Cardamom and Tea

tahini chocolate chip cookies

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Last year, the Washington Post generously featured my sesame blossoms. They’re one of my favorite cookies to make for a holiday cookie plate, and the extra effort they take is so worth it. But this year, I’m sharing a similar recipe right here, and it’s quite a bit easier: tahini chocolate chip cookies! They’re big and chewy, crisp around the edges, crackly on the surface, and have that perfect combination of milk chocolate and tahini.

why I love these tahini chocolate chip cookies

There are a ton of tahini chocolate chip cookie recipes out there, so here are some things I love about this recipe in particular:

1) milk chocolate + tahini

Most recipes with tahini and chocolate insist on dark or semi-sweet chocolate. I feel like this is because tahini is often typecast as extremely ✨sophisticated✨. But to me, tahini is full of childhood nostalgia. And while it’s great with dark chocolate, it’s a whole different kind of amazing with milk chocolate (think sesame-flavored reese’s cups).

2) crackly sesame seed coating

The sesame seed coating on these is next-level good. It helps them get that extra-craggy texture with lots of cracks and crinkles on the surface. And it adds so much extra toasted sesame flavor.

3) chewy-crunchy texture

These cookies are perfectly chewy-crisp. The key is knowing exactly when to pull them from the oven. I’ll share a bit more about that in the recipe notes below.

a few recipe notes:

If you follow the recipe below, you’ll do just fine, but here’s a bit more info on what works and what doesn’t:

1) why rest your cookie dough?

You can absolutely make the recipe below with 0 minutes of resting. But even just a quick snooze in the fridge will do them so much good. Resting allows the flour to fully hydrate and the sugars to melt. Resting is the reason why store-bought cookie dough bakes up so dang well.

Even just 30 minutes makes a difference, in my experience, but you’ll get a lot more payoff from resting it more like 2 hours or longer. After the first 6 hours of resting, there are diminishing marginal returns, but it’ll just keep improving over the first day or two.

2) storing leftover cookies or dough:

Leftover cookies will keep at room temperature for a few days before staling. If you’re baking for a crowd, feel free to just bake them all up at once, but if you want to make them for fewer people, do the following:

  • Let the dough rest however long you’d like.
  • Form all the dough balls and coat in sesame seeds, place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and smash their tops down slightly as in the recipe.
  • Bake however many you want right away. Place the rest of them in the freezer until frozen solid, move to a sealable bag, then store in the freezer. You can bake them right from frozen, but note that they will take an extra minute or two. Keep a close eye on them.

3) knowing when to pull them from the oven:

Even if you use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is calibrated (as I and many other recipe developers do), your oven still might be a little quirky. Ovens are an incredibly finicky heat source. All ovens conduct heat a little differently, and all ovens lose heat a little differently when you first open the door. And if you don’t weigh your cookie dough blobs (I mean, I do, but you 100% don’t have to!), they might take a little longer or shorter to bake, depending on their size.

With something like a loaf of banana bread, it’s no big deal, but 1 extra minute can make or break a cookie. And this goes for any cookie recipe, so keep it in mind!

So for sure set a timer, but also keep an eye on your cookies. It might take 1 to 2 minutes more or less for them to become the perfect consistency. I’ve included some visual and tactile clues in the following recipe.

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tahini chocolate chip cookies

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  • Yield: about 20 big cookies

Ingredients

  • 230g [1 3/4 cups] flour
  • 2.5g [1/2 tsp] baking soda
  • 240g [1 1/2 cups] milk chocolate chips
  • 115g [1 stick] unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 100g [1/2 cup] granulated sugar
  • 100g [1/2 cup] brown sugar
  • 3g [1/2 tsp] salt
  • 1 large egg [50g]
  • 125g [1/2 cup] tahini
  • 15g [1 Tbsp] milk
  • 5g [1 tsp] vanilla
  • 90g [2/3 cup] sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk together until evenly blended and lump-free. Stir the chocolate chips into the dry ingredients.
  2. Place the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat at medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until a little lighter and fluffier. Scrape down the sides, and add the egg, tahini, milk, and vanilla. Beat at medium-high speed until silky-smooth and lighter in color (about 1 minute).
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix at low speed just until it all comes together. Stop mixing once it’s combined.
  4. Cover and rest the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to 48 hours.*
  5. Once you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F [190°C] and line some sheet pans with parchment paper.
  6. Shape the dough into scant-1/4-cup blobs [50g]. Roll one between your hands until smooth, then roll in the sesame seeds, and then place on a prepared sheet pan. Gently press the dough ball’s top down slightly so it’s just a little flattened. Repeat with the remaining ones, leaving space between each cookie (they will spread).
  7. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are set, but the centers aren’t completely set. Slide the parchment off the pan and let the cookies cool right on the parchment.

Notes

* The longer you let it rest, the better the cookies’ texture will be. This step isn’t really about chilling the dough, as it can be baked the moment you finish mixing it. See the note above the recipe for more info on resting.

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vegan baklava (the easy way)

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This baklava recipe isn’t a veganized version of classic baklava—it’s actually a traditional vegan baklava! While I’m not the most observant, lots of Assyrians spend a ton of the year fasting from animal products. So during certain months (Lent, advent, and a few other fasting days), we sub out our clarified butter for extra virgin olive oil. So this is exactly how we make our baklava for the vegan times of the year.

Strangely, extra virgin olive oil tastes more buttery than butter itself. And while clarified butter isn’t quite as high-maintenance as it might seem, there’s nothing easier than opening a bottle of olive oil. So these days, my baklava is vegan more often than not!

what makes this vegan baklava so easy

1) Slice and pour instead of brushing each layer individually.

My grandmother has been making her baklava this way forever, and it turns out perfectly every time. Just stack, slice, and pour. The olive oil seeps into each layer, and it ends up super flaky and rich. See the video here or in the recipe box to see this technique in action:

2) Just pop open a bottle of olive oil!

Literally, just open the bottle, measure, and pour! No need to fuss with clarifying butter (or vegan butter substitute).

3) Use a food processor to chop the nuts.

I’m gonna be really embarrassed if my grandmother reads this one (😬), but here’s my secret: Use a food processor to chop everything! Just make sure you stop short of turning the walnuts into walnut butter. Once they’re finely chopped, stop pulverizing them. Do the pistachios first, remove from the food processor and set aside for later, then move onto the walnut mixture without washing it between.

4) Start with the right proportions for a fail-proof syrup.

To make a simple syrup with the perfect consistency, you need to do one of two things: use a candy thermometer, or start with the exact right amount of sugar and water, boil it just until it dissolves, and then continue to let it simmer for a couple minutes with the lid on to prevent crystal formation.

Many recipes have you start with excess water, and then boil it down for a certain number of minutes, but this will result in a wide range of consistencies if you’re not using a thermometer. Depending on how wide your pan is, more or less water will boil off in the amount of time. And it’s very tricky to determine whether it’s the right consistency while it’s simmering (unless you’re already a pro).

This recipe uses the exact right amount of both water and sugar, for a syrup with the perfect consistency no matter what. Just make sure you don’t let it continue to boil uncovered, or it will reduce and turn into hard candy.

Also note that this syrup may crystalize a little as it cools, which is completely fine and won’t affect the final product. This is a side effect of not starting with more water and cooking it down, but a small price to pay if you’re not working with a candy thermometer (which I realize most folks don’t have on hand). If, on the other hand, you get crystallization while the syrup is cooking, it’s because a little bit of sugar stuck to the side of the pot and fell back in, which is just a mistake that can happen when making any syrup. In that case, you should start over, because it probably won’t be very pourable.

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vegan baklava (the easy way)

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Ingredients

For the syrup:

  • 2½ cups [500 g] granulated sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup [235 g] water
  • 1 tablespoon [15 g] rosewater

For the baklava:

  • 16 oz [455 g] unopened container filo dough sheets
  • 16 oz [455 g] walnuts
  • 2 teaspoons [4 g] ground cardamom
  • 2 teaspoons [4 g] ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon [1 g] ground cloves
  • 1 cup [210 g] extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing

To decorate:

  • ⅓ cup [55 g] finely ground pistachios (optional)
  • Edible dried rose petals (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place your filo in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.

Notes

* Note: If your pistachios are not already ground, throw them in the food processor before washing it while your baklava bakes. Pulse them until they’re finely ground, but before they turn into a paste.

** If the kitchen is a little on the warm side, feel free to place them in the fridge to help them set more firmly.

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fluffy buttermilk mashed potatoes

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Fluffy buttermilk mashed potatoes are straightforward enough: boil some potatoes, mash them, and fold in some buttermilk and melted butter—and voilà! You’ve got some very decent mashed potatoes.

But if you want to up your game, I’m sharing a few tips and a fail-proof recipe below. Lucky for us, fantastic mashed potatoes are just as easy to make as the standard fare.

  • buttermilk mashed potatoes being drizzled with butter
  • buttermilk mashed potatoes topped with chives and butter

how to make the best (and easiest!) fluffy buttermilk mashed potatoes

1) Use plenty of buttermilk

Many recipes call for just a splash of buttermilk. But for light and fluffy mashed potatoes, you’ve got to add a little more than you might think. My recipe below calls for a whole cup of buttermilk, which gives mashed potatoes the most delightful texture. If you’re skeptical (or if you’re not sure how much your potatoes weigh), feel free to drizzle it in slowly, stopping once you reach your desired consistency. Just make sure you mash your potatoes fully and don’t leave any big chunks; otherwise, cut back on the buttermilk.

2) Add whole garlic cloves to the boiling water

I love roasted garlic mashed potatoes as much as the next person, but I don’t usually have the patience (or forethought) to roast the cloves. The next best thing: Add your whole garlic cloves to the boiling water along with your potatoes. By the time your potato cubes are light and fluffy, your garlic will have become spreadably soft (and absolutely not soggy, in case you were worried). It obviously doesn’t take on the same caramelized flavor as roasting. But they’re absolutely lovely, and have a similarly mellow flavor and texture. Once you mash them into the potatoes, I think you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

3) Use a starchy potato variety

To maximize fluffiness, choose russets or another starchy variety. Yukon golds will also work here, but definitely stay away from anything like the waxy red varieties. (If for some reason you do go with a waxier variety, you may need to cut way back on the buttermilk).

4) Add some toppings (if you want to!)

But don’t feel like you have to. These mashed potatoes are wonderful without any chives or extra melted butter. But feel free to have fun and get creative.

  • buttermilk mashed potatoes topped with chives and butter
  • buttermilk mashed potatoes topped with chives and butter
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fluffy buttermilk mashed potatoes

buttermilk mashed potatoes topped with chives and butter
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Ingredients

  • 4 to 5 medium peeled russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes [905g peeled]
  • 8 to 12 medium peeled garlic cloves [30 g]
  • 2 tablespoons [30g] butter
  • 1 cup [240g] buttermilk
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • Salt, to taste
  • Chopped chives (optional) and more melted butter (optional), for serving

Instructions

  1. Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes and garlic cloves. Let it come back up to a boil, and then reduce the heat to maintain a low boil. Let them boil for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes and garlic are both completely tender.
  2. Strain the potatoes and garlic, and leave them in the pot removed from heat. Add the butter and mash everything together. Once the butter melts and the potatoes and garlic are smashed, stir in the buttermilk, black pepper, and salt to taste (about 1 tsp), and place back over low heat. Stir constantly for about 2 minutes, just to allow it to warm up. Place in a large bowl, and top with chives and a little more melted butter, if using.

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jalapeño cornbread muffins

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Here’s the thing about BBQ: really good smoked brisket is too good for this world; but even if smoked meats ceased to exist, I would still go to BBQ places just for the sides. And that’s why I think that if you’re ever planning a menu (ahem… Thanksgiving!), and you’re at a loss what to include, just make a bunch of BBQ sides! Even if you’re not smoking any meats, BBQ sides will make everyone happy. My favorite one? Jalapeño cornbread muffins!

  • jalapeño cornbread muffins
  • jalapeño cornbread muffins

Tips for jalapeño cornbread muffin success:

1. Don’t overmix!

While over-mixing is a much bigger concern for an all-flour muffin, corn muffins still benefit from some restraint in the mixing department.

Why over-mixing is bad: When you agitate wet ingredients + flour by stirring or kneading, you develop its gluten. As gluten develops, it becomes more and more rubbery. This can be a good thing when it comes to something like a baguette. But for muffins (and pancakes, and banana bread, and any other thing that should have a tender crumb), it’s important to mix with restraint.

How to avoid over-mixing: If you just dump everything together in one bowl, it’ll take a lot of mixing to get all those flour lumps totally smooth. That’s why it’s important to whisk or sift the dry ingredients, whisk together the wet ingredients separately, and then bring them all together. By whisking separately first, you break up any flour clumps and you fully combine the wet ingredients. Then it takes much less effort to stir everything together. Less stirring = less gluten development = tender muffins.

2. Decide how spicy you want them to be.

If you want spicy cornbread muffins, feel free to leave in all or some of the jalapeño pith. Contrary to popular belief, the heat does not primarily lie in the seeds, but in the white waxy stuff surrounding the seeds. So if you want super mild muffins with just some jalapeño flavor, remove all the white stuff. If you want spicy muffins, chop them up whole (seeds, pith, and green flesh).

Spiciness varies from pepper to pepper, so use your judgment, and feel free to scale things back or add a little extra. Doubling the amount of jalapeño will have a huge affect on its spiciness level, but own’t affect the structure of the recipe.

3. Don’t skip the muffin tin liners.

Whenever I make muffins, I’m tempted to just go for it without the muffin liners because I almost never have them around. But don’t skip the liner step, or your cheesy muffins will stick to the pan like crazy. If you don’t have muffin liners on hand, you can always make your own with parchment paper.

  • jalapeño cornbread muffins
  • jalapeño cornbread muffins
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jalapeño cornbread muffins

jalapeño cornbread muffins
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  • Author: Kathryn Pauline

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups [240 g] cornmeal
  • 1½ cups [195 g] all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon [15 g] baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoon [8 g] salt
  • 2 large eggs [100 g]
  • 4 tablespoons [55 g] unsalted butter, melted
  • ¼ cup [55 g] extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups [480 g] buttermilk
  • ⅓ cup [65 g] granulated sugar
  • 4 jalapeños, de-ribbed* and minced [70 g minced]
  • 1 cup [110 g] grated cheddar
  • 1 thinly sliced jalapeño and extra cornmeal, for decorating

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425°F [220°C]. Prep a muffin tin with 12 parchment liners.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, olive oil, buttermilk, sugar, minced jalapeños, and most of the cheddar. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and stir to combine (do not overmix).
  3. Evenly distribute the batter among the 12 lined muffin cups. Decorate the tops with jalapeño slices, cheese, and a light sprinkling of cornmeal. Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly.
  4. Let cool on a rack or clean, dry towel. Muffins keep well at room temperature for a couple days. But they keep much better in the freezer, so freeze any ones you don’t plan to eat in the first day or two.

Notes

* If you want it to be pretty spicy, only de-rib them partially, or leave the piths intact for a ton of spice. The heat comes almost entirely from the white pith, and less so from the green flesh and seeds.

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za’atar chicken and waffles

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There are so many different ways to fry a chicken. Want to make some chicken parmesan? Simply dredge chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and pan-fry. To make Korean fried chicken, you create an aromatic marinade, dredge the marinated chicken in potato or corn starch, and double fry it. Tempura chicken gets its fluffy-crisp shell from a light and airy batter. And for perfect southern fried chicken, simply marinate chicken pieces in buttermilk, dredge them in seasoned flour, and move them straight into the oil. That’s the technique we’ll be using today for these za’atar chicken and waffles.

If you’ve never tried making the original, I highly recommend trying an excellent classic recipe first. In this recipe, I’ve included za’atar in place of more classic seasonings. And instead of buttermilk, we’ll use Greek yogurt, an ingredient you’ll often find paired with za’atar.

  • chicken and waffles on separate trays
  • chicken and waffles with syrup being poured on

a note on za’atar

Za’atar is often misunderstood. So I highly recommend checking out this post when deciding what kind of za’atar to use for these za’atar chicken and waffles.

The bottom line: za’atar is indeed a blend of wild thyme, sumac, sesame, and a few other ingredients. But “wild thyme” is absolutely not the same thing as French thyme, which is what you’ll usually find in US supermarket spice aisles. So unless you have some za’atar growing in your back yard, I don’t recommend trying to mix your own. If you mix your own za’atar with French thyme and then use it in this recipe, it will have an overpowering flavor and will taste almost perfumey.

A blend of real za’atar should be very mellow and herby, with a lot of zesty flavor and toastiness. You can use it in pretty vast quantities, and not worry about overpowering a dish. For instance, manakish za’atar is coated in a thick slurry of za’atar, and I still find myself licking my finger to pick up any bits that escape onto the plate. It’s hard to have too much of it.

  • a tray of waffles
  • chicken and waffles
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za’atar chicken and waffles

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

For the za’atar chicken:

  • 3 to 4 lb [1.4 to 1.8 kg] whole chicken, cut into pieces
  • 1 to 1½ tsp [5.5 to 8 g] salt
  • ½ cup [120 g] Greek yogurt
  • 1 large egg [50 g]
  • ½ cup [45 g] za’atar*
  • 1¼ cups [165 g] flour, for dredging
  • 10 waffles (see recipe below)
  • Maple syrup, for serving

For the waffles:

  • 2 cups [260 g] all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp [9 g] baking powder
  • 1 tsp [5.5 g] salt
  • ⅛ tsp [0.5 g] baking soda
  • 1 cup [240 g] milk
  • ½ cup [120 g] Greek yogurt
  • 2 large eggs [100 g]
  • 7 tablespoons [100 g] butter, melted
  • ¼ cup [50 g] granulated sugar
  • Cooking spray (optional)

Instructions

Make the chicken:

Make the waffles:

Notes

* For this recipe, absolutely make sure you use real za’atar, and do not make your own blend with French time.

** If you’re a really good multitasker, you can make the waffles at the same time as frying the chicken. Get all your wet and dry ingredients ready, and heat up your waffle iron, and then mix the batter together at the last moment once the chicken goes in the fryer. If you’re not such a great multitasker, just make the waffles before you fry, and it’ll be just fine. They get super crispy in the toaster, and it all works out.

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Lebanese warak enab

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These Lebanese Warak enab are absolutely for meat lovers. Lamb chops line the bottom of the pot, shielding the grape leaves from scorching, while also becoming super tender. The stuffing is flavored subtly with a little bit of seven-spice blend. But most of the flavor comes from the tangy grape leaves and lamb. They’re so simple, yet so incredibly flavorful.

  • raw lamb chops on butcher paper
  • warak enab in process

A world of grape leaves

There are lots of different kinds of stuffed grape leaves out there. Even within one country, you’ll find a ton of variation from region to region and family to family. Here are a few others to keep an eye out for:

  • I grew up with Assyrian stuffed grape leaves (prakhe), which my family makes with a ton of parsley, dill, and cilantro. We often made ours vegetarian with mushrooms and walnuts.
  • Syrian grape leaves (yabraq) are a little sweet and sour, like my friend Tony’s recipe, which has a ton of meltingly-tender whole garlic cloves.
  • There’s a lot of regional variation within Palestinian grape leaves (warak dawali), and my friend Abeer’s recipe is flavored with lots of different vegetables on the bottom of the pot. Her recipe’s stuffing is also super flavorful, with seven spice and parsley.
  • Persian grape leaves (dolmeh barg) are super fragrantly flavored and often folded into perfect pentagons.

All just to say, there is a ton of variety out there! These were just a few highlights, and there are about two dozen other regional variations I could’ve added to this list.

But in this post I’m focusing on meat-stuffed Lebanese warak enab. And while recipes absolutely vary from family to family, here are a few generalizations that often hold true:

  • warak enab rolled in a pile
  • warak enab in a pot

What sets Lebanese warak enab apart

It’s hard to make generalizations, because recipes really do vary from person to person. There is no one right way to make warak enab. But from conversations with Lebanese friends, and from reading lots of other recipes, here are some things you can probably count on:

1) Delicately thin rolls

In my experience, Lebanese grape leaves are usually rolled into elegantly thin wands. This shape works great with a more meat-heavy filling, since it’s easy to shape the meat into a long line before rolling it up. If you can’t get them quite as thin as you’d like, no worries—they’ll still turn out great. Above all, just make sure you don’t over-stuff them.

2) Very simple, hearty flavors

Vegetarian grape leaves are a whole other story. But meaty warak enab are not usually flavored with a ton of spices or herbs. It’s usually more about the flavor of the lamb/beef, lemon, and grape leaves.

3) A nice amount of olive oil

You’ll usually find a decent amount of olive oil in most recipes, both in the filling and in the simmering liquid. It makes them super rich, but not heavy. I learned this particular secret from chef Maria Bizri.

  • warak enab in a pot
  • warak enab on a tray

A few important recipe notes

Here are a few extra-helpful tips, which will be especially useful if you’re making grape leaves for the first time. They’re all woven into the following recipe, but I thought I’d give a little more context here.

1) Make sure you blanch your grape leaves if they’re from a jar or vacuum-sealed bag.

I’ve included blanching instructions in the recipe below, so just make sure you don’t skip that step. It is 100% mandatory if you want to end up with edible grape leaves.

Reasons why you need to submerge them in hot water: 1) You need to rinse off the excess brine from the leaves. But just rinsing them under running water is not enough to get in between each leaf. You actually need to submerge them and swish them around. 2) The brine is sometimes a bit oily, so the hot water keeps the brine from clinging to the leaves.

2) Use your own judgment about how much salt to add.

Even after rinsing your brined leaves, they’re still going to be quite acidic and salty. Taste them to get a sense of what you’re working with. Then decide how much salt to add to the simmering liquid and meat.

3) The dull, veiny side of the leaf should face the stuffing (the shiny, smooth side should face out).

You can achieve this by placing the dull, veiny side face-up before placing the stuffing on the leaf.

There’s no real practical reason to go shiny-side-out, so feel free to interpret this step as optional. But if you want your grape leaves to look authentic, you’ll want to follow this instruction. They just don’t look quite as appetizing with their dull, veiny sides showing. I also have a suspicion that they hold together better this way, but haven’t actually tested this hypothesis.

One caveat: If you plan to bring a pot over to an auntie’s house, this step becomes 100% mandatory.

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warak enab

warak enab on a tray
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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Yield: serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

  • About 125–150 grape leaves, jarred or vacuum sealed (about 600g after draining)
  • ½ tsp neutral oil
  • 7 to 10 small lamb chops (450-650g)
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 pounds ground lamb (905g)
  • 1 1/2 cups uncooked medium grain rice, rinsed (300g)
  • 2 teaspoons Lebanese baharat (3g)
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (80g), divided in half
  • 2 cups stock or water (480g)
  • 2/3 cup lemon juice (160g)

Instructions

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Chicago deep dish pizza with spinach

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I grew up in Chicago, so I consider myself a deep dish pizza expert. And as far as I’m concerned, Chicago deep dish pizza is all about the crust. Giordano’s has a super flaky biscuity crust. Pequod’s has extra-caramelized bits of frico around the edges. And Lou Malnati’s (my favorite!) has a buttery, deeply flavorful cornmeal crust.

Until recently, I was only an expert in eating deep dish pizza, but I tried recreating that iconic Lou Malnati crust, and I finally cracked the code. It took me a long time to get there, but last week I had a major revelation that I probably could’ve gleaned from a cheesy corporate motivational poster: Many paths lead to the same destination.

(Oh! And: adding beer makes most things taste even better.)

How I cracked the code:

What I tried first:

I watched every video of cooks making pizza at Lou’s. I read every interview with their owner. I read every article speculating about how they make their iconic cornmeal crust. Over the years, I tried one or two copy-cat recipes. I tried tinkering with my own recipe, closely following what I had learned. But nothing tasted like the Lou’s I knew.

Then I decided to go a completely different route:

I took everything I knew about the final product, and backwards engineered it, paying less attention to the way it’s supposed to be made.

My ingredients and method weren’t in line with the real deal, but the results were weirdly even more Lou-ish than recipes that stick closely to the original.

So, no—this is not exactly how Lou Malnati’s actually makes their pizza. But here are the main things you can do to end up with a crust (and pizza!) that’s uncannily similar:

How to make very good deep dish pizza:

  1. Add beer! Lou Malnati’s does not actually add beer to their crust (as far as I can tell). But their crust has always reminded me of beer bread. Adding beer gives it that characteristic flavor that’s simultaneously a little bitter and a little tart (sort of like sourdough bread). Lou Malnati’s achieves that flavor with some combination of good quality yeast and a very long rise time. However, I have not been able to achieve the same results that way. But I have discovered that beer gets you to something very similar!
  2. Use olive oil. Ok, now this one’s a hot take. The Lou Malnati crust is known as Buttercrust™, so the idea of using something else is a little out there. But I’ve noticed that olive oil dough sometimes tastes even more buttery than dough made with butter, if that makes any sense. So I use a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil in mine.
  3. Go parmesan crazy! While a Chicago deep dish pizza without a heap of parmesan or romano on top is wonderfully bright red, it’s so much tastier with a generous amount of sharp cheese on top. Lou Malnati’s goes this route, and I do too.
  4. Bake it on the floor of the oven. Here, I’m following tradition. By cooking it on the floor of the oven, the bottom of the crust will cook up super crisp.
  5. Use some cornmeal in the dough, but make it a wet dough. Cornmeal does not absorb water as readily as flour, so your raw dough should be a little on the soft side. As it bakes, the cornmeal will absorb some of that liquid and it will firm up without becoming dry. Follow the gram measurements in the following recipe for maximum accuracy and you won’t even have to think about it, but if you’re eyeballing it with volume, keep in mind that it should not be a very firm dough, and that it will firm up as it bakes.
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Chicago deep dish pizza with spinach

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 175g beer* (¾ cup, or half a bottle), at room temperature
  • 5g instant yeast (1½ teaspoons)
  • 5g sugar (1 teaspoon)
  • 260g all purpose flour (2 cups)
  • 30g polenta or cornmeal (3 tablespoons)
  • 25g extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), plus more for greasing the pan
  • 5.5g salt (1 teaspoon)

For the pizza:

  • 8 oz shredded or sliced mozzarella (225g)
  • 8 oz container frozen spinach (225g)
  • 3 medium cloves garlic (10g)
  • 1 small bunch basil (25g leaves)**
  • Salt
  • 1 cup tomato sauce (240g)
  • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan or pecorino (25g)

Instructions

Notes

To make the dough overnight, just let it rise at room temperature for 2 hours, and then refrigerate for up to 24 hours. After dough has risen (either at room temperature or in the refrigerator), you can tightly wrap it and freeze it for a few months. Thaw in the refrigerator to use.

* In place of the beer: Measure 10g (2 tsp) apple cider vinegar. Top off with 165g water (to end up with ¾ cup liquid total).

** Can substitute 1 tablespoon (3g) dried basil.

*** If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, use another similar sized ovenproof skillet or pan. Depending on your pan, pizza might get more or less crispy on the bottom, and it might take more or less time to cook.

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creamy rice pudding

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Rice pudding is too often a stodgy blob. Typically, it bubbles away until it’s the consistency of peanut butter, then you plonk it into a bowl, and it immediately sets up like concrete. But lucky for us, it’s super easy to make perfectly silky, creamy rice pudding instead.

This particular recipe has the consistency of a lovely custard or pastry cream. Pour it into cute little bowls, top it with all your favorites, and enjoy hot or chilled.

There are two secrets to this recipe’s deliciousness:

1) make it creamy by using enough liquid, and

2) make it al dente by adding the rice in two stages.

how to make your rice pudding creamy

The secret to perfectly creamy rice pudding? Use enough liquid!

My recipe uses almost twice as much liquid as your average rice pudding recipe. It might seem like way too much when you first throw it together. But after a long simmer, the rice absorbs a ton of liquid, and also gives off a ton of starch. That starch thickens the liquid it’s cooking in, and it all ends up being the perfect amount.

how to make it al dente

Creaminess is all well and good, but to keep it from turning out mushy (or worse, totally runny!), I add the rice in two stages.

Here’s why that works:

The first addition of rice cooks for-absolute-ever, until it starts to break down and thicken the liquid. You’ll notice slightly bigger bubbles in the milk, and the whole thing will take on an almost creme-anglaise-like consistency. *

You add the second addition of rice once the first addition has done its job. The first batch thickened the liquid, but the second batch only needs to cook until it’s al dente. That way you’ll have some chewier grains in the mix. As these rice grains cook, they give off even more starch, and the liquid thickens further.

And voilà! You’re left with a perfect pot of pudding!

* Note: You could actually stop adding rice after the first addition, let it simmer for a while longer, and serve it as a more Middle Eastern style rice pudding (extremely silky smooth, and not super set).

rice pudding toppings

The recipe below includes 5 ideas of toppings for your rice pudding. But feel free to get creative, or even enjoy it plain on its own. You can’t really go wrong!

The 5 described at the end of the recipe below are:

  • Rose pistachio
  • Cinnamon walnut
  • Strawberry sumac
  • Thai mango sticky rice
  • Vanilla biscoff

Enjoy the recipe, and don’t miss my post on creamy oatmeal. Because apparently it’s my mission in life to get people to add more liquid to their puddings and porridges.

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creamy rice pudding

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Author: Kathryn Pauline
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup [200g] medium grain rice, split into ¾ cup [150g] and ¼ cup [50g]
  • 8 cups [1920g] milk of choice
  • ⅓ cup [65 g] sugar*
  • 1 pinch salt
  • Flavorings and/or toppings (see note)

Instructions

  1. Combine ¾ cup rice, milk, sugar, and salt in a large dutch oven or small stock pot.** Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, until the rice is starting to fall apart. Stir occasionally as it simmers.
  2. Add the remaining ¼ cup of rice, and simmer for another 20 minutes, unti that rice is cooked through but still holding its shape, and the liquid has thickened significantly. Stir a little more frequently for these last 20 minutes, scraping the bottom often. If/when it develops a skin, feel free to lift it away with a fork, or just stir it back in.
  3. It should be a pourable consistency, but not runny. It will set a little more once you pour it into bowls. Stir in any flavorings off the heat (if using), pour into individual servings, and sprinkle on toppings (if using).

Notes

* A quick note on sugar: I don’t like my rice pudding to be super sweet, so I only add 1/3 cup of sugar. It has a lot of natural sweetness from the milk and rice starches. But if you prefer a sweeter pudding (especially if you won’t be topping it with something sweet), feel free to increase this amount, to taste.

** If you use a very wide pot, you may need to top it off with a little more water as the second rice addition cooks (because more water will evaporate). Keep an eye on it, and if it starts to look too dry, feel free to add a few tablespoons of water at a time. On the other hand if it is too thin (perhaps because your pot is very narrow), feel free to cook it a bit longer to reduce down further.

Toppings and flavorings:

  • Levantine rice pudding: Stir into the pot rosewater or orange blossom water (to taste—add it 1 teaspoon at a time, and taste as you go). Sprinkle bowls with some bright green ground pistachios and/or edible dried rose petals.
  • Cinnamon walnut: Sprinkle bowls with a mixture of chopped walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon
  • Strawberry sumac: See this oatmeal post and top bowls with macerated strawberries (sumac optional)
  • Thai mango sticky rice: Optionally make your rice pudding with “coconut beverage” (not the kind of coconut milk from a can, but the kind from a carton), top bowls with sliced mango and sesame seeds.
  • Vanilla biscoff: Stir in a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, top bowls with biscoff crumbles.

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