Chocolate chip cookie (p. 766) and Bread pudding (p. 822)

The Chocolate chip cookie (p. 766) recipe is an old TJOC standby, orginally in the wartime 1943 edition. I have a terrific chocolate chip cookie recipe that takes me about ten minutes (not including the cook time) because I make it so often--it uses shortening because I like soft cookies. TJOC's recipe looked pretty simple. Like most cookie recipes, I mixed flour and baking soda (more flour, less baking soda, since I'm at high altitude) in one bowl and butter, sugar, and brown sugar in another bowl.

The flour mixture was then added to the butter mixture:




An egg, some salt, and vanilla were added:





And then I added the chocolate chips. I would normally add pecans but Josh doesn't like nuts in his cookies (insane!) so I held off (this time).



They only take about eight minutes.



They were soft and had a great consistency but had a strange off-flavor. I don't think it was due to the recipe, I think my vanilla might have had a strange taste. It was disappointing though--all that work and the cookies weren't very good. I figure I will make them again--I'm sure the problem was due to me and not to TJOC.


I have mentioned before that I'm usually not very excited about TJOC recipes of which I already have a terrific version on hand. There isn't a huge list of these--Bolognase sauce, rice pudding, chocolate chip cookies, and maybe a handful of other things. Bread pudding is absolutely on the list.

When my parents were young and in college, they were very poor. Somehow they had a supply of cheap, day-old bakery goods on a regular basis. My parents would make bread pudding out of the leftover donuts. When I was an undergrad, I stumbled upon a bread pudding recipe of my own and it was a staple item in my kitchen--an easy way to use up bread, eggs, and milk that might be nearing their expiration dates (and it's terrific both hot and cold). TJOC has three bread pudding recipes and two of them are quite a bit different from what I used to make (one is chocolate and one is New Orleans-style) but I decided to make the one that was the most similar--Bread pudding (p. 822).

To begin, I sprinkled dried cranberries (I like them a lot better than raisens) over about a pound of bread that had the crusts removed and had been cut into cubes (use a serrated bread knife--otherwise cutting bread slices is a nightmare).


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Eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a tiny bit of salt were whisked together. I measured the milk into my giant measuring glass and then just added everything else to it--less dishes.



The liquid was then poured over the bread, the bread was pushed down with a spoon, and it was let sit for a half hour.





It did make a difference--the bread started to break down by the time it went in the oven.



About an hour later the bread pudding was done:



It was really good and very attractive--I would make this for company, especially since it can be made a few days in advance. Is it as good as my stock recipe? Surprisingly, yes. It heated up amazingly and was delicious. I will definately make it again. What do you consider your "stock recipes"?