Fishel's Chocolate-Pecan Cookies

Fishel’s Chocolate-Pecan Cookies

Gluten Free and Decadent

For my father

Adapted by My Little Blue Heron

from Molly O’Neill’s adaptation from Freds of Barney’s New York

Freds is the pricey restaurant at Barney’s Madison Avenue in New York City. Regular shoppers at Barney’s can afford to be regular customers at Freds (there is no apostrophe). I had a look at Freds's menus, and I liked Estelle’s Chicken Soup: “Grandma’s recipe to cure colds and stay thin”. It weighs in at $14. Donning no more than a $10 price tag, there's an "assorted cookie" selection on the dessert menu.

O'Neill adapted the recipe for her column in the Times and I adapted her adaptation for the GF crowd. 

I played around with the ratio of unsweetened and sweetened chocolates, and used vanilla-scented sugar (it's not at all required, but if you have it, it's a great addition.)

“Fishel” is Yiddish for “Fred”. My father’s middle name is "Fishel" or "Fred". My dad appreciates chocolate, pecans and good grammar. For him, a triple play.

Happy 2018!

May you be happy, healthy, peaceful, be well-accomplished in all you do,

and may you live with ease - in and out of the kitchen,

xojane

Fishel’s Chocolate-Pecan Cookies

Preparation:

Set racks to top and bottom third of oven and preheat to 325º F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

7.5 oz./212.6 g. semisweet chocolate

4 oz./113.5 g. unsweetened chocolate

3 oz./85 g./6 Tbsp. butter (unsalted)

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

200 g./7 oz./1 cup granulated white sugar (vanilla sugar, if you have it in your pantry)

¼ tsp. vanilla powder (Authentic Foods brand) or 1 tsp. GF vanilla extract

3 g./1 tsp. Kosher salt

5 g./1 tsp. baking powder (Aluminum-free preferred)

40 g./4 Tbsp. “cup for cup” Gluten Free flour, “King Arthur” brand recommended (WITH Xanthan gum)

177 g./6.25 oz. chocolate chips

100-125 g./1 c. pecans, toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped

Mis-en-place:

In a small bowl, whisk together: flour, salt, baking powder. Set aside.

When nuts are toasted (350º F. for about 6-8 minutes) and cooled, chop coarsely and set aside in a small bowl.

Measure out chocolate chips and set aside in a small bowl.

Crack eggs into a large glass or small bowl and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine chopped chocolates (don’t melt the chocolate chips!) and butter, and place over barely simmering water (make sure steam doesn’t get into the chocolate) and melt slowly, stirring often. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Now you’re ready.

Procedure:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothed. Add sugar and continue to beat until the mixture thickens and pales. Add vanilla powder (or extract.)

Add slightly cooled chocolate and mix until combined.

Add flour mixture until just combined.

Dump in nuts and chocolate chips and fold until incorporated.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 10-15 minutes, rotating top to bottom/front to back, half way through the bake. Bake until just set. There may be some cracks on the top. That's fine. Remove cookies from sheets and cool on racks.

Yield: varies depending on size of cookie, but figure about 60-80 cookies.

"Cake au Chocolat" - Chocolate Cake, Gluten and Dairy Free

Cake Au Chocolat (Chocolate Cake)

Gluten and Dairy Free

Adapted by My Little Blue Heron from “Les cakes de Laurent sans gluten & sans lait” de Laurent Dran

My apartment smells like chocolate heaven. Merci bien, M. Dran! My dear readers, you will adore this chocolate cake sans gluten, sans dairy. No one will “uh-uh” it.

Chocolate is ______________.

Dran suggests glamming it up with chocolate chips on top. Mine sank to the bottom. It wasn't a deal breaker for me, but releasing the cakes from the pans was a little bit arduous. If you choose to add chocolate chips (please use excellent quality chips, like dark Guittard), I suggest you add them after the cake has spent about 10-15 minutes in the oven (work quickly to sprinkle them over the top).

Use excellent quality cocoa (always). I use Valrhona cocoa from France. If you use a different cocoa, that's fine. Just be sure it’s dark (and unsweetened).

It’s important to sift ingredients well. 

sifted dry ingredients

The texture of your loaf depends on this important step.  

ooh la la!

Always use refined coconut oil. When you use refined coconut oil, your loaf will taste like chocolate rather than coconut. The oil must be at a liquid state, but it shouldn’t be hot. If you have one, use a microwave on half or lower power. If you don’t, melt the oil slowly and cool it before adding to the batter. (You don't want to scramble your eggs).  

I’ve adapted some of Dran’s kitchen Frenchibility to the American kitchen. Beginning with: you’ll need a large loaf pan (dark pans bake best for GF), or a couple of smaller ones or a melange of small baking tins/cupcake or muffin tins etc.

You’ll need a kitchen scale, and if you don't own one yet, you’ll be happy when you do. Your results will be fine and always consistent. Here’s a link to a recipe for honey spice cake (Pain d'épices), also adapted from Dran’s book that has a link to an inexpensive and good scale to buy on Amazon.

This will look lovely if you dust the top with some powdered sugar just before serving.

Plain, with berries and diary-free whipped cream or with sorbet or dairy-free ice cream, I hope you’ll adore this chocolate cake. (If it survives more than a couple of days, toast it, and spread a little raspberry jam on it for breakfast!)

I doubled (supersized) Dran's recipe. For the American baker, quantities are for a fairly conventional sized loaf, enough to feed 10-12 with some exceptions for those who may be stressed about the new tax legislation in the U.S., or that our beloved NPR hosts can’t keep their pants zipped and have joined the ranks of the mounted (or mounting) police state of misogyny. Given this state of affairs (sorry), this recipe may feed just 1 or 2.

Wishing you happiness, health, love and ease - in and out of the kitchen,

xojane

Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Cake

Preparation: Oil a large loaf pan with flavorless oil or spray release. After mis-en-place, preheat oven to 350º F., rack in center of oven.

Ingredients:

100 g. superfine brown rice flour

50 g. potato starch

40 g. blanched almond flour (finely ground)

60 g. dark bittersweet cocoa

9 g. aluminum free baking powder

4 g. Guar gum

¼ tsp. (or more, to taste) Kosher salt

6 eggs, size large, room temperature

320 g. confectioner’s sugar (10X)

120 g. Refined coconut oil, liquid state

Procedure:

     Preheat the oven (see above).

Weigh all dry ingredients and whisk together.

Sift dry ingredients through a mesh sieve and set aside.

Bring coconut oil to a liquid state and set aside.

Measure 10X sugar and set aside.

Put eggs into bowl of an electric mixer or a large bowl and using

whisk attachment mix until yolks are broken.

Add 10X sugar and whisk, scraping down until all ingredients 

are combined. Once combined, whisk on ‘high’ for a minute.

Dump in the sifted dry ingredients, and whisk until well incorporated.

Add coconut oil and mix until combined.

                 

Fill prepared loaf pan (or pans) and bake in middle of oven 

for approximately 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of your       

loaf or loaves. If adding chocolate chips, add them about 10-15         

minutes into the bake. 

Loaves are done when toothpick comes out clean. 

Don’t overbake.

Cool on rack for 10-15 minutes before releasing to cool completely 

before serving or wrapping.

As with all GF cakes, this is best eaten on baking day, but 

may be wrapped and kept at room temperature for a day or two 

at most. More than that amount of time? Wrap well, freeze and 

defrost before serving.   

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