CIA Culinary Intelligence

Stock Your Freezer with Ready to Bake Icebox Cookies!

Icebox cookies have been around since, well, the invention of the icebox. Also known as refrigerator cookies, they were the original "slice and bake" cookies. Do you think Grandma sat around all day mixing and measuring, waiting for your arrival? No, she threw together batches of her favorite icebox cookies ahead of time, froze the dough, then sliced and baked them straight from the freezer, perfectly timed for your arrival.

Making refrigerator cookies is simple, quick and gives you the flexibility to cook as many, or as few cookies as you need, when you need them. The Culinary Institute of America's classic chocolate chunk and sand cookie doughs can be premixed and frozen, ready for the arrival of unexpected guests, hungry kids home from school, or maybe even Grandma.

The basic method starts with creaming softened, room temperature butter with the sugar until light. This process cuts sugar crystals into the fat, creating tiny air pockets which expand during baking. Leavening further inflates these tiny air pockets, giving baked goods their lift.

"The secret to making great tender cookies is not to over mix," says Alison McLoughlin, Chef Instructor at The Culinary Institute of America. "As soon as you see the dough come together you are done!"

After mixing, shape the dough into a log on a large sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Roll the wrap around the dough, forming a long log. Wrap completely then freeze for one hour, then slice and bake. For longer freezer storage, wrap a piece of heavy duty foil around the wrapped log and freeze for up to two months.

Slice them while still frozen for even, thin slices and turn the log every few slices to avoid flattening the dough. Bake them according to recipe directions, adding a minute or so if still fully frozen.

Take a weekend afternoon and make a few batches of cookies so they're on hand in the freezer. With icebox cookies, there are no messy floured boards or cookie cutters to wash. Just slice and place them straight on the pan for baking. Homemade cookies in 12 minutes or less - Grandma would be proud.

The following recipes are explained and illustrated in The Culinary Institute of America's Gourmet Meals in Minutes cookbook (Lebhar-Friedman 2006, $40), which is available for purchase at bookstores nationwide or at www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/cookbooks.

Chocolate Chunk and Sand Cookies.

Photo Credit: CIA/Ben Fink

Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes sixteen cookies

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.


2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed with the paddle attachment, scraping down the bowl periodically, until the mixture is smooth and light in color, about five minutes.


3. Combine the eggs and vanilla. Add to the butter-sugar mixture and blend until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. On low speed, mix in the sifted dry ingredients and the chocolate chunks until just incorporated.


4. Shape the dough into one sixteen-inch log on a piece of waxed or parchment paper, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate or freeze until firm enough to slice into sixteen pieces. (Dough can alternatively be scaled into two-tablespoon portions and baked immediately.)


5. Arrange the cookies on the parchment-lined baking sheets in even rows.


6. Bake at 375˚F until golden brown around the edges, about twelve to fourteen minutes. Cool completely on cookie sheets.

Nutrition analysis per cookie: 170 calories, 2g protein, 23g carbohydrate, 8g fat, 160mg sodium, 25mg cholesterol, less than 1g fiber.

Sand Cookies
Makes forty-two cookies

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest, grated
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup coarse sugar

1. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and lemon zest on medium speed until smooth and light, about three to five minutes.


2. Add the flour all at once and mix on low speed until combined.


3. Divide the dough in half and roll into six-inch long cylinders, about one and one-quarter-inch in diameter. At this point, the cookies may be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen or refrigerated for later use, or they may be prepared for baking.


4. To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Brush the cylinders of cookie dough with milk and roll them in coarse sugar.


5. Cut the logs into one-quarter-inch thick slices, sprinkle the tops with additional coarse sugar, and place them on parchment-lined baking sheets.


6. Bake for twelve minutes or until light golden brown.

Nutrition analysis per cookie: 50 calories, 0g protein, 8g carbohydrate, 2.5g fat, 0mg sodium, 5mg cholesterol, 0g fiber.

Spice up your Summer with Farm-Stand Heirloom Tomato Salsas

There are few things more cherished by gardeners than home-grown summer tomatoes. These sun-kissed beauties are unlike the traditional tomatoes you'll find on most supermarket shelves. Yes, those tomatoes are red. Yes, they call them "tomatoes," but that's where the similarities end.

"Many supermarket tomatoes are picked as they're just starting to break color on the shoulders of the tomato, no where near ripe," said Paul Wigsten, produce buyer for The Culinary Institute of America, "Then they're put on trucks where ethylene gas is pumped in and they are ripened in the box. These tomatoes are bred for traveling and appearance, not taste."

Wigsten, a third generation farmer, knows tomatoes. He grows heirloom varieties on his 40-acre Pleasant Valley, NY farm. So in demand are these agricultural blasts from the past that he has sold his entire crop already, a month ahead of harvest. Heirloom tomatoes are self-pollinated and their seeds can be saved, handed down (thus the heirloom) and sown to create the same tomato generation after generation.

Commercially produced tomatoes are hybrid and artificially pollinated. A simple observation of hybrid veggies from a home-composter; if you throw a store-bought hybrid green zucchini into the compost and the seeds take root, what grows could be a yellow long zucchini, a bulbous green one, a round green and white striped one. Why? The genes and chosen characteristics from all those individual plants were crossed to form one commercially perfect green zucchini.

Likewise, traditional hybrid, supermarket tomatoes all look the same - round, pinkish red and often lacking in robust flavor. Heirloom varieties don't look like these tomatoes. Their colors are deep and rich with rippled skins and varied sizes and shapes. "We market them at the farm-stand as "ugly" tomatoes, but the taste is out of this world," said Wigsten.

And while store tomatoes have thicker disease-resistant skins that won't split in transport, heirlooms don't. "Heirloom tomatoes are not grown for travel. They don't ship well and are easily damaged," said Wigsten. He recommends purchasing heirloom tomatoes at your local farm-stand.

To choose the best tomatoes, smell them. Farm-fresh tomatoes smell sweet. They should also be heavy, from all the vine-ripened juiciness. These vine-ripened goddesses were picked just hours before their arrival at the farm stand and they might still be warm from the sun.

You'll find farm-stand tomatoes in a variety of shapes and colors including the Striped German or Cherokee purple. Wigsten reminds people never to refrigerate tomatoes (which is how commercial tomatoes are stored), as it changes their chemical composition and sugar content, and can make them mealy and unappealing.

Heirloom tomatoes might cost a little more, but the flavor is worth it. For these three tomato salsas from The Culinary Institute of America, use the freshest locally-grown tomatoes you can find.

The CIA's tomato salsas won't conceal the tomato's delicious fruitiness. The small amount of lime juice or vinegar will brighten and balance the tomato's natural sweetness. Simply combine salsa ingredients and let stand briefly to allow the flavors to blend.

Using heirloom, organic, fresh-picked local tomatoes will yield a salsa bursting with flavor and natural sweetness. The toughest part will be finding a chip worthy of your salsa's greatness.

Visit the CIA on-line at www.ciachef.edu to learn more about heirloom tomatoes with a humorous video by Paul Wigsten himself. View the video demonstration on YouTube™.

The following recipes, along with additional ones for your summer fruits and vegetables can be found in the CIA's two new beautifully illustrated cookbooks, Vegetables (2007, Lebhar-Friedman) and Hors d'Oeuvre at Home (2007, John Wiley & Sons), and are available in bookstores nationwide or at www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/cookbooks.

 

Chayote-Jicama Salsa can be made with any of your favorite
heirloom tomatoes and is a great complement to any summer party.

Photo Credit: CIA/Ben Fink

Chayote-Jicama Salsa
Serves 6 to 8

• 1 chayote squash, peeled and sliced
• 1 jicama, peeled and julienned
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1 jalapeño, minced fine
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper as needed
• Dash of Tabasco to taste

1. Bring about 1 inch of water to a rolling boil over high heat in a sauté pan. Add the sliced chayote and cover the pan. Pan-steam the squash for about 12 minutes or until the chayote is very tender. Drain it, and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking.


2. Combine the chayote slices with all of the remaining ingredients in a bowl.


3. Chill the salsa for at least 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Taste the salsa and adjust the seasonings with additional vinegar, salt, pepper, or Tabasco, as needed.

Blackened Tomato Salsa
"Blackening" the tomatoes gives them a smoky taste, as well as making it easy to peel the tomatoes.

Serves 6

• 5 plum tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Spanish onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1/2 dried chipotle chile
• Salt to taste

1. Place the tomatoes on a wire rack directly over a gas burner or on a medium-high grill. Turn them frequently until they are blackened over their entire surface. Set aside.


2. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion slices and cook on both sides until they are a very deep brown, about 15 to 20 minutes total cooking time.


3. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and onions. Combine the tomatoes, onions, chili, and salt in a blender of food processor. Puree the mixture in short pulses to make a chunky salsa. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Salsa Fresca
Serves 16

• 1 lb 2 oz tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp chopped oregano
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients, taste, and adjust seasoning. Refrigerate leftovers.