A cookie a day ... thanks to 365 recipes

After winning $1 million in the Pillsbury Bake-Off, what's a home cook to do? If you're Anna Ginsberg (who won in 2006 for her Baked Chicken and Spinach Stuffing, made with frozen waffle sticks and syrup), you'll keep on creating recipes.

Ginsberg shares original recipes four or five times a week on her Cookie Madness blog and is the author of a new cookbook, The Daily Cookie: 365 Tempting Treats for the Sweetest Year of Your Life (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $24.99).

Wondering what to bake on Valentine's Day? She suggests Mocha Truffle Brownies. Veteran's Day? Lemon Rosemary Shortbread. July 3, foodie icon M.F.K. Fisher's birthday? Mini Ginger Cookies.

You'll find cookies of almost every description and that appeal to almost everyone. What child wouldn't want to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday, March 2, with Green Egg Cookies? (The green "yolks" are frosted balls perched on poached egg-shaped "whites.") Pork and Beans Bars, in honor of National Pork and Beans Day, July 13, might be a harder sell. The 10-ounce can of baked beans with pork contribute an intriguing smoky flavor to the cakey bar cookies, Ginsberg writes.

Dec. 11 calls for these Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chunk Cookies. The reason might be a bit of a stretch -- Dec. 11 is the day a monument to the boll weevil was erected in Alabama, and the infestation of those cotton-eating pests prompted farmers to grow peanuts instead -- but the cookies are delicious and easy to make. While most cookies are best fresh from the oven, I thought these tasted even better the next day, when the flavors had time to meld and the peanut butter became more pronounced.



PEANUT BUTTER OAT CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES
Yield: About 48 cookies

1 cup (4.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (4.5 ounces) white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup extra-crunchy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats (not instant)
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into small chunks

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and place a rack in the center. Have ready two ungreased cookie sheets.

Mix both flours, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl and using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add both sugars and beat for 3 minutes or until light. Beat in the peanut butter and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and beat in the eggs, beating just until mixed. By hand or using the lowest speed of the mixer, beat in the flour mixture. When the flour is incorporated, stir in the oats and chocolate.

Drop generously rounded tablespoons of dough about 2 1/2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for about 13 to 15 minutes, until the edges start to brown and the cookies appear set. Let cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookbook review, recipe: A taste of India

Indian food is so fragrant and the flavors so complex that making it at home always seemed daunting.

Until now, that is.

Rinku Bhattacharya demystifies and sometimes slightly Westernizes the foods of her homeland in a new cookbook, The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles: Exploring the Cuisine of Eastern India (Hippocrene Books, $18.95 trade paperback).

She takes care to describe the seasonings and other ingredients that make Bengali food taste so special. In fact, the book's name is an homage to panch phoron, a blend of five spices that is the backbone of Bengali cooking.

She explains how to make panch phoron and mentions that the spice blend is sold in most Indian stores. I bought a small package for less than $2 in an Indian grocery just five miles from my home in a St. Louis suburb.

Bhattacharya is a native of Kolkata (previously spelled Calcutta) who spent part of her childhood in Africa. She has lived in the United States for 25 years.

She says in the book that the following recipe put her on the road to writing a cookbook. As she made this dish for her uncle and his English-born wife, her aunt took notes, and Bhattacharya realized that others might be interesting in learning about Indian regional cooking.



QUICK SPICED POTATOES AND CAULIFLOWER WITH BABY SHRIMP
Yield: 4 servings

1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil (such as canola)
1 teaspoon panch phoron (see note)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger paste (see note)
3 green chiles, slit lengthwise
1 cup chopped fresh cauliflower
1 large potato, peeled and cut into small wedges
2 red tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shelled and deveined medium shrimp (see note)
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat the oil in a wok or skillet over medium-high heat and add panch phoron. When the spices begin crackling, add the ginger paste and green chiles. Stir in the cauliflower and potato. Mix in the tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Cover and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Remove the lid. Stir in the shrimp and sour cream and bring to a simmer. Cook until done, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Notes:

Panch Phoron (often written as panch puran), is a spice blend essential to Bengali cooking. Look for it in Indian stores or make it by stirring together equal amounts of whole fennel seeds, cumin seeds, nigella seeds, black mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. In India, cooks use radhuni, a type of celery seed, instead of the fenugreek.
To make ginger paste, look for fresh, young ginger without any fibers. Process the ginger in a blender or wet-dry grinder. (When testing this recipe, I used a bamboo ginger grater that I bought years ago in Chinatown in San Francisco. A rasp-type micrograter is also a good tool for grating small amounts of ginger.)
Although the recipe calls for medium shrimp, the title mentions "baby" shrimp. I used medium shrimp and Westernized the recipe further by increasing the amount to 1 cup.

Adapted from "The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles"