Senscrumptional

One type of cookie that I just don’t think is made often enough is chocolate.  Sure, everybody indulges in a chocolate chip from time to time, or maybe even a chocolate chocolate chip, but what about chocolate cookies?  Other than Oreos, I don’t think chocolate cookies really cross the average person’s mind.  They cross mine, and so I have devised a recipe…

Ingredients:

Soft and cake-like in the center

• 2¾ cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• 1½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Yield:

~30-40 cookies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla extract thoroughly until smooth.  Slowly mix in the dry ingredients.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place them 1½ inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet (the butter in this recipe will keep your cookies from sticking).  Bake them for 10-15 minutes, or until the surfaces begin to crack.

Let your cookies cool on the pan for at least five minutes before serving.  Use a spatula to remove them from the cookie sheet.

Maybe next time, I’ll try for something darker and crunchier; more Oreo-like.  What I was going for here, and what the title implies, is something soft and light.

While there are sauces available that are very delicious, I thought it would be nice to have a sauce that I made myself, so I’ve worked out this recipe, which I rather like very much.  It’s easy, the ingredients are easy to come by, and in the end it’s cheaper to make than buying the sauce at the store.

Ingredients:

• 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon parsley flakes
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• ½ tablespoon basil
• ½ tablespoon marjoram
• ½ cup finely crumbled feta cheese

Yield:

~20 oz, enough for 2-3 medium sized pizzas

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a small pot.  Cook at medium to low heat, stirring frequently.  The sauce is ready when the cheese has partially dissolved, lightening the sauce’s color.

*For a chunkier sauce, substitute a can of diced tomatoes for the tomato sauce.

I tried a lot of recipes and mixes in my search for a good pizza dough.  Now, I’ve come up with a recipe of my own that I think works the best, based on a bit of trial and error (yes, we ate all the of the errors, but it wasn’t always pleasant).  The sauce is up to you.  If you want to just buy a premade sauce, as there are a lot of great options there.  If not, try my Simple Pizza Sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

Topped with my simple pizza sauce, feta, provolone, mozzarella, and chicken sausage

• ¾ cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2¼ cups bread flour (not all purpose!)
• 2 dashes salt
• 1½ tablespoons olive oil

Yield:

4-6 slices, 15″-16″ pizza

Directions:

First, add the warm water (as hot as your tap will get) to the sugar and yeast in a small cup.  Mix until the sugar and yeast are completely dissolved.  Let sit for about five minutes.  You should see a few tiny bubbles form near the surface at the middle of the container.

In a mixing bowl, combine the salt and flour.  Form a depression in the center of the bowl.  Add your yeast mixture, followed by the olive oil.  Using a fork, mix the ingredients by slowly drawing in more flour.  When the mixture becomes too thick to mix with the fork, use your hands.  When the dough is completely mixed (you may have a very small amount of unmixed flour in the bowl; this is fine–it will aid in rolling the dough out later), press it out flat in the bowl, as if you were rolling your dough.  Cover the bowl tightly, and place in a warm place to rise for two to three hours.

Preheat oven to 475° F.  Grease a pan, and roll the dough out to about ½ inch thickness, or a little less.  Your dough should be just a little thicker on the edges, to make a nice crust for gripping.  Optionally, you can spread a thin coat of olive oil over the rolled dough.  Next, spread your sauce (not too thickly!) over the dough, stopping about an inch from the edges (to allow the cheese to bond with the crust).  If you have any non-meat toppings, you’ll want to add those next.  Followed by cheese, loaded to your preference (I like to cover it so that you can just barely see the red sauce below).  Finally, add your meat toppings, if you have them.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Allow the pizza to cool for three minutes before cutting.

Now that I’ve got this one mastered, my next conquest is going to be a good thin crust!