On a recent Saturday, a Chocoholics Party was held at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen for those smitten with all permutations of desserts: chocolate. On this special day we were feted with Cherry-Almond Chocolate Truffles, Italian Piedmont Chocolate Pear Tart, Chocolate Crepes filled with Chocolate Espresso Mousse, and Chocolate Pavlovas & Cheesecake Mousse topped with Strawberry Balsamic Compote. Now don’t you wish you had been there for this class? Seriously, look at the Strawberry Balsamic Sauce dripping down the side of that Pavlova. Grace-Marie really out-did herself this time.

The egg whites and granulated sugar are whisked into a meringue and then the cocoa powder is folded in until blended.

The Pavlovas were made the day before class, so I  took these photos from a previous class, where Grace-Marie was making Meringues filled with Lemon Curd.

You can see how the Pavlovas were formed with an ice cream scoop and a well made in the center of each meringue with a rounded spoon.

The sliced strawberries are mixed with strawberry preserves and balsamic vinegar, cooked for a minute and cooled to room temperature, making that fabulous syrup that drips so wonderfully down the side of the Pavlova.

Below you can see the Chocolate Crepes with Chocolate Mousse, and the Chocolate Pavlova plated together and served to the class amidst oohs and aahs, and happy smiling faces.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one food forever, and your answer is chocolate, then this was the class for you. Last Saturday Grace-Marie held a Chocoholics Party, which included four fantastic chocolate confections, Cherry-Almond Chocolate Truffles, Italian Piedmont Chocolate Pear Tart, Chocolate Pavlovas with Strawberry Balsamic Compote, and Chocolate Crepes filled with Chocolate Espresso Mousse. The classroom is on the second floor of Bristol Farms Market in Manhattan Beach and as I was going up the stairs, the smell of chocolate was wafting down the stairwell, just fabulous with promise. Grace-Marie, the Chocolate Sorcerer

The chocolate, espresso powder, vanilla and hot cream are combined in a blender, and then eggs yolks are added. The mixture is transferred to a bowl and when chilled, whipped cream is folded in to make a glossy, chocolate mousse. Mmmmm…

To make the crepe batter, eggs, milk, flour, cocoa powder and sugar are mixed in a blender, strained into a bowl and chilled. The crepe pan is heated, buttered and about ¼ cup of batter swirled around to cover the bottom of the pan.

Grace-Marie used an ice cream scoop to portion out the chocolate mouse into the crepes. You can use a full-sized crepe and roll it up, or cut one in half and form each half into a cone for a dramatic presentation.

Below you can see the Chocolate Mousse Crepes and the Chocolate Pavlovas with Strawberry Balsamic Compote on the plate as they were served to the friends who came to class. These were some very happy people, including me. Yum!

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

If you are looking for a last minute cookie recipe for your New Year’s celebration, you have come to the right place. Have you ever seen so many cookies in one place in your life? I have to admit, I haven’t and it was amazing to behold. This was the Food Bloggers Los Angeles Holiday Cookie Exchange 2012, with about 30 bloggers contributing upwards of 1500 cookies to enjoy and share.

The meeting was held at Erika’s home, of In Erika’s Kitchen, and the cookies were spread over her very large dining room table. It was a beautiful sight.

You can see additional photographs of the individual platters of cookies, with links to the recipes, taken by Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious. She did a fantastic job on this very large project. Astounding, in fact. Check it out.

These are the cookies I brought ~ Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies Dipped in Chocolate and Honey Roasted Peanuts ~ and the recipe can be found here.

We were asked to bring a savory dish, if we wanted to, as the event was held at lunch time. I brought these Spicy Korean BBQ Turkey Sliders with Ginger Sesame Slaw and the recipe is here. These sliders were a big hit and would be perfect for a New Year’s party.

There were so many cookies that they didn’t all fit on the table, so near-by chairs were drafted for the task. I took home a huge platter of cookies, and my family and friends were thrilled, believe me.

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s to us in 2013!

Lynne xo

Here we are with Part 2 of the Holiday Cookie Exchange from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms. If you are looking for something to bake at the last minute, you’ve come to the right place. The cookies this year were extra delicious and I’m going to tell you about four of the recipes today. Two were made by Grace-Marie and two were made by students who brought their own favorite cookies from home to share. I love cookie exchanges, don’t you? All those different cookies to take home, and with none of the work. What could be better.

You can see the cookies from Part 1, Hazelnut-Nutella Kisses and Cranberry Delights and the recipes by clicking here. You should check these out. They’re really good.

On the left are Grace-Maries Peppermint Shortbread Thins and right are Cherry Shortbread Cookies made by Sue Carlin. I have never had cookies with finely ground peppermint in the dough, so the Shortbread Thins were an interesting delicious surprise. Sue’s Cherry Shortbread Cookies also had a surprise when you bit into them: that little ping on your tongue from the dried cherries along with the sweet crispiness of the cookie. Both of these are refrigerator cookies that were rolled into logs, chilled and then cut into slices to bake. So easy. Plus the logs can be frozen for future use.

Grace-Marie’s cookies had hard peppermint candies that were pulverized in the processor before being added to the dough. Above you can see Grace-Marie demonstrating how to drizzle the icing over the cookies with a fork. And, no, those are not cookies, they’re container tops. Just keeping you on your toes.

On the left are Grace-Marie’s White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies and right are Starlight Mint Surprises made by Jennifer Mayer. The Blondies were a cornucopia of white chocolate, with whole chunks in the dough and melted white chocolate in the cream cheese frosting. These were dusted with powdered sugar, but you could also drizzle melted chocolate over the top. Oh yes, they were really decadent. Jennifer’s Mint Surprises were just that. Unassuming to look at, and a lovely Andes Mint hiding inside. I took a bite and went, Oh Wow!

Here you can see Grace-Marie, who looks so happy when she’s baking. The White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting is spread with a large offset spatula and the dried cranberries are sprinkled on top. We were advised to push the cranberries down into the frosting with the flat of our hand so they wouldn’t fall off later, a big pet peeve of Grace-Marie. I want you to look at how she sliced the Blondies, with a finger on each side of the knife and firmly pressed against the bars. This way the knife comes out clean, which I think is just a brilliant maneuver. I always learn some technique like this when I go to Grace-Marie’s classes.

I Wish You Wonderful Cookie Baking and Happy Holidays!

Lynne xo

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

The one class I look forward to the most every year at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen is the Holiday Cookie Exchange. It’s the one class I just won’t miss. For me it starts the Christmas Holiday time, as I bring home a big platter of many kinds of festive cookies to share with my family. This year Grace-Marie made four different kinds of treats and six students brought their own favorite cookies from home to share. You can see on the plate above how yummy they all look.

There is now Happy Holidays Cookie Exchange Part 2, featuring Peppermint Shortbread Thins,  White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies, Starlight Mint Surprises, and Cherry Shortbread Cookies. Check them out, too.

The two cookies I’m going to tell you about today are the Hazelnut-Nutella Kisses made by Grade-Marie, and the Cranberry Delight Cookies made by Margene Schlackman, a friend who came to class. The Hazelnut Kisses are beautifully nutty and the Nutella, which I’m crazy about, is smooth and chocolate-y. What a great combination.

The Cranberry Delights are made with a cream cheese dough which bakes up really flakey, and with the piquant Crazen-Cherry preserve filling is really delicious. Not to mention, they are pretty in pink with sparkly red sugar sprinkles. I think you would be proud to have either of these confections on your Holiday buffet.

The Hazelnut Kisses are made in the stand mixer and Grace-Marie used a small ice cream scoop to portion out the dough. Then she rolled them between her hands into perfect spheres.

Using a measuring teaspoon, she made indentations in the top of the dough balls. When they were done baking and cooled, the cookies were filled with Nutella squeezed from a zip-top bag.

Grace-Marie used an offset spatula to make the Nutella look pretty and then they were dusted with chocolate sprinkles and crowned with a beautiful hazelnut. Perfect.

You know what baking cookies smell like in your own kitchen. Imagine that multiplied by ten. That was the Holiday Cookie Exchange at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen. I’ll be giving you the recipes for all of the other cookies in upcoming posts, so stay tuned. Happy Holidays!

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

Being able to bake sweet little goodies is an ability cherished in our family and passed down from generation to generation. So when I got a call from my Auntie Meggie, announcing a birthday bash for my Cousin Rosie, which included a dessert buffet, I knew I had to go all out. You know I am a salt freak, but Rosie is the family chocoholic. I’m talking major. If anyone would appreciate the Scharffen Berger I used, it would definitely be her. Chocolate in the cookie and dipped in chocolate, I knew this would be the one I should bring. Happy Birthday Rosie!

This cookie is decadently rich with the chocolate and peanut butter, each contributing in equal amounts. The chocolate in the dough is grated on a microplane, instead of melted as you would expect. I used my go-to bittersweet chocolate Callebaut, which we used exclusively when I was going to culinary school. I know there are other fine chocolates out there, nuances and all, but my loyalty still lies with Callebaut. The Scharffen Berger bar came in the goodie bag from Camp Blogaway last May and I wanted to use it in a way befitting its quality. It was a little less sweet than I like for just eating, but was perfect for melting, combined with the honey roasted peanuts and brown sugar in the cookie. And Rosie LOVED them.

I rarely crave chocolate. Not my thing. But about a week ago I got this yen for brownies. You know, rich, fudgy, dense, intensely chocolate. So I dug around for this old recipe of mine, and rediscovered it had whiskey poured over it. Whoa, I forgot about that part.  But even better.

So I went to the market and bought some white chocolate chips, in preparation. I already had a huge bag of dark chocolate chips and the block of Callebaut semi sweet chocolate. I was ready to rock.

I made the brownies and let them cool. Then, in the first of a series of domino falling events, I cut about a half-inch strip of brownie off one end, to see if they tasted as good as I remembered. They were outstanding, so I covered the pan with aluminum foil and left it sitting on the kitchen counter.

The next day I was all psyched to pour whiskey over the brownies and ice them with white and dark chocolate. I had left the package of white chocolate chips on the counter near the brownies and when I picked them up, I discovered that a family member had opened the package and eaten about half of them. It was a small package, so not many were left. I opened my cupboard to get the dark chocolate chips and discovered they were nowhere in site. Well, I was getting sorta ticked off by this time, so I stalked into a family member’s bedroom and found a big bowl of dark chocolate chips next to their computer. A lovely midnight snack, I’m sure.

I retrieved the chips and huffily returned to the kitchen. That was when I realized that the aluminum foil covering the brownies was all crinkled, like it had been opened and closed fifty times. I slowly lifted the foil. OMG! They were half gone!  And not by nice neat squares cut with a knife. Oh no… It looked like the family member had used a fork, or maybe even a spoon!

So I confronted the suspected family member and asked if they had eaten the brownies. “Oh ya,  there was already some gone, so I figured it was ok to eat them.” So I took a deep breath, turned and trudged back to the kitchen. There was nothing I could do. The project was decimated.

So I am going to have to ask you to use your imagination. Pretend you take a toothpick and poke several holes all over the brownies, then pour a couple of tablespoons of bourbon over the top. Heck, use a fourth of a cup if you want. Might as well.

Then melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler. Ice the brownies, smoothing with an offset spatula, and chill them until the icing is firm. Then melt the dark chocolate chips and smooth it over the white icing. Chill until set. Cut into squares to serve.

Ok, my kid ate the chocolate chips, my husband ate the brownies and I drank the bourbon.  That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

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Hi everybody! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and your waistband is still the same size. My holiday was fantastic because I got to see my brother, who lives in San Francisco, and my older son, who lives in Davis, California. They came to our feast with their wives and it was so much fun. I hadn’t seen my brother for two years, so it was very special for me.

I made these White Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Cookies to set out on a plate with the other hors d’oeuvres in case someone wanted something sweet. I also made the Kalamata Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato Toasts, and little garlic butter crostini topped with Boursin cheese for our appetizers. Alas, there were no leftovers.

The first time I made these cookies was about a month ago. I woke up one morning craving the original Chocolate Chip Cookies. I came home from work, after thinking about them all day, ready to mix and bake, only to discover I had no chocolate chips! Darn! Not to be deterred, I checked my pantry and discovered I had some Callebaut white chocolate. Ah ha! The project continued on. I threw in the pecans for textural interest. Actually, they don’t look like much, but all the little crumbs of white chocolate get mixed in and melt into the dough, making them so rich, you cannot eat just one. Truly.

My Cookie Monster sons, Brian and David

My original intent was to freeze those cookies and keep them for Thanksgiving. I made the mistake of leaving them in a container on the kitchen counter and not telling my younger son, Brian, not to eat them. So he did, plus he has friends. I ended up with five cookies, which I fully intended to photograph. I even put a note on them saying “Do Not Eat!” A couple of days later there were three cookies. I just threw up my hands and said to myself, forget it. So I made another batch a couple of days before Thanksgiving and hid them. And I hid the last dozen in order to take these photos. They are so good. Buttery. Nutty. Chocolate-y. Melt in your mouth. You get the idea.

Today I received an email from my Food Bloggers Los Angeles group announcing there will be a Holiday Cookie Exchange on Saturday, December 3rd. Do you know what that means? OMG! It’s almost Christmas!! And I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping. I don’t know where my Christmas tree decorations are! I have no idea who is coming over for dinner. I don’t even know what I’m cooking for dinner! Heeeeelllpp!

Ok, seriously, it goaded me into thinking about what cookies I might want to bring to the Cookie Exchange. Chocolate Chips, Gingersnaps and Snickerdoodles won’t do, because they’re everyday treats we make all year. I am seriously considering my Linzer Cookies, though. They’re a Christmas tradition at our house. Oh goodie, I’m looking forward to all the cookies everyone will be bringing to the Exchange, plus the recipes.

When I was making these Chocolate Crackles, I had gone into my office at the other end of the house while the first batch was baking. The timer went off and as I walked into the living room, I was almost knocked over by the smell of chocolate that was undulating out of the kitchen. Thick and resonant. Is there anything that smells like something baked with chocolate? So delicious.

I got this recipe from a friend back in the day. I had gone to her house for a brunch and these Chocolate Crackles were on the buffet table. After one bite I knew I had to have the recipe, which she generously supplied. I have to laugh now when I look at that scrap of paper. It lists the ingredients, the temperature and baking time. That’s it. No method, whatsoever. But that’s what we do sometimes, don’t we? Thank you, LeeAnn.

A few posts back we made these terrific little tartlet shells, and proceeded to fill them with lemon curd with little bee decorations. I had quite a few tart shells left over that I froze, so they were already made and waiting expectantly for their next incarnation.

In those posts I suggested several other options for filling the tartlet shells, one of which was banana slices and whipped cream. Sort of a banana cream pie, Lilliputian size. I wanted them to be sort of fancy and whimsical, so I decided to pipe some white chocolate in silly little shapes to enhance them. You may notice that the intricate shapes have a “tongue” piped on the bottom for inserting into whatever you are decorating.

First I drew some designs with a pen on the back of some parchment paper. I turned it over and put it on a cookie sheet. I put about an inch of water in a sauce pan and got it simmering and put a stainless steel bowl on top. I put about a cup of Ghirardelli’s white chocolate chips in the bowl and stirred for about 5 minutes until it was melted. I made a piping cone from a 9-inch square, which is a couple of inches bigger than the one used for the bees. Then I scooped the chocolate into the piping cone, cut off the tiniest point and traced over the penned designs. I still had quite a bit of white chocolate left in the piping cone, so I piped a bunch of free form shapes in between the original ones.

The chocolate took about two hours to set, but still wasn’t really hard. It has been about 90 degrees and it was affecting the chocolate. So I put it in the refrigerator to get really hard. Removing the chocolate from the parchment paper was sort of tricky. You have to peel the parchment away from the chocolate, not peel the chocolate away from the parchment. By this I mean, don’t have the parchment flat and try to lift the chocolate off. It will break. Hold the parchment in your hands and slowly peel it away from the chocolate pieces. Keep the gewgaws on the sheet in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.

Next I whipped the cream to stiff peaks with a little sugar and put it in a piping bag with a star tip. I sliced a banana in thin slices and piped some of the cream in the tart shells. The banana slices were inserted in the cream and more whipped cream piped in between. And then the white chocolate gewgaws were inserted into the whipped cream. Voila.

This is a guest post from my friend Felipe Tapia, who is thinking of starting a food blog and wanted to try his hand at a post and see how it feels. His culinary love is baking, and we got acquainted over a big discussion about fondant. Felipe is a modern Renaissance Man, who by day is a computer maven IT guy, and by night bakes, plays cello and piano, and is a photography buff. At one time he played in a well-known String Quartette and was thinking about being the next YoYo Ma for his career. And he has a photo and camera blog, Ciroflex.net, where he blogs about vintage cameras (the ones with film, remember those?). He has a darkroom at home where he is known to disappear for hours. Felipe took the photos for this post and he has shown me photos of some of the cakes he has created, like one for his son that looked like an electric guitar. This man is smart and interesting, and I hope you enjoy his post.

Felipe writes:

“I grew up in a family with a sweet tooth. The mere mention of a Super 8, cuchufli, manjar, or just straight up chocolate will send my family into a frenzy. As a young kid I never understood why my mom preferred dark chocolate over smooth and creamy milk chocolate. Now I am older and have learned to appreciate the sultry and velvety textures hidden in a square of cacao. 70% or greater, of course.

This new appreciation has also lead to discovering wonderful pairings. Chocolate with fruit is a classic. Chocolate with nuts, pretzels, popcorn, graham crackers and marshmallows (smores!), toffee, caramel, and peanut butter. Chocolate on toast? Yes please. Cheese and chocolate? Hear me out on this one. The acidic and nutty flavors of cheese compliment the sweet and bitter cacao. Dark chocolate truffles pair well with a sheep’s milk cheese, such as manchego.

Now I’m getting thirsty. Shall we have some wine with our chocolate? A zinfandel goes great with dark chocolate and milk chocolate is delicious with sauvignon blanc. Beer and chocolate? My absolute favorite! Any beer goes well with a good dark chocolate. I could go on, but if I don’t stop I just might leave my desk and never finish this post for Lynne.

I’ve taken a deep breath and composed myself. I’m back on track to continue with my recipe. Out of all the pairings listed above I’ve chosen to stick with chocolate and chocolate. After all, that’s what this post is all about. I found this recipe in the 2006 September issue of Bon Appetit. The name of this chocolate cake is La Bete Noir, which translates to The Black Beast. This is a flourless chocolate cake and it is not for the faint of heart. Cut into thin slices and serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. To get the best clean cut wedges, heat the edge of the knife before cutting. The knife will slide straight down and not cling to the cake.

I would like to thank Lynne for letting me share this recipe and for giving me a spot in her blog. I’m honored to be here and I hope that you enjoy making and eating “The Beast” just as much as I do.”

Wrap three layers of foil around the bottom of springform pan.

Place springform in roasting pan.

And here it is, La Bete Noir, in all its glory.

On May 5th I celebrated Cinco de Mayo at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, the Cooking School at Bristol Farms. Grace-Marie was preparing a wonderful Mexican flavored luncheon and I wouldn’t miss that for anything. On the menu was Fiesta Fruit and Avocado Salad, Gringo Picadillo Stuffed Peppers and Ibarra Mexican Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake. Each dish that Grace-Marie prepared was spiced with the flavor notes from south of the border: lime juice, jalapeno pepper, cumin, papayas, avocado, cilantro, Mexican crema, queso fresco cheese and Ibarra Mexican Chocolate. Each of these dishes was beautiful and delicious. And not only did I get to photograph and eat, but this time I got to help serve!

So what is Ibarra Mexican Chocolate, anyway? Ibarra is a brand of Mexican Chocolate that is made in Guadalajara, Mexico. The circular tablets, which are about ½” thick and 3 ¼” in diameter, are made from sugar, cacao nibs, lecithin and cinnamon flavoring. They are packaged in this distinctive red-and-yellow hexagon-shaped box.

Ibarra Mexican Chocolate is not meant to be eaten like a chocolate bar, because it has a rough, gritty texture from the undissolved granulated sugar. Ibarra is used primarily to make hot cocoa in traditional Mexican style by mixing the chocolate tablets with near boiling milk or water until completely dissolved. In Mexico, in the traditional Aztec and Mayan style, Cayenne pepper is added to make it a spicy chocolate drink.

Grace-Marie’s Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake begins with the crust of finely ground Chocolate Cookies and ground Almonds mixed with melted butter, the mixture pressed into a spring form pan and baked for 10 minutes,

Meanwhile the Ibarrra Chocolate is chopped and melted with cream. The cream cheese, sugar, eggs, sour cream and flavorings are processed together, and one cup of the mixture is transferred to a bowl and mixed with the chocolate.

Half of the cream cheese mixture is poured into the cooled crust and the Chocolate mixture is drizzled over.

Then the remaining cream cheese mixture is poured over the chocolate swirls.

After it comes out of the oven it is cooled to room temperature and then refrigerated until chilled completely.

Lucky for us, Grace-Marie had made two cheesecakes in the morning and they were chilled and ready to be served. We happily ate them with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Oh man, this cheesecake was really good!! The perfect ending to our Cinco de Mayo fiesta.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the cooking classes visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at  gmj@bristolfarms.com.

Mardi Gras Madness was the theme of the cooking class I went to today at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms in Manhattan Beach. The wonderful thing about Grace-Marie’s classes is that she makes you feel like your best friend invited you over for lunch and went all out with the food, the decorations, the white china, the whole works. The sunlit classroom is homey, with warm colors and artwork, and you sit at communal tables with tablecloths and seasonal decorations down the center. You’re with convivial companions and fellow foodies, anticipation building as you watch Grace-Marie cook, and smell the delicious aromas wafting from the stove and oven.

Grace-Marie does extensive research on what she is going to cook for each class’s theme, and she tries to make dishes that are new, interesting, and cutting edge.*(Please see Note below). Of course she has all of the Bristol Farms products at her fingertips, which doesn’t hurt. Today, as the theme was Mardi Gras, she talked about Cajun seasoning. She suggested we use one without salt, and if we couldn’t find one, to email her and she would send us a recipe to make it ourselves. She is so accessible and willing to help her students.

While Grace-Marie is cutting and chopping, she keeps up a running conversation with all of us students. I’ve never seen anyone who was so adept at keeping her hands working, checking the recipes, knowing how what was in the oven was doing by how it smelled, and popping up with little tidbits of info like, “Do you like Zydeco music? Do you know that Zydeco comes from French for green beans; actually, the Creole accordion and washboard music they played on the porch when they cleaned the green beans.” And then a discussion about Fat Tuesday and the goofy commercials on the Olympics. Just like in your best friend’s kitchen, sharing the friendship.

First we had this tasty Cajun Red Beans and Rice Salad. The vinaigrette was zingy with lemon juice, Creole Mustard, Tabasco Sauce, garlic and Cajun Spice mix.

Then we were served the Mardi Gras Po-Boy Sandwiches with huge cornmeal-crusted shrimp and an amazing Red Pepper Remoulade, which included Stonewall Kitchen Red Pepper Relish, on French rolls crisp with butter and grated Asiago cheese. Everyone in the room was groaning with happiness at this point. The sweet shrimp, the spicy remoulade, the crunchy cornmeal, the salty cheese and the crisp buttery bread. This covers all the food groups in my book.

While everyone was eating, Grace-Marie introduced me and talked about my food blog. Everyone was very enthusiastic and wanted to read about Grace-Marie on-line. They also wanted to see themselves on my blog. So I took photos while they ate, which I think next time I’ll have them get in a big group and say cheese. But here you are, fellow students, I did my best.

*Note: Grace-Marie asked me to tell you that the St. Patrick’s Day Dinner on March 9, with the Irish Farm House theme, is NOT corned beef and cabbage. I repeat, there will be NO corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day this year. There WILL be a gourmet Irish salmon dish with appropriate accompaniments.

And finally the dessert, French Quarter Chocolate Bread Pudding. I have to tell you, this is the most chocolate-y concoction I have ever eaten. Grace-Marie says she uses Broguiere’s Chocolate Milk in her recipe, which comes in a glass bottle, and is the richest chocolate milk on the planet. The photograph cannot do justice to the way this stuff tastes and its soft custardiness. If you are a chocoholic, this is what they feed you in heaven. You must make this recipe.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the cooking classes visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at  gmj@bristolfarms.com.

I LOVE chocolate chip cookies. I have been thinking about making them for a couple of weeks. To me they are the ultimate comfort food, a warm, buttery, chocolaty memory from my childhood. The whole milk and cookies thing when  I came home from school. So today I had to make some.  Also, I wanted to get the recipe into my permanent recipe index, because sometimes I don’t use chocolate chips and don’t have access to the Toll House recipe on the package.  Instead I chop up semi sweet chocolate from a big (11 pound) bar of Callebaut that I keep on hand.

And, I have to admit, I wanted to photograph the cookies stacked up Martha Stewart style, with that one cookie leaning against the stack. Did she invent that?

When I did a Google search for Chocolate Chip Cookies there were

3,100,000 results, so I know I’m not giving you an original recipe.

Every cook has a favorite take on this cookie, but I think the Toll House recipe on the chip package is the best one by far and it is the one I always make. If I made any other one my family would be in an uproar.

I was curious where chocolate chip cookies came from and discovered they were first conceived in Whitman, Massachusetts in 1930.  Ken and Ruth Wakefield opened an inn that was on a road between New Bedford and Boston. It was called the Toll House Inn because stage coaches used to stop to pay a toll at the gates.

Mrs. Wakefield accidentally invented the chocolate chip cookie when she was making a butter cookie called “Butter Drop-Do’s.” She was out of nuts so she substituted a Nestle chocolate bar which she broke into little pieces. She called them “Chocolate Crispies, “ much to the delight of her restaurant customers.

Nestle began to sell a lot of the chocolate bars after a Boston newspaper ran her popular recipe. In 1939 Nestle began making chocolate chips and in 1940 bought the Toll House name from the Wakefields. The recipe has been printed on the back of the package ever since.

The chocolate chip cookie became very popular during World War II when GIs from Massachusetts shared  those sent from home, and this began a nation-wide clamor for the recipe. On July 9, 1997, Massachusetts made the chocolate chip cookie the Official State Cookie to honor its origin in their state. I think if there was a vote, it would also be considered the United States National Cookie. What do you think?

Did I say I LOVE chocolate chip cookies?

From Lynne: Patti, from Worth the Whisk, has been so kind to do this guest post and help my fledgling blog get off the ground. Her blog is so interesting and is filled with great recipes. Patti is also the creator of Camp Blogaway, a bootcamp for food and recipe bloggers, which is taking place May 14-16, 2010 in the Los Angeles area.

Hello to Lynne’s readers, I am Patti of Worth The Whisk and am guest blogging my all-time-most-visited post for Lynne… Flower Pot Ice Cream Sundae.

Lynne and I have been getting to know each other better through our Los Angeles food blogger community. Last week, she was in the front row of my class, How to Become A Serious Food Blogger. Mentioning this funny recipe in my presentation was how Lynne and I ended up agreeing to guest post.

Honestly, you cannot screw this up, it really isn’t a recipe, it is more like an edible craft project.  For example, chunks of frozen frosting on my cake became corks for plugging the flower pot drain holes.  I smashed up the rest of the cake for the “dirt.”  Being as we are DINKs (Double Income, No Kids) I added a grownup splash of Kahlua to soften the ice cream.   Larry, my taste-testing husband, thought the overall concept was weird, yet he still enjoyed his flower pot.

From Worth the Whisk