orson: smells mostly like roses, bud

tonight we went to dinner at orson, elizabeth falkner's new restaurant. it describes its food as "edgy californian"...well to be honest, i don't know what that's supposed to mean, but i can tell you this: the food was pretty good. good enough that i'd go back. (my main barometer.) but, if you've ever been to her other restaurant, citizen cake, this place is completely "other" compared to it, so be prepared.

it was opening weekend, so our bar was low on the service (good thing, too :). the food was unusual and unexpected, as promised. the menu is split into "teasers" / "naughty" (read: tiny plates) and "explore" / "nice" (small plates). here's what we ordered:

drinks
1. "touch of evil": bulleit bourbon, mint, lemon juice, st. george absinthe verte, rhubarb syrup
2. "tomorrow is forever": square one organic vodka, pages vedrenne verveine velay, sparkling moscato, lemon

wine
1 glass each Côtes Du Rhône, 2005, Eric Texier

savory
"teasers":
1. tempura-battered, soft-boiled egg rolled in nori with black trumpet mushrooms and broccoflower in a scallion broth
2. parmaggiano pudding with piquillo pepper jam and cocoa-nib explosion
3. duck-fat french fries with brown-butter bearnaise
4. light-fry tofu with house-made kimchee
5. house-made charcuterie (rye salami, bologna, spiced tri-tip, and peppered shoulder)

"explore":
1. pork bun with fresno chili and cilantro
2. butterfish brulee with grapefruit and caviar
3. short rib dusted with espresso, with spinach

sweet
"naughty":
1. pigwich: pizelle maple-bacon ice-cream sandwich
2. new york, ny: cheesecake crema, seville orange marmelade, macademia nuts

"nice":
invisible: almond, pine, bergamot, white chocolate, truffle

not surprisingly, the alcohol broke down as follows: kevin: a glass of the wine; me: the rest of it. :D (what, you're surprised? hellooo: "touch of evil"? ring any bells? mouwahahahahah--hunh, what? uh, *no*, i'm not DRUNK.)

for dinner, we loved everything except the butterfish, which was pretty bland. (not even sure it was butterfish; tasted more like haddock.) kevin liked the pork buns the best. (there's probably a joke in there somewhere.) my favorite was the tofu. (i may be mostly twinkie, but there's a little yellow in me, yet.) having said that, the kimchee - it was the tongchimi [white] variety - definitely tasted like it wasn't a korean in the kitchen making it. [insert haughty *sniff* here] the most unusual dish was the parmigianno pudding: the "cocoa-nib explosion" was what pushed it over the edge - they were like chocolate pop rocks. seriously! good thing i didn't have a soda with it (just kidding).

as for dessert. kevin really enjoyed the "new york, new york," which was just a deconstructed cheesecake. i had a couple bites; it was pretty good.

the other two desserts...well, kevin thought the maple-bacon ice cream was gross. i thought it was interesting (it definitely tasted like bacon), but the texture wasn't so great. it tasted like there were tiny beads of fat in it...which considering this was a *bacon ice cream*, there probably were. i don't regret trying it, just for the one-time experience, but if/when we go back, i won't be ordering it again.

the invisible dessert was...well, it was just...aight. it's called "invisible," i guess, b/c the candy was clear and the sauce was white, and the whole thing was served in a white bowl. it tasted mostly of almond and had, well, unexpected textures to it: crunchy candy on one side, gelatin rubbery (sorta like a thinly sliced turkish delight, but w/o the nuts) on the other, surrounded by a white-chocolate sabayon-y sauce. won't be ordering that again, either, but not upset to have had the experience. (kevin was definitely not a fan.)

the bill came to $190 for two, incuding tip; $45 of the bill was for alcohol. yeah yeah, i'm not a cheap date, but it's too late, he already married me, folks.

so overall, i'd rate orson a...well, first, i should probably set it up so you know how my scale measures. here are some restaurants that i've rated between 1 and 5:

1 = would never go back again: sauce [blech]
2 = would reluctantly go to again: ad hoc
3 = solid: jackson fillmore [LOVE their gnocchi]
4 = tasty: isa
5 = yummy!!!: quince

now that you get where i'm coming from, i'd say orson is between a 3 and 4. in other words, i'd be more than happy to go again and i'd recommend it to friends to give it a shot. (i'd tell them not to bother with those two desserts, though.) are they trying too hard to be original and unusual? yeah, probably. i wouldn't be surprised to see the menu become a little less precious over time.

but, if you're looking for a restaurant that serves overall solid food and tries to keep its ingredients "local, organic and sustainable when possible," take a much-needed break from the kitchen and give orson a try. (dudes, believe me when i say that trying to eat as wholesomely as possible is a lot of f'n work :)

when a stick blender ain't a good idea. enchilada sauce strikes back!

so...a tip for those of you who think you can use a stick blender instead of a normal one all the time. yeah...just so you know, this doesn't always hold true, as i unpleasantly found out tonight.

i decided that the rest of our leftover chicken would make great enchiladas. this involved making the sauce from scratch. which, in and of itself, would have worked out just fine, had i just sucked it up and used the normal blender. but nooooo, i used the stick blender. because i love my stick blender. it blends things so well, so easily, with so little mess. what's not to love?!?!

*i'll* tell you what's not to love about it. when you need to blend a bunch of spicy peppers in hot broth. THAT'S when! listen, when i say it's a bad idea, i mean it's a baaaaaaad idea.

ok, here's what happened:

after the dried peppers had simmered for about 20 minutes, i put them into a pyrex quart measuring glass, added the cooking liquid, the onion, roasted pepper seeds, and garlic. turned on the previously unreservedly-loved stick blender, and proceeded to unleash unholy, sweet hell not only unto myself, but also unto about a 5 foot radius around it. (maybe even more than 5 ft. i'll have to get back to you on that.)

first, it started to splash. it was hot. it was RED. it got all over my shirt. (my poor shirt. i is so sorry...) then, it got into my EYE, and that's when things went from a slightly bad / stupid idea to a what-the-#$%&-were-you-thinking-are-you-a-complete-idiot-?!?!?! situation. my eye felt like...well it felt like it was on FIRE. i propped the stick blender as best as i could with it still in the measuring cup (yes, this is why things went majorly south), ran over to the sink, and started to rinse out my eye. (my poor eye. i is so sorry... get it..."i" is so sorry. hahaha. ok, forget it.) maybe about 10 seconds later, i heard a loud thud.

by then i had managed to wash my eye out enough to be able to look over to the source of the noise. the stick blender had FALLEN OVER out of the measuring glass on the counter and landed on the floor. and...well it looked like something had been murdered in our kitchen. which is what i felt like doing to the sauce when i saw what it had done. how dare it?! the sauce - i mentioned it was red, right? - had arc-ed onto the cabinets, the floor, the walls, the counter, the floorboards. it was EVERYWHERE. and it was RED. i mentioned it was red, right? no? well it was. it was red. very very red. with evil, spicy hot seeds. and it was EVERYWHERE.

i cleaned it up as best as i could, but dudes, my eye was killing me, so it *looked* to me like i did a good job. (well i found out it wasn't so good, but more on that in a second.) and then i went to take a much-needed shower, since i looked like sissy spacek at the end of prom. (ok, maybe i'm exaggerating. but only a little. 'cuz i wasn't wearing a prom dress. j/k)

a little while later, i emerged, only to be greeted by a completely incensed kevin (he had been in another room on a phone call while the whole thing went down). i don't remember *exactly* what he said over the course of the next half hour when 1) he realized the sheer magnitude of the mess; 2) as he (graciously) cleaned (kevin, i love youuuuuu); and 3) after he was done, but they were along the lines of: "what the fudge [not sure if he said fudge or the *other* f word] happened in here?"...."what do you mean you 'cleaned it up.' it's ALL OVER THE PLACE!"..."i've been on my HANDS AND KNEES cleaning up YOUR MESS!!!!"

jeez. didn't he realize that i had gotten some of that unholy fire in my eye? i was half blind! in pain! covered in sauce! i thought under the circumstances, i had done a great job cleaning up. guess not. *sigh*

anyhow, moral of the story is...the stick blender is a wonderful tool, but not always the right choice. ok, so i haven't been able to come up with a single other time to not use it, but a word to the wise: definitely do NOT use it on hot peppers in hot broth.

other than that, the enchiladas were great. the sauce could have used a little more salt, but i'll know that for next time. recipe is below. enjoy! and back awaaaay from that stick blender! ;)


Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce
Red chili sauce
3 oz dried New Mexican red chilies, stemmed, with seeds reserved
1 large onion, cut in half
3 large garlic cloves
6 cups water
1 cup chicken stock

Enchiladas
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
6 oz grated, extra-sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (i personally hate cilantro, so i just leave it out. yuuu-uck.)
6 6- to 7-inch corn tortillas
Red chili sauce

Red chili sauce:
Dry roast garlic and then pepper seeds until fragrant (don't breathe in the fumes, otherwise you'll start behaving like a victim of whooping cough). Place chilies and onion in a medium saucepan with water and simmer for 20 minutes, or until peppers are tender.

Transfer into a standard blender the chilies, onion, garlic, and pepper seeds with the chicken stock and 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Puree until smooth. Force puree through a fine-mesh sieve, discard solids. Discard rest of cooking liquid from saucepan and place puree in it. Simmer on low (don't let it boil) for about 30 minutes. Add salt to taste. Sauce freezes well, but can be kept chilled in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Enchiladas:
Preheat oven to 350 deg. Heat a skillet on high heat until hot. Cook tortillas, 1 at a time, a couple seconds a side, so they become soft. On one end of each tortilla, put about 1/4 cup chicken, 3 tbsp cheese, 2 tbsp onion, and 1 tsp cilantro. Roll up the tortillas and place them, seam side down in an 8" square baking dish. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of the chili sauce over the enchiladas, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Sprinkle the enchiladas with the rest of the chopped cilantro and serve. Makes 2 servings.

damn good chicken pot pie

we just finished eating some of the best chicken pot pie i've ever had or made. (my arm is going to be tired tomorrow from patting myself on my back so much ;)

the crust was *yummy*: flaky and buttery tasting of rosemary and thyme; the filling was just right: the vegetables were tender yet crisp and the sauce was creamy yet light. together, they formed the perfect amount of rich tastiness. actually, i don't really want to use the word "rich" to describe this dish, as it makes it sound like it was heavy. not at all. the best way to describe it is "wholesome deliciousness."

this is an awesome way to use leftover chicken (in this case, i used the stewing chicken from marin sun farms that i slow-cooked on saturday). i also used claravale farm raw whole milk and straus family creamery organic half & half and butter. i'll be making this dish many times in the future! (guess what i'm going to have for lunch tomorrow! i'm so excited.) recipe is below. enjoy!


Chicken Pot Pie with Flaky Herb Crust
Filling
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large celery stalk, cut lengthwise and then chopped coarsely
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 small onion, quartered and sliced finely
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper (I like to use rainbow peppercorns)
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (frozen works fine, also, no need to thaw)
1/4 cup fresh peas (frozen works fine, also, no need to thaw)
2 cups diced cooked chicken

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup half & half
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Pie Crust
3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
4 tbsp unsalted butter
3-4 tbsp ice water

Preheat oven to 400 deg.

Filling:
Place peas, corn, chicken into a medium mixing bowl. Melt 2 tbps of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add celery, carrots, and onions and saute until onions start to soften and celery turns bright green (~5 minutes). Remove from heat and place into bowl with peas, corn, and chicken; add salt and pepper and stir until well combined.

Melt remaining 2 tbsp butter in same saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour all at once and stir quickly with wooden spoon. Continue cooking for a minute. Reduce heat to medium, add broth, milk, half & half, and thyme. Bring to a boil, while whisking to break up any clumps. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce becomes thickened, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat and whisk in salt. Pour sauce over vegetables and meat in bowl and mix to combine. Taste to see if needs more salt and pepper and add if necessary. Pour into an 8" square baking pan.

Crust:
Combine flour, salt, pepper, and herbs in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until crumbly. Add ice water and mix with a fork until dough just begins to hold together (you may not need all the water). Gather the dough into a ball, place on a well-floured surface and roll out to a little bit larger than an 8" square.

Top filling in pan with crust. Fold down edges inward to fit crust inside pan. Pierce with a fork in a few places to allow steam to escape. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cut into quarters, spoon filling from underneath crust into bowls and top with crust. Serves 4.

i scream, you scream, we all scream for sustainably-farmed, raw-milk ice cream!

my favorite part of the week is without a doubt thursday late afternoons. why? because the next day is friday, which to me just feels like the weekend, even though i'm at work. dunno why this is, but i don't question it, b/c it means i get to have a mental 3-day weekend every weekend.

at any rate, what this perpetual mental 3-day weekend means for me is that i start thinking about what to do on wednesday nights. (see the advantages of having a mental 3-day weekend? and my friends just think i'm a planner. haha if they only knew.)

the thing i'm looking most forward to this weekend is making raw-milk ice cream. (if you think i'm nuts for drinking raw milk...well, hmph, i think *you're* nuts for drinking milk that has to be flash boiled for a reason.) i've decided to make mint chocolate chip (with NO food coloring). we've never made ice cream before b/c the freezer was too full for the ice cream maker's bowl. but now that i've emptied it of all the "food-like substances" (see Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto), there's plenty of room! if the ice cream works out well, i'm going to bring some in to work on monday so we can have ice cream cones in the afternoon.

[i "gave" my husband the kitchenaid mixer ice cream attachment for christmas / hanukkah 3 years ago. i use "gave" very loosely, as the point was never that i expected HIM to use it...i mean, really, the actual gadget was for *me*. (never accuse only men for ulterior-gadgetry motives.) this gift suited him just fine since he loves ice cream. but i digress.]

the other thing i'm looking forward to is going to a new restaurant that opened this week in SF called Orson; the executive chef is elizabeth falkner (citizen cake). the restaurant describes itself as: "innovative small plates...flirts with modern cooking techniques and ingredients round out a menu designed to encourage diners to explore." i love small-plates-style dinners; in fact, i almost always enjoy appetizers more than entrees at most restaurants. i think this is the first weekend for them, but hopefully we won't notice. (i figure the chances are good that someone who already owns a successful restaurant knows how to avoid this...at least, i hope...) they also say that "we buy great product from great people and keep it local, organic and sustainable when possible."

it's great living in the sf bay area; i get the best of both worlds: not only can i buy sustainably raised/farmed ingredients, but i also have more than just a few restaurants to choose from that do the same. my friend yutai claims that if you just subscribe to the "pursuit of deliciousness," the road inevitably leads people this way. i started down this sustainable / wholesome foods tack mostly b/c of the ethics and health considerations, but i think that thinking of it as a pursuit of deliciousness might be the best, long-term way to look at things. after all, guilt doesn't work 100% of the time, as most catholics (esp. priests who like little boys a little too much) will tell you.

i'll post the ice cream recipe this weekend if it turns out well. (although, frankly, if it doesn't, it's probably not because of the recipe ;).

microwave ovens are The Devil. which sucks big time. but goat-cheese gnocchi is very yummy.

lunch was tasty. i reheated the swiss chard & rice in the adbrite kitchen's toaster oven. i've sworn off microwaves...yeah, exactly: *way* inconvenient. the only thing i'll use it for now is to boil water. which makes kevin much peeved at home b/c now there are a lot more pots and such to clean. :D to round out lunch, i also had some country bread with a piece of sharp cheddar cheese. yum.

i didn't waste the basil for once! i actually managed to remember it and turned it into a little bit of pesto. only really enough for either one serving (which would be ok b/c kevin doesn't really like pesto) or to use on several sandwiches. we'll see how it goes. i'll probably forget about it and it'll go bad. but at least it's a start.

btw, i realized that tonight was the 4th night in the row that we ate a home-cooked, made-from-scratch dinner. i think that's a new course record. granted, i cheated a little by making the rest of the goat-cheese gnocchi (i made enough pasta on saturday to make 5 servings...hmm maybe i'll try the last bit of gnocchi with the pesto). i put the (fresh) mozzarella cheese *under* the sauce this time before popping it into the oven to bake. much better! the cheese melted all gooey. [on saturday i put it on top; the cheese sort of just became rubbery. bleh.] the recipe is below. makes enough for 4. it sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't!


Baked Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Arrabiata Sauce
Sauce
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can peeled tomatoes
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Gnocchi
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
6 oz fresh goat cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup to 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 8-oz balls fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/8" thick

(Start by putting potatoes in oven first, then start sauce)

For sauce:
Heat olive oil in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute garlic and onions until onions are translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. While simmering, break up tomatoes with spoon or use stick blender.

For gnocchi:
Preheat oven 450 deg. Pierce potatoes, bake until soft (about an hour). Let cool until you can touch them without causing horrid pain (about a half hour). Bring a small pot of salted water slowly to a boil (you'll use this to test the gnocchi).

Cut the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh, throw away the skins (or save them and make potato skins). Mash with a fork along with the goat cheese and salt. Stir in the egg.

Add the flour 1/4 cup at a time and knead the mixture with your hands until the dough holds together (it'll still be somewhat sticky). Take a 3/4" piece of the dough, roll it into a ball and put it into the boiling water. if it holds together and within a few minutes rises to the top, the gnocchi is ready, if it falls apart, add a little more flour and test again (repeat as often as necessary).

On a well-floured surface, divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into 3/4" thick ropes. I find the easiest way is to roll the dough in both your palms and work your way first toward one end and then the other (think kindergarten, play-doh, making snakes. you get the picture.) cut each of the ropes into 3/4" pieces. using the tines of a fork, press one of the cut ends to make slight indentations. dust the gnocchi with flour. cover and refrigerate on a parchment-covered cookie sheet for half an hour. (or freeze and then store.)

preheat oven to 450 deg. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. add gnocchi and cook until they rise to the top (about 3-5 minutes). remove gently with a slotted spoon into a colander. after they're drained well, divide the gnocchi into 4 individually-sized gratin dishes. layer fresh mozzarella over pasta and then 1/2 - 1 cup tomato sauce. place in oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling. (be careful, dishes will be HOT!)

The Omnivore's Dilemma!

if you haven't read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, read it! this book has changed my life...i think. (if you know me just a little, you know i go a *leettle* over the deep end with whatever my latest hobby is; a few months later, i become unobsessed (read: completely disinterested), unfortunately, a great many $s and storage-space lighter.)

anyhow, i thought it would keep a little journal, documenting my hopefully permanent change in thought regarding food.

so, what did my first steps involve? well, if you had spent any time with us this weekend, you would have witnessed the following:

on friday night, lots of processed/canned/otherwise conventionally-produced foods culled from my kitchen and waiting in a few garbage bags ready for kevin to throw away. i grappled with this a little [the food, not the fact that i expected my husband to do the heavy lifting]...do i donate it? in the end, i ended up just throwing it out. mostly b/c i realized a lot of the stuff was just really OLD (sometimes, embarassingly so...like "best by" dates going back to 2004. yikes!), but i still felt super guilty about the waste.

this, er, cleansing (you should have seen how empty the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator/freezer were) was followed with a trip the next day to the san francisco ferry building farmer's market (meat, pastured eggs, and produce), Macy's (All-Clad slow cooker; very important if i'm going to start cooking with grass-fed meat), and then rainbow grocery (produce, dairy, bulk foods).

[while at the farmer's market, i bought a stewing chicken from marin sun farms: they sell them with their heads and feet still attached. kevin looked like he was going to throw up, and told me flatly to not expect him to go anywhere near it. i definitely felt, well, fobby asian, as we walked back to the car with me holding this chicken. several people in their cars stared as i walked across the street. funny how in the farmer's market nobody looked twice, and if they did, it was to point it out to the people they were with and say: "oh look, she has a fresh chicken! should we get one also?" it's amazing what context does to bystander commentary. i'm pretty sure the car people said something like, "oh look, she's from chinatown!"]

after we got back from our shopping around 3 pm, i started my marathon cooking for the weekend. i slow-cooked the stewing chicken (after removing the kevin-offending feet and head...he demanded to know what i did with them so he could avoid them like the plague.), marinated the beef short ribs (for sunday-night dinner), made beef stock and the first of two batches of chicken stock (used the back and wings of the stewing chicken), brined the other (pre-headless and feetless) chicken (for sandwiches during the week), and made goat-cheese gnocchi and a spicy tomato sauce (for dinner that night). TIRING!

on sunday, i started the short ribs around noon in the slow cooker, baked chocolate chip cookies (this one is a great recipe if you like soft, chewy cookies (which i do!). recipe is below), and roasted the brined chicken. (i used the carcass of this second chicken to make the 2nd batch of stock) i was again pretty tired. if it's like this every weekend, i don't have a shot in hell of keeping the new lifestyle up. i proudly pointed out to kevin that i cooked a lot this weekend, to which he deadpanned, "yeah, i *know*. i CLEANED a lot this weekend." (our deal is that whoever cooks, the other cleans.)

and yes, i definitely went to Amazon to buy a few new cookbooks that promise to make cooking either simple, fast, or fast and simple. (hopefully "tasty" figures in there somewhere.)

tonight, when i got home from work, i made rainbow-chard and brown rice (something i just made up, and pretty tasty, too. recipe below). i'll be eating some of it for lunch tomorrow.


Swiss Chard & Rice
This is a surprisingly hearty meal. If you want to make it vegetarian/vegan-friendly, substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

1 bunch of chard, stems cut into bite-sized pieces, leaves coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup brown rice
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. Saute garlic and onions until onions are translucent. Add chard, cook until wilted. Add rice and saute until rice is well coated with pan juices. Add stock and water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer, cover and cook for about an hour. (Or after the rice is well coated, transfer to a rice cooker, add the stock, water, salt, pepper, and cook.) Makes 4 servings.

Caroline's Chewy Chocolate-Chip Cookies
I prefer milk chocolate, but you can use semi-sweet or dark if you like those better (why, i don't understand :)

2 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 medium eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups milk chocolate chips

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter and sugars with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy, ~3 minutes. Add eggs to butter mixture, beating until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla. Turn off mixer, add flour and then beat on low until just nearly blended. Stir in chips.

Scoop large, heaping tablespoons of batter about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet (12 per cookie sheet). Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden, 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool and continue making cookies using cooled baking sheets. Makes 4 dozen cookies (unless you like cookie dough...then it yields considerably less than 4 dozen cookies :)