Impeachment Cookies
It’s a warm night in San Francisco. The rain from yesterday has settled into a moist, warm blanket of fog. The stage is set for a pandemic evening of melted chocolate, roasted pecans, and impeachment speeches.
Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, I’ve turned my restless energy towards baking. I’ve always loved baking, but now that I’m stuck inside 24/7 with nowhere to go, and nothing but time on my hands, I’m baking-obsessed. French baking and patisserie obsessed, that is.
Tonight, it’s a recipe from Dominique Ansel’s The Secret Recipes. This is the first recipe of his that I’ve tried, and so far I’m impressed. Anyone that can make a gluten free cookie taste so good is worth listening to.
With CNN and impeachment speeches in the House playing in the background, I started by melting the chocolate au bain marie. This smell was heavenly, lingering in the air for hours and offering a welcome respite from the political chaos in the background.
My favorite chocolate to cook with right now is Guittard chocolate—it’s high quality, melts easily while keeping its sheen, and from a French family in San Francisco. Oh, and Amy Guittard is a fellow Barnard alum. It feels practically made for me. In an interview with Barnard, Amy Guittard said “Your memories of growing up oftentimes are associated with flavors and foods.” The smell of melted chocolate always brings me back to my Mamie’s house in Viroflay as she melted chocolate to make her (in)famous Mousse au Chocolat. It feels nice to relive those happy memories in the midst of a viral and political pandemic.
After combining all the ingredients and letting the batter chill for a couple hours (less than the overnight recommended, because, well, I’m not that patient), I formed the batter into balls and baked them until they were cracked, firm, but still a bit gooey. I find they got better as they cooled, so I recommend waiting to eat them until they can be picked up without breaking. It’s hard, I know.
These pandemic cookies made for a great bonding dessert for me and my housemates, comfort food for my parents recovering from the shingles vaccine, and guilty pleasure snack in-between Zoom meetings. Tomorrow, I’ll work them off and ignore the news as best I can.
