Is this thing on?

And a cookie recipe, of course

Hello hello everyone! It has been many months since I wrote this newsletter, which was not intentional! But I moved, for the first time in many years, and had to pack and (mostly) unpack and figure out how to cook in my new home and get even more obsessed with gardening (I now have a growing rose garden; I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m enjoying it greatly) and I kept forgetting to update you all. But summer is coming and I have so many books and recipes to recommend to everyone, so I cannot keep this newsletter silent.

I have a bundle of book recommendations for all of you for your spring and summer reading, for a variety of moods and needs:

If you’re filled with 90’s nostalgia: The Daydreams, by Laura Hankin. Celebrity culture and fun 90’s retrospectives and some excellent plot twists are all here; I had such an excellent time reading this book.

If you think it would be great if The Great British Baking Show had a little more murder: The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell. A cozy mystery on the grounds of a baking competition show? — It’s like I dreamed that someone would write this book and then they did.

If you want some more 90’s nostalgia but set at a New England boarding school and also with murder: I Have Some Questions For You, by Rebecca Makkai. You’ve probably heard a lot of great things about this book already, and they’re all true.

If you’ve lost someone close to you: A Living Remedy, by Nicole Chung. A beautiful memoir about grief and loss and life.

If you loved The Secret Garden as a kid and would love an updated version: A Bit of Earth, by Karuna Riazi. A lovely reimagining of The Secret Garden, good for kids and adults.

If you want to read a delightful teen summer romance: No Boy Summer, by Amy Spalding. It’s an adorable, heartfelt, coming of age queer romantic comedy.

If you want a hilarious and touching road trip romance: Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, by Sarah Adler. When I finished this book, I wanted to hug it to my chest, I loved it so much. (This is the only one on this list that isn’t out yet, but it comes out this coming Tuesday, so if you preorder you don’t have long to wait).

Okay, that should keep you all occupied for a while! Now for the cookies.

This recipe comes from Handle the Heat, and every recipe of hers I’ve tried I’ve really enjoyed. But these cookies I’ve made a few times in the past month, and one person I gave them to told me I should sell them, they were so good. They are her Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I just made a batch this week mostly to keep in my freezer so that when I have friends over or I want just a cookie or two, I can pull out a few balls of dough and bake them off. (To freeze cookie dough, I use an ice cream scoop, scoop the dough onto parchment paper, stick in the freezer for an hour or so until firm, and then put in a tightly sealed and labeled freezer bag. This also makes a good gift for anyone who just had a baby!). Below is the recipe, with all of my notes!

Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 23-25 cookies

2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 cup (200 grams) dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (127 grams) bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional (I usually don’t include this)
2 large eggs plus one egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
10 ounces (283 grams) semi sweet chocolate, chopped*
1 cup toffee bits, homemade or purchased**
Flaky sea salt, optional

*You can use chocolate chips, they just don’t melt as well as chopped chocolate, but sometimes we do what we have to do.

**You can buy the toffee bits, but this is the first time I ever made toffee bits myself, and let me tell you, it is easy and VERY fun. Here is her recipe. I don’t think I’ll ever buy them again now that I know how to make them.

Directions:

Brown the butter: in a medium pot over medium heat, melt the butter, and then continue to cook it. Swirl the pan every minute or so; it’ll get foamy and make lots of cracking noises and then subside a bit. Swirl the pan more until you see brown bits at the bottom of the pan and the butter smells nutty; immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. (Don’t walk away from the stove when browning the butter; it can go from brown to burned very quickly)

Add both of the sugars to the bowl with the butter; stir and then let cool to room temperature. In a smaller bowl, combine the flours, the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using it).

Once the butter and sugar mixture has cooled, whisk in the eggs, yolk, and vanilla. Slowly stir in the flour mixture and then the chocolate and toffee bits. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate. Okay, here she says to refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 72 hours before baking, because it makes the cookies so much better. I know that sometimes when we want cookies, we want them immediately, and I have taken the burden off of all of you and tested if this recipe still makes good cookies if you bake them right away, and indeed it does! (I would scoop the dough and refrigerate for at least a few minutes first, though). They are definitely very excellent if you wait at least a day, but if you cannot wait that long, I understand.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 F. If you’re baking the dough after a day or so in the fridge, let it come to room temperature so it’s easier to scoop. Scoop the dough into 3 tablespoon sized balls, and drop onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes, and sprinkle the flaky salt (if using) onto the tops of cookies when you take them out of the oven. (If you’re baking these from frozen, they usually take 14-15 minutes for me; fresh it’s more like 12 minutes).

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend, everyone! And I promise, I will be back soon with more recommendations and recipes!

xo

Jasmine