Summertime, and the Picnicking Is Easy…

From 'The Betty Betz Teenage Cookbook', 1953

WE HAD OUR first picnic of the summer last weekend, my family and I, thanks to an impromptu visit from a dear sister-friend. Given plenty of advance notice, I had choices to make, cookbooks to consult, menus to plan. My sister-friend Chris (she of the long-distance cooking) would be on the east coast with her family for one day, and so we planned to drive down to New York City to meet up. My mother, when she learned of our picnic plan, had said “Oh, how fun! You should make a real picnic lunch, with chicken and salad.” My response was less than enthusiastic. “I could. Or I could pack some sandwiches and chips and be done with it.”

We scowled at each other, as only a grown mother and daughter can do. I could have made fried chicken, true, but as you may know about me, I have fear of frying, and besides, we were going to be leaving early in the morning. I wasn’t going to fry chicken, dress children and muck stalls all before 9 a.m. No way, no how.

Instead,  I bought a baguette and some smoked turkey, and made some sandwiches (delicious with good mustard, olive oil, and thin slices of tomato and avocado). I did want something homemade, though. But what?

Had I consulted my sisterhood of ladies’ auxiliary cookbooks, I might have found all manner of suggestions, both practical and practically off-putting. How about some ham slaw? Or peanut butter and bacon sandwiches? (Ok, that actually does sound good, in a disgusting kind of way.) Maybe an egg salad pie?

Maybe not.But to be fair to my precious stash of sisterly recipe books, there are treasures in there, too, like Mattie G.’s handwritten recipe for “coca nut” (sic) pie tucked into Sister’s Kitchen Secrets (compiled by the Sandersville, Georgia ‘Sister’s Home Demonstration Club’, circa 1960) or from my adored Betty Betz Teenage Cookbook, a perfectly delicious-sounding picnic chocolate cake.

But I wanted to strike out on my own. I opted for my favorite chocolate cookies, adapted from someone I wish was my sister, my personal queen of chocolat-ology, chocolatier and cookbook author Alice Medrich. With a light texture and rich flavor reminiscent of a great brownie, these are not too sweet, and have just enough flakey sea salt to make them really addictive. They are also easy and fast to make. If you don’t eat gluten, substitute your favorite gluten-free baking mix for the flour. (I use Pamela’s with great results.)

Bittersweet Decadence Cookies (adapted from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet, Artisan, 2003)

5-1/2 oz 72% bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (I use the “Pound Plus” Belgian chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups walnuts, chopped coarsely
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks (or store-bought chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Stir together the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.

In a double boiler, melt the 72% chocolate and the butter together. Stir until just blended and remove from the heat. Leave the heat on under the boiling water. In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Set the bowl over the boiling water in the double boiler and continue whisking until the mixture is warm but not hot to the touch. Stir the eggs into the warm (not hot) chocolate mixture, and then stir in the flour mixture. Finally, fold in the nuts and the chocolate chunks.

Drop by generous tablespoon-fulls onto the cookie sheets, about 2-3 inches apart in every direction. Bake until the tops of the cookies are dry, cracked and shiny, but the insides are still tender and gooey–about 14 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly on the sheets before removing to a rack to cool completely. It helps to twist the cookies slightly as you pull them off the paper, so they don’t leave their soft bottoms stuck behind. This recipe makes 18-24 cookies depending upon size (I make mine pretty big–about 3-4 inches in diameter) and doubles well.

What will you be bringing on your summer picnics? Do you have recipes handed down from sisters in previous generations? Or, like me, are you hoping to start your own traditions? And the biggest question of all: do you, or do you not, fry?

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