Do you feel better when your doctor wears a white lab coat or street clothes? Do you read books recommended by The New York Times book review or by a friend? Do you believe in magic?
I ask these questions because as President Obama has assembled the most impressive brain trust, dream team, intellectual powerhouse cabinet, call it what you will, there’s still no sign that any of them have “the answer”.
Things are so bad that most of us are relieved that the White House is at least throwing solutions at the economy even if we don’t know why they’re supposed to work and they don’t know if they will work.
We want badly to believe that the experts know something we don’t, know far more than we do, and will therefore somehow save us from this terrible mess. But fund manager Eric Sprott recently pointed out that the experts are trying to revive an economy based on behaviors that got us into this miasma in the first place; they’re not creating a new paradigm; they’re saving something dysfunctional and asking us to continue being enablers when it’s the last thing we should be doing. He does not, however, supply any answers himself. Another expert with expert experience and opinions, but without a recipe for renewal.
And that’s why I asked the questions above: we want to take the advice of people who society says are experts: doctors in crisp, white lab coats bear the symbol of their knowledge and experience even though they are frequently baffled by the body; book reviews in the Times have the imprimatur of wisdom and intellectual range, even when the books are duds; and while there are many things we can’t explain, like Bernie Madoff’s amazing investment returns, we still want to believe in those experts even if we don’t believe in magic.
It’s chilling to think that all those geniuses in Washington throwing money at every institution that’s too big to fail cannot predict the outcome of their actions.
And so it is with baking. Experts abound and none with more scientific credentials than Shirley Corriher who in two books-Cookwise and Bakewise- provides the scientific background for how and why ingredients behave the way they do.
Despite the fact that a much-touted cake recipe which heralded her book in that expert of expert venues, the Wednesday New York Times food section, was disappointing, tasting more tore-bought cake than homemade, I bought Bakewise in the hopes that the cake recipe was more a matter of personal taste than of philosophy.
And so I baked expert Corriher’s Chocolate Crinkle Cookies which she describes as “slightly crunchy on the surface and gooey chocolate inside…oh yum!” What she fails to mention, although she does elsewhere in her book, is that she loves sugar, not only how it performs in baking, but how it tastes.
The cookies look great but they released hardly any chocolate aroma while baking, a sure sign that something was amiss. And while the look and texture are as she describes them, to my palate, they are a disappointment: all that expertise and a lackluster cookie. That said, my SO thinks they’re tasty.
I have bolstered the recipe by calling for bittersweet chocolate and adding cocoa nibs for additional crunch and chocolate flavor.
Shirley Corriher’s Adapted Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
3 dozen
1 3/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz finely choppped bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp corn syrup
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa nibs
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
- Blend in the bowl of an electric mixer the sugar and oil.
- Add the eggs, corn syrup and vanilla. Mix until blended.
- Add the chocolate and mix well, scraping the sides and bottom.
- Add the flour and mix only until the dough comes together. It will be stiff.
- Chill for an hour covered.
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- Roll the dough into golf ball sized rounds.
- Roll each ball in granulated sugar and then icing sugar, coating completely.
- Place 12 to a tray and bake about 12-14 minutes or until puffed and crackled on top. They will deflate.
- Remove from the baking tray after 1 minute and cool on a rack.
