It all started with a chocolate chip cookie...

They say that when you decide to start a blog, you need to have a reason why you're blogging and to to find your unique niche, something about which you can provide your own unique perspective and voice. Well, here I am, sitting and staring at my computer screen, wondering what I'm getting myself in to....

I guess I should start by telling you a little about myself. I am a chef, but not in a restaurant. I teach recreational cooking classes for a national retailer, everything from cupcakes to sushi (and just about anything else you can think of in between). I am also a career changer. My first career couldn't have been more different--I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering and I worked for NASA managing human life sciences research experiments for almost 20 years, first at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, then at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. How does a project manager for NASA suddenly become a chef?  It all started with a chocolate chip cookie.

Most chefs have stories about learning to cook at their mother's sides, or maybe a grandmother or aunt took them into the kitchen when they were young and taught them the ropes. My story is a little bit different. My mom dislikes cooking, she sees it as a chore, not a pleasure. But, she had a family to feed, so growing up we had a lot of Hamburger Helper, boxed mac and cheese, frozen vegetables boiled until they were mush, and if you could smother it in a can of cream of mushroom soup, it made it to our dinner table. But, all that changed when the holidays came around--cookies, pies, pumpkin bread, yeast rolls, fruit cake, all made from scratch and all delicious. I started teaching myself to cook by baking my mother's cookie recipes. My skill set eventually grew beyond her chocolate chip cookies, but those cookie recipes have always stayed with me.  

So, back to my NASA days....It became my habit to bake cookies and bring them to work, whether it was for a meeting or a coworker's birthday. When the research projects I was managing were assigned to a shuttle mission, it meant that I would be working in a backroom of the Mission Control Center for the 10 days to 2 weeks that the shuttle was in orbit. So, you guessed it, I baked cookies and brought them in to the MCC. Weeks in advance, people would ask what shift I would be working and then try to arrange to be on console at the same time. I would come in to work and find notes left next to my headset with requests for specific flavors of "Angie cookies."  

Well, I eventually found myself at mid-career working for an agency whose direction had changed in a way that I wasn't sure I wanted to follow. I felt stuck, and I couldn't figure out how to get unstuck. I found myself dreaming about a career in food--I loved cooking, my friends told me I was pretty good at it, but to make it a career? I then realized, nothing in my life would change until I decided to change it, and I never wanted to be on my deathbed wondering "what if?". So I made the leap and enrolled in culinary school.

January 2007 found me starting my culinary career at L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, MD. I spent that year pursuing a certificate in the culinary arts and working at an externship at The Oval Room in Washington, DC. It was an amazing year, but I learned fairly quickly that I didn't want to work in a restaurant. Working the line is definitely a young person's game, and I was 38 the first time I stepped into a professional kitchen, the age many chefs are starting to get out of the business. I couldn't have told you then exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to work in the world of the "enthusiastic amateur". About six months after graduation, I was hired by my current employer to teach recreational cooking classes at their location in Arlington, VA. I can still remember teaching my first class, it was like the lights came on. I had found my calling.

So, here I am, 8 years in to my new career, and I again find myself at a bit of a crossroads. No longer in Arlington, I was promoted and moved to the Philadelphia area to run the company's new location in King of Prussia, PA. It's been a crazy, grueling, intense 5 years, and I've made our location a success. But, I've come to realize in the last few months that I rarely cook for pleasure any more. I'm in the kitchen most days, cooking/teaching recipes that come down from the corporate culinary team, but it's not the same as cooking my food. I miss it. And so, a blog was born....

Cooking Upstream is the road back to cooking my food. I invite you to come along with me as I take this new step on my culinary journey.  

Now, back to that chocolate chip cookie. I mean, what's a food blog without a recipe?  

Mom's recipe was for your typical Toll house style chocolate chip cookie. I've tweaked it a bit over the years and developed a few variations on the original. My favorite version of that recipe is the Caramel Peanut Chocolate Chunk Cookie. It was the winner of the Southern Peanut Growers Food Service Recipe Contest, Dessert Category in 2010. I think they taste like chocolate covered Cracker Jacks. Enjoy!

CARAMEL PEANUT CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES           

Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies   

2 cups granulated sugar
12 ounces roasted, salted peanuts

1 cup shortening

½ cup butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cups brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

3 ¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

To make the caramel peanuts, sprinkle about ¼ cup of the first 2 cups of sugar over the bottom of a medium sauté pan. Heat over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. As the sugar starts to melt, add a few tablespoons of sugar at a time, swirling the pan and allowing the fresh sugar to melt into the syrup. Continue until all of the sugar is incorporated and the syrup is a dark golden brown.

Take the pan off heat, and using a silicon spatula, stir the peanuts into the caramel. When the peanuts are well coated, pour the mixture onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet. Allow to cool completely.

Using a chef’s knife, chop the caramel peanuts into small chunks.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment, silicone baking sheet, or grease with shortening.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment or in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream the shortening, butter, and sugars together. Raise the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy. Reduce speed and add the vanilla and eggs. Scrape down the sides of bowl. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, about ½ cup at a time until just incorporated, scraping the bowl as needed. Mix in the caramel peanuts and chopped chocolate.

Scoop small rounds, about the size of large walnuts, onto the prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 8 – 12 minutes (baking time will vary depending on your oven type). Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then remove with a spatula to wire racks to cool completely.