Blue Cayenne

Toasted Sesame Cookies

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Ingredients

• 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 12 T. unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 1 C. granulated sugar
• 1/2 C. brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 T. toasted sesame oil
• 1 T. water
• 1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
• 3 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (chopped into bite-sized pieces--chocolate is optional in this cookie)
• Black and white sesame seeds for rolling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Move a baking rack into the middle position in your oven. Line rimmed baking sheets with foil (dull side facing up).
2. Mix flour, salt and baking soda together in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Using the bowl of your stand mixer and its paddle attachment, beat the butter for about one minute until it is creamy. Add sugars (light brown sugar and granulated sugar) to the butter. Beat together for 2 to 3 minutes. You want the butter/sugar mixture to be light and fluffy. Add the egg, toasted sesame oil, water and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix to combine. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing on low speed until the ingredients are combined. Fold in the chocolate pieces if using.
4. Scoop the dough out of the bowl and form into 3 oz. balls. Roll the balls in the sesame seed mixture. Arrange four balls on each cookie sheet.
5. Bake cookies (one sheet at a time--4 cookies) for 7 to 9 minutes depending on your oven and the size of your cookies. You want the dough balls to spread and flatten but you want to retain a little puffiness in the center of the cookie. Once the cookies are baked to this point, open the oven door and lift the baking sheet up 3 or 4 inches and gently drop it back onto the baking rack. The cookies will flatten (and crinkle on the edges) when you drop the tray and then puff back up in the center. Bake for another two minutes and repeat. Keep baking at 2-minute increments until the cookies are brown on the edges but still slightly puffed in the center. In my oven, I baked the cookies for 7 minutes and then two 2-minute increments for a total of 13 minutes. The original recipe called for baking the cookies for about 15 minutes. Obviously, ovens vary.
6. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Put another 4-cookie tray into the oven and repeat the procedure described above.
7. Cook's Note: NYT writer Julia Moskin is a fan of this "pan banging" cookie technique. She wrote: "You might think there's nothing new to learn about chocolate chip cookies, but this recipe by the baker and blogger Sarah Kieffer will prove you wonderfully wrong. The easy trick of banging the pan a few times during baking, causing the cookies to "fall," produces rippled edges that shatter in your mouth and a center that is soft and full of chocolate."

Poppy Seed Vinaigrette and Garlicky Vinaigrette

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Ingredients

Poppy Seed Dressing
• 2/3 C. olive oil
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 1/3 C. lemon juice
• 2 to 3 t. poppy seeds
• 2 t. finely-chopped red onion
• 1 t. prepared mustard
• 1/2 t. salt
Garlicky Vinaigrette
• 2 cloves garlic
• 6 T. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 C. maple syrup
• 1 T. Dijon mustard
• 1 1/4 C. olive oil
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 1/2 t. freshly-ground black pepper

Instructions

For Poppy Seed Vinaigrette
1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to mix.
Garlicky Vinaigrette
2. Blend garlic, vinegar, maple syrup and mustard in a blender. You want to be sure that all ingredients are blended until you have a smooth mixture. Scrape down the sides of the blender. Turn the blender back on and drizzle the oil into the garlic mixture until your dressing is emulsified. Season to taste.

Nutrition

Fat

145 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C. corn kernels
• 1/4 C. fine yellow cornmeal
• One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 C. plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 1/4 C. plus 2 T. all-purpose flour
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 C. grapeseed or other neutral oil
• Powdered sugar for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the rack in your oven in the middle position. Grease a 9-inch round pan or spray it with cooking spray.
2. Cut corn from corncobs. Measure 1 1/2 C. of the kernels and put the kernels in a blender. Add the cornmeal, condensed milk and yogurt to the blender and puree these ingredients until they are smooth. This will only take a short time, maybe 15 or 20 seconds. Let this pureed mixture stand for 10 minutes.
3. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking power and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
4. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks to the blender mixture along with the oil. Blend until you have a smooth puree.
5. Pour this puree into a large bowl and add the flour mixture to the bowl. Whisk these ingredients together until all the ingredients are moistened and there are no lumps.
6. Pour batter into the prepared ban. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Your cake is done when it is firm in the middle when pressed with your fingers and when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. When the cake has cooled, run a paring knife around the edges of the pan to make it easier for the cake to release from the pan when inverted. Turn the cake out of the pan onto the rack and then re-invert the cake onto your serving dish. Cool the cake completely; this will take about an hour. Serve dusted with a generous amount of powdered surgar. Serve with sliced fresh fruit (optional).