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We were delighted to support the Great American Bake Sale, Atlanta Food Bloggers gathered to support Share Our Strength in their quest to raise money to stamp out childhood hunger in the United States. For the #ATLBakeSale, we whipped up three cookies revolving around chocolate chips. The first cookies into the oven were the Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies. Such a classic recipe. With a couple of modest tweaks, this is a classic recipe after all, we made several dozen heavenly chocolate chip cookies. Our tweaks: Nestle semi-sweet mini-morsels, bleach and unbleached whole wheat flour, and we chilled the batter before dropping the on parchment paper lined cookies sheets. 

Batch One: Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Servings: 60 cookies (5 dozen)

Ingredients

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375° F.
2. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Chill dough for 30 minutes. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.
3. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

This recipe is available on the back of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels packages and their website.

Next we mixed things up with this quick and easy chocolate chip recipe that is moist and so satisfyingly scrumptious like a muffin top (the best part).

Batch Two: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Erin Cooks, who posted an adaption of Elinor Klivans’s The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook published by Chronicle Books

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (we used Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon from Penzeys)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup oatmeal (not quick-cooking)
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (we used a mix of Nestle semi-sweet and dark chocolate morsels)
• 3 bananas, cut into 1/4 to1/3 inch pieces
• sea salt and sugar (optional topping)

Preparation

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended, about 1 minute. The mixture may look slightly curdled. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated. Mix in the oatmeal. Mix in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. On a low speed mix in the banana pieces, mixing just until they are evenly distributed and lightly mashed with some visible pieces, about 10-20 seconds.
4. Use a tablespoon to drop heaping spoonfuls of dough (about 3 level tablespoons each) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 3 inches apart. Sprinkle with optional sea salt and sugar mixture.
5. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are lightly browned and the tops look dry, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, than use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container, layered between sheets of wax paper, at room temperature for up to 3 days. Like banana bread- only better!

Batch Three: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Our third cookie was Jose’s Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from epicurious.com. These all-in-one cookies include something for everyone – oatmeal, peanut butter (we prefer chunky) and chocolate chips (a mix of semi-sweet and dark) – thankfully we made plenty for the bake sale and the freezer.

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A heartfelt thanks to Tami Hardeman, food stylist, foodie extraordinaire and curator of www.runwithtweezers.com blog, for organizing the Atlanta food bloggers. Over $3,000 was raised for Share Our Strength at the #ATLBakeSale. We enjoyed baking and meeting other Atlanta bloggers for such a wonderful cause.

Who’s Hungry in America?

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Millions of Americans are struggling with hunger.
Here’s what you can do to help…

Stamp Out Hunger

19th Annual Letter Carriers Food Drive
Saturday, May 14, 2011

Don’t forget to leave a bag of nonperishable groceries at your mailbox on Saturday morning, May 14. Your letter carrier will pick them up when they deliver your mail.  What an easy way to help those in need of food assistance!  You can also help by joining the Stamp Out Hunger cause page on Facebook. Campbell’s will donate one pound of food to Feeding America for each person who joins the page.

Bake A Difference!

Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national effort that everyone can participate in to help stop childhood hunger. Bake sales are being hosted by everyone from 5 year old kids, to high school students, to National organizations, large companies, and everything in between this Saturday (May 14, 2011).

Together we can bake a difference!

Click to find a Bake Sale near you.

All proceeds go toward Share Our Strength, a national non-profit dedicated to fighting hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign is working to ensure that no child in the United States goes hungry again. One dollar can help connect a child with up to ten healthy meals.

Once again the #ATLBakeSale will be hosted by Atlanta Food Bloggers. We are joining together to bake and share our sweet treats for this important cause. Join us Saturday, May 14, 2011  from 10 am – 2 pm at Phipps Plaza,  in front of Williams-Sonoma, in conjunction with the Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Luxury Living Show.

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Atlanta Food Blogger Bake Sale
Saturday, May 14, starting at 10 a.m.
Phipps Plaza (in front of Williams-Sonoma)

See you there!

Frankly, my dear….

When I moved to Atlanta I was eager to check out Peachtree Street – that fabulous street that sashays through ATL and is home both Margaret Michell and Elton John.

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It’s a quirky twist of fate that the author of Gone With The Wind and the Rocket Man live down the street from each other. But I digress. The Atlanta History Center invited a group of bloggers and social media mavens to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of Margaret Michell’s 1936 novel and to preview upcoming programs to commemorate her life and the novel.

The Atlanta History Center’s Margaret Mitchell House celebrates the 75th anniversary of the publication of Mitchell’s acclaimed novel, Gone With the Wind, presenting a variety of exclusive public programs throughout the 2011 anniversary.

This Saturday you can join the celebration and experience 150 years of history right on Peachtree Street. On May 14, 2011 take part in a special day of programs delving into the entire Gone With the Wind story and travel through time, including Civil War soldiers in the heart of Atlanta, the city in the 1920s when Margaret Mitchell wrote the book, and the lasting legacy of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Here are the details:

At the front door of Tara with blogger Patti Davis of Anatomy of a Dinner Party. View at Picasa At the front door of Tara with blogger Patti Davis of Anatomy of a Dinner Party.07-May-2011 03:01, Canon Canon PowerShot SD78, 3.2, 5.9mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400

May 14, 2011
10:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Apartment Tours
Requires Timed Ticket
Enjoy a guided tour of the apartment where Gone With the Wind was written.  Acquire timed tickets near the Admissions desk.

The Dump
12:15, 2:15
Talk with a local historian Tommy Jones about the restoration of the Margaret Mitchell House, and Margaret’s local influences on Gone With the Wind.

Gone With the Wind’s Representation of Race and the South on Screen: Impact and Legacy
1:00 PM
Dr. Matthew Bernstein, Professor and Chair of the Department of Film and Media Studies at Emory University, discusses depictions of slavery in Gone With the Wind and the book’s legacy in cinema and society in the South.  Dr. Bernstein is also host and moderator of The Cinema Club in Atlanta.

Peggy Mitchell:  Reporter
Margaret Mitchell: A Passion for Character Exhibition
11:45, 12:30, 1:15, 2:00
Cathy Kaemmerlen portrays Peggy Mitchell as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal.

Betty Ann Wylie, WONE WITH THE GIND
11:00, 1:00, 2:00
Hold onto your hats as storyteller Betty Ann Wylie takes you on a wild ride through Margaret Mitchell’s famous southern classic-or famous couthern slassic-Wone with the Gind recounted like you’ve never heard before.  This delightful version, told in Spoonerisms created by the transposition of the initial sounds of two or more words, will have even the most long term lovers of Gone with the Wind seeing their beloved novel in a new light.

1920s Dance
11:30, 2:30
Down South Swing teaches 1920s era dances including the Collegiate Shag, Charleston, and the Apache style dance that Margaret Mitchell notoriously performed as a debutante in 1921.

Virginia Reel
1:30, 3:30
“If only she were not a widow.  If only she were Scarlett O’Hara again… she’d lead that reel.  Yes, indeed!”   And indeed, she did!  Learn the dance that Scarlett scandalously performed while in mourning in Gone With the Wind.

Musselwhite Family Band
Noon, 2:00 PM
With their haunting harmonies and finger-picking melodies, the Musselwhites will take you back to simpler times.  Cindy and her two daughters, Morgan and Molly, have performed in 10 countries bringing back to life the music of past generations on fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar.  Handing down traditional tunes to their audiences they captivate both young and old.  Come on in and sit a spell; you’ll be glad you did!

Gone With the Wind Trivia
11:00 AM; 4:00 PM
How well do you know GWTW?  Prizes go to the top two competitors!

The portrait of Scarlett that hung in Rhett’s bedroom in the GWTW movie. View at Picasa The portrait of Scarlett that hung in Rhett’s bedroom in the GWTW movie.07-May-2011 03:05, Canon Canon PowerShot SD78, 3.2, 5.9mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 400

Meet Scarlett O’Hara!
Ongoing
Melly Meadows is well known as a professional actress and for her work as an international spokesperson in the role of Scarlett O’Hara.

GPB’s Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel
Ongoing
Learn more about GPB’s new documentary, Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel premiering on June 30, 2011.

Civil War Re-Enactors
Ongoing
Living history interpreters represent Civil War soldiers in the heart of Atlanta.

Kids Activities
Ongoing
Enjoy a variety of Gone With the Wind related crafts and Civil War dress up.

Food for sale by The Flying Cafe
Margaret Mitchell House Porch

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Talk about an action packed day! Gather your family and friends — you don’t want to miss out on the fun this Saturday. This program is included with the price of general admission.  Members admitted free.

Visit www.MargaretMichellHouse.com/GWTW75 for a complete list of upcoming lectures, programs and workshops. Check out Road to Tara Museum and the Oakland Cemetery the other events celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the publication of Gone With The Wind. Check your local TV listings to watch Gone With the Wind.

Now to be invited to EJ’s house and my tour of Peachtree Road will be complete. Stay in touch….because tomorrow is another day.

What Do You Do with Left Over Champagne?

Imagine, if you can, that you have one cup of leftover champagne. Perhaps it’s even a little flat. Do Not Throw Out Leftover Champagne. However flat — the flavor is still there and will provide one last smile in this simple soup recipe.

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True story, as we entered the New Year, I had a smidgen of bubbly remaining and was determined to create a delicious dish. After searching for recipes (vinaigrettes, sauces, chicken dishes and more) I stumbled upon a wonderful “Champagne Primer” post by Michelle M. Winner on CulinaryTravler.com that recounts her solution to this age-old question of what to do with leftover champagne. Cheers and thanks to Michelle for discovering this culinary gem of a recipe.

Soup A L’Oignon

Easy

Serves 6

Approximate time: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients:
2 ounces butter
6 onions, finely sliced
1/2 teaspoonful French mustard
Salt and black pepper
1 teaspoonful flour
1/2 pint flat champagne
1 1/2 pints stock or water (use half beef and half chicken stock for best soup)
6 slices French bread
2 ounces Parmesan or Emmentaler cheese

Preparation:

1. Melt butter in a casserole or heavy bottomed soup or stockpot over medium/low heat.
2. Add the finely sliced the onions and sauté until the onions are transparent (about 20 minutes) stirring frequently. Add salt, pepper, and mustard. Brown very slowly for an additional 10 minutes; cover the pan with a lid, stirring every 3 or 4 minutes.
3. Stir in the flour, mix until smooth. Add the wine, stock, or water. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat; simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Place a few thin slices of thin slices of French bread and thin slices of cheese in the bottom of the individual serving bowls. Reserve some cheese.
5. Taste the soup and added additional salt and pepper, if desired. Ladle soup into prepared bowls.  Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese, and glaze under the grill.

Mama Says Notes: Michelle Winner suggests pouring the soup into small oven-proof Pyrex bowls and topping with a large, single slice of toasted bread and a sprinkle of cheese. Then broiling until bubbly.

I used chicken broth and champagne for the liquid and toasted day-old wheat bread to create croutons and eliminated the cheese. Rave reviews from the family.

Inspiration: CulinaryTraveler.com

Recipe adapted from: Au Petit Cordon Bleu (1953) by Dione Lucas and Rosemary Hume, JM. Dent and Sons, London.