DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

Love deep, dark chocolate cookies? Daydream about crisp, melt-in-your-mouth goodness? KAF friend and fellow baker Paul Basten, warmly known as "Paul in Ohio" by many, was kind enough to share his chocolate version of our mega-popular  Vanilla Dreams.  A few test kitchen tweaks, and a chocolate star is born.  ingredients  Volume   Ounces   Grams 1 cup butter 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon  vanilla 1/2 teaspoon baker's ammonia, for best texture; or 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa directions 1) Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. 2) In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar for 1 minute, just to bring them together. 3) Combine the vanilla, baker's ammonia, and salt in a very small bowl. Stir to dissolve the ammonia; the salt won't fully dissolve. C...

    The  Scoppio del Carro  ("Explosion of the Cart") is a folk tradition of Florence, Italy. On Easter Sunday, a cart, packed full of fireworks and other pyrotechnics, is lit and provides a historic spectacle in the civic life of the city. A Little History on the Festival     The event of the  Scoppio del Carro  has its origins in the First Crusade, when Europeans laid siege to the city of  Jerusalem  in a conflict to claim Palestine for Christianity. In 1097,  Pazzino de' Pazzi,  a Florentine from a very prominent family, was by tradition, the first man to scale the fortified walls that surrounded Jerusalem. As a reward for this act of bravery, his commander gave him three  flints  (fire starters) from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which were then carried back to Tuscany. These were and still are kept in the  Chiesa delgli Santi Apostoli .     It b...