All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [54]
It took me four tries and our staff weighed in at every turn. The first problem I saw with Leigh’s recipe is that it called for butter, not shortening. The real SOCs had a slightly crumbly, light texture similar to Cowboy Cookies (page 137), which have shortening. Ellen Silva, our commentaries editor, surmised this might be a key ingredient in the real SOCs and indeed, if the original bakers used shortening, it made sense that they might not want to give out that information since the snooty little high-priced Asian-esque eatery has a healthy reputation. I tried the shortening and added an extra cup of oats. The texture improved, but the taste did not. I switched to a new product put out by Crisco, butter-flavored shortening. The taste got closer.
Senior producer Graham Smith was now eating cookies by the fistful and telling me I could stop; these were perfect! Brendan Banaszak, another producer, disagreed, noting that they were GOOD, but the texture was still slightly off.
Rereading Leigh’s article, I noticed that she’d replaced the rice flour in the real SOCs (listed on the back of the cookie wrapper) with regular flour, so I reverted back to rice flour. Sara Sarasohn, our West Coast arts editor, suggested adding coconut extract. Closer, closer, but still not there. Part of the cookie’s taste, Leigh believed, had to do with refrigerating the dough for at least an hour before baking, allowing the oats to absorb moisture and flavor from the eggs and butter. I tried that. I decided to toss the oats in 2 tablespoons of melted butter BEFORE introducing them into the dough. WUNDERBAR!
At this point, Graham and Brendan and Ellen all told me to STOP; they loved the cookies just the way they were and even if I couldn’t fully crack the real SOC code, they liked what I had better than the cookies from the snooty little high-priced Asian-esque eatery. They grabbed several each and took them back to their desks to store them for deadline sugar ‘n’ salt emergencies and then demanded the recipe, which I happily gave up for free as I have no need for donor kidneys. Then the rest of the staff, who had kept silent in hopes that I wouldn’t crack the real SOC code so that I’d bake all week, asked if I was still going to bring in more cookies the next day.
This recipe makes 2 dozen cookies, but if you like ‘em big, you’ll obviously get fewer cookies. Be forewarned—the bigger you make them, the more they spread on the sheet, so space accordingly!
Chewy Butterscotch Bars
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YOU’ll NEED
A 9 × 13-inch baking pan or two 8-inch round cake pans
A baking sheet
A double boiler, real or improvised (see step 4)
2 cups coarsely chopped or broken pecans
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (see Tip)
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup butterscotch morsels
Tip: I use instant coffee. Works just as well.
1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the pan.
2. Spread out the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 3 minutes. Toss and stir, then toast for 3 more minutes. Set aside on a plate to cool to room temperature.
3. In a large bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside.
4. Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in the bottom of your double boiler, OR in a saucepan into which you can insert a heat-proof bowl so that it will not touch the water. Reduce the water to a simmer.
5. Away from the heat, in the top of the