Apparently there was a time Before Chocolate Chip Cookies (BCCC), though it’s hard to imagine it.

That BCCC time was prior to 1933, which was the year Ruth Graves Wakefield, who owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusettes, was making chocolate cookies when she realized she had run out of regular baker’s chocolate. Not wanting to leave her customers wanting, she substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate from Nestlé, thinking that this chocolate would simply melt and mix into the batter as the baker’s chocolate had. However, to her surprise, the chocolate did not melt and what came out of the oven were the world’s first ever chocolate chip cookies. Her customers were delighted and asked for more. The love affair with CCC had begun. Wakefield sold the recipe to Nestlé in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips.

The cookies gained popularity during World War II when GIs from Massachusettes, who were stationed overseas, received care packages from home which included CC cookies. They shared these cookies with other GIs from various places around the country and before long Wakefield was inundated with letters from around the world asking for her recipe.

Today, 25% of all cookies baked in the United States are chocolate chip cookies. And out of all the CCC recipes I’ve tried, this one is definitely our favorite.

Recipe: Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies (aka Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Makes: 112 cookies (This recipe can be halved.)

Sabayon (or Italian zabaglione) is a pudding, or custard, served on its own, or with fruit. For this quick dessert, the fruit is macerated, the sabayon is whisked, and the two are broiled before serving.

This is the third time I've made sabayon in this curriculum. First, it was a traditional fruit zabaglione. Then we made a savory sabayon to top poached oysters. Now, we're making a sabayon that's browned under the broiler before serving.

Before making the sabayon, you macerate the fruit in liqueur. Macerating is done at room temperature. (Say that five times fast!) Whereas, marinating is generally done in the refrigerator. So, the fruit is soaked in the liqueur for at least 20 minutes. Then you make the sabayon.

The key to sabayon is constant whisking over simmering water to avoid scrambling the eggs. After making the sabayon, you broil it for a few minutes until it's lightly browned.

Recipe: Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur)

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

What makes tirami-su?
Tiramisu usually contains lady finger biscuits, mascarpone cheese, a coffee-flavored liqueur, and is dusted with cocoa. My version doesn't contain any of these ingredients. Dorie's riff on tiramisu uses a sponge cake instead of lady finger biscuits. I was forced to do a couple of riffs myself. Since I didn't have mascarpone, I used some long-neglected cream cheese that was soon going to expire. As well, I didn't have the recommended Kahlúa or brandy so I used crème de cacao. Finally, I forgot to put the chopped chocolate in between the layers so I sprinkled it on top which meant my cake wasn't dusted with cocoa. Whatever you call it, it's a treat in the middle of the afternoon guaranteed to pick you up and get you to the 5 o'clock whistle.

Recipe: Tiramisu Cake

Makes: 10 servings (I halved the recipe.)

Ingredients:

Homemade chocolate pudding spooned onto a chocolate cookie crust with a dollop of whipped cream. My kids were in heaven. As were our neighbor's kids. One of mine licked off just the pudding and whipped cream and handed the cookie part back to me to finish!

I was at a popular dessert spot in Ottawa the other day called Memories. Situated downtown in the bustling Byward Market, it's a dessert-focused café I've been visiting since moving to Ottawa. At one time, all the desserts were listed on a big whiteboard tempting us with cheesecakes, chocolate oblivions, and pies. I had my first ever café au lait there served in a bowl. I awkwardly figured out the best way to hold the bowl without burning my fingers and tried to confidently display l'air de Paris without spilling any coffee down my chin.

As I was looking over the dessert menu at Memories this weekend, nothing was tempting me. On a menu, I'm always looking for the banana foster, molten chocolate cakes, toffee pudding, bread pudding or even floating islands! I like to eat something I don't make at home, or at least something I don't make often. Now that I'm baking so much, it's getting more difficult to enjoy a dessert at a café.

I liked what I ordered at Memories, which was a thin meringue on top of a lemon tart on top of an almond cake on top of a crust with a raspberry swirl. I'm just getting spoiled, and rounder in the process.

Recipe: Chocolate Cream Tart

Makes: 8 servings (I halved the recipe.)

Ingredients:

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Cheesecake is a simple dessert to whip up. You just dump and stir all the ingredients. The trick is in the baking. Avoiding that dreaded crack or sinking hole in the middle is tough.

I flavored my cheesecake with orange and ginger. On a recent shopping trip, I found a store in Ottawa (Grace in the Kitchen) that carries spices from Montreal's Philippe de Vienne’s line of épices de cru (small-production "estate" spices). I was lingering over all the tins of spices displayed on their shelves, trying to find cinnamon. When I asked about the spices, the seller excitedly started telling me about Philippe de Vienne and his wife Ethné who travel the world searching for the best spices to bring back and package for the rest of us. He opened several sample tins for me to sniff. It was a veritable scent spa. From Mexican oregano to dried lavender, de Vienne carries many common spices and several rare ones. It was hard to choose. Since ginger is one of my favorite spices, I picked up a tin hand-picked from China and found cannelle de Ceylan as well.

On another trip to Grace in the Kitchen, I purchased de Vienne's Ras el Hanout, meaning "head of the shop" in Arabic, and refers to a mixture of the best spices a seller has to offer. You'll have to check back to see what I do with this exotic blend of spices.

I also couldn't resist a little box of 12 spices cleverly packaged in a pretty box labeled Cuisine 101 with the following welcome on it: I am definitely enchanted!

To see the different versions of cheesecakes cropping up all over the foodblogosphere, check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

Recipe: Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake with Orange and Ginger and a Homemade Graham Cracker Cookie Crust

Makes: 1 8- or 9-inch springform pan (I halved all the recipes, and it made 9 minis.)

• Graham Cracker Cookies from Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of Cooking The Art of Eating (affiliate link) by Michel Richard

• Orange Ginger Sauce adapted from Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of Cooking The Art of Eating (affiliate link) by Michel Richard

Ingredients:

Instructions:

To make the graham cracker cookies:
In a food processor, grind the graham crackers, almond meal, hazelnut meal and pistachios.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Fold in the graham cracker mixture.

Form the dough into a log and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 1 hour until it is firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Cut the dough into slices about ¼-inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie since they spread while baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until crisp and golden.

While they are still warm, use a cookie cutter to cut them to a specified size. Let cool.

To make the cheesecake:
Preheat oven to 350°F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour batter into prepared crust (if you're using a traditional graham cracker crust) and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done. This can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Tip: Use a disposable foil pan that is 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

I used a mini cheesecake pan to make individual cheesecakes. I didn't use a water bath and baked them for 25 minutes. Then, I turned the oven off and let them cool for 45 minutes in the oven. No cracks, but I had some sinking problems.

To make the sauce:
Combine the sugar, lemon and 2 tablespoons water. Cook over medium heat until the sugar caramelizes and the mixture turns an amber color. Carefully pour in the orange juice. Add the stem ginger and ground ginger. Add more orange juice, if needed, to thin the sauce.

Tasting Notes
The strong, spicy ginger in the cheesecake and sauce was perfect with the homemade graham cracker cookies. The hint of orange in both the sauce and the cheesecake cut the sweetness of the cheesecake. And the individual small cheesecakes were a perfect portion for this rich, decadent dessert.

Link
• Interview with Philippe de Vienne

This week is rice pudding, one of my all-time favorite desserts. I can't believe I used to groan whenever my mom made it when I was growing up. I was missing out. It has since become a Christmas Eve traditional dessert in our family. One bowl gets an almond in it, and that person gets to open a gift. Now that there are a few kids around the table, somehow the almonds end up in their bowls.

Rice

Clockwise from top:
wild, Arborio, Basmati, converted, sushi, white
These are all the bags of rice I had in my cupboard. I usually use Basmati, wild or converted (which means partially cooked) as a side dish and always converted for the rice pudding recipe I usually use. I have sushi rice (also called Japanese rice) on hand for the very rare time I try to make sushi at home.

Since I had all these bags on hand, I thought I'd make four batches of rice pudding using Arborio, Basmati, converted, and sushi rice.

Here are my surprising results:
1. My favorite was the Basmati, but it had a more grown-up appeal. It had a herbal flavor, and I'd love to try it with lavender someday.
2. Sushi rice was my next favorite. It has a subtle flavor that picks up the sweetness of the pudding nicely.
3. Arborio, like the Sushi rice, was nice but not flavorful enough.
4. I didn't like the converted version. It was too bland. Too much like a side dish of rice.

Recipe: Arborio Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1½ or 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate

"One of the secrets of cooking is to learn to correct something if you can, and bear with it if you cannot." ~Julia Child

map from Wikipedia
Given that I only needed about 5 tablespoons, I went to the local liquor store looking for the smallest bottle I could find. For $45, I could have a 750 mL sized bottle! And that was the lowest priced bottle I could find. One that had been aged for 30 years in French oak casks would set me back almost $300. So, I settled for dark rum instead.

Recipe: Charlotte aux pommes, crème anglaise au Calvados (Apple Charlotte served with Calvados custard sauce)