as usual loved the dough making especially.

Nathan and Sarah are watching the video of Julia and Esther McManus. This video was so helpful every step of the way.



We did not have a problem finding the yeast at our local market (Big Y.)


















This was lots of fun and remarkably easier than I thought it would be; thought I would have butter all over the place.









Bought chocolate batons and almond filling from King Arthur Flour.







Our croissants did not look like they came straight out of a professional bakery but they were pretty in their own handmade way.





Well worth the time and investment.  Honestly, these were the best croissants I've had next to my memory of when I did my study-abroad in Paris.  I highly recommend the chocolate batons from King Arthur.  The chocolate was perfect, not too sweet, exactly how I remember. We ate the bulk of them for lunch along with cheese (fromage!), ham (jambon!) and strawberries (fraises!).  We felt very French.

A bientot!

Broad Brook Bakers