Icebox Cake
The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, via Oprah!1!!!

3 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 (9-ounce) packages chocolate wafer cookies
Unsweetened cocoa (or chocolate shavings)

In a large bowl, beat cream, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.

On a flat serving plate, arrange 7 cookies side by side in a circle, keeping 1 cookie in the center.

Spread with 1/2 cup whipped cream, making a 7-inch circle. Repeat with remaining cookies and cream, making 11 layers of cookies and ending with a layer of cream (there will be a few cookies left over). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To serve, dust top lightly with cocoa powder or chocolate shavings.

 Ice box cake...like dirt pie as a cake

I wouldn’t call myself a perfectionist, but I do think that there are a few things in life worth perfecting. The chocolate chip cookie is one of them. If I’m going to go to the effort of pulling out my Kitchen Aid mixer, I want nothing less than the best chewy, crispy, chocolate-y results. My friend Lesley agrees. Four years ago, we were excited to find a recipe with potential in the The New York Times; and after test runs at home, we agreed that it was “the one.” All the credit goes to Wendy Gaynor, who runs the beloved cookie shop Ruby et Violette at 457 West 50th Street in Manhattan. My only personal tweak to her recipe, shocking as it may sound, is to cut down on the chocolate chunks by a cup to let the rich, buttery dough do some talking, too. Aside from that, these cookies need little more than a tall glass of cold milk. —Megan K.

Click through to next page for recipe!

*Wendy Gaynor’s ‘Perfect’ Chocolate Chunk Cookies

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chunks (preferably imported).

1. Place the butter in a large bowl and cream at high speed until
fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 4
minutes, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs, one
at a time, until completely mixed.

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the
butter mixture at low speed until just combined and add vanilla
extract. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl down, until blended. Do
not overmix.

3. Add chocolate chunks and mix till thoroughly combined. Refrigerate
batter until cold, preferably overnight.

4. Preheat a conventional oven to 350 degrees or a convection oven to
300 degrees, and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop
heaping spoonfuls of batter 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets
and bake, turning tray once, until golden brown around edges and soft
(but not bubbly), about 9 minutes in a convection oven or 12 in a
conventional one. Cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 36 to 72 cookies, depending on size.

*This recipe appeared in The New York Times on October 27, 2002.

Bad Breath Banishers

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 1 Tablespoon activated charcoal (find this at drugstores, not the briquets!)
• 3 Tablespoons canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2/3 cup lowfat milk

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Combine flour and charcoal. Add all the other ingredients.Drop teaspoonfulls on oiled sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake 15-20 minutes. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.