We are doing lots of earnest work here at the farm.  Allan is repainting the entire interior of the house, and even though I had convinced myself I would paint an accent wall in aqua or a mineral green, in the end, I love Winslow White walls against natural wood floors so much that I couldn’t adulterate them with a color.  It looks so clean and spacious.  Additionally, we are organizing outbuildings and decluttering all of our storage spaces, which also creates elegance in our small living space.

We are staying on top of our cooking, foraging crab and em, shark (Gabe made tacos if you are curious), and making good use of our farmer’s market purchases, eating fruit desserts, when we have any.  But today was blessedly rainy, which we desperately need here in Western Washington, and this afternoon sounded perfect for tea and cookies.  Chocolate cookies.

This recipe, hot off the press from Food and Wine magazine was a fabulous surprise.  They are like pavlova when I get it the way I like it.  The top and bottom have a meringue-like crispness, but the middle is gooey chocolate, with toasty, oily pine nut bites.  They are not terribly sweet and are actually light.  I’ll just say they flew out of the house, and now we will resume our righteous living.

Chocolate-Pine Nut Cookies

Food and Wine, August 2014

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 lb. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp.  baking powder
• 1/4 tsp.  fine salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• Flaky sea salt for finishing (optional)

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderate heat, tossing occasionally, until they are golden, 5 to 7 minutes.  Transfer the pine nuts to paper towels to drain and cool completely.

2.  Meanwhile, in a large heatproof bowl set over a medium saucepan of simmering water, melt the chopped chocolate with the butter, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 5 minutes;  let cool completely.

3.  In a small bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and salt.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar at medium-high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the melted chocolate, then fold in the dry ingredients.  Stir in the pine nuts.

4.  Bake the cookies in 2 batches:  Scoop 1-tablespoon mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.  Sprinkle with flakes of sea salt.   Bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are dry around the edges and cracked on top; shift the sheets halfway through baking.  Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.  Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely before serving

Makes 3 dozen cookies