Recipe Fairy Dust

Gwyneth Paltrow diet: Would you feed your family cabbage crisps or kale risotto

The supermarket shelf-stacker in my Co-op is looking at me with bewilderment. ‘Vege-what?’ she asks. I bet this doesn’t happen to Gwyneth Paltrow.

I’m in the condiments aisle looking for Vegenaise. Before picking up Ms Paltrow’s new cookery book, Notes From My Kitchen Table, I’d never heard of her ‘most often used and beloved ingredient’.

It’s actually a healthy alternative to mayonnaise, and I’ve got more chance of laying my hands on a box of fairy dust than finding it at this store in the Forest of Dean, where my family and I are on holiday.

It’s an essential ingredient for tonight’s supper, fish tacos — a meal that Gwyneth swears young children such as mine will love. Unfortunately, my little treasures aren’t exactly playing ball.

My 18-month-old toddler has grabbed a Pot Noodle from a shelf and is running gleefully for the electric doors. The older two, aged six and eight, are having a fight over a bottle of blowing bubbles that has spilt all over the floor. I don’t think Gwyneth experiences this sort of thing at her favourite delis and farmers’ markets in London and New York.

But then, there isn’t much in her book that bears any resemblance to my life.

For the past week, I’ve been trying to live like Gwynnie — who appears to be attempting to become the modern-day, dewy-faced, law-abiding Martha Stewart. Not content with being an Oscar-winning actress and wife of a pop star, she has a lifestyle website and has written this book with its loaded subtitle: ‘Delicious Recipes For Healthy, Happy Living.’

But while I can suspend my disbelief when I watch Gwyneth on the Big Screen, I find it hard to have cooking instructions from a woman who looks as though she barely eats.

As for taking her advice about what to feed children, if the names Apple and Moses aren’t enough to make you sceptical, Gwyneth boasts her daughter is a vegetarian — a decision she came to ‘entirely on her own’. The child is seven, for heaven’s sake.

If I allowed my daughters to decide what they should eat, they would live on toast with Marmite and bags of Haribo sweets.

Vegenaise isn’t the only baffling ingredient. I simply haven’t heard of most of the things Gwynnie tells me to stock up on. Though, apparently, sales of agave nectar have soared by 60 per cent since Gwyneth’s book was published.

Cherry Chocolate Almond Crunch Cookies | Heather's Dish

Now, if you ask Nate what he thinks about that I think we all know that his resounding answer is going to be CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES ARE WAY BETTER.  It’s OK, I’ve already forgiven him for that transgression.  Love you babe!

Do you ever wonder how a food blogger comes up with recipe ideas?  I mean really, in all of my wildest dreams I didn’t think that I would ever be coming up with over 300 different recipes a year and writing about them.  So how on Earth does it happen?

I’ll tell you:  I open up my pantry, my fridge, or my freezer and see what I have in there.  I think, “Hey, I am kind of really tired of staring at this bag of dried cherries.  I should make something with them.  Oh, and I have about 90 lbs of chocolate chips.  Cherries and chocolate go together, right?  Hey!  Lookie there, I didn’t know I had slivered almonds!  Cherries and almonds and chocolate, oh my.  What to make….?”  At which point Nate asks me what’s for dinner, can he have a snack, or am I making cookies that night.  And then a recipe ultimately forms from fairy dust in my brain and I word-vomit it onto the internet.  The end.  (Although I have to say that Jessica’s method is pretty awesome !)

If you ask me, though, chocolate cookies are magical.  Especially when you have mix-ins that rock the house and create a depth of flavor second to none.  Not to mention the textures – OH THE TEXTURES!  These babies are soft and melty, chewy and crunchy, buttery and rich.  I think I’ve sufficiently described the why behind my new-found chocolate cookie obsession, but if you’re not thoroughly convinced then methinks you should make them for yourself.

CHERRY CHOCOLATE ALMOND CRUNCH COOKIES

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl combine the melted butter and sugars.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.  Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.  Fold in the chocolate chips and cherries.  [If you're at high altitude it always helps to refrigerate the dough before baking to avoid flat cookies!] When you’re ready to bake roll the dough into 1 Tbsp balls and roll in the slivered almonds on one side.  Place almond-side-up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350.  Let cool slightly before eating.

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