The Simplest Dessert

Joanna, you look so happy and beautiful. That is all!

I just came to say how much I love and appreciate the picture of you: big smile and–gasp–wrinkles in the sides of your cheeks. I’m struggling SO much with this right now. After 44 years of frequent big toothy grins, I have those same vertical lines in my cheeks when I smile. I can’t do anything about them, and I know I won’t (can’t!) stop smiling, but I’m so self-conscious about them. I feel like I see air-brushed images of women much older than me without so much as an eye wrinkle everywhere, but few examples of mid-40s faces for real. Thank you for unabashedly showing an image of yourself with these smile lines. I think of you as a model of how to be a confident-in-herself mother and woman, and I need that role model. (Side note: I’m sure I’m the only one who noticed this. You’re lovely, and no one else looked at this picture and saw wrinkles… they only saw happiness.)

I’ve been doing this for years. I usually have cookie dough in the freezer. People are so excited; cookies fresh out the oven? So simple but so good! My favorite dessert. I confess to being a complete Cookie Monster. Is there anyone who doesn’t love a freshly baked cookie?

Do you all know the scene I’m talking about? The bakery scene in Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferrell’s best movie? Maggie Gyllenhaal serves him a warm chocolate chip cookie and explains how she veered from studying law: “I just figured if I was going to make the world a better place I would do it with cookies.” I’ve thought about that all through my medical training. All I’ve got are antibiotics, steroids, and the like; if I want to heal I have to deliver them with the warmth of a friend setting down a plate of cookies. And, sometimes, the most fulfilling moments of my days are when my colleagues eat the actual cookies I have baked at home and brought with me to the hospital, to tip our collective balance away from frustration and grief, toward joy.

So true. Nothing like homemade cookies to make you feel care-free and happy. I love baking cookies with my children. The perfect comfort food that is fun!

this is the living, adult dinner party epitome of the old saying “they don’t remember what you did, they remember how you made them feel.” what an excellent hosting tip! thanks!!

Everytime I see a story like this I wonder where all of the picky people are. The idea of making something in a single pot and serving it to everyone just sounds so lovely and cozy. Is it really that easy? My husband has tons of sensory issues with food and would not eat the sundried tomatoes, beans, or parm. A bunch of people I know are gluten-free. (And even though it doesn’t apply to this meal I am a vegetarian.) Do all the chill people just find each other and have awesome dinner parties that I don’t know about because my family is so high maintenance?

For Easter I made a really good salad (no recipe) that I plan to repeat at my spring dinner parties: shaved fennel, carrot that I shaved with a vegetable peeler into thin strips, green apple cut into matchsticks, some red onion thinly spliced. The dressing was a vinaigrette with lemon, ginger, and honey. It was so crisp and fresh. There was none leftover.

Cook pears in red wine, star anise, some orange peel. Melt chocolate, pour over. Yum. Think I’ll make some this weekend as it’s going to rain the whole weekend.

Amazing vegan cookies, can’t beat them https://food52.com/recipes/39132-ovenly-s-secretly-vegan-salted-chocolate-chip-cookies?srsltid=AfmBOoqxwAvDCGqI4tvvNtdAOuDTzJJ84-RVGw-LTtGa7aKQcKSqL2Fo

I used to do this but then I found myself eating the raw cookie dough … on a nightly basis. Had to stop, too much temptation!

I love to make Namoura (or Basbousa as it’s also known). It’s a delicious semolina based cake with almonds, coconut and a simple syrup that soaks it after the cake has been baked. It’s a Lebanese, Palestinian, Levantine Etc cake and it goes perfectly with a hot cup of strong coffee.

I thought it was going to be chocolate fondue. Another super fun kid treat. Though I don’t recommend actually giving it to kids. The combo of theatre, chocolate and things on sticks sent my niblings into a frenzy where they were doing parkour off the furniture at bedtime. Gasp!

I love this. Also, I just love it every time you feature an evening at Adam and Craig’s. They’re so sweet, and I’ve followed Adam since his early blog days, and it’s so fun to see you all having fun together.

I like a fruit crisp with fresh whipped cream.

I think I learned about this idea from COJ, and it’s been my go-to dessert ever since. If I need gluten free, I use the almond flour recipe from NY Timeshttps://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020871-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies

Cookies are my favorite dessert/snack and I always have a cookie jar full of something. After making some biscotti recently—which are double baked—I’ve started putting cookies in my toaster oven. It might be the smartest thing I’ve ever done. You can put it on my gravestone: Toast your cookies!

I love a warm chocolate chip cookie! So easy to save dough balls in the freezer and just bake whenever. My kids recently discovered that they can *make* whipped cream. Haha! So they’ve been going crazy with the whisk each weekend and I rummage through the kitchen finding things to dip.

If you can get these it’s the same idea. ❤️ soooo good! https://warda-patisserie-midtown.square.site/product/dozen-frozen-halvah-chocolate-chunks-cookies/70

Homemade King Arthur Fudge Brownies, which maybe take 5 extra minutes vs. a box mix, and taste a zillion times better. This past weekend I found a chocolate frosting recipe that is even faster to whip up than the brownies, and yum! I will never make them without frosting (or sprinkles) again!

Pretentious Chocolate Aisle = amazing.

Love this! My husband and I love bringing Eton mess for dinner parties. Joanna’s likely familiar with it: it’s a traditional British dessert with meringues, whipped cream, and berries, and it’s delicious! And very easy to make. One of our friends with young kids had us over for dinner, so we made a huge purple and pink swirled meringue and let the kids break it up to put into their Eton mess. It was a HIT. A true dessert unicorn!

Maybe it’s the Pacific Northwest crunchy granola in me, but I just don’t love a white flour chocolate chip cookie. Oatmeal chocolate chip? I’m all in, and Deb’s are my go-to (and, like her, I add walnuts to mine): https://smittenkitchen.com/2020/09/whole-wheat-chocolate-oat-cookies/

Fudge Brownies from the box with chocolate frosting from a can. Could not be easier, but also could not be better.

I make a batch of these before we get together as a family at the lake. Then we enjoy a batch of freshly baked cookies daily! https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015819-chocolate-chip-cookies?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

Joanna, I love how you typed “our friend Adam” and not “my friend Adam.”

I rotate between: Sally’s Baking Addiction crispy edged choc chip cookies (I usually have the dough in my freezer to just pop into the oven whenever) The strawberry summer cake (which I first saw here!) A few Trader Joe’s snacks like chocolate bars, licorice, their little mousse cakes, whatever to pass around the table

Brownies (from a box mix) + good mint chip ice cream + whipped cream. So easy and the perfect combination! I also remember being in Australia nearly 20 years ago and visiting a friend of a friend. The host took a large, good-quality chocolate bar and broke it up into pieces while still in the wrapper. Then she opened the wrapper and set it out on the table, saying “Chocky anyone?” I don’t know why but that left such an impression on me of casual elegance! I did it recently when we had another family over for a casual dinner and I had a stock of giant Tony’s bars on hand. One bar disappeared in seconds!

I’ve been making Smitten Kitchen’s berry galette forever – even when I worked as a pastry chef. It was always on the menu. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you wanna get crazy. https://smittenkitchen.com/2014/07/blue-and-red-berry-ricotta-galette/

It feels like spring in New York, so it’s almost time for my favorite dessert: grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with olive oil and a flake of sea salt. Irresistible!

If you’re in the Seattle area, the frozen Hello Robin cookies are sooooo good. I keep a bag in the freezer and it’s my favorite party trick. https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/try-so-hot-its-cool-frozen-dough-for-these-chocolate-cherry-cookies/

For my husband’s birthday this year, he wasn’t in much of a celebratory mood. Didn’t even want a birthday cake. So instead I surprised him by baking half a dozen chocolate chip cookies and scooping vanilla ice cream on top of them. I always make a big batch of cookie dough, let them chill in the fridge for a couple of days and then scoop them and freeze them so a sweet treat is ready whenever anyone needs it 💕

What happened to the beans and mozzarella post? I meant to screengrab the type of beans!

My fondness for high school cafeteria peanut butter cookies go so deep that I tracked down the original recipes the “cafe ladies” baked weekly by writing to the BofEd for help. Turns out the recipe was baked in schools across the country and avail thru a public school food supply company online all these decades later. Westfield HS Cafe PB Cookies One bowl whisk: 1 -1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt Second bowl, beat: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg, at room temperature 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I use Jif) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Add dry mix to second bowl and fold until combined. Chill dough one hour. I rotate 3 metal baking sheets lined with a cut open, brown paper bag Oven temp: 350F Cookies spread while baking so start out with 6 dough balls per baking sheet and adjust if you have room next batch Create a tablespoon dough ball, flatten on baking tray with fork indents. Bake 12 mins. Allow to cool down on tray before removing. I underbake slightly for the chewiness. (Since we’re all friends…enjoy!)

Don’t sleep on donut holes! Get a few varieties, put them in a fancy bowl and watch people go nuts.

I either pick up a variety of cookies from the Italian bakery down the street or if someone asks what they can bring, I say dessert!! I’m not a dessert making person and I’m ok with that.

Ohhh! What a great idea for cookies.

Love your new heat – free hair lewk, Joanna! so pretty, and freeee. Plus gotta add, like mine, but curls. :)

S’mores pizza made by me and Anton!

I love making Marie Helene’s apple cake in the fall {Dorie Greenspan} and Amanda Hesser’s mom’s peach tart in the summer, usually with apricots or nectarines. In fact I think I was the one who told Adam about it when I ran into him and fan girled at the green market during peach season a long time ago.

ive been making baked apples, served with whipped cream.easy and everyone loves.

Love this!! If you want to level up, make it a skillet cookie. I bought cake pans specifically for this use (actual skillet overbake the cookie because they retain heat for too long): 6 inch are perfect for a couple to share, 3 inch for an individual. I’ll spread the dough in the pan and freeze them so they’re always ready. Top with flaky sea salt and vanilla bean ice cream and you will be very happy! For kids, it’s esppcially fun to do with m&m cookies. Just make sure you take them out a few minutes early for the perfect gooey skillet cookie!

I’ve been making these Caro Chambers Coronado Cookies and let me tell you.. they are a HIT! I leave out the raisins. But everyone who eats them says “what is it about these that makes them SO GOOD?!” I’ll tell you..its the rice krispies!!! https://carolinechambers.com/recipes/sweets/coronado-cookies-from-just-married

Favorite chocolate chip cookies, hands down: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/. They are absolutely foolproof and look perfect. I have no self-control when these are around.

Our new favorite, thanks to a comment in another C of J thread, which alerted me to the existence of Soom Chocolate Tahini with Sea Salt: Talenti Dairy-free Cold Brew coffee ice cream with a sauce made of Choc tahini mixed with a bit of olive oil until the texture is right. We cannot stop eating it and it’s so easy. And dairy free if you need that!

My friend found a recipe that’s a copycat for the chocolate chip cookies sold by a local restaurant (Tiny Boxwoods in Houston–if you know, you know), and then he tweaked them and added flaky salt and now I think they’re better than the original. I will never be able to top that, so I just let him bake them and partake when he does.

What a delight! That would feel wonderful and unexpected in the best way at a dinner party.

I am so jealous that you get to eat Adam’s food, I read his blog for yeeeeears.

BUT did you dip them in milk? My children once did an online class on how to make cookies and the instructor did not declare class over until every kid’s cookie was out of the oven and they were dipping the cookie into milk.It was so sweet. Was chef Rafael on the website out school!

Yumm! My favorite cafe/store in Brookline, MA (rip Allium!) sold cookie dough during lock down and included a little container with Maldon salt flakes in each order. It’s now a staple for me!

I could use a cookie now <3 and I will check this book out.

That sounds awesome! A similar trick – you can freeze home-made cookies! Pop them in a toaster oven at 350 for 5 minutes, and presto – warm cookies!!

I used to read Adam’s cooking blog when I first got married (my husband had a long commute, so I did all the cooking that first year, although now we’ve switched and he does all the cooking and my kids think that’s just traditionally how it’s done #winning) and his Heaven and Hell Posta is still a staple in our house!

I once yearned for chocolate-chip cookies and had no chips in the house, so I hacked up a bunch of weird, fancy chocolate bars I’d brought home from the giveaway table at work (sea salt! various kinds of caramel and dried fruit! chiles! the corpses of other snacks and desserts!)…and it was grreat. Now I always get my freak on in the Pretentious Chocolate Aisle at the drugstore or supermarket before I bake. Mostly unrelated: I assume that’s not David Tennant on the wine bottle’s label in the third photo but in my heart it sure is.