In Honor of Gourmet Magazine, Part II

Gourmet_December_2006

Just in case you missed us yesterday, Chicago food blogger, Julie Ohara, from A Mingling of Tastes came up with a great idea to honor Gourmet magazine (oh and if you hadn’t heard by now, Conde Nast has shut Gourmet down). The last printed magazine is the Thanksgiving issue.

As I partake in this online ode to Gourmet, I paused to reflect as to what really made me love the magazine and I think it was the photography. Saveur and Gourmet are/were the best in this area – the first publications to really make food pornographic.

Under Ruth Reichl the covers got even better and well I will say that in the past year or so, some of the parties featured were more sexy than the recipes. That said, I still really enjoyed the magazine and will miss it.

Here is one cover photo I loved for its creativity and the holiday mood. I wanted these for my tree!

This is one recipe I like from that issue. These little chocolate balls are very cake like. They don’t store well so try to enjoy them the same day. Perfect for a cookie swap!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies (you can use almonds too)

2/3 cup hazelnut meal (I buy Bob’s Red Mill.)
You can make your own meal from fresh hazelnuts, but you need to peel. Here’s the drill.
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 stick of butter, at room temp
1 1/2 brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add the cooled chocolate and vanilla. With the mixer on low add the flour mixture. Once it’s all incorporated, refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Pinch off some dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar and place on sheet. Don’t worry too much about placement as these cookies do not spread much. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, rotating them once during the baking.

These are especially good warm from the oven with ice cream or chocolate pudding. They would also be good with ganache dipped on the bottom, or slice the cookies in half and fill with a little ganache -even better!

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