Generally speaking, winter is that time of year when we’re mostly waiting for it to be over. But if you think about it, there are lots of things winter is great for. When else would you get to wear those soft, warm sweaters? Or a fur coat, if you have one? As long as it doesn’t go on for too long, clomping around in fuzzy boots and mittens is fun, as is the snow. And I wouldn’t be the Kitchen Goddess if I didn’t mention thick soups and stews, like this Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup, or Coq au Vin.
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| Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup |
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| Coq au Vin |
It’s also the season for mushrooms, as in this Wild Mushroom Soup with Madeira. Mmmmm...
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| Wild Mushroom Soup – for two – with Madiera |
You know what’s also great in winter? The stars. That’s right – the night sky in December, January, and February is darker and clearer than in the summer. The major reason is that cold air can’t hold as much moisture as can warm air, so the winter skies offer a drier, crisper light, while summer skies – beautiful though they may be – come across as hazier. Winter night skies (in the Northern Hemisphere) allow a richer, deeper, and darker shade of blue that only sharpens the contrast with the wintertime constellations.
And here’s one I didn’t know before I did all this research: our view of the night sky improves in winter because of our solar system’s position in the Milky Way. In summer, we’re facing the center of the galaxy, toward the combined light of billions of stars, so the sky is more crowded. In winter, we face the opposite way, toward the galaxy’s outskirts. There are fewer stars between us and extragalactic space. It’s another morsel of knowledge from the KG.
With all this thinking about stars, I was thrilled to receive a recipe for star cookies from a friend in Florida. She’s a terrific cook and an ultra-talented designer (see her website at Fina Design), so I was intrigued with these cookies mostly because they were so beautiful in her photo. Mine didn’t emerge with the same level of beauty, but they looked good enough to wow my book group, and the taste is outstanding – rich without being cloying. Who doesn’t like chocolate dipped in more chocolate and pistachios?
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| I cannot tell a lie: these cookies – and the photo – were made by my friend Barbara. |
Because there’s no egg in the recipe, the cookies have a shortbready texture – not fudgy, but soft and crumbly. Until they cool from the oven, they need to be handled carefully – like with as wide a spatula as you have for moving them from the baking pan to the cooling rack. The Kitchen Goddess broke three until she figured that part out, and then had to eat those that broke. Bad news for the book group, good news for the KG.
Kitchen Goddess note on cocoa powder: (And here I rely on the expertise of Stella Parks, the pastry queen at SeriousEats.com, and my friends at America’s Test Kitchen.) For big chocolate flavor in baking, the weapon of choice is usually cocoa powder, which comes in two forms: Dutch-processed and natural. Both are derived from the cocoa bean. Like chocolate, cocoa is naturally acidic. In Dutch processing, the cocoa is treated with an alkalizing agent that neutralizes that acid. So Dutch-processed cocoa is darker and browner in color, and has a smoother chocolate flavor. Because of the lack of acidity, most recipes using it call for baking powder only.
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| The color difference is starker when viewed from above |
You’ll notice that Barbara’s cookies are a lighter shade than mine, which I attribute mostly to the type of cocoa powder. Hers, on the right in this photo, is Ghirardelli 100% Unsweetened Cocoa, which is natural; mine, on the left, is Hershey’s Special Dark, which, according to the label, is a combination of Dutched and natural cocoa. Both hers and mine are delicious and chocolatey, and impressively easy to make.
I’m still working on the technique for getting mine to be as perfect a star shape as Barbara’s. Very frustrating for a Kitchen Goddess. But if you follow the intermittent chilling instructions and don’t crowd the baking pan, you’ll come very close.
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| These are the Kitchen Goddess’s, before she realized the cookies look even better when thicker. |
Chocolate Star Cookies with Pistachio Stardust
Adapted from my friend Barbara FinaThe flavors in these cookies are simple and straightforward, so it’s good to use the best quality ingredients you can find.
Yield: This recipe makes 2 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
½ teaspoon kosher salt
175 grams all-purpose flour (approximately 1⅓ cups)
½ teaspoon baking powder or baking soda, depending on the type of cocoa you choose*
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder*
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*Note: If your cocoa powder is “natural” (i.e., not Dutch-processed), use baking soda; if your cocoa powder is Dutch-processed, use baking powder.
For the pistachio stardust:
1¼ cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate pieces
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup shelled, unsalted whole pistachios
Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed, use the paddle to cream the ½ cup butter with the brown sugar and salt until the mixture is smooth, then raise the speed to medium for a good 30 seconds to aerate.
In a small bowl, sift or stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda (or baking powder, depending on your type of cocoa). Set aside. Separately, combine the milk and vanilla.
To the butter/brown sugar/salt mixture, gradually and alternately add the milk/vanilla and the dry ingredients. Mix until the dough is a smooth and consistent texture, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl occasionally.
Divide the dough into two relatively smooth balls and flatten them slightly for easier rolling out. Wrap the two disks in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for 30-60 minutes. (The Kitchen Goddess absent-mindedly left hers in the fridge for 2 hours and was very sorry.)
Before you start rolling/cutting, preheat the oven to 375ยบ.
On a lightly floured surface, working with one disk of dough at a time, roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness and cut into stars with a cookie cutter. (The KG uses a 3-inch star.) Transfer the stars to a parchment-lined (or lightly greased) baking sheet, being careful to leave them 1-2 inches apart for best results. Refrigerate each sheet for 5 minutes before baking. Re-roll unused dough as many times as you like, refrigerating occasionally to keep the dough firm. Note that these cookies are thick. It’s part of their charm.
Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm. KG Alert: Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. Cool on wire racks completely before dipping.
While the finished cookies are cooling, prepare the Pistachio Stardust:
1. In a double boiler, combine the chocolate pieces and the butter. Stir until smooth.
2. Before you turn off the oven, scatter the pistachios into a small baking pan and lightly toast (4-5 minutes). Use a cutting board to chop the pistachios into a relatively fine texture (or however fine you like). While somewhat tedious, chopping nuts by hand will give you a more consistent texture. (Barbara says it also looks more “artisinal.” And, of course, she’s right.)
Once the cookies are cooled, dip two points of each star into the melted chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off, then into the pistachio bits. Return the decorated cookies to the cooling racks until the chocolate is completely firm.
These cookies keep well for up to 10 days in airtight tins. (Separate the layers with wax paper.) You can also freeze the undipped cookies, then thaw and dip them when you’re ready.
One final Kitchen Goddess note: While I do think the star shapes are about the cleverest and most artistic I’ve seen, do not despair if you don’t have a star-shaped cookie cutter. You can always make these any shape you want and dip some portion of each into the chocolate/pistachio mix.
Kitchen Goddess Bonus Recipe: Chocolate Bark
When you have finished dipping all those stars, you’ll find that you have both chocolate and pistachios left over. What can you do? Make bark. Spread the chocolate out in a pan lined with parchment or foil and sprinkle the nuts on top. Add other nuts or dried fruit or (KG’s fave) candied ginger, and let it cool. The KG also likes to sprinkle kosher salt on her bark, and on a frisky day, also a large pinch of Aleppo pepper. Depending on the humidity in your house, you may find the bark firms up better in the fridge. Break it up and store it in an airtight container. Serve on its own or with ice cream/sorbet for dessert.
A Final Note about Star-gazing
If you want a truly eye-opening experience, head to one of the Dark Sky spots in the U.S. These are places far enough from city/highway lighting that the nighttime conditions are essentially the same as they were before the introduction of electric lighting. As your eyes become accustomed to the dark, you’ll be blown away at the number of stars you can see. The Milky Way appears as if by magic, and the universe literally opens up to you.
The brightness of a full moon can wash most stars out of the sky. For most stargazing, you’ll want to plan to be out on or near the new moon, which for this month, began the 21st and runs through the 29th, at which time the visible percentage of the moon will be less than 20%.
And you can make some of these cookies for the trip!