Mine and Dorie's relationship is a complicated one. (and by the term "relationship" I mean our imaginary one). I've decided that it's very similiar to the relationship I had with my favorite high school teacher, Ms. Clark.Ms. Clark was my Latin teacher and the whole first year of Latin, we didn't get along. I didn't like her... she didn't like me. Most of the kids in Latin 1 were deathly afraid of Ms. Clark. She had a very no-nonsense demeanor and didn't seem to be the "joking" type. She was such a hard ass that year, but, unlike my peers, I stood up to her and I got the C's and D's in class to prove it. I was stubborn... and spent more time trying to break her in class than I did actually listening to the lessons.
Eventually, though... we gained a mutual respect for each other. I'm not sure how it happened, but it just happened. And it turns out... we were really similiar types of people and I suspect... back when she had been a teenager, she was much like me... an instigator. By the time I had graduated, I had gone through to Latin 4 and deemed Ms. Clark my favorite teacher. She was awesome! It just took us a little bit of time to get the headbutting out of the way.
I feel this way about Mrs. Greenspan, sometimes. I am so grateful to be apart of a group like Tuesdays With Dorie where I get to try out all of her wonderful recipes. And while I don't always like how the recipes turn out. I always find them interesting, easy to follow and with each one completed, I feel like I get a little closer to domestic goddessness. But, sometimes I find myself going into a recipe for the week, the same way I walked into Latin 1. With a chip on my shoulder. Hmph. Raisins and chocolate? Who needs it? Hmph. Conjugation and Declension? Who needs it? And then I have to take a moment and shake out my cynical, teenager attitude and be the mature adult that I am and remember, that I'm trying all these recipes to grow as a baker. And honestly, sometimes it's even better if I don't like the recipes... then I'm not tempted to eat the whole thing myself!
I have nothing but respect for Dorie. But, full disclosure here: I was NOT excited about this week's recipe. Raisins and chocolate??? (okay, you already know how I feel about that) Apricots and chocolate? (I just threw up in my mouth a little). But instead of going into this recipe with a chip on my shoulder... I lightened up and went into the recipe excited for another week, even if it wasn't something that I could salivate over.
This week's recipe was Chocolate Chunkers chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food. These cookies are basically tons and tons of chocolate with some dried fruit and nuts thrown in for variety. I subbed dried cherries for the raisins or apricots (which was what the recipe called for) and omitted the nuts entirely.
These cookies, despite my hesitation turned out really well. They are almost like a brownie cookie. Loaded with chocolate, they are so freaking rich, that I can only eat a little at a time and a HUGE glass of milk is required. They're good! Surprisingly, so!
The moral of this boring, long-winded diatribe... is sometimes you just have to open your mind up a little in life (and baking) to get a full experience. It's worth it.
Check out Claudia's blog for the recipe.
