Archive for May, 2010

Brown Butter Cookies with Sea Salt

by artjynx

This sort of has wedding discussions in it :)

I discovered the Brown Butter Cookie Company when reading wedding blogs…this particular one (called the temple of groom)was actually written by a groom. I’ve been sending them to Scott so he can relate. ;)

Brown Butter Cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company

This recipe came from another blog I found but it’s not the real “Brown Butter Cookie Company” recipe. The lady who created this said there was something not quite right about it as it was still inferior to BBCC. After ordering some BBCC cookies, I’m thinking the secret ingredient is the salt. There are lots of sea salts out there and they all can affect the flavor of whatever it is your cooking dramatically. My co-workers and I examined the cookies (it’s always good to share) and we think it’s hawaiian pink salt they’re using in the recipe and faking people out with regular sea salt on the outside. I found 2 kinds of this sea salt on amazon and am waiting until I can try it. I will be taking the majority to work as I’m finding if I get rid of sweets quick enough I don’t tend to eat them.

UPDATE September 22, 2011: Due to the amount of hits this post has gotten, I felt the need to try this recipe again and lo and behold I discovered the issues…..Secret ingredient was NOT hawaiian sea salt. and it’s baking SODA not powder. Here’s the new recipe and it’s awesome and will be the new christmas cookie this year.

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
Flake Sea Salt
1. In a small saucepan, melt butter on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned. Stir in sugars and vanilla and remove from heat.
2. Let the sugar mixture cool to room temperature.
3. In a mixing bowl add flour and baking soda. Stir in sugar mixture until combined.
4. At this point I recommend letting the mixture rest for at least an hour to let the flour absorb all the butter. The mixture may be stiff afterwords and crumbly- microwave handfuls of dough for 10 seconds. The dough will be easier to roll.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Roll 1 inch balls of dough. Place on cookie sheet and sprinkle flake sea salt on top.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

ok, you may ask, what’s with the obsession with overpriced shortbread? At the moment, while doing my homework for this wedding, I’m really enjoying allowing myself to explore new stuff. Actually I should be writing all of this here. Several new things I’m actually going to try to do for the wedding are sort of underway…one involves some historic doors from a hotel in downtown Bryan, and the quest for a corset…(hence the giving away of any sweets …who am i kidding though, I haven’t been able to cook anything in weeks) The odds of me actually finding time is quite slim. (hey, at least I’m losing something somewhere. Time counts doesn’t it? :) )

We have a date… March 26th, 2011!

by Scott

The date has been set, March 26th 2011. After investigating our wedding venue options around the area we’ve settled on our number one choice: The Greenbranch. The Greenbranch is just outside of town in a rural setting with exotic animals like Gazelle and Kangaroos. We will have more information available here at the website about lodging, travel, times, and all the other aspects you’d normally expect from a wedding website.

The Greenbranch viewed from above.

In ancient Rome March was the first month of the year. In the Mediterranean climate March is the first month of spring, a logical beginning of the year. It was not until later Gregorian calendar was invited. Wikipedia also tells me that March is American Red Cross Month, Colorectal Cancer awareness month and the month of Texas Independence.

What else occurred on March 26th?
1484 — The first English translations of Aesop’s Fables are published
1830 — The Book of Mormon is first published in New York
1953 — The Polio Vaccine passed trials , two years later it was given to every child in the United States
1976 — Queen Elizabeth II sends the first royal email
2011 — Scott Phillips and Tina Messinger are married

Its my birthday and we ate sushi.

by Scott

This past Saturday evening Tina and a few of my fellow laborers gathered to celebrate my Birthday and May Day. We went to Naked Fish, what I believe to be the best Sushi restaurant in B/CS, and ate some great sushi. I highly recommend the Dancing Tuna roll, it’s probably their best roll on the menu.

Tina arranged to get some Sushi cupcakes for the event and they turned out amazing, see the picture below. The waitstaff at the restaurant hadn’t seen anyone do that before. It was funny to see the sushi chef’s checking out Sandee’s icing recreation.

Scott's Birthday Cupcake at Naked Fish
Sushi topped birthday cupcakes by Sandee Moss of Cinderella Stories. Everyone was amazed by how awesome they looked and how good they tasted.

See our other photo’s from the event on Flickr.