Friends in The Tent + Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Great British Baking Show is back next week, what it's like to bake in The Tent, plus a chocolate chip cookie recipe, my way.
The Great British Baking Show (AKA the Great British Bake Off) is back on our TVs and laptop screens next week! As someone who has baked in The Tent for Paul and Prue, I'm using this occasion as an excuse to reflect on my time on the show, give some more background on my bakes from the tent, and share some recipes in the theme of each week.
I won't be spilling any tea, but I'll make it worth your while. Stay tuned for more…
Can't wait for next week? Want some Baking Show right now? Watch (or re-watch!) the Great American Baking Show, free on The Roku Channel. (You don't even need a Roku device to watch!)
Yesterday, we were introduced to the newest batch of bakers from the Great British Baking Show. I won't be making any judgements or predictions based on their photos and bios, because as soon as I saw these fresh-faced new bakers, I missed a certain crew of Americans from The Tent:
So many people love the Great British Baking Show and the Great American Baking Show because it's a refreshing change from some of the more cut-throat cooking shows out there. There's no cash prize, so you're just competing for pride and a cake plate. And people love the camraderie between the contestants.
As an adult, it's rare to be thrown into a summer-camp like environment with eight other people who share a deep nerdiness and love for something. That's what it was like on our season. The connections that I made with Sarah, Dyana, Nirali, Susan, Sean, Karis, Jon, and Stacie are the biggest thing that I took away from the season. Beyond being incredible bakers, they're all interesting, smart, creative, funny, and warm humans. After filming, we hopped on Zoom every month or so to catch up with each other. We hosted a "Secret Santa" gift exchange. We each came up with a chocolate chip cookie recipe, made another baker's recipe, and put a little video together. (Not to mention that I hang out with Sarah and Nirali here in Chicago weekly.) But the most fun of all was our reunion earlier this year.
In late March, a few months before the Great American Baking Show aired, most of the bakers descended on Chicago for two days of fun and food. We ate Pequod's deep dish, high tea, dim sum, and Chicago hot dogs. Nirali, Sarah, and I wanted bakers to taste some of the best Chicago bakeries so, we had pastries from: Doughnut Vault, Lost Larson, Mindy's, Aya, Firecakes, Sugar Moon, Publican Quality Bread, and Kasama. (That's a lot of pastries in two days.) And we (the Chicagoans) made everyone taste Malort. We were so full.
We walked around the City in a lovely "wintry mix" of precipitation. Stacie got excited to see snow. We did the downtown circuit, including a visit to the Bean and an architecture river cruise. We played a hilarious round of board games. But the most fun was just hanging out, catching up, reminiscing, and laughing with a fantastic group of folks.
Many people wonder if everyone on the show was really that nice, and we really got along. The answer is a resounding yes! We still keep in touch, and our group chat is active daily--whether life updates, baking quandaries, or just sharing the occasional meme.
In celebration of this group of friends, I'm re-sharing this (gluten-free!) hazelnut-buckwheat chocolate chip cookie. It’s a keeper and a crowd-pleaser.
Buckwheat-Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Beurre noisette is the French term for deeply browned butter. Noisette means hazelnut in French, so it makes sense to combine brown butter with roasted hazelnuts. The earthy buckwheat flour pairs beautifully with both hazelnuts and chocolate. If you’re taking things that far, why not go all the way and make these cookies totally gluten free?
Makes about 12 cookies.
115 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
150 g (1 ½ cups) light brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
15 g (2 Tablespoons) tapioca flour
65 g sweet rice flour (like Mochiko or Bob’s Red Mill)
65 g buckwheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, for chewier cookies, which I prefer)
150 g chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
100 g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
50 g hulled buckwheat groats (optional, for sprinkling on top)
Brown the butter: Put the butter into a small saucepan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. The butter will melt, then bubble. Watch it closely: when the butter gets quiet (the water has boiled off), turn it down to low and stir it with a heatproof spatula. When you see hazelnut-brown bits on the bottom of the pan and it smells nutty, pour the butter and all of the brown bits into a large mixing bowl.
Add the brown sugar and salt to the hot butter. Whisk the mixture until combined and lump-free. Let it cool until it feels about body temperature, then whisk in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the tapioca flour, sweet rice flour, buckwheat flour, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum (if using). Whisk for about 1 minute, until thoroughly combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk just to combine. Switch to a wooden spoon or flexible spatula and mix in the chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.
Cover the mixing bowl and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, up to 24 hours.
When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 375F/180C with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line baking sheet with parchment. Scoop the dough into balls that are about 2-3 tablespoons of dough (you should have about 12 balls), then put six of them on the baking sheet about 3” apart. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with about 1 tsp of buckwheat groats and gently press them into the cookie. Bake at 375F/180C for 10-12 minutes . You can tell they’re done because the bottom edges of the cookies will start to brown. Err on the side of under-baking these—everyone loves a gooey cookie.
Repeat the baking with the remaining six dough balls.
Tips:
Make ahead: You can keep the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. You can freeze the cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. If baking from chilled or frozen, let the cookies sit on the lined baking sheet at room temperature while your oven heats up.
Don't want/need to make the cookies gluten free? Swap out the tapioca flour and sweet rice flour for 80 grams of all-purpose flour and omit the xanthan gum.
Happy Baking,
Martin
