Cooking
The fudgy, chocolaty goodness of a brownie meets the crisp edges of a cookie in Vaughn Vreeland’s perfect new recipe.
I admire a lot of things about Vaughn Vreeland. His ease in front of the camera. His commitment to a theme. His spot-on Jennifer Coolidge impression. But something I love about him is how, when it comes to sweet treats, he doesn’t make me choose.
Thanks to him, I can have chocolate and chess pie. A bar cookie and a margarita, or a carrot cake that tastes like one of my favorite ice cream flavors. Now Vaughn has given me — us — these chewy brownie cookies, which have all the fudgy, chocolaty goodness of a brownie but bake up in a fraction of the time. (Trust Vaughn, one of the minds behind Cookie Week, to come up with a faster route to Cookietown.)
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Chewy Brownie Cookies
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Speaking of speedy, delicious combinations, Sarah DiGregorio’s new 20-minute one-pan dinner pairs something I always have in my fridge (kimchi) with something I’d love to always have in my fridge (fresh salmon fillets). This pastina al pomodoro from Anna Francese Gass also requires only one pan and turns pantry standbys — garlic, onion, tomato purée and tiny pasta — into a creamy, comforting meal.
Cabbage plays so well with so many things: shredded as a bed for katsu, caramelized and tangled with pasta, charred and providing body to soup. You can add Carolina Gelen’s new recipe to that list: braised cabbage as a landing pad for crispy-skinned chicken thighs, with lots of lemon and a touch of honey and white wine.
I know I’ve hemmed and hawed about summer coming to a close, but if I’m being honest, I am looking forward to cozy cooking (a.k.a. bowl food). That first sweet nip in the air is a great reason to make Naz Deravian’s upma, a warming and aromatic mix of toasted coarse-grain semolina, lentils, curry leaves, chiles and cashews. As Naz notes, you could add a small handful of vegetables to the mix, like frozen green peas, chopped green beans and carrots.
And I am starting to stockpile brussels sprouts recipes. (What can I say — between sprouts, cabbage and this broccoli pasta, I love a brassica.) Yasmin Fahr’s roasted brussels sprouts Caesar with tahini is top of mind: a fast vegetarian sheet-pan dinner with the croutons built in.
One last very exciting thing! If you are like me and start to wonder what the heck to make for dinner as soon as the clock rounds 4 p.m., we have something for you. Sign up here for Dinner Tonight, New York Times Cooking’s new newsletter, and receive one fast, easy recipe to your inbox every Monday through Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, starting Sept. 16. (West Coasters, you’ll just have a couple of extra hours to daydream about dinner.)