Banana Chocolate Cake


Baked this Chocolate Banana Cake for my boss using Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe.

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

What do you do when you have an opened pack of brown sugar, chocolate chips and sea salt? Knowing that my boys love cookies, I tried out the ever famous New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe was first published in the New York Times in 2008 and since then it has took the internet by storm. Many food bloggers that I read have tried out this recipe.


I took this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. I frequent her blog very very frequently. She has really beautiful pictures and her recipes are always very simple.

Note that I tweaked the original recipe as the amount of sugar is too much! I reduced it drastically and the cookies still turned out fine and still sweet in my opinion. I shall wait for Zachary's comment tonight. I prepared the dough on Saturday afternoon and baked it on Sunday night - more than 24 hours of chilling in the fridge. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 72 hours and I've read that chilling it longer will yield crispier edge cookies.

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)
yield more than 48 pieces

- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 oz) cake flour
- 1 2/3 cups (8.5 oz) bread flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (I used fleur del sel)
- 1 1/4 cups (10 oz) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (10 oz) light brown sugar (I used Muscovado Brown Sugar)
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp (8 oz) granulated sugar (I omitted this)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/3 cups (20 oz) dark chocolate chips, at least 60% cacao content (I used Hershey's semi-sweet, and that is part of the reason why I omitted the granulated sugar)
- sea salt, for sprinkling

How?
- Sift together cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar at medium speed until light. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add in vanilla extract.
- Reduce the mixer speed, gradually add in the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, up to 72 hours.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick baking mat.
- Scoop 3 1/2 oz of dough, roughly a size of a golf ball. * I used my small ice-cream scoop instead.
- Ensure that each dough has enough space as it will expand during baking time.
- Sprinkle some sea salt and bake until golden brown, approximately 18 to 20 minutes. I baked for 20 minutes and it was crunchy.
- Let it cool at a cooling rack and store in air tight containers.