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Chocolate Mudslide Cookies + part II of the Craig Lee interview!

by erika 19 Comments

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I’m really having to check myself before I gush about these cookies…OMG THE CHOCOLATINESS. THE MELTING SANDINESS. THE DEEP, DARK CHOCOLATE FIREWORKS.

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

Okay, checking my enthusiasm for now.

Today’s post features part two of an interview with Craig Lee, award-winning photojournalist and photographer of the San Francisco Chef’s Table cookbook (part one of the interview is here). And also a fabulously rich cookie that I kind of screwed up, but am still sharing.

This part of the interview is perhaps my favorite—these questions get to the heart of what we’re after, after all—THE FOOD! Read on for Craig’s (psst–he’s my uncle!) favorite recipes from the book, his tips for aspiring food photographers, and his favorite eats in San Francisco!

(With his underground food connections, you know this list is going to be top-quality.)

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

An interview with Craig Lee, Part II:

What was your favorite recipe to shoot (and/or eat)?

I love the mudslide chocolate cookies by Rodney Cerdan. The black garlic sourdough-crusted rack of lamb and the walnut ice cream at Absinthe Brasserie and Bar was great—the combination of the flavors in the lamb with the sourdough crust was very tasty. The walnut ice cream was perfectly sweet without overpowering the walnut flavor.

Fideua with duck at Duende was a very tasty paella-like dish. The butterscotch pudding as well as the braised lamb ragout with sheep’s milk ricotta ravioli were delicious at One Market.

Some other standout desserts include the blood orange and chocolate chunk soufflés from the Chocolate Lab, Grandma Frankie’s peanut brittle from Melissa Perello of Frances, and cherry panna cotta from Roland Passot of La Folie.

My wife, Holly, was one of the recipe testers for the book. She made three recipes and they all came out just like they did at each of the restaurants, and they tasted great. She made:

  • Crispy noodles with X.O. chicken and bok choy from Martin Yan’s M.Y. China
  • Heirloom tomato salad with duck confit and tofu dressing from Parallel 37 in the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco.
  • Duck dumplings from Calafia, Charlie Ayers’ restaurant in Palo Alto.

I could keep going—the cookbook is full of so many great dishes. This book is a collection of many of great San Francisco area restaurants all in one book.

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

Any tips for aspiring professional food photographers?

Find other food photographers, get to know them, and, if possible, assist them. Join associations like ones for photographers, food stylists, restaurants or anything related to the field. Find photo or food styling workshops. Networking associations events for photographers, food stylists are a great way to make connections. Find aspiring food stylists and do “tests” with them. Tests are photo shoots to experiment working with a food stylist to come up with a potential portfolio piece. Doing this will prepare you for paying jobs down the road so you can show that you can do this. Culinary schools typically have some students who are looking to go into food styling.

Visualize how you want your images to look. Look at magazines and books for photography styles you like. Look at the food and the background. Look at the color tone combinations of the food with the background. For example, look at images in Donna Hay magazine; some of the images have a cool color tone background to contrast the food. Look at compositions and angles. Always keep learning about lighting because as a photographer, your job is to make food look good through lighting. Lighting skills will also apply to others areas such as portraits and seeing light naturally. You need to know how to use lighting and make it happen by creating and controlling it. Use that lighting to capture the texture of the food in the images.

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

What are some of your favorite eats in San Francisco?

  • The “Dorado” Crispy Tacos at La Taqueria at 2889 Mission Street near 25th Street. Get two crispy “Dorado” tacos with everything on it.
  • Gott’s Roadside (formerly called Taylor’s Refresher. I liked the former name.) They make great burgers, fries and shakes.
  • Super Duper Burgers: another great place for burgers, shakes and fries.
  • The Cippino at Tadich Grill. Their cippino is one of the best. It’s perfect; not too salty or too much tomato sauce. They told me their secret is making fresh fish stock every day for the cioppino.
  • Mitchell’s Ice Cream on San Jose Avenue. They have been around for years since 1953 and they make the best real ice cream with many flavors.
  • Limon: a Peruvian restaurant with three locations in San Francisco. Great food that you can try a variety tapas-style with small plates.
  • Dim Sum at Yank Sing: Their Shanghai Dumplings come out perfect every time with the broth inside.
  • Rickybobby: Comfort food kicked up several notches up in quality with a twist, such as lobster mac ‘n cheese and a beef bacon burger—they grind up the beef and bacon ground together.
  • The House of Prime Rib: That’s all they do and they are excellent at it. (Note: when I was a wee fetus in my mom’s belly, apparently this restaurant was the source of many of her cravings. Oh the irony that she birthed a now-vegetarian.)
  • Gialina Pizzeria: great thin crust pizza.
  • Bakesale Betty in Oakland: great fried chicken sandwich.

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

Thanks Uncle Craig! You can check out more of his work here and don’t forget about the book signing this Sunday!

Well now I want to jump on a plane and get my butt to San Francisco. Since I and most of you can’t, let’s talk about chocolate cookies. CHOCOLATE. MUDSLIDE. Cookies.

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

These were contributed to the book by Rodney Cerdan, pastry chef of at Prospect Restaurant and they were Uncle Craig’s top-recommended recipe. I honestly do not know why I fought the decision to make these, except that I can never make up my mind and the Thai mango scones from Craftsman & Wolves looked so intriguing, but so did the roasted white chocolate cheesecake…and so did the sweet corn-goat cheese bread pudding, and the green farro and peas, and the beet cake with fromage blanc frosting and candied walnuts. Bah! Deciding which ONE recipe to try first nearly turned me into a quivering mess.

I ended up trying the buttermilk cakes first and those were some of the best yellow cake I’ve ever had but these cookies are something else. They require making your own toffee, which put me off at first, but literally takes about two minutes of hands-on time to make. The cookies (oh, the cookies) seek out out their deep, rich chocolatiness from a very generous amount of melted chocolate, amplified by smoky coffee grounds. And then they are positively crammed with toasted pecans, dark chocolate chips, and homemade toffee.

They are heaven on a plate and extremely dangerous to have around your house in bulk. This is your one and only warning. I think it’s fitting to end the interview by sending you off with the recipe for these because one good thing begets another, amirite?

Chocolate Mudslide Cookies // The Pancake Princess

The giveaway for a copy of the San Francisco Chef’s Table is still going on until next Friday, April 11! To enter the giveaway, find the details in this post. Good luck!

Notes

The recipe below reflects most of my substitutions. I ended up with chunkier, fatter cookies than what is pictured in the book, but they’re still delicious (buy the book for the real recipe 😉 ).

  • Toffee: My toffee started to separate near the end of its time on the stove. In between desperately googling fixes and juggling hot pans, here are some tips on how to avoid this:
    • Use a good-quality, heavy-bottomed pan that will distribute heat evenly.
    • Melt your butter slowly (I was impatient and melted it over medium-high heat). If the butter/sugar temperature rises above 320 degrees, the final product will not stay solid.
    • If your toffee DOES start to separate, you can stir in a tablespoon of hot tap water and whisk frantically until it mostly comes together, pour it onto a baking sheet and freeze it until solid. It will still work.
  • Egg division: I halved the batch, which technically required using 2.5 eggs in the cookies. I subbed ground flax for half an egg instead. Below, I recommend adding a tablespoon of water or milk to the dough to compensate for the liquid-sucking flax meal.
  • Chocolate distribution: I reduced the amount of chocolate chips. I recommend using mini chocolate chips or chopped bars of chocolate over full-sized chips for more even chocolate distribution.
  • Chocolate: I only had a little bittersweet chocolate on hand, so I used 8 oz of unsweetened chocolate + 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate to equal 10 oz of bittersweet chocolate. If you do this, the added sugar will suck up extra moisture and you will not need to chill your cookies. I recommend just using all bittersweet chocolate.
  • Chilling vs. not: IF YOU SUBSTITUTE CHOCOLATE LIKE I DID: left the rolled out balls of cookies out for about an hour before baking. I do NOT recommend this as my dough dried out a bit in the meantime. Bake them right away. (Chilling the dough had no effect on my version since these were going to be serious chunkers either way).
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Chocolate Mudslide Cookies

The ultimate chocolate cookie--slightly crumbly, VERY chocolate-y. Crammed with toasted pecans, homemade toffee and chocolate, these rich cookies are extremely addicting.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1.5 tablespoons corn syrup
  • 1 tablespoon water

  • 1 cup whole pecan halves
  • 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped*
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground flax meal
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ cup + 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk only if using flax
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ teaspoon finely ground coffee
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips mini recommended, or chopped chocolate

Instructions

  • To make the toffee:
  • Grease a cookie sheet lined with foil.
  • In a heavy-bottomed pot over LOW heat, melt the stick of butter. Add the sugar, salt, corn syrup and water; stir to combine. Turn heat up to medium-high and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until sugar is a medium golden brown. Pour onto the greased sheet and let cool. Once cool, break into small pieces and set aside.
  • To make the cookie dough:
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Place pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 6-8 minutes, stirring halfway through. Alternatively, toast the pecans in a skillet on the stovetop over medium heat until fragrant and golden brown. Remove from heat and chop into small chunks. Set aside.
  • Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave in 30-second increments. Stir until smooth and set aside in a warm spot.
  • With an electric mixer, whip together the eggs, flax meal, sugar and brown sugar until well combined. Add the milk, vanilla and ground coffee; mix. Add the melted chocolate and stir to combine.
  • Stir in the chocolate chunks, toffee bits and toasted pecans until thoroughly combined. Add the flour, baking powder and salt (sift beforehand if you're an A+ student) and fold in until just combined.
  • If the dough is very wet, chill the dough, covered, for about an hour or until firm enough to scoop. Otherwise, bake the dough right away, using a tablespoon to place rounded tablespoons of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 1.5-2 inches apart. Slightly flatten the cookies with your hand. Bake for 8-10 minutes. They should look set but slightly soft when pressed; they will firm up when cool.

Notes

*I used 8 oz of unsweetened chocolate and 2 oz of bittersweet chocolate. Add 3/4 cup sugar to the chocolate mixture once it is melted. You will not need to chill the dough if you use this version.
Adapted from San Francisco Chef's Table.

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  1. mossystone

    October 9, 2014 at 10:05 am

    I see ground flax meal in the ingredient list but in which stage do I put them?

    Reply
    • erika

      October 9, 2014 at 11:06 am

      Sorry about that! I’ve added flax to the recipe–you can add it along with the sugar + eggs 🙂

      Reply
  2. Lilly Sue

    June 5, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    Wow, these look SO amazing! I really am craving a cookie!

    Reply
  3. susan @ the wimpy vegetarian

    April 25, 2014 at 12:14 am

    I enjoyed so much reading Part 2 of the interview. There are some really great tips here. And your photography is some of the work I want to learn from :-). And I’ve got to make these cookies!!!! I feel like I can taste them right off the computer screen.

    Reply
  4. Nora (A Clean Bake)

    April 12, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    I’m sorry,where are the cookies you “screwed up”? Because these OBVIOUSLY are not them.

    Reply
  5. laurasmess

    April 8, 2014 at 10:10 pm

    Oh my gosh. These look amazing. I’ve seen a couple of variations for mudslide cookies and these by far appear to be my favourite (though I haven’t sampled them yet… why hasn’t my package of cookies arrived yet, Erika?!!). You’d never know that you had any issues by looking at them. Gorgeous photos you talented thing. Loved reading part 2 of Craig’s interview. Oh I wish I lived in the SF area. I want to try his recommendations!! xxx

    Reply
  6. Joanne

    April 8, 2014 at 7:20 am

    You had me at dark chocolate fireworks!! These cookies sound amazing. And I thoroughly approve of the gushing. They deserve it!

    Reply
  7. Natasha @ The Cake Merchant

    April 7, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    Okay, first let me say that I am totally in love with these photos. These cookies contain pretty much everything I love- coffee, lots of chocolate, and toffee. Why isn’t toffee used more in cookies? I want to grab one of these through the screen right now!

    Reply
  8. Joyti

    April 7, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    Chocolate fireworks? The cookies look SO amazing. Yum.

    Great interview too. I live literally 1.5 blocks from Rickybobby but I’ve never eaten there. Will have to try it out a.s.a.p.!

    Reply
  9. Jordan

    April 7, 2014 at 11:37 am

    Considering mudslides are one of my all-time favorite cocktails, you can bet I am going to be making these bad boys. YUM.

    Reply
  10. Katie (The Muffin Myth)

    April 6, 2014 at 3:16 am

    Awesome tips from Uncle Craig! And speaking of photography, these photos are looking amazing. Great styling, and great shots! These cookies look great. Like, beyond great. Do you think you could make the toffee in advance to expedite the cookie baking process another time?

    Reply
  11. Choc Chip Uru

    April 5, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    I can taste the gooey chocolatey goodness from here my friend, I need these cookies in my life right now!
    Your photography is beyond awesome 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    Reply
  12. Bam's Kitchen

    April 5, 2014 at 7:55 am

    Great interview Erika and these cookies are making have a chocolate withdrawal. I think Craigs photography skills are rubbing off on you. Great shots.

    Reply
  13. Kayle (The Cooking Actress)

    April 4, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    Your photography is just….FANTASTIC. and these coookies….so chocolatey, so perfect! You know I’m obsessed!

    Reply
  14. cynthia

    April 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    Oh my God, Erika. These are so. so. so beautiful!!! Um, I wish I saw yours before I shot mine — I’m so in love with this. Pure art. Also, I’m super intrigued by actual coffee grounds in chocolate baked goods, instead of just instant espresso powder… Love all of this!

    Reply
  15. The Vegan 8

    April 4, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    Wow Erika, these look fabulous!!! And you know how much I LOVE chocolate! Seriously, these are fat, thick and chunky filled with chocolate heaven. I personally love that you made yours thicker and chunkier. I’m not a huge fan of thin cookies, as much as I am for th heartier ones. I’m just imagining the amazing aroma in your kitchen when you baked these, and of course the fabulous chocotey richness! LOVE this post, it put me in a good mood, hahaha! 🙂

    Reply
  16. Nancy @ gottagetbaked

    April 4, 2014 at 11:41 am

    Shut the front door, girl! THESE COOKIES! These dark, decadent, gooey, flavour packed cookies! I need them in my face right.now. And your PHOTOS! Soooooo beautiful. So creative. So artistic. My mouth drops every time I visit your blog (now if only a cookie would find its way into my open mouth). The next time I’m in SF, I’m going to visit every restaurant your uncle listed. Ermagawd there’s a restaurant called RickyBobby?! Amazing!

    Reply
  17. Michelle @ Hummingbird High

    April 4, 2014 at 11:33 am

    ERIKA! These cookies look AMAZING. I am seriously drooling on my keyboard over here. Omg, omg, omg.

    Also thanks for sharing your uncle’s SF picks! I’m heading to SF for work next week, and I’ll see if I can hit up a couple of the spots he recommended.

    Reply

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New year, new profile pic surrounded by cookies ✨

For those of you who like to plan, here’s a very tentative guide to what I’m envisioning for this year’s bake offs (if the world doesn’t blow up). Thank you, as always, for your constant enthusiasm and support for the bake offs! 💕💕💕 

🍪Jan: lemon poppy muffins, Levain choc/pb cookies?
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{HOUSTON GIVEAWAY} Hi friends! If you’ve been f {HOUSTON GIVEAWAY}

Hi friends! If you’ve been following me for a little bit, hopefully you know how obsessed I am with @happyearthcompost and their mission to make composting more accessible and easy for the Houston community! Here is just a sneak peek of all the eggshells and lemon peels from the lemon poppy seed muffin bake off that are going straight into my Happy Earth compost bucket instead of the trash 🎊

I’m thrilled to be partnering with @happyearthcompost to do a giveaway for one lucky winner! Here are the deets:

🌱 you will win 2 free months of monthly pick ups from @happyearthcompost! You’ll get a little counter top bin (pictured here) and a larger bucket to keep outside (in the second pic)
🌱 must be located in Houston or Bryan/College Station to win
🌱 to enter, just make sure you’re following me and @happyearthcompost and tag a friend in the comments! Each comment is a separate entry
🌱 giveaway will close this Saturday (1/16) at midnight! GOOD LUCK!!!
Thankful for another year of bake offs with you gu Thankful for another year of bake offs with you guys! Loving the appreciation for the coffee cake, blueberry muffin, pecan pie, gingerbread and Levain cookie bake offs (more Levain to come in 2021 hopefully!) 🎊💕

While on vacation, I’ve scraped a lot of recipes for future bake offs (thanks to your help) and I feel refreshed and ready to get back to baking ASAP! On the list for 2021 bake offs: carrot cake, oatmeal cookies, copycat lofthouse cookies, Levain chocolate pb cookies, shortbread, lemon poppyseed muffins, etc. Let me know if there’s anything else you’re dying to see in the comments!

THANK YOU for all of your support, your kind comments, your reviewing of different recipes and your spreading of joy through baked goods this past year. Thanks to my tasters for their critical tasting and hilarious comments. Can’t wait to do it all over again next year 💕
Gingerbread bake off is up! Commence all the ginge Gingerbread bake off is up! Commence all the gingerbread baking!! 🎄🎄🎄

Tap the pic to see all participating recipes and tell me which one looks the best or which recipes you’re most excited to try!! You really can’t go wrong with any of them 🎊🎊🎊 and if you’re planning on baking any other holiday cookies this weekend, gimme the deets on what you’re making! I need more inspo for my cookie boxes 🍪🍪🍪 #pancakeprincessbakeoff
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