it’s been a summer of wildfires so far. the air sits on the city like a blanket, thick with reddish dust and smoggy moisture. it seems like we have collectively spent the past few weeks moving from one air-conditioned space to another, spending as little time outdoors as possible. I was talking with someone who moved here recently, and she asked if the fires were normal. I wasn’t sure how to answer—I had never experienced it before, but could not see how the canadian wildfires would be resolved this summer or even next year.
on a positive note, I also associate summer with plenty. last night, we made a fatoush salad (a lebanese bread salad similar to panzanella) with steak, sourdough, some early heirloom tomatoes, ripe plums, and fresh herbs, and we commented that it tasted incredibly fresh and “like summer”.
one of my coworkers makes chocolate chip cookies for the office at least once a month, with wonderful fun flavors, like rosewater and citrus. I took some inspiration from her and used some leftover mint from dinner to flavor these chocolate chip cookies, which taste to me like the most refreshing and summer-y version of a chocolate chip cookie.
makes 12 cookies
1/2 cup tightly packed mint leaves
100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
50g (1/4 cup) light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
113g (4oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (at least 60% cocoa)
andrea bemis. andrea bemis’ fresh mint chocolate chip cookies. food52. 3 august 2017. accessed 2 july 2023.
2 use fine mesh sieve to strain butter in bowl of stand mixer. press mint with spatula to release butter. add sugars and mix on medium-low until creamy and fluffy (3-5 minutes).
3 add egg and vanilla and mix until completely combined. in small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. add flour mixture to bowl of stand mixer and mix on low until just combined. using spatula, fold in chopped chocolate. let chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
4 heat oven to 350°F. line one full-sized baking sheet with parchment paper. scoop dough into 12 equal portions, rolling each into a ball. space evenly, then bake until golden around the edges (11-12 minutes).
5 let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
fort juniper 